Davidson cherishes PBR win in Brandon

When bull rider Weston Davidson is having a stretch of bad luck, he looks back to a night two years ago in Brandon to bring up his spirits.

The 24-year-old cowboy from Strongfield, Sask., was the only rider to post two scores at the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) Canada’s PBR Mazergroup Chute Out in Brandon on May 25, 2024, parlaying his final score of 170.0 into his first-ever victory in the Cup Series, and a $10,565 payday.

“It was super cool and such a great experience,” Davidson said. “That place sold out, and with the crowd screaming, it’s unexplainable. Especially with going through my career now, a couple years back is one of the key moments I look back on, especially when it gets to the low points.

“Sometimes you just go back and look at the positives and think about how far you’ve come and what you’ve done. It gives you that little extra.

“In the time before I get on (the bull), I try to think of that feeling in Brandon because it felt like you could run anything in the world underneath you and I wouldn’t buck off that day. That’s one of the staple moments in my career.”

The PBR returns to Brandon on Friday and Saturday with the third of its 11 events in its Cup Series.

After visits to Red Deer (Jan. 31) and Lethbridge (March 6-7), the series will visit its third Western Hockey League building in a row when it comes to Assiniboine Credit Union Place.

It will be the fifth year in a row the PBR has included Brandon in its elite Cup Series. Nobody has won the Brandon event twice yet, with Davidson joined in the winner’s circle by Blake Smith of Abbey, Sask. (2022), Aaron Roy of Yellow Grass, Sask. (2023) and Jake Gardner of Fort St. John, B.C. (2025)

“I’m super stoked,” Davidson said. “I love Brandon. It’s a great event. My grandpa books his hotel every year. The Sunday after he checks out, he usually books the same hotel room for the next year. He loves coming and my whole family comes down. It’s pretty special, it means a lot for them to come and watch too, and they’re able to stay right at the arena.

“Everybody loves it. It’s a great place.”

In a rodeo family, Davidson started riding sheep when he was two and graduated to steers when he was 12. Davidson started on the PBR circuit at 19.

He also has some cattle at the family’s ranch at Strongfield, which is roughly in the middle between Saskatoon to the north and Moose Jaw to the southeast, and he does some part-time work when he’s around.

“When I’m not busy, I like to stay busy,” Davidson said. “You can always be making money.”

The training for riding bulls, not surprisingly, is riding bulls, but he has a drop barrel at home, which allows him to simulate the sensation of being on a bull’s back. He’s also at the gym up to five days a week.

“I like to stay active, and you have to in today’s game,” Davidson said. “They’re breeding the bulls so much you have to stay up with it. Everybody is getting after it and there’s a lot of money to be won, so you have to treat it like a professional sport now.”

DAILY GRIND

The riders usually drive from one event to the next, although if they’re heading to events in Ontario, they’ll often fly. Some of the competitors this weekend may have flown out from Calgary.

Sometimes they’ll arrive just hours before the event, and sometimes Davidson will come in the day before, especially if he’s flying because of the possibility of delays.

He said most guys show up at the event a couple of hours early, and stretch out. There is sports medicine provided at the events, so they’ll also get ready that way.

In addition, perhaps unconsciously aware of the horrors they’ll face from cattle that night, the cowboys will have a steak sandwich.

“I try to keep my mind off things,” Davidson said. “You put the work in during the week and there’s not much you can do that day. You have to prepare yourself but I just try and relax and have fun with it, because at the end of the day, if you’re not having fun, why are we doing it?”

Some of the other riders keep detailed notes on the bulls and their tendencies, but Davidson prefers not to take that approach. He wants to approach the ride without any expectations.

“I try to keep it pretty simple,” Davidson said. “I forget about them, especially if I buck off them. I try to forget about that bull and that ride. I’m not too keen on keeping a playbook but I know some of the guys really like to keep an eye out for them.”

