Sorenson top bull rider in Blue Moon rodeo series

He’s tall and lanky, not short and stocky like most bull riders, but Cody Sorenson got his head into the game and was the top bull rider at this summer’s Brash Summer Rodeo Series held at the Blue Moon Arena.

To top it off, the 15-year-old Columbia Falls High School sophomore just started riding bulls this past winter during the Brash Winter Rodeo Series held at Majestic Arena.

“Beau Hill is also tall and lanky,” Sorenson said about the professional bull rider from West Glacier. “Anyway you look at it, you can’t out muscle a 2,000-pound bull that can leap seven feet in the air.”

Sorenson recalled his first rodeo event —winning a stick-horse riding race when he was four or five at Majestic Arena. His whole family is big on rodeo, he said.

“My Grandpa Bill Anderson was a good bronc rider, my Uncle Buddy won first place in the all-around — that’s bull riding, bareback and saddle bronc,” he said.

Sorenson said he got a lot of help from Wade Toren, a former bull rider who has a bucking barrel set up at his home near Kalispell. Toren’s son Tyrell Toren competes against Sorenson.

“A mechanical bull like you see in the movies can teach you bad habits,” he said.

Walking a railroad track for miles in his bull-riding position is also good exercise, strengthening muscles and promoting muscle memory. He also rides bareback at a gallop for training.

A bull rider must stay on for at least eight seconds to qualify. Points are scored for how well a bull bucks and how good the rider looks.

“The top score is 100,” he said. “My lowest score was 42.”

About 15 riders from across Northwest Montana and Canada competed in the summer series, ranging in age from the early teens to the 40s.

Part of the $55 entry fee each night pays for rodeo expenses, including livestock, and the rest goes into a pot shared by the winners.

“I came out about even at the end of the season,” he said. “I got bucked off on my last ride, but I was way ahead of everyone on points.”

Sorenson said he’s had his share of injuries in his short career — “scratched, bruised and had the wind knocked out of me, but no broken bones.” He always wears a helmet despite comments by some cowboys.

“There’s a difference between a smart cowboy and a dumb cowboy,” he said. “If I wear a helmet and it stops my face from becoming Jell-O, and it keeps me riding and having fun, then I’ll wear one.”

Helmets are optional, but all riders must wear a protective vest that distributes the blow from a bull’s hoof on a fallen rider’s back.

Sorenson’s goal is to be a professional bull rider like Hill and Matt Triplett, another Columbia Falls High School alumni.

But he’ll have to wait until he’s 18. He plans to go to Las Vegas, Nev., this fall to watch the bull riding world championship.

“All my friends ride bulls,” he said. “I like bull riding because, even though there are all kinds of people who help you out, you’re really on your own out there. And each time, you can figure out what you did wrong and make adjustments. It’s not all about being fit — it’s about how well prepared you are, your mental attitude. You can’t have any doubts.”

Sorenson is also big on the outdoors — he’s taken first or second place in the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation’s elk bugling contests in the Flathead since he was 11, and he’s been tanning hides since he was 13 — the natural way with brain oils in a shed in his backyard. He’s also an avid hunter.

“I’m heading out bowhunting Saturday,” he said last week. “My dad and I are notorious for elk.”