In his second year qualifying for the NFR, and only his second year on the ProRodeo circuit, Canadian saddle bronc rider Zeke Thurston earned his first world title in 2016. He only won one out of the ten rounds — Round 6 during which he went 88.5 points on C5 Rodeo’s Black Hills — but he placed in six, propelling to the top of the leaderboard and earning a gold buckle.
Some might say that Zeke, now a 2X world champion, lucked into his saddle bronc career — or, if you look at his success through the years, you might call it fate.
Growing up in Big Valley, Alberta, with a “pretty standard ranch kid lifestyle,” Zeke says, rodeo is in his blood. His dad, Skeeter Thurston, was a saddle bronc rider who qualified for the National Finals six times.
Learning to ride both broncs and bulls, Zeke also loved to rope and competed in tie-down and team roping as well. He and his brothers, Sam and Wyatt, even performed as a trick roping act called The Thurston Gang, appearing at the Canadian Finals Rodeo five times and getting the chance to perform for the Queen of England, Prince William, and Princess Kate.
But it was always Zeke’s dream to be a professional bull rider, and he pursued both bulls and broncs until a record-breaking matchup with Killer Bee fast tracked his saddle bronc career. In 2015, his first year as a PRCA cardholder, Zeke pulled Buetler and Sons’ then-saddle bronc horse (who ended up winning Saddle Bronc Horse of the Year in 2015 and 2016) in Tucson. She was notorious for her buck offs among saddle bronc riders, some might even argue un-ridable, but Zeke managed to best her, going 90 points on Killer Bee and setting a new arena record.
Following Tucson, Zeke lucked into a spot at Houston, thanks to Dusty Tuckness, where he went on to win a title, and from there, “it just started happening fast,” he says.
Today Zeke’s resume includes two PRCA world titles and a Canadian world title, but we will always most fondly remember watching him win his first.
The 2016 National Finals is currently airing as part of our ProRodeo 40 Days of NFR series. Revisiting the last four years of the Superbowl of Rodeo, we are showing one round a night, every night, for 40 nights at 8:00PM ET.
Zeke in Round 6 at the 2016 NFR:
Video | PRCA ProRodeo
