Somewhere, between goes, Cochrane bullrider Beau Brooks will find the time to be in the delivery room for the birth of his second child.
Until then, the 24-year-old expectant father will be, or have been in, Oyen, Medicine Hat and Bonnyville before mounting up for the Cochrane Classic Bull Riding show July 25 at Cochrane Lions Rodeo Grounds.
“I always like to get back to Cochrane and see everybody I haven’t seen and, at the same time, everybody you haven’t seen has been watching how you’re doing,” Brooks says.
It’s been a tepid season for Brooks so far. As of July 20, he is 21st in Pro Rodeo Canada bullriding standings with $4,192.05 in earnings.
“It’s been kind of a rough season,” Brooks says. “I tried putting a helmet on this year. It’s been pretty rough all year.”
Increasingly, bull riders on tour are wearing hockey-style helmets to prevent concussions and facial injuries. Elite riders like Chad Besplug, Dakota Buttar and Tanner Girletz all wear helmets when they ride.
“This (past) weekend, actually, I got mad because I got a bull who was at Calgary Stampede this year. He bucked last year’s Canadian champion off quick,” he said of a bull named Moe who threw Buttar at Stampede and tossed a helmeted Brooks July 17 at Maple Creek, Sask. “He was pretty much a perfect bull for me to ride. He was into my hand. I should’ve rode him easy.”
Then it was off to Morris, Man., where Brooks rode Deal With The Devil for 82 points and $1,356.44 on July 18.
“So I went to Morris and threw the helmet back in the bag and got on and it was a night-and-day difference compared to what I’ve been doing,” he relates. “It was just kind of on the weaker bulls I was getting by so I kept going with the helmet. I took it off and it was night and day. Rode the bull aggressive the whole time. I think it (helmet) was messing with my vision a little bit. It was keeping my head lifted up. I took the helmet off and that’s what I’m going to go with. I rode with a hat for about 10 years.”
And there may be another hat in the house before the start of Saturday’s (July 25) big bull riding show in Brooks’s home town.
“It’s been a little more stressful for myself than normal,” Brooks says of his wife expecting their second child. He drove all night last Sunday from Kennedy, Sask., to Calgary when she started having contractions. As of July 20, he was still an expectant dad. “It’ll be touch and go, but we’ll make it work.”
The Cochrane Classic Bullriding show starts 7 p.m. July 25, at Cochrane Lions Rodeo Grounds.
