Episode 013 - PRCA Bull Rider, Laramie Mosley

Taylor McAdams: You're listening to the kick your boots up podcast where we swap stories of the West. Whether you're just waking up or getting in for the day, come on in and kick your boots up. Joining us on the Kick Your Boots Up podcast today is PRCA cowboy Laramie Mosley. Laramie, you're from Palestine, Texas, so not very far from Justin at all. Thank you so much for being here. And taking the time out of your busy schedule, it looks like you're home this time. So that sounds fun, we'll have to talk about all your different travels that you're up to. But first of all, I just want to say thank you for being on today.

Laramie Mosley: Thanks for having me. I really enjoy it.

Taylor McAdams: And there's a lot of people out there that might not know your story or know much about you, since you are kind of newer into the scene. So talk to us about yourself and tell us a little bit about where your your background, how you got started in rodeo, all of it.

Laramie Mosley: Yeah, so I was born in Corsicana, Texas, just not very far from here, it's like 45 minutes or something. But then my parents manage the feed yard in Kansas and Colorado for a long time. And I just kind of picked up the cowboy from their checkin' cattle every day. And always thought it would be fun to I guess, try my hand to one of them big scary things. And one thing led to another and now we're here took a long time. But I like we're on the right path now.

Taylor McAdams: I definitely say so rodeo has become your your gig for sure. And what's interesting about you, and we'll get into this probably a little bit later is that you're a bull rider by trade, but you're actually a pretty good hand with horses too. You train horses on the side, is that right?

Laramie Mosley: I try to every now and then I do have a pretty big clientele base. Now, I buy some and sell some for some people and write a bunch of outside colts and start some. And it's, it's a good way to pass the time and keep me busy. And you don't think there's anything better if you're board and than riding the horse. So it's all that like me and my traveling partner Trey Benton and we'll get together every week or two. And we rope steers and couple other things. So it's always a good time.

Taylor McAdams: Oh, that definitely is and one day that will come in handy when you get to have the opportunity to go for the all around title. I'm sure that's a big dream too. But before we get ahead of ourselves, let's talk about your background and how you got started. Tell us about how you got started in rodeo.

Laramie Mosley: So my mother, she actually entered me in like some little Junior rodeos and gymkhanas and I mean as as a little kid, they always make your run barrels and do the pole bend and then a goat tying and I always thought it'd be cool to rope calves. So I didn't mind the goat tying. But the rest of it really never did intrigue me that much. I just had to do it anyways until I was old enough to get on calves and tried my hand at that and was horrified of a little baby calf. And I don't know, I guess I just liked the adrenaline of it and one thing led to another, and then I entered some like little britches rodeos and got on Junior bulls, and I was hooked from there. Especially like growing up always watching the big RFD and all the old extreme bulls back then and champions challengers that really set it off. And I was like, I want to be one of those guys when I grow up.

Taylor McAdams: And from that moment on the rest is history, you were hooked. And this is kind of funny. You mentioned that in the beginning. You didn't really necessarily love all the other Junior Rodeo events. But I've got to ask did you ever participate or compete in the goat undecorating class or contest?

Laramie Mosley: No, I never. We never even had such a thing when I was little. Wow your stuff there is nowadays

Taylor McAdams: Did you ever get to ride sheep mutton bustin'?

Laramie Mosley: Yeah, actually rode sheep for a couple years. And I was always really little as a kid. So I was older than all the other kids but still weighed my 90 pounds. And oh, one year I weighed 91 pounds and was devastated. I didn't get to grab my sheep. So I went and ran back to the house and ran back cut my extra pound. And needless to say, the sheep ended up flipping over on me and I said whatever. I'm just gonna start riding calves.

Taylor McAdams: You know that mutton bustin is taken pretty seriously. So I can imagine you trying to get that one last ride. Kind of going back to your family's history, you mentioned that they had a salebarn and so talk to us about life growing up there.

Laramie Mosley: Um, they managed feed yards when I was really young and it was the best thing I could ever do. And I always enjoy it waking up early in the morning, going and riding in the feed truck with my mom and then we dragged pins in the afternoon and I just loved everything about it. I didn't really like the confinement of the feed yard but I'd rather be outside or doing something along those lines and always knew it as a kid. So once I got older and figured out that's kind of the direction I wanted to go and I'll stay in the feed yards it was a lot better on me and I I liked it a lot more.

