From Fall River to the PRCA: How Bailey Small Turned Small-Town Roots into a Pro Rodeo Career

Perry Thompson (00:01.886): Well, hello everybody. Excited for today. We've got Bailey Small, Fall River High School graduate and current PRCA rodeo pro athlete. So great to you Bailey. How you doing today, buddy?

Bailey Small (00:15.118): I'm doing well, thanks for having me.

Perry Thompson (00:17.32): Yeah. Yeah. Well, so a little bit for the audience. Bailey and I did an amazing, incredible podcast. Call it maybe a month and a half ago and technologically sometimes things are challenged and for whatever reason, it didn't end up uploading properly. so this is round two. That's the good news round two. So we're going to be, we're going to nail it this time. It's going to even be better. That's my prediction. So Bailey, former high school graduate, so North State, North State kid, Northeastern California kid. Tell us about a little bit about your background in high school and community support and some of those things and then kind of how you landed through your college career and on to being a pro rodeo athlete.

Bailey Small (01:12.59): Yeah, you bet. Well, thanks for having me this morning. And it started out, I went to elementary school in Burney for two years, and then I got transferred up here to Fall River. I went through Fall River Elementary all the way through Fall River High School, graduated there. Then I proceeded my education to Panhandle State in Goodwill, Oklahoma. As soon as I finished up there, I decided to continue my education at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas, finished with a master's degree there. And I continued my rodeo career all the way through and all the way into the PRCA. Now I'm a full-time card holder and it's been great. You know, the community from the time that I was a little kid playing sports all the way through high school, there's been so many businesses and people in my corner on our sports teams and all the way through. where I am now that have continued to push me, my teammates, our full team, the whole realm of things and continue to push us to be better. And it's been absolutely awesome and having the opportunity to go from a high school level to the college level and the collegiate as a rodeo athlete. It just benefited me to where I am today with the PRCA as a Saddlebone Crider. I can't give more credit to the people that stood behind me, like my coaches, the community members all the way into college with Robert Atmower being an awesome coach and mentor. then continuing down to Stephenville, Texas with Mark Aiken. was, he was absolutely awesome. He provided everything that we could ever need as rodeo athletes. And on the educational side, I mean, you're held to a standard to be able to compete at the collegiate level as well as high school. You know, it pushed me to want to be a 4.0 student through my master's degree. And I did achieve that goal. That was a pretty big one for me as a student in high school that was a BC student to get my master's degree with a 4.0. That was pretty awesome to be able to achieve that and hit the grindstone. And we also went to the college finals. I went three times individually, but as my last two years at Steamingville, went and we had once

Bailey Small (03:37.257): One kid, he won the nation in the Saddlebone Crieting and both years we had won the team finals. So that was a pretty cool achievement. And we all had the academics to back us and we were all top tier athletes in the collegiate level. It was pretty awesome to be a part of a team like that.

Perry Thompson (03:59.466): That's incredible, Bailey. You know, there's a lot that you said there, but I kind of want to pack just a couple things. One is remind the audience here what sports you played in high school.

Bailey Small (04:16.391): In high school, I played football. My freshman and sophomore year, I played basketball and wrestled. And then I played baseball and ran track as well, along with high school rodeoing.

Perry Thompson (04:35.304): Okay, so 1, 2, 3, So six sports, if you can't rodeo, right? So football, at one point, I know you didn't do wrestling the entire time, but at one point you were doing football, baseball, wrestling, basketball, track, and high school rodeo in middle of all that. Yeah, yeah, you're, you're a little younger than my youngest son, Zach. And so I'm very familiar with, uh, you know, watching you through all through high school. In fact, he played with Zach, uh, football and in basketball. Um, and yeah, I remember you as a, as a younger one going a hundred miles an hour at all times, never stopping. In fact, the biggest challenge I heard your mom complaining about was he, can't get him to do homework. He's always so damn busy doing everything else and all the practices and all the sports and driving back and forth to all the sports and all the events that quite frankly, there was a lot of spare time to even do homework. So, yeah, you telling me that you ended up with a 4.0 and your master's program is quite an accomplishment, Bailey. Cause I mean, I know your parents well and there were moments of exasperation where they loved having you all those sports but they were like, we might have to pull some sports from this kid because I'm not sure if he's going to make it to the next grade at the current level of trying to squeeze in homework with all the stuff you had going. So that's a pretty remarkable journey.