Not many professions ultimately have their paycheques determined by eight seconds of work, especially when it’s aboard 1,500 pounds of a bucking bull doing its best to unseat them. That would seem like an ideal recipe for anxiety and nerves.

He said that response is not restricted to bull riding.

“It’s definitely a big part of it,” Davidson said. “It’s kind of the same with every athlete. Everybody goes through it but you have to do whatever you can do to block that out and stick with your own gut and do your own thing.

“Everybody has their own rituals and their own way of going about things. You just have to stick in your own lane and believe in yourself. That’s one of the biggest things in bull riding.

“If you’re not going to believe in yourself, who else will? That’s the biggest key, confidence and believing in yourself.”

In four events this season, Davidson has ridden three of his seven bulls and earned $7,425.00. He sits 10th of the 50 riders who have taken part.

The series leader so far is Nick Tetz of Calgary, who is a ridiculous 10-for-11 this season in six events and has taken home $36,963.54.

Davidson is philosophical about the fact that like a hitter in Major League Baseball, a certain amount of failure is baked into the DNA of the sport.

“If you don’t fail, you’re not going to succeed,” Davidson said. “You just have to go with it and roll with the punches. Bull riding is a lot of highs and lows. The high are high and the lows are low … A lot of it is self support, just like a hitter. You’re fighting your own battles but you just have to keep rolling with it and do your own thing.”

DREAM JOB

The five-foot-six, 146-pound bull rider has been healthy so far this season, but it isn’t a sport for the meek of heart. He’s broken his arm once and his jaw three times, noting there have also been some bumps, bruises and ligament tears along the way.

“It’s all a part of the sport,” Davidson said. “I count my blessings for sure. I’ve been pretty unscathed for the most part compared to some of my buddies. They’re had some pretty bad wrecks so I’m thankful.”

While the bull riders are competing with each other for paycheques, it’s a tight-knit fraternity. If there is an opponent in the sport, it’s the bull trying to send them flying.

“It’s honestly a brotherhood, especially in the locker room,” Davidson said. “That’s one of the best parts about bull riding, is being in the locker room with the boys. I explain it like a hockey dressing room. You go to war with those guys. You’re not competing against them, you’re almost competing with them. In a way, they’re not your opponent, the bull is.

“If you ride your bull, you let everything fall into place. There’s nothing against any of the other guys. If they ride good, you clap for them, and they’re going to clap for you when you’re doing good. What goes around comes around.”

The PBR riders and bulls head to Hamilton next for the Cup Series on May 30, followed by visits to London (June 5), Ottawa (June 13), Kelowna (July 16), Grande Prairie (Sept. 26), Medicine Hat (Oct. 17) and Saskatoon (Oct. 23-24).

The national final is at Edmonton’s Rogers Place on Nov. 13-14.

The Cup Series slows down from November to January, but the PBR is essentially holding events year-round. If that’s not enough for a bull rider, they can head to the United States.

“You can go down south and there are bull ridings and rodeos happening 365 days a year,” Davidson said. “You can be busy as you want. Definitely in the off-season up here when it slows down, I like to go south where it’s warmer a little bit and break up the winter, and then I can stretch my legs a little bit and get on some more bulls and practise a bit and win some American money hopefully and keep rolling into the season in Canada.”

In his PBR career, Davidson is 46-for-221 and has won four events and $56,910.73.

He’ll be hoping to add to both those numbers in Brandon this weekend. Regardless of what happens, he never takes what he does for granted.

“It’s amazing,” Davidson said. “I wouldn’t choose anything else for the world. I couldn’t think of myself doing anything else. We get to travel around the world. I’ve been to 36 states, been to Australia, been everywhere across Canada getting on bulls.

“I’ve grown up playing hockey and you dream of going to the NHL and playing junior hockey. but I chose bull riding so it’s pretty cool to go all the hockey rinks and arenas throughout the world and Canada and the United States.

“Seeing those arenas with dirt and bucking shoots is a cool perspective. It’s awesome. I’m truly blessed to live the life.”

» pbergson@brandonsun.com