Taylor McAdams: Have you been fun for you ride along in the truck and listening to all the stories and seeing the day to day life? But can you recall back to a time to your first memory whether that be at the feed yards or of rodeo and just something that comes to mind as a little kid thinking wow, that's that's a cool way of life in rural America.

Laramie Mosley: Yeah, no, it's just, I guess it was always just kind of bred into me. And like, my mom, she's pretty old school cowboy. And like my, her dad raised a bunch of cutters and showed a bunch. So I remember one time when I was sitting in the feed yard or in the feed truck with her and I just like that there's just no better life and watch the sun, come up and have a cup of coffee and just look at your cows. And that's always been a dream of mine is to have my own set of them and be able to wake up, open my front door and just have a bunch of horses and cows in my front yard and just get to go check them.

Taylor McAdams: And you are living that dream right now. In fact, do you often take horses to different sales, right?

Laramie Mosley: Yep, yep. I went to Billings, Montana for a horse sale a couple of weeks ago, and I got to buy a little bit and went to Lufkin and sold a horse the other day, and then I bought my first set of cows the other day and kicked them out. So it's all coming together.

Taylor McAdams: Oh, it really is. And you're the true example of a cowboy. So way to keep the West alive through your day-to-day life, but then also in the rodeo arena and and kind of moving on to the rodeo arena side of things. Are there any goals for you for this year? In 2023? I know you had kind of a harder year 2022 So talk about your goals for the future before we go back to the past.

Laramie Mosley: Yeah, shoot. You know, it's every every person's dream to be a world champion, and go to the NFR. And that's dang sure goal for me is really this year to make the NFR. And, you know, really, in my mind want to be sitting high enough to whereI got to shop for the the world title and should it mean the world to me to walk out've that place with a gold buckle? Either now, or I think I got 10 more years in May. So I can keep going at it and keep fighting. Surely they can't keep me down for that long.

Taylor McAdams: Oh, yeah. No. And that's a good attitude to have, especially in the bull riding because you guys have to be some tough suckers to get on a bull. Is that ever scary to you? Whenever you go into this, that you know you're you slowly slip your leg over the bull and you get into the chutes, and you're getting ready to nod your head? Is that ever scary? Do you ever think like why am I doing this?

Laramie Mosley: Oh, when I was younger, I guess but now it's just become such a routine. I get butterflies still and especially like in front of big crowds and where there's a lot of money on the line. I get nervous then but there's going and crawling on one. It's just kind of another day. There's definitely always there's always some fear in there. Because you are 145-50 pound man, get on a 2,000 pound animal that one realm staff and it can be over for live.

Taylor McAdams: And how do you keep your mindset set good on, like, you know, just set on the straight and narrow of like, you got to stay positive you got to keep your head above water and don't let yourself go to the fear fearful thoughts.

Laramie Mosley: Yeah, you definitely have to and like that one thing that really changed my outlook on boron and just really anything that's kind of intimidating is I read a book one time and it talks a lot about controlling your breathing. So like, during the day of that I gotta go to a rodeo or something like and I get a little bit nervous way ahead of time. I'll just start breathing and I'll yawn a lot to just to try to ease my ease my nerves and I say it works. And I mean, it really does. I had to try it one time. And after that it was pretty much game over I can keep myself pretty calm.

Taylor McAdams: That's really admirable too, because not a lot of guys can let themselves relax long enough to enjoy their sport and enjoy their job and you know really take in every moment but I really like what you said earlier, how you weigh this much in the bull weighs this much and one wrong move could make it wrong. I know you've had your fair share of minor injuries. But let's talk about your fractured neck there for a while that really just kind of set the stage for you. You were on your way to the NFR and that kind of set you back tell us about your injury.

Laramie Mosley: Yeah, um, so I didn't know I didn't know my neck been broke whatever. It had been broke up to the time that I figured it out had been broke for like a month or something. My hand was all tingly and numb and I couldn't feel my fingers. I just thought I had a pinched nerve. Well, we ended up going to Lewiston, Idaho, and they made it a to the extreme bulls and got on my first one and he bucked me off and then my next one I just I was over it didn't want to be there and shoot by Lewiston. Everybody is so ready to be home anyways, about half homesick and you've been out there for three months sleeping in vans and hotel rooms and then really want to be there like I said, and he frickin jumped out and it was cold my hand pulled out of my rope and I landed straight on top of my head what I felt like a little turtle and felt like there was something up underneath my shoulder blade. Of course it was right when there was no sports med there so I just went to the ambulance, and he said, Oh yeah, no, you just got a pinched nerve. You'll be fine. Just get to stretch and like, all right, whatever. So Roscoe Jarboe and his girlfriend went and got me a little pack of ice and I laid up in that man and I'm like now leaving, the longer it went, the worse it hurt. I never felt no pain like this before having shoulder surgeries a face surgery like this is bad. Anyways me and, Boudreau Campbell start head of the Pendleton and we drive all night and about noon the next day I woke up at that bed and that's like, Boudreau, you got to pull over like now like this ain't right. I don't know how to fix this. And he got me into an Urgent Care at the end and I took x-rays and sure enough, my, my C five, six and seven were all broke and the middle one was shattered. And it was pinching off that nerve or whatever the the like the little dell stuff inside. Your bones are pinched off my spinal cord, everything in us.