Bailey Small (06:07.789): Yeah, I could, I could remember, uh, it was, uh, it was basketball and wrestling season. So I'd go to basketball practice at three 30 and I would go to basketball for an hour. And then I didn't have my driver's license. So I would leave practice a little early and run across town to the fairgrounds, go wrestle for an hour. And, uh, mom would have some horses and some calves down there at the pavilion. And as soon as wrestling is over, I jog down there and get on my horses. We wouldn't get home until 10 30, 11 o'clock at night. Geez, I'll do homework at school tomorrow. You know how that can go. I was getting enough done to...

Perry Thompson (06:43.242): Yeah, I'll whip it out the 10 minutes while I'm eating my cereal in the morning.

Bailey Small (06:49.357): That's right.

Perry Thompson (06:52.254): Yeah. Well, I mean, just take a moment and reflect. You know, one of the beautiful things about attending small schools in small communities is that, you know, every coach, there's not, they don't have a hundred boys from each class to pick from for, you know, or a thousand boys from every class to pick from to, to round out their sports teams. So. Pretty much if you have somebody that's athletic and wants to do a sport, the coaches are figuring out a way for you to participate in that. So, you know, I kind of contrast that with a lot of the bigger schools where kids are almost forced if they're athletic, gifted enough to even play, then oftentimes, most times in these bigger schools, they have to hone in on one sport and they have to do, they have to dedicate 12 out of 12 months to Yeah, the season is maybe three months long, there are the other nine months they're preparing for that season. So they're good enough to start at the play a lot. so just reflect a little bit about how. In my mind, I know it was crazy, but there's gotta be a lot of gratitude and it probably made you, I'm thinking a much better pro rodeo athlete to just having. the kind of vast variety of different sports and different things developing you in so many different ways, if that makes sense. So could you talk about that for a bit?

Bailey Small (08:25.613): Yeah, absolutely. it is incredible that being in a small town like this, the coaches were so willing to let you be a part of two different organizations or even three at times with, so we'll say basketball and wrestling and rodeo and, and, basketball is definitely a team sport, right? Like you have to depend on your other four players on the court in order for your plays to work and to be successful on the court. But it all starts with the coaching and with the coaching being willing to let students or athletes become multi-sport athletes. It was pretty incredible that they let that happen and they strive to make sure that you're going to be the best you can, whether you're here at practice for an hour or 45 minutes, we're going to strive and make things the best that we can possibly make them. That way, when it comes to Tuesday night or Friday night or whenever the game or the tournament is that

Perry Thompson (09:21.776): you

Bailey Small (09:24.417): We're prepared and we're going to strive to be the best that we can be as a team. And that was pretty incredible. Being a part of the wrestling program was awesome. I mean, we had a great team, we had good coaching and they pushed each other just as hard as we did in the, in the basketball court. So having, having those, they're very different because when you, get on the wrestling mat against your opponent, it's you versus them. And well, when you get on the basketball court, it's. You guys are working together against the other five players and you know, the, coaching staff, think would be a huge part of that because they under, they understand the bigger picture of it and how to make it work altogether. But being willing to let student athletes go from one to another in the same season was, it was huge for me. It, it really benefited me going in to where I am now as a professional athlete because When we go do a practice or we go get on practice stock, you know how to build off of one another. And it continues to push you like whether it's in that practice or it's in entering the rodeos or the strategic planning to make a circle of 2000 miles in four days and stop at five rodeos. You know, it's, it all kind of works together and continue to push to where we are today. And it all started.

Perry Thompson (10:29.032): Yeah.

Bailey Small (10:50.215): as a freshman in high school. And I'd like to say thanks to those coaches for not only giving me the opportunity, but continuing to push me to be the best competitor that I could be in each one of those sports.

Perry Thompson (11:03.528): Yeah. Yeah. And that's the other thing I don't think people realize. you know, you, you were really, got to participate a and every, every sport you had participated in, your teams were really good. It's not like you guys were ever, you know, bottom of the barrel. And, not only were you juggling all of that, you were. in the team sports and even wrestling, know, because I know that's individual but still a team. You guys are still trying to win league or whatever it is that you're trying to accomplish, you know, in season. All of your teams were really, really good and really dominated during that time. So, yeah, that's pretty, it's again, it's a testament to the small community, it's testament to you, it's testament to your work ethic. And yeah, I think. one of the shining examples of what's great about small communities and small schools, for sure. Okay, so I wanna talk a little bit about, mentioned earlier you got a Saddle-Bronk Scholarship to go to college. So, I didn't even know that existed. I didn't even know, mean, I know rodeo is a college sport and it makes sense, but there's a... There's a lot of money invested in rodeo. Like a lot of people don't realize, you know, what it takes, you know, to even put on a rodeo. Just getting all the stock for you guys to ride is a huge expense and a huge logistical challenge. And they've got to be great bucking horses and, you know, they can't just go grab some from the barn and bring them down and have them. have them perform, right? So the fact that there's scholarships exist and there's horse trailers and thousands of miles that you guys are putting on from place to place, and you're not just hauling kids, you're hauling, you know, I recognize in your sport, you get to show up with your gear, but there's a lot of other sports that require the horses as well, know, team roping and some of those other disciplines. So again, I'm shocked that that scholarship thing

Perry Thompson (13:14.022): Exists so tell me a little bit about that. How did you get noticed? And if other kids are you know in a small community, how do they follow Bailey's path? What's the best advice that you have to to follow and chase their dreams like you have?

