Alot of folks have seen the photo of this great bucking bull with our season champion aboard. Well I would like to tell a little bit of his story. #6 Launch Pad is a 7 year old bull that I leased from Dennis Nehring this past summer. He wasn't originally in the agreement to lease, but Dennis said that he would send him because he wasn't going anywhere. Well I had been on the bull the year before. He was awesome to say the least. I was very impressed with him. When I found out that Dennis was the one who owned him I tried to find out as much as I could about him. Dennis told me that he was kind of an up and down bull. One day he may have a great trip and the next it would be kind of so-so. As stated I was on him on one of those great trips, so I asked Dennis to let me take him for the summer. And he agreed.
Launch Pad was a bull that you really had to be on your game to ride. He was really smart and strong. He knew where a guy was on his back at all times. If you were riding him one way, he would spin the other direction. His first trip in my possession was at an indian rodeo in Lame Deer. I had him in the Top 4 ride off. A good young bull rider by the name of Cash Smith drew him. Launch Pad came out one jump and turned it back to the right. He didn't have alot of kick and it ran Cash right off of his rope. The bull felt him and really cranked it back harder. Cash came down. Needless to say that I was impressed with him again. I then bucked him at some of the series bull ridings. He threw everyone off that he was ran under. He was finally rode at the 4th series event in Hays by Loren. Loren then rode him again at the indian rodeo in Box Elder. That is the photo that is shown above and on the front page of this website.
Launch Pad's characteristics were unpredictable. He was for the most part pretty good to handle. Sometimes he would get a little bit surly. You couldn't turn your back on him thats for sure. But he and I got along pretty well.
Towards the end of the summer he got a little tired and didn't quite perform as well as he could. I gave him about three weeks off and bucked him at the last regular season event. He did well. I think his first trip at the first season event was his best. INFR qualifier Casey McDonald of Browning drew him. The bull came out one jump, turned it back to the left, jumped out of it, and turned back to the right. Casey was putting up a great ride, but the bull got the best of him at about six and a half seconds.
I really don't know Launch Pad's lineage other than that he is a Plummer bull. I do know that when Chris Shivers won his first PBR world title back in 2000, Launch Pad threw him off. So that goes to show how good of bull he can be when he wants to. I doubt if I will get the chance to lease him again. Dennis uses him to breed cows with so I imagine you will see some of his calves coming up in the future. If they buck like him, then they ought to be good. I would like to say that I really enjoyed having him here this past summer. I wish I had a whole herd just like him.