Laramie Mosley: Oh my goodness, like, Well, how about two weeks like you think I'll be getting two weeks go to Pendleton. And when her when the doctors face got white, that's when I knew it was nature serious. She said you are on your way home now.

Taylor McAdams: And how long were you off of rodeo?

Laramie Mosley: Six months. Six months. They told me they told me the doctor had done my surgery said you'll never get on another bull. You'll never ride another bull. Like yeah, okay. So not very good at taking orders anyway. So I put the work in, got my body to where I thought I was feeling a lot better and got on my first one, I was 88 on him. And I'm like, Sure, it's just easy. And then it wasn't easy anymore. They they got to slam on me pretty hard after that. An adventure tested out the neck. But it was just kind of like that all summer I went a lot. And then I kind of fall off for here and there. And then all of a sudden my shoulder come out and they sent me home again four months later.

Taylor McAdams: Oh, man. And that's got to be kind of mentally challenging, too. Because the want to is there the drives there, but the physical, you just physically can't do it. Was it ever? Was there ever a moment in your life when you thought maybe I should stop? Maybe I should listen to the doctors? Or did you know pretty well in your heart that you needed to keep going?

Laramie Mosley: I knew that I needed to keep going. But like you say, you know everybody, everybody got their two cents. And so a couple of my buddies would be like, what are you gonna do now? And like Trey Benton and Lex Oakley, my two best traveling partners, they've, they stand behind me 110%. But when they asked me what I was gonna do, I was like, I don't know anything else. Like, I mean, I know the horse deal and the cow deal a little bit. But that's not where I want to be right now. I'm not ready to give up. And well, whatever you want to do, you just, it's up to you. And then I had some other people call me and tell me that I should quit this and that there's more to life. And I'm like, Yeah, well, you're probably right about that. But what I want to accomplish if if I don't get it accomplished, or at least don't try then I'm going to be with regret for my whole life. So I just as well. And I just as well suck it up and keep going. If it's meant to be it'll be and if not, it is what it is. The cards are going to lay how they may every time so you just won't do what you want to do. It's a short life.

Taylor McAdams: That's exactly right. And rodeo is such a gamble that I love your outlook on it. You're just you know, taking one ride at a time and and that's really cool too. But I'm sure along the way you got to learn and appreciate the the understanding for the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund and I just want to know what is the JCCF mean to you?

Laramie Mosley: It means a lot because that program has helped me through some very tough times. When I first moved to my first move to Palestine. I have no money at all. I had a bunch of fines and the PRCA and I just started getting back on and where I was doing good and trying to get my finances back up. And one of my shoulders come out and they Tandy puts me under and I tried hard I'd got on a lot but it just wouldn't stay in in and I wouldn't ride neither. So I just wasted money at that time. And Danny Regan, the guy that owns United pro rodeo here, it's like man get a hold of that Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund like that's what they're there for. And now I want to be a charity case like it ain't their fault but I'm sitting at home hurt. He said well that's what it's there for just go ahead and use it. So I filled out my form and sent it in and I mean, it got me through that six months like I would have never believed and I even still trying to like I bought little baby calves and tried to raise them underneath this little barn and I bought a handful of colts and one supposed to be riding colts, but I'd hit him up and like little eight by 10 stall and still crawl on him. And just so like when I was back and ready and healed up I could sell all that and have enough money to go well, shoot it wouldn't. Maybe a year later and I got hurt again. I'm like yeah, well you catch a frickin break. And once again the Justin camera crisis funnel is there to back me up and help me along and I was super thankful. Even this last year when I got my shoulder fixed. I wouldn't I wouldn't call in like I figured I had enough money to get through it. And this felt bad and Tom feller called me and he says, Well, you're gonna need some help from the Justin cabourg Crassus fun I'm like man Tom, I ain't gonna lie to you. I'm tired of trying to be a charity case. And I've basically lived off y'all for three years. Let somebody else have that money. He said, Absolutely not. Like, that's what it's there for. And we're gonna help you. I don't care if you put a form in or not, like, still fill the form out. And I still did. He says, You're I'm gonna help you us. Well, I sure appreciate it. I mean, all y'all. They're super wonderful people. And I couldn't be more thankful.