Bailey Small (13:29.611): Yeah. So, I always wanted to ride in Saddle Bronx. mean, I, I just loved it. I loved seeing the horses buck as hard as they do and the athletic ability of the, of the stock itself. And, when I was a freshman in high school, I told my mom and dad, said, I don't know what we need to do. I don't know where we need to go, but if I'm going to pursue this and continue with a future in it, I need to get a little bit of further education on it. So my mom and dad, got to looking on schools to go to. And it actually was in Oklahoma at the college, Panhandle state and Robert Atbower. He's a hall of fame saddle bronc rider. He's won the world a handful of times. They put a school on out there and my mom said, well, let's go to it. So my mom, I think my grandpa went with me the first time. And I actually went four years to that school every year, freshmen, sophomore, junior, senior year. And we flew out there. went and checked the school out a couple of times. After I went the first time, I I said, I'm going to school for that guy. I mean, Robert Atbower, he's one of the greatest of all time. Why would I not put myself in a position to become what he is under his supervision? So I ended up going to school for Robert and he's seen my progress from the first time I was there to the last time I was there. I seen him at the high school finals twice. And, he gave me the opportunity to go to school there and, cover some out of state tuition and some schooling and stuff like that. And I would say by the time I was a junior in college, he'd, seen that how hard that I was working as an athlete, whether it was roping calves or riding Bronx. He actually even got me back into riding some bulls again. And, I was going to the college rodeos and I was, I was a part of the.

Perry Thompson (15:17.214): Thank

Bailey Small (15:27.777): top six guys on his team. So we, we held the standard as teammates to push and to be the best one on the team that week or, and it went back and forth. There was a handful of guys out there that they were top tier athletes and there as well, they're running down the PRCA trail as well. So going down that path really just boosted us and pushed us to be better. And it your work ethic to a standard and Robert Atbar I would say is the biggest push of that coming out of high school.

Perry Thompson (16:04.147): So we haven't talked about it here, Bailey, but I remember in our last podcast, you had mentioned at one point things weren't going great in college and something changed. Can you? And you were like, really got reinvigorated when I want to be the very best. I want to make it to PRCA. Um, and I might not be remembering that exactly right, but can you reflect on that a little bit for me and on what I'm remembering there?

Bailey Small (16:41.613): Yeah, so as soon as I graduated high school, had, I just got a new pickup. It was a 2004 Dodge. I hooked it to the trailer, put my two horses in and I drove 22 hours to Oklahoma for school. So I get out there and I don't get to go home and have lunch with mom and dad or go home and do some laundry or whatever. I mean, I kind of threw myself to the wolves like that. And my first year I was

Perry Thompson (17:07.658): Yeah.

Bailey Small (17:10.039): I mean, I graduated high school at 120 pounds and just a little guy in a big ocean out there in Oklahoma. And I got out there and school was kind of tough. And the living conditions that I thought that I was in were like, geez, I don't know about all this. And I was spending more money than I was making. And it got tough. And I called my mom. said, I don't want to do this no more. want to go home. I haven't even made it a year out here.

Perry Thompson (17:15.656): Right? Yeah.

Perry Thompson (17:29.352): Yeah.

Bailey Small (17:40.206): I don't know that I even want to be a broncrower anymore. Mom said, stick it out for two years and we'll reassess this situation. So I get through that year. I come home for Christmas and the summertime I came home, I went back out there through my sophomore year. was like, hey, this is getting better. I'm glad I'm doing this. By the time my sophomore year was over, I had seen some... some tragic wrecks that had happened with some friends that they got in a car wreck. Two of them didn't make it. It was a pretty bad deal. one of my really good buddies, he was part of that car wreck. I said, hey man, me and you, we have a standard that we want to hold. We have goals that we're going to get to. We need to live together. Let's figure this out. We're both kinda down here on the bottom. Let's grind it out and let's make a statement. We can both make it to the NFR one day. We just had to put the work in and you and I could hold each other accountable for whatever we have going on. And it was that day when he moved in. I drove to his house with my trailer. We moved all his junk in and he moved in with me. And next thing you know, I mean. We both bought our permits in the PRCA. We were entering crazy rodeos. We were driving all the way to almost the East Coast. We were driving to Florida. We were kind of going everywhere. Our goal started to find light at the end of the tunnel. And from then on, it was like, you know what? We're going to nail this education thing. We're going to accomplish this goal and that goal. And we're going to write our goals down on a list. And we're going to check them off. and check them off and check them off. By the time he was a year older than me, he went to school at Stephenville. The next year I went to school down there. I mean, the only things we haven't really accomplished yet was getting to those yellow bucket shoots in December and it's coming. I mean, both of us have been striving and knocking goals off. And last we were both riding, we were riding the best that we could. So.

