ARDMORE, Okla. ― It may come as a surprise to some thatmaster bull handler H.D. Page was not always onthe back of the chutes with a flank laced through his fingers.
In fact, he spent a good portion of the '90s packing a riggingbag and nodding his head alongside many of the most celebrated bullriders of all time.
During his bull-riding career, Page drew the notorious blonde,bomber Bodacious a stunning three times. In that respect, thesix-time PBR Stock Contractor of the Year is the only person toknow Bodacious from both a rider's perspective and a breeder.
"The first time I got on Bo was at Edmond, Okla., at an IPRArodeo in '90 or '91," Page said. "He smashed my face pretty good onthe way up."
The next time Page drew the bull was at his hometown rodeo inAda, Okla., at a $1,000-added PRCA event. While $1,000 seems likepeanuts for getting on a bucker that usually sent his rider to theemergency room, Page didn't hesitate to cowboy up.
"I guess it just depends on how good of a rideryou are, as to whether you like bulls with his genetics and buckingcharacteristics or not."
He still remembers it with plenty of color.
"K.J. Pletcher had his face smashed pretty goodand had this big, green helmet he'd been wearing. I don't know how,but they talked me into wearing it," Page remembers. "Then justlike before, Bo hit me again, but this time on the way down, rightin the helmet.
"So then the helmet spins around on my head. I could've killedthose guys for talking me into wearing that helmet. I couldn't seewhere I was or how to even get to the fence with this helmet onsideways. I was trying to see out the earhole. It was prettyembarrassing with the whole town there to watch me."
Page's luck didn't get any better when it came to drawing thebovine nobody wanted to get on the very next weekend atAthens, Texas. The bull rider couldn't believe it when they toldhim he had drawn Bodacious a third time.
"When I called back and they told me I drew him again,back-to-back weekends, I said, 'You got to be kidding me!' So, thistime, I got me a game plan together," Page said.
Although Page doesn't think Bodacious bucked as hard the secondtime around, his friends that were present all disagreed.
"I didn't think he bucked as hard as he usually did," Page said."These guys say he did, but either way he was still up and down andcircled around to the out gates. He still hit me in the face againon the way down."
However, this out had a much different outcome. There was nocomedic overtone; just that of disappointment.
D&H Cattle Co.'s H.D. Page attempts to ride Bodacious in1990.
Page ended up staying aboard the infamous bull, but to hisdismay one judge called him for a slap and disqualifiedhim.
"I was going to be 90-something on one side and on the other thejudge said I slapped him. I'm not too sure that I did though.Especially since that judge didn't particularly like me," laughedPage.
Hating Bodacious as a draw from a rider's perspective is onething, but judging him as a producer is another. Since Page is theonly person to both climb aboard the bucker and also to haul bullsthat have Bodacious' blood pumping through their veins, nobodycould give more insight into this multidimensionalbovine.
"I wasn't real high on him as a producer initially, but I'veseen some pretty good stuff out of him-especially his daughters,"Page said. "Most of the Bo offspring are pretty droppy. Some guyslike that style - up and down with a lot of drop, but some preferbulls that are a little smoother.
"I guess it just depends on how good of a rider you are, as towhether you like bulls with his genetics and buckingcharacteristics or not."
Page agrees with many other industry opinions when it comes toBodacious' production performance as a sire. He knows there's alarge amount of Bodacious' blood out there from which successstories have been plucked.
Nonetheless, Page is one of a handful of contractors who canalso appreciate what it takes to promote a bucker as asire.
"I mean there was a lot of his genetics out there, but nobodypromoted a bull better than (Bob) Tallman promoted Bo," Page said."He really pushed that bull to be a prominent sire."
Page has hauled a good number of Bodacious' descendants, many ofthem produced by his daughters, on the Built Ford Tough Series.
One of the most celebrated bulls is 77 Hustler. The most recentD&H Cattle Company bull is a great example of the power ofBodacious' genetics.
Footnote: Sammy Andrews' Bodacious was the very first buckingbull ever registered and boasts ABBI #10000708. Bodacious, whopassed away in 2000, has 23 sons with professional outs, earninghim the top spot on the all-time producing sire's list.
For more info on ABBI, visit AmericanBuckingBull.com and BackSeatBuckers.com.