“I feel like, every time I nod my head that I’ve got a chance to win a rodeo,” says 3X Bareback Riding World Champion Will Lowe.
At 38 years old, Will Lowe has been riding bucking horses professionally for nearly two decades. He’s made the NFR 15 times, three world titles, and two average titles.
On the key to success as a bareback rider, he says, “You’ve gotta want it. You’ve gotta want to ride bucking horses. I’m sure it’s the same with like MMA fighters or UFC guys or any of them — you’ve got to want to step in the arena and take a beating. You know you’re going to take a beating when you get in there, and so if you don’t want to take that beating, you’re not going to do good. You know, you’ve got to kind of crave a little bit of that fight.”
In 2020, Lowe started out his season with an unfortunate injury in Denver, where after looking strong in the semi-finals, he was knocked out in the finals — literally, taking a kick to the head from the powerhouse Virgil that resulted in a depressed orbital bone and 20 stitches. But Lowe was back in saddle by May and moved his way up the standings to finish 28th in the World Standings.
He’s currently No. 13 in the 2021 PRCA World Standings and shows no sign of slowing down.
“I think what speaks as strongly as the three world championships is his longevity,” says rodeo producer, broadcaster and TCC general manager Jeff Medders. "... doesn’t wrap his elbow, you know, looks like he just started rodeoing last year, fresh as a daisy, and he’s been in it for a while.”
“I’ve left everything on the table, so I’m not worried about anything,” Lowe says. “But now, I just enter what I want to enter, but my goal, actually, is to win every time. Every time you nod your head you’re going to win, that’s my goal. ... I’ve accomplished enough that I really don’t feel like I have to prove anything to anybody. So I just go to have fun, and enjoy it. And ride bucking horses.”
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