PBR photo by Andy Watson

By Susan Kanode

Volume I, Chapter I

            My name is Walk This Way and I am a bull with Baditude.

I had a great year in 2006, traveling to Chihuahua, Mexico; Pennsylvania; and Hawaii just to name a few.  In 2007, I’m going to share my adventures with you through a monthly diary and even though I’m not writing it, I will be consulted and my Baditude will certainly come through.

            You need to know that Baditude is not about having a bad attitude. It is about having an attitude and bucking under the Bad Company Rodeo name. I was born near Weatherford, Texas, at the 3T Rodeo Ranch owned by Bob and Kristen Tallman.

            From the day I hit the ground, Bob Tallman, renown rodeo announcer told me I was going to grow big and strong and be something special. He told me about my grandfather, the legendary Bodacious and that it was in my genes to be a bucking bull.

            You know, you can hardly get that guy to shut up so I finally listened to what he told me. I was just a young calf and already loved to buck and play with my buddies. After listening to Bob I learned that bucking and playing with my buddies was what I was destined to do for the rest of my life.

            Bob put me in a futurity in 2002 and it was there that Mack Altizer saw me and decided I should leave the green grass of north Texas and make a home on the arid plains of west Texas near Del Rio. To this day I’m not sure what he was thinking. I still like green grass and I think there is more of that anywhere than at Del Rio.

            After I arrived at the Bad Company Rodeo Ranch, I got plenty of time to build up my bones and muscles and traveled in the biggest pasture I’ve ever seen. My days included exercise (just finding grass) and meeting a lot of new bulls that would eventually become my traveling partners.

            Mack has a bull named Hammertime that has been to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo seven times. He’s the veteran who taught all of us young bulls about the road. I used to follow him on the truck not really knowing where I was going or why. Now, I have to wait and see where we go, but when I get loaded I know I’m going somewhere to buck.   

            Whenever anyone shows up in the pasture horseback, we know something is going on and we let them send us in the right direction. That happened the other day and they took us to ranch headquarters. When we got there I was surprised to see the young bulls gathered and all the crew there.

            I soon discovered that the last event of the year was taking place right under our hooves. They were having the “Have a Nice Day” Tour Finale right there at the ranch. We saw the junior bull riding and it was fun watching the next generation of bull riders challenge the Bad Company Rodeo young bulls.

            If I had some advice to give those young bulls I’d tell them to eat everything that is put in front of them, keep walking and running in those pastures and do all that they can to be the athletes they were bred to be. If they do that, they will get to go places and do things beyond their wildest dreams.

            I know that because while I was at ranch headquarters I raised my head in the air and took a big deep breath of Del Rio country air and got a whiff of diesel smoke. It wasn’t long until I heard the engine and saw a truck backing up to the loading chute.

              Pretty soon they opened the gate to my pen and I was out of there like a rocket. I headed up the alley and couldn’t wait to get on the truck. Then I heard them say we were going to New York City.

            That nearly stopped me in my tracks. New York City? They don’t have bull riding in New York City. But I didn’t ever think I’d go to Hawaii either, so I got on the truck. Then I remembered when they pulled me out of the pen and ran me down the alley several times in Las Vegas.

            There were several cameras around and I couldn’t figure out what they were doing. But I love being on camera! I held my head up high and tried to follow their directions. During that, I remember someone saying they were going to use me for an ad for the Built Ford Tough Series event in New York City, only 2,000 miles from Del Rio.

            After leaving the ranch, our first stop was in Gonzales, Texas where Bo Davis loaded his bulls to share the journey with us. This is the first time that I’ve seen Chief or Smiley since we all went to Hawaii. We made several more stops along the way and made the most of our time together.

            We had pasture stories to trade and we were all excited about the first event of 2007. We have some rivalries going on in the bull pen and sometimes we just plain don’t get along. For the most part, I like the other bulls and try to get along. My best buddy to travel with is Satan’s Own.

            He’s from Edgewood, N.M., and he rides really good. Apparently in New York it wasn’t good enough because I got him at the first jump. I got a day off before they put me in the final round. That time it was Matt Bohon from Cole Camp, Mo., that was the unlucky guy to get on my back.

            Matt tried to ride me last year in Sacramento, Calif. I got him then and I got him again in New York. I know those guys like to get another shot at me and I could tell that Matt had a lot of confidence when he sat down on my back. I made a few jumps and after about six seconds I couldn’t believe that his hand was still in the rope.  I knew it was time to crank it up a notch, change directions and remind him who was boss. Hey Matt, maybe three will be a charm and we’ll get you to the pay window.  

            I’m on the PBR tour for the rest of January and will be keeping track of all my adventures to share them with you. My name is Walk This Way and I am a bull with BADITUDE.

Walk this Way and Justin McBride in 2006. PBR photo by Andy Watson