Bailey Small (19:59.936): It's really made a turning point for me having having him come into my life, not only as a teammate, but as a, as a sibling or a brother that lived in the same house, holding one another accountable as we did when we were in high school sports or whatever the realm was. You have somebody that's going to push you and hold you accountable for that. It will turn your, it'll turn your whole focus and your goals around to the positive. And that's, that's what happened to me.

Perry Thompson (20:11.059): Mm-hmm.

Perry Thompson (20:19.294): Yeah.

Bailey Small (20:29.985): You know, next thing I know, I get to my master's degree and I said, you know what, I'm going to get a 4.0. I bet I can do better than you. You know, it was almost a little bit competitive. We both graduate with a master's degree at a 4.0 and we both made the college finals both years that I was down there. And it was pretty incredible. You know, it was a great thing that happened and we surrounded ourselves with the right people and it changed both our lives for the positive.

Perry Thompson (20:38.57): You

Perry Thompson (21:01.93): I think of all the things that we talk about, you we're to talk about today. think you really spoke on the most important part of this podcast. mean, if there's somebody young that's, do I become Bailey? How do I chase my dreams? How do I do, how do I get there? I think so many people. don't realize that the people that quote unquote made it or the people that are quote unquote successful, they just think that they've had nothing but just wins along the way. And literally I haven't talked to a single successful person that hasn't at one point or another been down on their knees like I don't. I don't think I can do this or I can't do this or there's just no way. And I have been at a low point and I've had incredible setbacks and moments of massive self doubt. And I just think it's super important for people, especially people your age. mean, you're young and you represent... a generation that's still figuring it out. mean, I'm 55, I'm still figuring it out. I don't think you ever figure it out. But I think so many young people, know, social media has its positive things, social media has its negative things. One thing that I didn't have to deal with at your age is constantly watching people posting about their wins. And oftentimes those wins aren't even real wins, they're fake wins. They're just for likes or clicks or for to hold up this image that everybody's trying to portray that they have it all figured out. They never make mistakes. They never have any failures, which is complete bullshit. We all know that anybody that's been, that is successful and has tasted success has tasted more defeat and more failure than they have tasted success and winning. And you have to...

Perry Thompson (23:03.208): You have to go through that. And so many people I see are this close to getting it. They don't realize how close they are, but they just quit. And the only way you really fail in my mind is just not pushing through that. it, cause if you quit, you're done. You're never, your dreams are never going to materialize because how can they when you quit? And so I think the difference between the people that have great success like you've had and the people that don't is literally that extra push of, you I love what you talked about writing our goals down. So many people don't write your goals down. You have no idea how powerful that is. I mean, I, do it in my personal life. Our business does it as on our whole leadership team. just, this week, Bailey, our leadership team met. offsite for a couple of days and we set goals one, three and five year goals for the entire company and we've been doing that about the last 10 years and it's that and many other things, but it starts with setting those goals and and setting those expectations for the whole team and for yourself, right? And I'm just, I'm just so proud of you speaking of that and really reminding people that there's no shortcut to success. There's no quick way to the winner circle. It's effort. It's getting your balls kicked in. It's being on your knees at times. It's fighting through pain. It's fighting through failure. It's getting back up every single day. And so I really, really appreciate you talking about that. And then just ending with 4.0 and a master's degree. That's really special, Bailey. That's really, really special. What was your degree in, your four-year degree, and what is your master's degree? Can you remind me of that, please?

Bailey Small (25:03.917): Yeah, so my bachelors degree was in consumer science of agriculture under animal science. I actually got a couple minors and like one was in chemistry and another one was in psychology along the way. Yeah, that was I don't think I could teach you or tell you anything about it, but it was the instructor was awesome.

Perry Thompson (25:08.874): Okay. Yep.

Perry Thompson (25:19.242): You gotta be shitting me. You have a chemistry minor? Are you kidding me?

