CHEYENNE, Wyo.—Dusty Hausauer, of Dickinson, N.D., recalled making a trip when he was about 8 years old to attend the Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo.
“I had all the cowboys sign my cowboy hat,” Hausauer, now 26, said.
On Sunday, it was Hausauer who was signing autographs on hats, shirts and papers handed to him by rodeo fans.
Hausauer scored an 82-point ride on a horse called War Chick to win the rodeo’s saddle bronc championship buckle Sunday during the finals of the “Daddy of ‘Em all.”
He entered in the final day of competition in fourth place. After his ride, two of the remaining three cowboys ahead of him in points failed to stay on their mount for the required eight seconds while the third scored a 75.
Hausauer, who placed second at Cheyenne two years ago when competing in rookie saddle bronc, said it was the third time he had ridden War Chick in his short professional rodeo career.
“It had gotten me on the ground before and a horse that good … you really can’t make any mistakes on, and just to stay on him and to have a good score,” he said.
In other competition Sunday, Cimmaron Gerke, of Brighton, Colo., claimed the rodeo’s bareback riding championship with an 88-point ride. He entered the finals tied with defending world bareback champion Bobby Mote, of Culver, Ore., and Steven Dent, of Mullen, Neb.
“I had to have a good, solid ride, and I knew it was going to be tough either way, but I knew I had a horse I could do it on,” Gerke said.
However, Gerke encountered problems right out of the chute on the horse named Brother when the neck rope pulled his foot off the horse’s neck. That drew a penalty flag, which would disqualify the ride.
“I was like ‘oh, crap,'” he said.
He completed the ride anyway.
“You just make the ride and then worry about that stuff later,” Gerke said.
After the ride a judge ruled that the rope had interfered with his leg, meaning the ride counted.
“Sometimes you don’t have good enough officials to realize it too and it’s a costly mistake,” Gerke said.
If the ride hadn’t counted, Gerke said, it would have cost him nearly $10,000 in prize money.
Rookie Tim Abbott, of Midland, Texas, won the steer roping event when Trevor Brazile, who entered the rodeo No. 1 in the world in all-around cowboy standings, recorded no score when his steer stood up. Brazile was leading the steer roping event entering Sunday’s competition.
“When Trevor roped his steer and got him on the ground I decided I was second,” Abbott said. “And to see that steer get up was a shock to me, but I’ll take it.”
Todd Brown, of Dublin, Texas, claimed the tie-down roping event, his first win at a major rodeo this year.
