Rookie bareback rider Mason Payne wound up being able to compete at bucket list rodeos early on, some while still on his permit, making for an electric entrance into pro rodeo even if he did not finish in at the top.
Those bucket list rodeos included the Pendleton Round-Up where he climbed on Sankey Pro Rodeo and Phenom Genetics’ Stilleto in 2023 and he only added to it from there. He was able to get into the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver.
“It sure was neat, not to say I didn’t have much business being there but it was fun and being up in Washington to, I got to go to a lot of big rodeos up there also like Pendleton and Ellensburg. I didn’t win no money but just to go there to some bucket list rodeos, it is cool,” Payne said.
Four-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier and 2020 Resistol Rookie of the Year Cole Reiner says that the main focus of your permit and rookie year is to build that confidence and find out that you can place and win and you do belong.