Taylor McAdams: Oh, yes. And what incredible people that are actually on the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund board. If you're listening out there. And you're curious, go ahead and look them up and see the board members that take the time to go through every application and have the meetings monthly, weekly, and sometimes daily, it feels like whenever they have to have calls on things. So yeah, they're very incredible people. And I'm so thankful that you shared your story, Laramie, that's really, really cool. I actually didn't know the most of that. I just knew that, you know, the minor part. So that's really, really inspiring for a lot of people out there who have maybe gone through some harder challenges, like you really could have just given up or, you know, just accepted that you you were done, and you kept fighting, you kept going. And that's just to me, so inspiring. And so thank you for opening up about that. That's yeah, and then to mention Tom to Tom is an incredible man that would give you the shirt off his back. And so that's just really cool that he has that relationship with you and that you have it in return with him. I really am inspired by that.

Laramie Mosley: Absolutely.

Taylor McAdams: And kind of moving on to the different a different part of the podcast. I want to learn more about the behind-the-scenes of rodeo behind-the-scenes of Laramie Mosley. Okay, so I'm just dying to ask what's it like traveling down the road? Do you get to work out all the time? Do you get to sit down and have normal meals tell us about the the behind-the-scenes of the travel life.

Laramie Mosley: If it was up to me, it'd probably just be a bunch of fast food and gas station food because I'm horrible. Like when I get in a vehicle, I shoot to get to my destination. I don't want to dive off and Jack around like I want to get there and be done. Well, Trey Benton, he's going to eat so he's going to eat his breakfast, he's going to eat lunch, and he's going to eat dinner. If you don't let him have it, he's gonna get pretty upset. So with me not eaten, and him eating way more than I do, we're pretty good. Because we kind of keep each other balanced. But other than that, I mean, it's pretty, pretty smooth sailing, like we all get along. And we all kind of have the same mindset of where we want to be at the end of the day. So we all we all get along pretty good and very thankful for all them too.

Taylor McAdams: Oh, yeah. And you heard it here first on the podcast, guys. Did you hear that Trey Benton gets hangry if he doesn't eat. I really love that. And you mentioned gas station food too. That's kind of random. Not everyone would just be okay with or desire gas station food where they're eating some mystery meat. So what's your Do you have an experience that that you remember in particular that maybe a certain gas station has a certain favorite food or a bad food? It's okay, you can tell us.

Laramie Mosley: Honestly, like Casey's, kind of like Northern Kansas and all that they probably have the best pizza but other than that, it's all the same to me. It's just something to fill the hole. I don't really discriminate too much. The only thing I ain't gonna eat is anything that cucumbers on it. I can't stand that.

Taylor McAdams: Luckily, most gas stations probably don't have cucumbers.

Laramie Mosley: If they do, you don't want them anyways.

Taylor McAdams: That's exactly right. And you're onto something there with Casey's Casey's pizza and Casey's sweet tea is the best. I don't know. Have you had their sweet tea?

Laramie Mosley: Oh, yeah. Okay, yeah. Sweet tea and water that's all.

Taylor McAdams: To kind of recoup. Yeah, yeah, that's like an interesting, really good combo right there. Casey's is the best. I'm so glad you said that. I completely forgot about that. That was my favorite part about traveling for rodeo too. But kind of moving on to like the behind the scenes of the rodeo part of the aspect. Bull Riding is it no is normally now there's some cases where it's different. But normally the last event of rodeo so essentially your mind you get to the rodeo early. You check out your ride. You go through your routine there, but then you just have a whole bunch of waiting. Hurry up and wait. Talk to us about what you do behind the chutes to get ready for your ride. What's it like? Is it fun and energetic and pumping up? Is it quiet? How do you how do you guys get ready to rodeo and to get mentally tough enough to throw your leg over another bull?