Bailey Small (25:33.461): We grinded a lot of hours out in the lab just trying to figure out little things and this and that. And it was pretty neat. My master's degree was in consumer science of agriculture. it again, he pegged off of my livestock production. So it was, it was pretty cool. It was, it was a great experience.

Perry Thompson (25:49.715): Yeah.

Perry Thompson (25:54.12): Yeah, that's incredible. Okay, so let's move to your PRCA, right? So now you've graduated with a master's degree. At what point did you go pro? I don't know how college rodeo works. Can you be a pro card holder and be in college together or does it have to be separate?

Bailey Small (26:17.733): they are completely separate organizations, but, yeah, you can be, you can be a PRCA holder and in the NRA, which is the college collegiate. So the great thing about like being in college and the PRCA, they work really well together. And if I have a, a college card, which is a Nira card, I can write that on the application for my PRCA permit. And as long as I am competing.

Perry Thompson (26:20.572): Okay. Okay.

Perry Thompson (26:45.373): Okay.

Bailey Small (26:46.995): At the college level, I can stay on my permit, which is just saying that I'm not quite ready to go full out by my rookie card or my PRCA card and go down the road. So it was really nice that they could, they could work out together. Like, Hey, this, this is a student athlete. He's not dedicating his full time to the PRCA. So I stayed on my permit until last year was my rookie year. So I, I finished college.

Perry Thompson (27:08.914): Right. Right.

Bailey Small (27:15.083): And then I decided to buy my card and go that route. So this year is my second year as a PRCA card holder.

Perry Thompson (27:22.73): Okay. So last year you were on a hell of a run there for a while, kid. I mean, a hell of a run. And at what point, um, did you have an injury? I know, I know I want you to share kind of what the injury was and tell us about it, but did the injury kind of slowly happen or was it just one event and you're like, I'm done. Or did you try and fight through an injury for a while at the end to kind of talk us, tell us what happened last season.

Bailey Small (27:49.55): Yeah, so I was, it had to have been August 27th, I believe it happened. I had been going, I mean, we were going to two rodeos a day, trying to grind it out. We had like 30 more rodeos that we were allowed to go to, because there's a hundred that you can go to in a year. And I was in the, somewhere in the 20s, I want to say 28th or something in the standings. I needed to win another 40,000 to be in the top 15.

Perry Thompson (28:14.762): Okay. Okay.

Bailey Small (28:19.597): I drew a really good horse in Pueblo, Colorado. I went and got on him and I knew I made a good ride and I decided that I would jump off. jumped off and when I hit the ground, I blew my knee out. I knew I blew it out. I stood up. I walked out of the arena, went straight into the medical trailer and they said, what's wrong? I said, I just blew my knee out. And I said, I need a doctor's note. I got my phone. calling my surgeon right now. So I texted my surgeon. It was a Sunday at like six o'clock at night. I texted him. He called me right back within an hour and scheduled an appointment for that Monday. I flew out of Denver straight to Texas and he got me in quick. And it was September 10th. I had a surgery and actually yesterday was a really big day at physical therapy. They just cleared me to go back to rodeo. And so I'm, I'm entered on March 15th in Arcadia, Florida.

Perry Thompson (29:20.606): March 15th in Arcadia, Florida, is that what you said? Amazing. let's, that's, buddy, that's like two and a half weeks away. So do you, let's talk about...

Bailey Small (29:31.575): yeah.

Perry Thompson (29:38.42): There's so much there to unpack, but just before I forget, what do you do to prepare? You've been out for, you've been rehabbing, and then you're gonna go get on this 1,500 pound beast and let it rip? How do you go from zero back to 100? How does that work?

Bailey Small (30:00.845): Yeah, so I've been riding horses, just roping and riding around, gathering some cows and doing little things like that and trying to keep myself in shape the best I can. I have a, we call it a spur board. It's essentially a piece of, two pieces of plywood put together that stimulates a horse, stationary horse. I put my saddle on it and I just practice staying in the right body position with. my upper body and then my lower body. want to continue to go through the motions in a stationary spot. And at that point it's kind of muscle memory and making sure that you're in the proper position and everything like that. Now coming to get on a bucking horse. I have plans to go down to Weatherford, Texas, maybe Stephenville, Texas. And I'm going to get on some practice horses, kind of get tuned back in that way. I don't jump straight into the.

Perry Thompson (30:38.207): Mm-hmm.

Bailey Small (31:00.885): right into the shark tank and go after it. I'd like to get on a couple that way. I'm sharpening back up. I want to be a double-bladed knife instead of just one edge on it.

Perry Thompson (31:13.78): Yeah, so you're gonna do that before you go to Florida or you're doing that after you go to Florida?

Bailey Small (31:17.697): I'll do it before I go to Florida, like March 10th is kind of what I'm scheduling in.

