Stueve 'wonderkind'

Tyler Stueve has come a long way since he first climbed aboard a steer and tried to ride it at the age of 9.

"I fell off," recalled Stueve, 15, of Marysville.

That mishap didn't dampen his spirits in his pursuit of riding bulls. He persevered and last weekend Stueve went on to win the 2008 Wrangler Junior High state bull riding championship for junior high-age cowboys.

As one of the top four finishers, Stueve has qualified to compete in the Wrangler Junior High national finals, which will be held June 29 to July 5 in Gallup, N.M. And, by virtue of having won the Western Regional Bullriders Association's pee wee division last year, Stueve also has qualified to compete in this year's world junior bull riding finals in Fort Worth, Texas, in the first week in August.

Not too bad for a young cowboy who was introduced to the sport in a rough way. At the time, Stueve was competing in the Tri-County Junior/Amateur Rodeo in Gridley.

"I was trying to win the all-around title and I needed five events," Stueve said, noting he was already competing four other events involving horses, including pole bending and roping.

Riding steers looked like fun so he decided to try it and he fell in love with it, even though he fell off. He liked it so much that he even went to rodeo school to learn how to ride bulls.

"I really don't like riding horses," Stueve said, clarifying that comment by noting he enjoys riding horses for pleasure, just not in competition.

Since that rude introduction to the sport, Stueve, who is an eighth grader at Foothill Intermediate School, has been on a tear. He was the District 3 reserve bull riding champion as a sixth and seventh grader, before wining the title this season. Stueve competed in the national finals last year but failed to ride any bulls for the full eight seconds.

He rode all three of his bulls at the state finals in Plymouth.

"I was the only one who rode all three," Stueve said.

He scored a 68 after Friday's ride, putting him in second place by one point.

"My bull laid down in the chute," Stueve recalled, adding some cowboys won't ride a bull that starts in the prone position.

Saturday, Stueve drew a bull he had ridden before but the bull had a surprise for Stueve. When the bull came out of the chute, it turned the opposite way Stueve was expecting, but Stueve still managed to stay aboard, scoring a 71.

"I was really nervous," Stueve said of Saturday's ride, because he knew he had to stay on in order to qualify for Sunday's short go-round, which featured only the top four riders.

His two-day total of 139 left him comfortably in the lead as the next-best rider was at 117.

Stueve was the last rider up on Sunday and after the rest of the field failed to stay on for the full eight seconds, Stueve knew he had the state title wrapped up. Still, he wanted to go out in style and he ended up riding his bull and scoring a 72.

Now, he has his sights set on the national and world rodeos, believing he can win both.

"I'm not overconfident," Stueve stated.

Instead, he's prepared, something he wasn't at last year's national rodeo.

"He was overmatched," said Stueve's father, Henry.

Several factors worked against Stueve. For starters, he wasn't used to competing in an arena with 20,000 spectators. It was too overwhelming for him, his dad said.

Also, his son wasn't used to the caliber of bulls that were brought in for the rodeo. His first bull that he drew just arrived at the national finals from a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association event, Henry Stueve said.

Henry Stueve added the bulls used in the Midwest are more aggressive that most of the bulls found on the West Coast. And, there really was no place in the area to practice, except at actual rodeos.

To help prepare his son for an assault on a national bull riding title, this past January Henry Stueve formed the Pac West Xtreme Bullriding Team.

"We have an arena right in our front yard," Stueve said, where team members gather twice a month to hone their skills.

Pac West Xtreme Bullriding also has its own bulls — four of the bulls used at the state finals were from the Stueve stable.

Besides Stueve, three other Pac West Xtreme Bullriding cowboys qualified for the nationals — Levi Johnson, 11, of Oroville, will compete in senior steers, while Vincent Shroyer, 9, of Doyle, and Garrett Crist, 10, or Reno, will ride in the junior steer division.

Stueve, though, is the clear leader — all 5 feet, 4 inches and 110 pounds atop an 1,800-pound raging bull.

Two other District 3 cowboys won events at the state rodeo — Clayton Brum won boys goat tying and Taylor Biglow won pole bending.

Stueve, meanwhile, will compete in the junior bulls division Sunday at the Marysville Stampede as part of the Western Regional Bullriders Association event, starting at 10 a.m.

Contact sports reporter Richard Myers at 749-4714 or rmyers@appeal-democrat.com