Tilden Hooper knows what it takes to compete at the top—and what it takes to come back. After a neck injury sidelined him for all of 2023, the 9-time NFR qualifier has fought his way back inside the top 15, now sitting No. 12 in the World Standings.
This season, Hooper’s been making the most of every draw. He won the Parker County Sheriff’s Posse Frontier Days Rodeo with an 87.5-point ride on Fox Hole Gunner, a horse he’d never been on before.
He also marked 87.5 in Nashville at the inaugural Music City Rodeo, finishing second on TJ Korkow’s Tator Tot.
“It was one of the best rodeos I’ve ever been to,” he said.
Earlier this year in Clovis, California, Hooper teamed up with the famous bucking horse, Virgil, for the seventh time.
“It wasn’t the prettiest, but it was one of the rankest rides I’ve ever made,” he said.
Now healthy and within striking distance of a tenth trip to the NFR, Hooper has his sights set even higher.
“I just thank God I still get to wake up and do this every day,” he said. While he’s proud of his nine previous National Finals qualifications, this year, his focus is on something bigger — chasing a Gold Buckle.