By Ted Harbin, TwisTed Rodeo
MIAMI, Texas – Clarendon College alumnus Wyatt Casper is a businessman who has no problem with the hard work it takes to succeed. He toils in a profession that requires dedication, time-commitment and travel.
He’s pretty good at it.
The business? Rodeo. His occupation? Saddle bronc rider. Why does he do it? To best care for his family, and to be one of the best at it, he must follow through on all that it takes to get the job done. Casper left his wife, Lesley, and their children, Cooper and Cheyenne, in mid-June and didn’t return to their Miami home much for more than three months.
“I didn’t get home as much as I wanted,” said Casper, 28, who is heading to his fifth straight National Finals Rodeo in December. “I took the family up for Calgary (Alberta) for the rodeo there, but that was pretty much it. I was gone a lot this year, and it was honestly pretty rough.”
Casper is a family man, and being a father and husband is his top priority. To take care of them, though, means he has to miss things at home. It’s the nature of being a rodeo cowboy. In order to make a living, he must compete at rodeos across North America. That means he spends many hours traveling the highways and backroads getting from one event to another.
Being elite means making sacrifices, but the rewards are great. Casper finished the regular season with $219,784 in earnings and heads to Sin City as the No. 4 bronc rider in the world standings. He’s taking advantage of the sport’s growing popularity and an unprecedented increase in prize money available. There are seven men on bronc-riding money list that have collected more than $200,000 in 2024.
Photo by Click Thompson
“You have to get it while the getting’s good,” he said. “The getting’s pretty good right now, so I want to try to set up to where whenever I’m done riding broncs, I don’t have to be gone or do some regular job as much; I can do whatever I want and hang out with the family so it will be worth it in the end.”
The getting might just get better. The NFR features a $12.5 million purse, with winners pocketing nearly $34,000 per round over 10 December nights in Sin City. To get there, though, he had to have finished the regular season among the top 15 on the money list, something he’s done consecutively. He actually earned more money so far in 2024 than he did in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Much of that came with big victories, but no locale has been more beneficial to the Texan than Rapid City, South Dakota, which hosts the annual Xtreme Broncs Finals. Casper has won that title each of the past two seasons, pocketing more than $60,000 in the process. What added to the victory was the fact that he accomplished the feat at an event that features only the top bronc busters in the game.
“That sure put some fuel in my tank and a little light to fire me up and get me pretty excited for the last two months of rodeo,” said Casper, who credits part of his success to his sponsors, Cinch, Justin Boots, Priefert, Resistol, Superior Livestock, TD Angus, MVP Exceed 6 Way, Western Hauler and Sawyer Hay & Cube.
He also spent considerable time north of the border for the first time in his career. He won three Canadian rodeos in three provinces: Regina, Saskatchewan; Raymond, Alberta; and Williams Lake, British Columbia. That, combined with earnings at other events in the Land of Maple Syrup, helped him qualify for the Canadian Finals Rodeo, where he won the fourth round and placed in three others to earn $31,000.
“I was pretty excited to go up there and be at my first Canadian Finals,” he said. “It was an experience, for sure. It was a lot of fun, and I’m glad to finally get a back number from the CFR.”
He finished his Canadian season with more than $52,000. Because the exchange rate is down – only 72 cents of the Canadian dollar represents one American dollar – he has maintained an account north of the 49th Parallel.
“I’m going to wait until the dollar gets better, but for now I’m just leaving it there,” said Casper, who won the intercollegiate national championship while competing at Clarendon College.
That’s another decision he’s had to make. That’s part of the equation when the business is rodeo. It would cost him nearly $15,000 to bring his 2024 Canadian earnings home. It wasn’t the only judgment he made, and the proof is another trip to Las Vegas. His biggest key to success?
“Staying healthy was mainly the one for me,” he said. “I was also able to draw enough good horses and capitalize on them. I won some pretty cool rodeos, and that all made it fun.”
Injuries hampered Casper each of the previous two years. He spent extended time on injured reserve, but unlike other professional sports, he had no guaranteed salary to fall back on while he was recuperating. If he wasn’t riding, he wasn’t winning money. While the extended time at home was beneficial to his morale, the rewards of staying on the road were just as great.
“The best part of my job would be when my family gets to go and experience all of this with me,” Casper said. “I also get to be around a bunch of really good people and have a lot of fun. I don’t know what I’m going to do whenever I’m done riding broncs, so I’m going to try to make the most of it while I can.”
That includes those magical 10 days in the Nevada desert. He can more than double his earnings so far with a good run of luck and capitalize on what the City of Lights has to offer professional rodeo cowboys.
“I’m pretty excited for my fifth NFR,” Casper said. “I haven’t done my best out in Vegas the last few years, so I’m hoping to get the chip off my shoulder make the most of what my year has been so far and hopefully come out No. 1.”
The opportunity is before him. He’ll put in the work necessary to make as many great things happen as possible.
It is a business trip after all.
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