Cheney bareback rider Ryan Gray cashes in for final time
Ryan Gray was always sure he would know when it was time to stop riding horses that didn’t want to be rode.
That’s why he was at peace as he climbed aboard Cool Hand Luke in American Airlines Arena in Dallas on Nov. 13th.
The 33-year old Cheney cowboy, one of the most accomplished bareback riders in the world over the last decade, announced his retirement three days earlier. The next day he banged up his shoulder on a ride and the following day he failed to score, adding a slight knee injury to his list of ailments.
So the end of the line wasn’t determined by aches and pains, just like he didn’t waver when 15,000 people gave him a standing ovation for his 82-point ride, which he called one of his most memorable because of the circumstances.
“I always knew I’d know when the time was right. It was just the right time,” Gray said. “We have a young family. It’s hard to leave home now, hard to be away from them for very long. That’s part of it, the other part is I don’t like traveling like I used to.
“I always felt I’d like to go out on the top of my game, go out on my terms and not be forced out. I still feel I can compete on a high level, that’s the way I want to go out.”
Gray, a former collegiate champion, started competing on the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association level in 2002. Along the way he won more than a million dollars and numerous gold belt buckles while wracking up more than a million travel miles and numerous injuries.
He won big rodeos like Houston that paid $50,000 and little ones like the Eagle County (Colo.) Fair and Rodeo, where he rode Grass Dancer for 94 points, tied for the best in PRCA history.
He qualified for the National Finals Rodeo eight times, including seven in a row, and won a handful of go-rounds. He went into the 2010 NFR ranked No. 1, only to suffer one of his more serious injuries – a lacerated liver – and the elusive world championship was yet another near-miss.
“I don’t feel like I have any regrets. I don’t feel like I have anything left to prove,” Gray said. “It’s hard to pick one highlight, there have been so many in my career.
“I had a successful career with a lot of highs, a lot of lows, a lot of comebacks, a lot of struggles to come back and compete on a high level. There is a lot of adversity in rodeo, I’ve faced a lot of that. There are a lot of challenges I’ve overcome.”
Gray spent the last year mostly at the family ranch north of Reardan with his wife Lacey, son Ransom, who turns 3 next month, and 10-month old daughter Laramie.
The time at home was courtesy of him joining more than 80 other elite cowboys such as Trevor Brazile, who won 23 world championship, including 13 all-around titles, in forming the ERA – Elite Rodeo Athletes – organization. The premise was for the best-of-the-best to have an opportunity to compete less and win more. The PRCA banned those competitors in 2016 so Gray’s final season consisted of less than 10 rodeos.
“I’m real proud to be part of that. It’s a history-making experience,” he said, comparing it to the start of the Professional Bull Riders tour. “We made a lot of sacrifices … not for our generation, the next generation, my kids. I wouldn’t change anything I did this year.”
Stepping away from rodeo, and his recent shoulder (rotator cuff ) and knee (meniscus) surgeries, is easy. Not being one of the guys is a little tougher.
“I think the people you meet and the relationships you make are what last, what you remember beyond the achievements, the buckles, the money you won,” he said. “What I’m going to miss most about rodeo is the people I’d see on a daily basis or weekly basis, that I pretty much grew up around.”
Now he will focus on building his herd of cattle and his new construction business. Maybe, just maybe, he might be back in rodeo – but not on the back of a horse.
“I don’t know what that might be,” he said. “I love rodeo, it’s been a passion of mine forever. Sometime when the time is right and there’s a place for me … I’m definitely willing to do that. I don’t know what that is yet.”