When Darin Ferguson pulls up in his Black Gold Roofing truck, you find yourself admiring the logo of a cowboy on a bucking bronco on the door. This is because for 23 years, Darin got his kicks riding bucking horses at rodeos. He named his company Black Gold after the Black Gold Resistol cowboy hat he always wore. 

He grew up on a dairy farm in Greenville, Utah, and people would bring troubled horses to his father to work with.

They were horses that other people couldn’t ride, and somehow, little 8-year-old Darin became the rider. His dad would hobble the horses at first so that things didn’t get too wild. But after a while, everyone began to realize that the boy had an uncanny ability to stay in the saddle on most any horse.

“This was pretty much an everyday thing,” he tells me. “At first, I was terrified, but I had a knack for staying on. After a while, I had improved to the point that a horse couldn’t buck me off unless they bucked the saddle off, too.”

When Darin was 14, his father brought home a rodeo bronc saddle and told him that he should become a bronc rider.

“This is a special type of rodeo saddle that has no saddle horn, and the swells in front of the knees are a little larger,” he explains. “The stirrup leathers are a bit forward so you can reach up with your legs. It pitches your body back and enables you to get in time with the horse.”

Being flexible and having a good sense of balance are critical in bronc riding, and apparently having nerves of steel are also a big help.

 

“The first bronc I ever got on was in Beaver, Utah, and it was on a dare,” he said. “I was 14, and my sister, who was a barrel racer, told me that Dad doubted I had the wherewithal to ride a rodeo bronc. So, of course I entered. But I drew the official ‘bucking horse of the year’ called Gray Ghost. I remember that when they opened the gate, I was in the air so fast that I didn’t even know what happened. It was the most power I had ever experienced in my life, and I thought ‘Well I gotta do that again!’

“Riding in a rodeo is a little different. You can only hold on with one hand, the other one is in the air which helps your balance but also gives the horse an advantage. The next rodeo I entered was in Bryce Canyon, and I got bucked off again. So I thought that maybe I didn’t want to do this anymore, and then I saw my dad coming around the corner shaking his head. The rodeo manager had offered me another ride on a different horse, and I told Dad that I had accepted. So I was stuck.

“But this was the turning point in my bronc riding career because I rode that one! After that, you couldn’t keep me off of them. I went to rodeo school and to rodeos every week to gain experience.”

So what is the feeling that keeps him keep coming back for more punishment?

“I guess it’s an adrenaline high and complete feeling of elation,” he explained. “You can’t wait to get on and are so anxious for this wonderful feeling of pure power. In the beginning, it’s just raw power, you can even feel it pounding in your head. It’s electric.”

He says this with such clarity and enthusiasm that you’re practically ready to mount up and ride.

“Then, as your experience grows and you get in time with the horse with the spurring motion, you stay with the power of the horse,” he says.

“Then it’s a sweet floating feeling, like being in a giant rocking chair and those eight seconds feel like five floating minutes. If you’ve made a good ride, you feel deep confidence and good about life. You can’t wait to get to the next ride. Winning is great, especially qualifying for national championship rodeos.”

 

Darin says getting bucked off is not always a bad experience, that maybe the rider lands on his feet, or if he’s got a really bad horse, he’s glad to get off. But there are times when a bronc rider comes off bad and flies into a fence or even over a fence. He’s hoping that his foot won’t get caught in the stirrup or he’ll get stepped on.

“However, there are so many things you can control,” he says. “Horses are very powerful, but you can learn early how to come off fairly gracefully, without getting hurt.

“We use tuck and roll, and we avoid the horse’s feet. Luckily, I have very strong bones, from drinking raw milk from our dairy, although I have had a few concussions.”

Bronc riding is very specialized and each rider rides a saddle that is specifically made for him. Darin rodeoed for Cal Poly when he was in college, and was also in the PRCA.  He says that successfully riding bucking broncos is 25 percent ability and 75 percent mental determination.

“There is a long list of bucking horses that are famous in the rodeos, and riders have a lot of respect for them,” he says.

“They are like human athletes. World Champion Cowboy Ty Murray took some of the retired bucking bulls and horses to live out their lives on his ranch, and he also has a cemetery for them.”

Darin wants to make one thing clear: the animals are not hurt.

“People may think that horses are bucking out there because we are hurting them, but we need to clarify that,” he says emphatically.

 

“Professional bucking horses are raised from bloodlines of horses that are just born to buck. They have wonderful lives, with plenty of feed and time off. They only have to go out and buck for eight seconds, then they are done working. We are required to spur, but our spurs have rounded knobs and you cannot find a mark on the horse’s hide after a rider gets off.

“The bucking strap, behind the saddle, is not put over any sensitive part of their body. It is just annoying and helps stimulate the urge to get it off by bucking.” 

The Central Coast and the valley have a Junior Rodeo program that competes at the Santa Ynez Valley Equestrian Center.

Darin says that he is always ready to help the young rodeo riders.