Perry Thompson (31:22.314): Okay, okay, okay, okay. And then so it's March 10th. So educate me on, you said we can do 100 rodeos. So is that the max that you're allowed to do in a year?

Bailey Small (31:36.876): Yeah. So the PRCA, it holds like for the saddle bronc riding, you can go to hundred rodeos. And that's all that's preserving is from somebody going to 200 rodeos and winning $200,000. Everybody can only go to a hundred rodeos. You can go to five rodeos if you want, but a hundred is the max. And I think like some of the Ropens events is like 65 rodeos. It's keeping guys from going to so many rodeos and winning money at.

Perry Thompson (31:56.158): Yeah.

Bailey Small (32:06.573): 2,000-ed rodeos instead they are taking the top 15 out of 100 rodeos.

Perry Thompson (32:12.316): Understood. So when does that 100 radios, I imagine that there's some rodeos that pay better than other rodeos. So are you trying to hit the bigger ones and have the bigger checks or is there more of a strategy going actually the bigger ones, there's a hundred competitors and it's better to go to the medium ones or is there like a strategy on how you map out the hundred that you're going to go to?

Bailey Small (32:38.477): Absolutely, so it's kind of off of a qualification I Don't know what you would call it. It's like what my qualifications being I finished 40th in the world I'm in the top 50. I had so much money one I'm at I'm held to where I can get into the majority of these rodeos, but now that the seasons

Perry Thompson (32:57.354): Okay. so you have to have a bit of a resume to even be allowed to enter. Is that what you're saying?

Bailey Small (33:03.917): Yes, especially towards the bigger end rodeos. just coming back, I'm going to try to enter the 10,000 added rodeos for the Bronc Riden, but more than likely I'll get into the 7,500 and lower. Now, the Arcadia Florida, they let me in on my preference day, which was the last day of the rodeo, and that's a 10,000 added rodeo or 12,000. $5,500 out of rodeo. So being able to get my preference on the day that I wanted to go was really big. Last year I went to Arcadia, Florida. I got on a horse that was kind of scary. I was sitting in the bucket and they said, are going to nod? I said, I'm scared. But I ended up making an awesome ride on him. was 88 points and ended up splitting the rodeo with one of my traveling partners, Alan Bor. So it was pretty neat and I thought, know what, if I have the opportunity to go again, I'm gonna go because I like that arena. I like the bucking horses that are there. The crowd's awesome and who doesn't like going to Florida?

Perry Thompson (34:15.218): Yeah. Amazing. Amazing. Dude, that's so cool. So I know you had to heal up. When does the official best rodeo start really hitting it hard? it, is it in January or is it in March or when does, where are you in that? Are you feel like you're, Hey, I'm already 20 rodeos behind cause I've been injured. Or do you feel like I'm right where I need to be right now?

Bailey Small (34:38.859): You know, so that's a, that's kind of a mind trick there because like the Texas swing, the guy that's winning the standings right now, he's at like almost $50,000 ahead of everybody. And that's a lot of money. But last year in the 25 season, there was a bareback rider that didn't go to a single rodeo until Reno. He goes to Reno, he goes to as many rodeos as he possibly can. He makes the NFR. And so I mean, The Texas swing is huge. You can win a lot of money out of the Texas swing, Texas and Florida. The California swings coming, you I mean, you're to have Red Bluff and Salinas and Clovis Oakdale. mean, there's so many good rodeos out here and there's, there's over a hundred rodeos in the year that have over 10,000 added rodeo, an event. So, you know, there's in your mind, you're thinking, I'm, I'm behind, I'm behind, but

Perry Thompson (35:23.177): Mm-hmm.

Bailey Small (35:34.402): really there's still so many rodeos with so much money added and it's only getting bigger. So you just had to remind yourself, you know, there's still so much opportunity to win plenty of money out there. Don't get in a hurry to go and pick and choose what, what, stock contractors you want to enter their rodeos. Don't just go enter a, a podunk rodeo because you think you're behind, like have a purpose, write down your goals, mark those goals off one at a time. And then

Perry Thompson (36:04.287): Yeah.

Bailey Small (36:04.403): If you make it to the top 15 in the end of the year, you do. If you don't, you know what? You're setting yourself up for the next year.

