Often when one thinks about athletes, football, basketball, soccer, baseball and sports we read about daily in the news come to mind. When you think about it, athletes who compete in rodeo events are every manner the athletes any other sport fosters.

The Canyon Dental Athlete of the Week, Josuha Hayden, lives, eats and breathes bull riding.

California’s Orange County was the place the spirit of the rodeo began to grow in Hayden’s mind. The fact that his brother Quinten, a few years his elder, was starting to take part in rodeo helped.

“I had played baseball,” he said. “Then, friends introduced me to bull riding. So I tried calf riding when I was six years old. I had watched rodeo on television.”

The family moved from Orange County to Norco, where there were more rodeos. Here baseball was forgotten and rodeo took over as he began to win at calf riding. He became the champion calf rider until 2000 when he graduated to steer riding taking the steer riding championship in 2001. The State finals saw him become champ in 2002. He figured this was about when he was in grade six or seven. He belonged to the California Junior Bull Riders Association.

Around this time he traveled back and forth between the Grand Junction area and California. He attended Fruita Middle School and started rodeo at Rim Rock after being in the area for two years. On a return trip from Colorado Springs, a stop in Silverthorne netted a chance to compete in a rodeo there, one he just happened to hear about. He won the belt in the bull-riding event. He noted that now he has accumulated 17 belt buckles in these past few years. The first one was won in 1999.

At Fruita Monument High School, he took classes in welding from Ryan Hudson who also encouraged his participation in rodeo.

As for school, Hayden excelled at math, a subject he always liked.

He knows he can apply this skill to his rodeo future.

With his birthday coming up in October, he will be renewing his Professional Bull Rider Association membership.

After Swamp-Donkey pulled a fast one, meaning he spun and turned back during the ride. He spilled Hayden and kicked him on his lift side in the ribs.

“I hope none are broken,” he said. “I’ll be riding in Carbondale on Thursday. You can’t be afraid. If you get hurt, you just get back on.”

Hayden keeps in shape just doing his job. There are bales of hay to throw, corn to scoop, water buckets to be hauled and branding to be done.

An athlete he admires is Tylet Williams.

“I trust him,” he said. “He knows the bulls because he has ridden them. He gives me good technique advice. He still rides also.”

Quinten, his brother, helps pulling the bull rope. He too, gives tips on the bulls, if they will come out left or to the right or jump kick.

With the encouragement of these special people and his mother, Hayden, hopes to become a professional and successful bull rider.