One hour before the official start time of the 47th annual Bryan Breakfast Lions Club PRCA Rodeo on Thursday, Shane Semien strolled through the southwest gate of the Brazos County Expo wearing a shirt, red athletic shorts and "normal" shoes, feeling like it was "just another day."
"This feels like home," Semien said, looking to his side at several glitter-covered, Texas flag saddled-horses.
About 90 minutes later, sporting jeans, boots and a protective mask, the 27-year-old Semien took a deep breath and said a few prayers, hoping, literally, for the strength to hang on -- for eight seconds.
Semien is a professional bull rider based in Beaumont, and won the bull riding championship at the 2017 edition of the three-night rodeo, a Bryan-College Station community fixture since 1971. The rodeo is produced by the Sammy Catalena Rodeo Co., whose patriarch is also a charter member of the Bryan Breakfast Lions Club.
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Semien grew up in a family of cowboys and ranchers. His grandpa and dad both rode bulls, he said, and he spent much of his childhood and teenage years around horses and other livestock at the Circle 6 Arena in the Liberty-Raywood area, which is 45 miles northeast of Houston.
Semien is black, and said it surprises him when people tell him they don't know many, if any, black cowboys. "I've always seen black cowboys, so it's nothing different for me to see that. There's a bunch of black cowboys. Nobody looks at us any different around here," he said.
The young men who travel together from rodeo to rodeo to ride bulls "are like family," he said, gesturing at other competitors. That includes his close friend and college roommate, a fellow black rider named Ouncie Mitchell whom Semien says he met at a rodeo when they were young boys. The two riders are indeed close, but Semien said race "ain't make no difference" when it comes to on-tour camaraderie.
Mitchell and two white riders are the ones to help Semien settle onto Hot Sauce, the bull he's set to ride. A Shania Twain song is cut off, and there's a moment of quiet among the roughly 1,000 gathered. Semien said he tries to "get back to the basics" in the moments before riding.
"I spend time thinking, a few quick prayers thanking Jesus, take a deep breath and focus," he said.
Semien's first run of the night didn't go as well as he'd hoped. It was, he said, four seconds that "rode almost too easy," and then, just barely shy of the eight seconds needed to qualify, Hot Sauce threw him off. Moments after, Semien frustratingly recounted a ride that came up just short.
"I'm salty about that one, that was it," he said, emphasizing the last word before shifting his mental and verbal focus to the next run. "Gotta move my feet," Semien said.
Semien said he's glad to be part of a family that has riders of different races and backgrounds, as well as different ages. Paul Simms, 54, is a retired bullrider who lives in Sealy. Simms knows most of the riders on the PRCA circuit now, he said.
"Nothing compares to ridin' bulls, I'll tell you that now. I'm someone who's been there and done that, so I just try and live it with 'em," he said.
Simms, who retired from bullriding at age 31, said the sport has changed in terms of safety precautions since his day. He shared stories of friends who died from injuries sustained while riding bulls.
"Some of these guys ride three or four times a week, putting their lives on the line every time," he said. He added that he lived in Bryan for five years, and competed many times at the old complex on Tabor Road. Simms, who is white, also reflected on the "growing" numbers of black cowboys and riders in Texas, and on improved race relations in the community. "A lot of the black guys doing this now, I rode with their dads. It's gotten better to the point where now, only thing anyone cares about is whether you can conquer these beasts," Simms said.
Joanna Spencer, co-lead organizer for the rodeo, started as a Catalena Cowgirl in the mid-'90s. BRCA regulars know her as "Queen Bee" for her ever-evolving, multifaceted role in planning and executing the event. "I rode for about 20 years, and the last few of those I did double duty, helping plan this while still riding. I have no idea how I did both," Spencer said with a chuckle.
She told a laughter-punctuated story about one rodeo night about a decade ago in which she carried the flag in on horseback for the national anthem, dashed off the horse as soon as the anthem ended, and sprinted backstage through the stables to continue organizing.
Spencer said things were off to a "smooth" start, and she added that she was pleased with both the attendance and the energy on the rodeo's opening night. She said the rodeo typically sees larger crowds on Friday and Saturday. Spencer also said her favorite part of the event is the national anthem, which was performed Thursday night by Layne Lampley, a Catalena Cowgirl.
"I've been in it, ridden during it, watched it, helped plan it -- I get goosebumps every time," Spencer said.
One of the night's most popular events in terms of crowd response was the performance by members of the Austin Anderson and the Texas Trick Riders group, who are based near Tyler. Chelsea Fisher, who said she is in her third year of trick riding horses, called her work "a big adrenaline rush" and said she loves to entertain.
"Live entertainment is kind of a dying art. It's good to get people out of their homes and enjoying an old-fashioned rodeo like this," Fisher said.
The group will also perform tonight and Saturday night.
Crystal Miller, while watching her children enjoy some of the family-friendly rodeo areas, said she came to the event primarily so Margotte, a 15-year-old exchange student her family has been hosting, could experience the event. Margotte is from Toulouse, a city of about 500,000 in southern France, and said she'd never seen a rodeo.
"We wanted her to get to know Texas," Miller said, "and what better place than a rodeo?"
Gates open at 6 p.m. tonight and Saturday night, and the rodeo will start at 7:30 p.m. Adult tickets are $12. Tickets for children 2-11 are $10, and children under 2 get in free.