Perry Thompson (36:11.294): Yeah. Love it. Love it. Yeah. That's amazing. Okay. So one of the things that I wanted to really commend you on Bailey, and I think that separates you from a lot of the professional rugby athletes that I've seen is just how well spoken you are and how you really speak with authenticity, I guess is the best way to say it. I mean, you're just a real person when you're naturally complimentary to people that have helped you. You were like, it's not about me. You know, it's about, you know, all the people that helped me get to where I am. You're very humble and humility, I think is a great trait for people to have. But you also have that competitiveness, you know, that's like, Hey, I gotta go. I gotta go. I'm competing every day and you have to have that almost swagger or cockiness or whatever that is. And I think you just do a great job of balancing those two. I'm just, know, every time I have seen you speak, you know, after rodeo or interviews and that kind of stuff, you just do a sensational job. And you're one of the people that people are naturally root for, if that makes sense. And I'm just, really excited for you to get going this season and And God willing, let's keep you healthy all, all freaking season. and, and I know you have to fight through a lot of, a lot of stuff. So that's, that's another thing I wanted to ask about. So, you know, you've been a sports guy and football and some of these sports that you're actually body gets beat. And obviously rodeo is the top of the list of getting your body beat. So how do you manage? taking care of your body as you're chasing these hundred rodeos too. Do you have like, here's plan A, if I stay healthy, right? And then plan B is, you know, I imagine there's like a parallel plan, like, hey, I need a couple of weeks to let my body get right again, and then back at it hard. Or do you like, no, in this sport, you have to ride hurt.

Perry Thompson (38:24.816): in order to, that's just what you do. Can you just talk about that a little bit? Cause I don't have a great understanding of that and I don't think the audience does either.

Bailey Small (38:32.056): Yeah, so your main goal is to stay healthy. So you're going to do absolutely everything you can. mean, whether it's jogging in the morning or doing light workouts every day before you go or, you know, one of my traveling partners, Zach Dallas and I, we both try to hold each other to that standard of, you know, like, hey, let's do a stretch this morning. We'll do a little Bible study and then we're going to do a stretch. And I think that tries to keep you the most physically sound as possible.

Perry Thompson (38:35.977): Yeah.

Bailey Small (39:01.922): But say something does happen and you're sore or you're hurting. You know, I drew good. You know, I've got the best horse of the pen. I'm not going to call it quits today because then you're quitting. You're not giving yourself the opportunity to win. I think it was Michael Jordan says, you miss 100 % of the shots you don't take. know, if you're not taking the shot, whether you're a little sore or not, you're not going to succeed.

Perry Thompson (39:25.022): Yeah. Yeah.

Bailey Small (39:31.625): And, you know, it's expensive to go up and down the road. There's, there's gotta be a time where you say, you know what, I'm, I'm too sore to, to be competitive and to win. So that's how that is. And that's when you have to decide, you know what, I'm, I'm not going to win because I'm, my body is too banged up. But I think you have to have the, the mental capacity to say, you know what I've got, I've got it here because as, as almost any sport. It's 90 % your mind knowing that your body can do it You just have to beat yourself mentally to say, know what? I I can do it have that confidence level that I got this Have the have the backing in your corner saying hey You want to be a quitter today quit go home and make it easier on us, you know

Perry Thompson (40:20.97): Right, right. Yeah. No, it's so true. mean, that's what's so beautiful about, I think just about any sport is the people that don't compete in sports don't recognize how mental everything is. It's just, everyone thinks, well, I wasn't given this God given, you know, incredible athletic body or whatever. Yeah, certainly some people are more blessed than others, right? However, I'll tell you some of the most incredible athletes I've ever played against or seen my kids play against have been the kids that had average athletic talent, but had that competitive kill. There's nothing I can't accomplish mentality as they enter whatever arena they're entering. And just what some of those kids have done has just been a great example for all those people that have the excuses, well, I wasn't gifted with whatever. Well, you can change your mindset. That's something you can control. And that mindset entering every arena and then, and really believing it, it's... It's a huge mental game as you know. So yeah, I'm really glad you spoke to that because that's so freaking true. So true. So, you you said a little bit of Bible study, some stretching, like, hey, I'm getting ready. So I'm climbing on this scary horse. What is your mindset? What are you telling yourself as you're climbing on and getting ready to, you know? go experience incredible violence and adrenaline and all those things. What are you telling yourself to prepare yourself mentally as you go out into the arena?

Bailey Small (42:09.602): Yeah, so every time you draw a horse, you have like a week before the competition, you can look it up, you can find some videos or you can call so and so that it got on it and kind of see what they did on the like the rain measurement and stuff like that. When when I grab a hold of my rain and I'm about to crawl over the chute, I close my eyes. I picture the perfect go at it. I mean, I've done that since I was in junior high school. I close my eyes, I picture it.

Perry Thompson (42:13.64): Thank

Bailey Small (42:37.824): as perfect as it could possibly be. open my eyes, get on and I go do what I just envisioned because the last thing that's in my mind is perfect. know, like there was no room for error on what I just pictured with my eyes closed. I'm going to go do what I just seen. And that's been the biggest help for me is picturing it and doing it.

