“I’d rather ride broncs than bareback horses, though,” he commented. “It’s not as much strain because you’re not getting jerked around so much. In the bareback riding you just have to grit your teeth and go on!”

Riding events in rodeo are scored by two judges. Each awards points for the cowboy’s ride and for the bronc’s or bull’s performance.

“If a person turns his toes out on a saddle bronc and spurs hard, he will usually get more points and definitely should, I feel,” said Mahan. “I like to get a lot of iron in the horse instead of just going through the motions. I believe the horse will definitely buck better and, in bronc riding, it doesn’t hurt them, just agitates them a little bit and you get a better buck out of a lot of horses.

“When I do get thrown off, that’s one of the reasons. When you get a lot of iron in a horse, you’re taking a chance of hanging up your spur somewhere which might loosen you up in your saddle and throw you off. If you just go through the motions, you can usually stay in the saddle pretty good and not hang up anywhere along the line.”

LarryMahanSB
Courtesy of Larry Mahan

Like every rodeo cowboy, the 1966 and 1967 All-Around Champion is a completely independent, free agent. He has no manager to arrange his schedule and make life easy for him but that’s the way he prefers it. He studies the rodeo schedule in Rodeo Sports News, plans an itinerary of rodeos where he wants to contest, gets himself entered by the deadline, and arranges to be in each city in time for his ride.

“It takes quite a bit of figuring and a lot of phone calls to get it all organized,” Mahan related. “My phone bill never runs under a hundred dollars in the summer months. You have to call to enter a rodeo and, later, call back to find out when you drew up, positions, get traded out, etc. I usually call a third time to see what stock I’ve got so that I have time to check wuth other cowboys about it if I’m not familiar with that stock. “

Larry Mahan’s rapid rise to rodeo fame has made him a national celebrity and he has been invited to appear on a number of network television shows and to star in the rodeo episode of the TV sports series, The Professionals. While he enjoys this type of work. rodeo is still his first choice and he has changed little from the personable, modest athlete he was three years ago when, accompanied by his wife, Darlene, and small daughter, he set out from Oregon in a pickup truck with a house trailer and practice bucking horse to bid for his first rodeo prize money.

What does the future hold for rodeo’s top hand? Larry Mahan has already invested part of the more than $110,000 he has won in rodeo since 1963 in private enterprise and, since his next favorite activity to rodeoing is flying, he is interested in the possibility of day becoming a commercial airline pilot.

This article was originally published in the April 1968 issue of Western Horseman.

1 2 3

1 Comment

  1. Gary Chambers Reply

    Larry Mahan was friends with BOB Stinnett and Rodeo partners, Bob,s son Robert was my best friend and I grew up with the Stinnetts Bob pasted 2 yes ago, Bob and Larry will be missed both true ledgers, Gary thank you

Write A Comment