MOUNT VERNON — “I ride bulls,” and with those words Brylee Smith began to think back over his 13 years with the rodeo.
Smith has been around horses and later bulls most of his life, dedicating the rides, hopefully eight seconds at a time, to someone no longer here.
“It is kind of a sad story,” Smith said. “I put my cousin on her first horse and she passed away the next day.”
His cousin thanked Smith for the horse.
“As she was walking through the door, she said, ‘you’ll always be my little cowboy.’”
Little did 12-year-old Brylee Smith know those would be the final words he heard from his cousin, but also the start of a career.
“The next day I was watching the rodeo at the Circleville Fair when I got the word she had been involved in a head-on collision with a semi and was not going to make it,” Smith said.
That is when family and maybe a bit of fame intervened.
“A couple of weeks later my cousins said they were going to rodeo (compete in the events). At first I did not believe them. I was 12 at the time and started riding calves. I won my first event and it has been like a drug ever since,” Smith said.
He reflected on his career while looking over the arena where he would continue his quest to make a living on the back of a 2,000-pound bull.
The slender, 25-year-old said relationships are a big part of why he continues the rodeo life.
“You meet more friends, they become more family than friend out here,” Smith said.
Two friends in particular, rodeo clown Craig Miller and Diamond J. Rodeo owner Dave Johnson, have played a significant role in his career choice.
Staying on the back of a very large animal that does not want you there is the most difficult part of the job. It requires a specific mindset to ride a bull.
“Getting into the right headspace to go and get ready to ride,” Smith said.
Once in the chute, lashed to the bull, Smith gets into the “zone.”
But what goes through his mind just before the gate is pulled?
“Nothng” Smith said. “It’s all reaction, you have to not think, you just have to react.”
After more than a decade, Smith understands the dangers inherent with riding bulls.
“If you say you are not scared, you’d probably be lying,” Smith said. “It’s not if you get hurt, it’s when you get hurt in the sport of rodeo.
“At this level, helmets are not required. I wear one because I like my face,” he said, with all of his teeth intact.
What kinds of bulls are selected for the Diamond J?
“These are ‘rider-friendly’ bulls, meaning that they are not as difficult to read,” Smith said. “A bull can tell you as much in eight seconds as most people can in five minutes, it took me a long time to understand that.
“I should be able to ride every bull out here, although last night (in Springfield, Ohio) I got bucked off, and without that helmet, my face would be black and blue right now.”
Smith does not plan to get rich.
“The winner can make from $700 to $1,500, but you have to win,” he explained.
The Rodeo performer knows that he can’t work in this profession indefinitely.
“I am 25, and have a 2-year-old daughter. I would like to ride until I’m 30, so five more years,” he said.