Hardwick scores 88.5 to lead bareback riders at Rodeo of the Ozarks

SPRINGDALE — Seth Lee Hardwick pushed his right hand deep into a leather glove and slowly wrapped his wrist with a long leather band, firmly securing the glove to his taped right arm.

The 32-year-old Wyoming cowboy stood behind the chute next to the bucking horse he was about to climb aboard Wednesday night, hoping to last the full eight seconds and perhaps earn a big payday at the Rodeo of the Ozarks.

“I grew up rodeoing in high school,” Hardwick said. “I started there and went to college at Oklahoma Panhandle State University on a rodeo scholarship and from there I just kind of grew as a bareback rider.”

Hardwick, dressed in a bright red shirt and blue chaps, climbed over and into the chute where the horse he drew for the bareback event, Medicine Show, stood in an angry mood. Hardwick, who has been a professional bareback rider since 2011, settled onto the horse’s back, pressed his white straw hat down tight on his head, raised his leather-chapped legs above the horses’ shoulders, and nodded to open the chute gate.

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This is a ritual Hardwick and other rough-stock cowboys repeat around 75 times each rodeo season, hoping to earn enough money to qualify for the grandest rodeo of the year, the National Finals Rodeo in December.

On Wednesday night, Hardwick claimed the upper hand in his battle with Medicine Show, taking every high buck the horse had to offer. Hardwick’s ride earned him an 88.5 to claim the go-round and earn a good chance at winning the event during the four-day rodeo that will run through Saturday night’s final.

“Growing up when I would watch rodeos, I said ‘hey, I want to be a bareback rider,'” said Hardwick, who got out of his riding gear and was climbing into a car to make the drive back to Tulsa, Okla., on Wednesday night where he and several other cowboys would board a plane for Pecos, Texas and the next rodeo. “And I chose bareback because I’m scared of bulls, so that was out immediately.”

Hardwick, like most PRCA cowboys, suffered a financial setback when 2020 was shut down for covid-19. He’s coming off a big win at Frontier Days in Weatherford, Texas where he earned $1,960 after scoring a season-best 90. He came close to equalling that score Wednesday night.

His best season was in 2015 when he earned $226,870. He missed the following season with a hip injury. He also missed time with a bicep injury.

“The last few years, I got married and she’s kind of the bread-winner,” said Hardwick, “so when I’m home, I can just focus on rodeoing and working out and loving the home life and playing with my dog.”

Coming into this rodeo, Hardwick was sitting No 24 in the PRCA bareback standings. The top 15 at the end of the season will earn a ticket to the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, the Super Bowl of rodeo.

“I’ve got some work to do,” Hardwick said.

After the win at Weatherford and his performance Wednesday night, he’s headed in the right direction.

Hardwick wasn’t the only one to dazzle the rodeo crowd Wednesday night. Holiday Thomas, a 6-year-old competing in the mutton-busting, dominated all the riders in her debut ride.

Thomas clutched the rope and rode her rank sheep around the arena, her blond ponytail bouncing up and down with each jump.

“It was awesome!” said Holiday after the ride which earned her a trip to Saturday night’s championship round.

The list of contestants was mostly boys except for Holiday, and she bested them all in a win that she described as “super awesome.”

In the final event of the night, bull rider Fulton Rutland, 25, of Westville, Okla., brought the crowd to its feet with an eight-second ride on Blackout, which earned him am 87.5. Rutland was the only bull rider to make the full ride Wednesday night.

The Rodeo of the Ozarks, which started in 1944 in Springdale, will continue for the next three nights at Parsons Stadium starting at 7:30 p.m.

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