Throughout his career, Zeke Thurston has been a dominant force in the arena and is fast becoming a legend in the world of saddle bronc riding. The son of six-time National Finals Rodeo (NFR) qualifier Skeeter Thurston, he is clearly destined for greatness in the sport. Off the arena, Zeke does what he loves best: ranching, roping, and enjoying the great outdoors.
D.O.B.: July 15, 1994
Hometown: Big Valley, Alberta, Canada
Sport event: Saddle bronc riding
Titles and Awards: In 2019, Zeke shattered records, claiming his second world championship title and breaking the yearly earnings record for saddle bronc riding. He earned the distinction of being the first competitor since 2011 to win both a PRCA world championship and a Canadian Professional Rodeo Association national championship in the same year. He is a three-time world champion and a three-time Canadian champion and a three-time Calgary Stampede champion and has received top honours at the NFR, including the Top Gun Award.
Stampede attendance: 2011 – Performed trick roping for Prince William and Kate; 2015 – Champion; 2016 – Champion; 2017 – Champion; 2018 and 2019; 2021 and 2023
Notable facts: Can we find anything interesting?
In Zeke’s words:
In bronc riding, there's a big camaraderie. Everybody's really close. We're with each other pretty much all year. You are competing against each other, but you're more competing with the horse that you’ve drawn.
Bronc riding is a judged event. You're competing on the horse that you have drawn. The ride is eight seconds. Both your feet go in stirrups, and you sit on a saddle that's made out of swells and a cantle. During the ride, you have to ride with one hand on a bronc rein or a hack rein, and the other arm has to remain in the air for the entire eight-second ride. The horse's judged on how high he jumps, how hard he kicks, and direction change. And then the rider is judged on his spur ride, which is contact of the spurs, from the point of the shoulder all the way back, and spurring again before the horse touches the ground. So, 50 points for the horse, 50 points for the cowboy, out of a possible 100 points. If you see a 90-point ride, that’s pretty special. Those don't happen very often.
The rein is kind of your balance point. You want to lift on your rein, which is what holds your butt down into your saddle, keeps your body weight down. Each horse takes a different rein measurement. Some horses hold their head pretty high, some put their head really low, so the measurement has to be different. You have to know the horse to be able to measure your rein correctly. So, one horse might take an average, which is your fist and your thumb fully extended behind the swells of your saddle. That horse's head will probably be at a 45-degree angle when he's bucking. A horse that takes double average, that horse's head is going to be down on the ground. So, you have to know about that so you can make your rein the right length. It’s pretty technical.
The horses we get weigh about 1400 to 1500 pounds. That's a huge animal. There's no way you could outpower or be stronger than them. You could be holding on with two hands and all of your body weight and the horse could pick you off the ground with its head! So, you have to really be strong in your body, have great control of your body. Mobility is a big part of it. Flexibility. A lot of core strength comes into play in bronc riding.