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The days of the wild west are bigger and better than ever.
With the fictional Yellowstone bringing cowboys and a bit of the rodeo life to the small screen, the non-fictional 6666 Ranch in Texas is now part of the backdrop.
But not just any cowboy gets a chance to ride the top of the western world. First, you’ve got to learn it and earn it. And that’s just what Inverness’ Zach Johnson has been doing.
The Northwest Community College sophomore is a scholarship cowboy in the famed Rodeo program in Senatobia. The 6-foot, 155-pound cowboy is officially listed as a bull rider. The Humphreys Academy grad was an All-Star MAIS athlete in both football and baseball, nearly winning the MAIS 8-Man State Championship in 2017. Johnson’s academic life includes studying HVAC technologies should he ever give up the dream of being a professional cowboy. Donna and William’s youngest son spent a year at MDCC before transferring to NWCC.
“We had horses but we weren’t into rodeo. We’ve always gone to the Dixie National Rodeo and I told my dad I was gonna do something with rodeo,” Johnson said. “I found out that bull riding was the cheapest to get going on with all the gear.”
He headed to Senatobia to take part in a “free training” to see what it was all about.
“Some guys up there had some bulls and told me to come on up and see what it’s all about,” he said. “I started straight from scratch with no training or anything. I lasted about six seconds but it was pure holding on for dear life. I think I wound up with both legs on top of his back.”
Though he was pretty sore the next few days, his newfound love of bull riding was the painkiller needed.
“It was very nerve racking. Once I came out of the chute on him, it was pure adrenaline. It’s like playing football. You don’t hear anything until you get off,” he said.
The bull was a son of Professional Bull Riders Champion Asteroid so it wasn’t an easy ride and Johnson showed some gumption and skill in those six seconds. From there he started practicing two to three months on practice bulls – three to four bulls a weekend. Then he entered a rodeo in Carthage and won.
“Then it was just getting on at random rodeos and practice pens every weekend,” he said. “They do a random draw to select a bull. You put your stuff on and get on him.”
Bull riders wear spurs, gloves, a rope and an optional helmet, a vest and chaps – mostly for looks. Each piece provides a service, some of them potentially life-saving.
“The leather vest with padding keeps you from getting cut by the bull’s hooves. When you get stomped, it’s padding so you don’t get hurt as much as you could and most of them make the hooves slide off of you,” he said.
Johnson always wears his 100X helmet with a titanium face mask and carbon fiber shell. A helmet can go for up to $500 but the safety and security they bring is priceless.
“It has saved mine (head) countless times,” he said. “I sent it off once to get fixed because I got stomped and it cracked the shell and I got stitches in my face.”
Bull riders and Evel Knievel have a lot in common, especially in the broken bones category. Johnson has had his share and his medical file continues to grow.
“Stomps and strawberries and raw places, I’ve torn my groin in three places on one leg at the same time. I got stomped and it split my chin open and separated my lip from my jaw. I had to have plastic surgery on that one. I’ve fractured my thumb but I just rode with it,” he said. “You’ve got to have the guts to do it.”
He explained that it helps being skinny as a bull rider but being tall is not an advantage on the back of a wild bull.
“You want to be a short, skinny fellah,” he said. “The bull has more leverage on my top half. The stockier or skinnier guys would be right there stuck to ’em. That ground hurts. Normally, you’re getting thrown off and there’s the very rare occasion where you cover one and hear the whistle and pull the tail of your rope, pop your hand out and hop off. Hasn’t worked that easy for me.”
Out of the bull riding ring, Johnson and his rodeo team look like cowboys from head to toe with American straw cowboy hats in hot weather and a cold-weather 10X American felt hat. They find them online unless they get to Texas where authentic hat stores can be found.
Johnson described the rodeo team at NWCC as “one big family. We help each other in each other’s events where we can. We have a good time wherever we’re at. We load up and take sandwiches.”
He also credits a native Mississippian with helping him work on his bull riding style.
“There’s a guy from Philadelphia who made it to the NFR, Mr. Chance Smart. He’s the main reason I got my form the way it is. The main reason my head is on straight is because of him. I sent him my videos and he’d spend an hour watching them in slow motion and tell me what I did wrong and how to fix it,” he said. “And Mr. Bud Young, our bull riding coach, helps us a crazy amount. We have a mechanical bull that we practice on. He comes out there and hooks it up and he’s at all of our practices and critiques our rides for us. He’s a great help. And Miss Shelli Benton is our rodeo coach. She’s pretty much the rodeo mom.”
NWCC competes in the Ozark Region and he competes against Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Auburn, UT-Martin, Pearl River, East Mississippi, South Arkansas University, Three Rivers College in Missouri and more. The college season consists of five rodeos in the fall and five in the spring. And the competition and bulls are always top-notch and his ride is the luck of the draw.
“It totally depends on who brought the bulls to what rodeo. I’ve been to rodeos where the bulls are pretty much the same and then some where you might get on a bull that just bucked in the PBR yesterday,” he said.
The bull riding team is all male but he says there is a female bull riding team as well. There are barrel racers but he notes he tries to steer clear of them.
“I try to avoid them. That causes problems,” he said laughing. “They are pretty tough.”
Johnson has already secured his associate degree in electrical engineering in addition to his current HVAC studies.
“It’s a learning process. I’ve got to buy a pro card and fill my pro card and you have to be in the top 15 in the world to go the NFR and I plan on being there one day,” he said.
There is no certain philosophy or style. Every bull rider adheres to the same thinking and training.
“It’s the same basic moves and concepts. It’s muscle memory. As the bull moves, they say to be one step ahead but you’re never gonna be one step ahead. It’s all reaction. When the bull moves, you move,” he said.
The scoring method is a possible 50 points for the rider and the other half comes from the bull.
“If a bull doesn’t buck very good and you ride perfect, you get a lower score like a 70. If you ride the bull perfect and he bucks perfect, then you get a higher score like a 90,” he said. “It’s 0 – 100. The highest I’ve ever gotten was an 87. I won the college rodeo in Sikeston, Missouri and it was a 77.”
The winner normally gets a spectacular belt buckle but rodeos throw in other prizes as well.
“Sometimes you get some money and they gave me a Yeti cup with the rodeo name on it,” he said.
Johnson says the things you see on Yellowstone and 6666 show some of the cowboy life but it’s not all the glamour.
“I would love that as just a job and being around the livestock. It helps you with bull riding. How the livestock interacts with you, how they move, how they handle high-tempered bulls – it’s the cowboy lifestyle,” he said. “I’m hoping to find a job here around Senatobia after school and continue rodeoing and see where it takes me.”
He also has a leather business, Lizard Leatherworks on Facebook, where he crafts wallets, belts, gun holsters and “anything you can think of.”
The 21-year old enjoys playing guitar when he’s not on the back of a bull hanging on for dear life. And the Delta native finds time for hunting and fishing and just riding horses. His friends call him by his nickname, Randal. He notes that the bull riding and rodeo life isn’t for everyone and it’s not something you can do halfway.
“Get on a couple and when you decide you want to do it and that’s your dream, chase it 100 percent,” Johnson said. “You have to want to eat, sleep and constantly think about bull riding.”
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