Perry Thompson (42:58.185): Yeah.

Bailey Small (43:05.026): Sometimes things don't go exactly how you pictured it, but you're gonna keep mashing on the gas pedal and getting it to where it is like that. And it all happens, I mean, faster than you can snap your fingers, but.

Perry Thompson (43:16.712): So fast. Yeah. Yeah. What you just described is so beautiful because that's positive visualization. So basically you're visualizing the perfect run and the perfect bucking horse and you know, a perfect score and everything going absolutely your way. And there's nothing that's going to prepare your body. than your mind telling this is what we're about to go do. yeah, I'm just again, really impressed that, you know, that's the Olympic athletes talk about that exact same thing, but whatever it is, they're getting ready to do there. They visualize ahead of time, the perfect run. so yeah, that's, that's amazing. Good job, bud. Okay. So.

Bailey Small (43:59.151): I kind of feel like if you put yourself in a negative mindset, then you're beating yourself before you even start. You're allowing negativity to conquer what's potentially possible. So for me, I just want to grind it out, put positive things in my mind, and that's the last thing I want to see before I nod my head and go for the best possible outcome that you can have.

Perry Thompson (44:08.327): So.

Perry Thompson (44:27.592): Yeah, yeah. Okay, so we're kind of nearing the end of the time we have here today, Bailey. So can you, is there anything that's important to discuss that we need to talk about before we part here?

Bailey Small (44:43.689): That's a pretty open question.

Perry Thompson (44:46.568): Is there anything that you wanted to make sure we talked about that I might've missed so far, Bailey?

Bailey Small (44:53.07): Not that I'm aware of, know, I I dang sure want to say thank you to everybody that that does stand behind me and continues to push me whether it's a community member or a family member or a sponsor or somebody that's helped me in the past like a coach or something, you know, they They've pushed me when they were with me and they continue to push me after and having that support, you know, it Fills your fills your heart up, you know that There's people supporting you and community members and businesses, family members that continue to push you and they keep your mind sharp and they just want to see you succeed. And that's pretty important to me because the amount of people that have allowed me to stand in my corner has been incredible. They've helped me incredibly amounts in life and in and out of the arena. So I just want to say thank you to those people.

Perry Thompson (45:52.554): That's amazing. So share with us what's the best way for us to follow along on your journey. Is there a good website that you can follow with your name? What's the best way to keep up with your journey this season?

Bailey Small (46:08.194): You know, I would say the best way to go about it is my Facebook. I try to post where I'm going when I'm going there. And I'm not the best at it. I don't have a media manager. I kind of get caught up, whether we're driving through the night and then sleeping and getting on or whatever the deal is. But I try to keep a schedule posted on there for when I'm going and what my plans are. You can watch it on the Cowboy Channel.

Perry Thompson (46:14.378): Okay. Yep.

Perry Thompson (46:29.29): Yeah.

Bailey Small (46:36.486): whatever rodeo I'm going to like Arcadia, Florida, it will be on the cowboy channel, which that'll be March 15th That's it's about that's about it if I if I can keep posted on Facebook or Somebody shares it or something and I reshare it I think that's the best way to go about it because sometimes I enter 10 rodeos and I only go to eight of them, you know, it's Trying to keep it mapped out for people to keep up with me is

Perry Thompson (46:37.15): Yep. Yep.

Bailey Small (47:04.866): Not always the easiest for me, I'm not that tech savvy, but I would say that's the best way.

Perry Thompson (47:07.082): Yeah. Right, right. Yeah, you know what? I'm going to say, you're great. You're savvy at the important things, which is, is riding that damn horse. I don't know how you do it. And then, and then speaking to people and just talking about your passion for the sport. And I just want to tell you how proud I am of you really chasing your dreams. You know, that's, I tell young people all the time, go for it. You don't have a mortgage. You don't have, kids to support and you're going to have those someday. So right now go go go all in. There's no no hesitation. The only thing in life that people regret are the things that they didn't do. Not what they did and failed at or they shouldn't. They should be regretting the things that they didn't even try. So good for you for being out there and setting such a great bar for all of us and I'm just so proud of you, buddy. And I really, really appreciate you taking the time and spending some time with us. And we're to be cheering for you this entire journey, watching the Cowboy Channel and Bailey Small's Facebook page. So again, thanks for spending time with us today and really excited for your journey.

Bailey Small (48:19.63): Thanks for having me today.

Perry Thompson (48:21.448): Yeah, you bet. Okay, so I think we're done, Scott. Bailey, again, thank you. You did a great job. This was terrific.

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