are ready for some bull riding?

When I got behind the chute, I've got the feeling of it.

The adrenaline rushed through my body.

Whatever bucks, it just makes my blood rush.

Sometimes if I, like, just go out all the way down to the main road down there and then just come back up.

It's about like, a little over a mile.

I grew up here all my life.

I've always stayed home.

I really enjoy being out here because no one can't really tell us.

Oh, well, you can't go there.

You can't do that.

He is so cute and small.

Being around my animals is what I usually did most of the time.

Most of my horses are unwanted horses.

People never wanted them because of the way they acted.

But my dad always said they're a mirror.

If you're going to act stubborn towards them, they're going to be stubborn towards you.

If you're going to love on them, then they'll love on you.

I would always say, I'll take care of you.

You got to take care of me.

You can really connect to an animal more than you can connect to a human.

There is history of rodeo in my family.

And it started out with my dad.

My dad used to be a saddle bronc rider.

Rough stock kind of carried on through my brothers.

All four of my brothers did bull riding.

My dad got me into sheep riding.

I've only did it, like, a few times, I wasnt hitting every show.

I graduated high school back in 2021.

One evening I was like, you know, I want to get back into riding.

I just want to challenge myself to see how far I can go.

Just knowing that my brothers have it in them, you know, who knows?

I might have it in me to.

It takes a lot of strength to stay on this.

I was shocked when Kristal told us that shes gonna ride at this place And I was like, you?

You're a girl.

They were questioning me.

You have this crazy idea.

There's going to be a lot of people talking.

Okay.

Are you sure?

Bull riding has always been a male dominated sport.

They always say, you know, girls are never going to win against a guy.

The girl's never as strong as a guy.

When you're competing against boys, everything's rushed.

All the boys are standing there and they're like, telling you.

Hurry, hurry.

Come on.

Just because you're your girl, they're going to think you're always going to be slow.

When I first started out, I was soft.

If someone says something hurtful to me, I'm going to go behind the door and I'm going to cry.

I have four older sisters and one younger sister.

Okay.

Here you go.

You're hurting me Being the second to the youngest, it's always been me and her together.

You know, always sticking by to their sides.

It's always my little sister who tries to encourage me in bull riding.

It's kind of the reason I push myself a little harder.

Let's go to practice.

Let's go to the neighbors.

You know, he has cows.

He has steers.

In that very first practice, it was just me and her.

First time back.

I was really terrified.

Bull riding is a dangerous sport.

Anything can happen.

You can get stepped.

You can get kicked.

You can break bones.

You can fracture.

I've seen people get injured and just never get back into the sport.

When I first got on, I was nervous, like, oh my gosh, am I really going to do this?

When you're on top of the bull, you don't hear much, but yourself.

You don't see much.

You're scared to fall off.

You're scared to hit the ground.

It takes a few hard hits to overcome the fear.

But then I enjoyed the adrenaline, you know, rushing through my body.

It's like getting on a roller coaster.

We tried to get on at least 2 to 3 bulls.

It was trash.

We kept getting bucked off.

We kept getting hurt.

I kind of lost a little bit of confidence.

Maybe I wasn't, like, getting anywhere.

It was because Kirstin was already getting down everything.

Oh my God.

There was a moment where gosh, I don't even know if I should continue because I felt like I sucked.

Fixing the fences.

I've been dressed like this.

Sorry, I don't wear jacket over my outfit.

Hey!

Cut it out!

Move!

Its gonna hit you.

Told you.

When I felt, like, shitty about me falling off continuously, Kirstin really kept pushing me.

Sheve seen me got bucked off a lot of horses.

And we've done a lot of crazy things together, so she's like, I've seen you do this before.

You can do it.

It's only going to get better.

You just got to work a little bit harder.

And that's when I was just like, okay, well, let's just keep going.

Eventually, you'll fall off again.

But you'll know a little more about it.

And then you try it again.

From when I first started to now my form improved a lot more.

My back was straight.

My chin was tucked.

My legs are just right on it.

That's what made me happy.

I like the way he's sitting on this.

My brothers making a name for themselves makes me feel encouraged because our families are well known.

But they've never heard of the Puente girls.

It's always been the Puente boys.

I kind of want to prove my parent as being a girl.

I can still make it through.

I was really making the effort.

And that's when my dad was like, okay, well, there's a show, like a few hours from here.

Do you want to go?

I didn't expect to step out of my little bubble and go out further to different bull ridings.

Oh, gosh.

I don't know.

Im getting nervous.

I wasn't, like, expecting it to be this bad, but I think it's just because I feel like Im a long way from home I'm still sore from practice last weekend.

Whoa.

Two.

I was always told the audience goes there to be entertained.

The rider goes there to compete for the money.

But this is just something I want to challenge myself with.

It's a competition with myself, with my mind, with my body.

When we're all behind the chute, there will be guys that will huddle around you.

It just makes everything louder.

When I started stapping up, I was immune to the loud music.

To the crowd, to the spotlight.

It's like turn a button on.

Everything felt so normal.

It felt like.

Okay, I was born into it.

Kristal changed a lot after she got into bull riding.

She sat down with me and her dad, and said, oh, dad, I want to buy a bull.

I want to start my own contract.

And that really changed her to where she wants to do something for herself.

We named him Sriracha after, like bucking him a few times.

He's crazy Why you got to be so mad?

Get your head back in there.

Okay, now I better throw this in.

You ready, Sage?

You ready?

Roll your pants up.

To make sure the whole thing's on right.

Go!

Use your legs, your hips and your arm, your upper bodies and all work at the same time.

Now go.

Reach!

Throw your hips.

Reach!

Throw your hips.

Look straight down.

Try to stay up.

Try to stay up.

I encourage my nieces to do bull riding because I want them to feel strong.

I want them to feel like they have my full support in doing something that other people will tell them not to do.

As a girl, I know what it takes.

You want everyone to get up.

You want everyone to continue.

You know, with bull riding.

Don't let go, okay?

Don't let go.

Sit up on your rope, babe.

Sit up on your rope.

Always look right here, okay?

Like right here, babe.

You ready?

Good job, Sage!