Laramie Mosley: Yeah,see and like everybody's got a different system. Me personally like I like to be there at least 30 minutes before the rodeo starts just so there's no nothing hectic and I don't ever feel like I'm being rushed. But after that, it's like you say it's a bunch of wait time but shoot I don't like I don't hardly stretch. I don't do nothing like they say if you stretch too much, then your ligaments get weak and all your muscles get weak. So I just kind of sit around and I go help the bareback riders on watch the calf roping and watch the team ropin' I even watch the barrel racing. I watch almost every event. And then I just go through my routine about Bronc Riding time will tape my arm and tie my boots on. And after that I'm just waiting for em to load him. And then soon as he gets in I throw my bull rope on and it's go time.

Taylor McAdams: It is and one thing that if you've been listening to the podcast very Long you've heard me talk. I know I talked to Tim O'Connell about this. But I want to hear your opinion too. Is it hard traveling with your friend, going through life with your friend and then helping him get on the ball get on whatever Rostock event it is, and then also compete against him. That's one thing that's unique about rodeo is you guys are all friends, but you also compete against each other, and it's healthy. So what's your take on that?

Laramie Mosley: See, I don't really think of it as I'm competing against one of my friends or somebody else, like, it's just me and my animal that I got for that day. Like I don't, I don't wish bad on nobody. Like, I'll be the first one. If I jump out there, and I'm 90 points, like, I'm wanting you to be 91. Like, I sure like to win, but you know, I want you to have the best day to because we all everybody needs everything they get. So like, I'm not gonna sit here and be like, oh, I need it more than you do, or this and that, like, I'll be fall off. Like, I've never been that type. So somebody needs help them rat back and helping them tie their hand in and let's see it and have like, I like to see rodeos with a bunch of great boards. Like it makes me feel bad as a board writer that I'm supposed to be if they picked a shout out that night, like, Oh, guys, we got to stay on, we got to get it rolling. I like to see everybody do good.

Taylor McAdams: And that's that's kind of your whole brand, you're really good at giving a helping hand to those in need. I don't think that you've ever been seen to turn anyone down that has a question. And so naturally, I just find myself having to ask what is some advice that you'd like to give to anyone that's not as familiar with rodeo that wants to get started in rodeo or maybe they're struggling with bull riding they need, you know, they need help. They're what what advice would you give them?

Laramie Mosley: Overall, it's a long, hard trip, you know. And just don't ever give up, you know that this life isn't given to anybody. No matter how you look at it, everybody's got to go put their work in and put the effort in and, and be who they want to be. And if you're going to be successful at anything, it's going to be hard. So don't think just because the rodeo game may not be working out that something else is going to be easier. Everything takes its time and everything is going to be hard. So I'd say if you want to be a world champion, whatever event you want to do, you have to put the work in and if you want it bad enough, you'll go get it.

Taylor McAdams: Oh, without a doubt. And I'm kind of gonna toot your horn just a little bit. Because you are you work so hard. And you're a finisher, you finish anything you start and one thing that I've got to commend you for is your degree in farm and ranch management. Give us a second, you know, talk to us about your perspective there, how it aligns with rodeo and how much you didn't think you needed it at the time. But now it's kind of falling hand in hand for you.

Laramie Mosley: Yeah, no, I absolutely did not want to go to college. I wanted nothing to do with it. But going into college made me grow up a lot more like I feel like if I had to jump straight out on the say not went to college not have anything to fall back on. I would have been no good. Test rough for a couple years before I you know, I'd never been away from home that much or let alone be away from people to kind of guide me in the right direction. Once you get out on that road. It's it's every man for himself. Whether you like it or not, it is like it's a dog eat dog world out there. And I didn't understand that. At first I kind of figured like, oh, yeah, like everybody else been raised in rodeo families and this and that, like shoot shadow come, they'll help me. Tell me where to go? No, no, you got to figure it out on your own. And every new kid that kind of comes around, it's kind of funny to me, because they're all asking for help. And everybody's willing to help them to an extent but a lot of them kids now they want babies and have people interim and don't want don't have any desire to go out and actually figure it out on their own, like the rest of us did. And so it's kind of funny to me, but like I had a kid come up to me last week, man, well, where do you think I need to go? I'm like, where's everybody else going? Or what's got the most money? Well, I don't know. Like, what do you look at your journal? No, I just get on and enter everything. When I get the text I just kind of go through and whatever is close to home, and I'm like, but you're gonna have to get through a book, write it down, like figure it out. Because nobody out here gonna help you. They'll give you advice, but they can't do it for you. So just get your journal out and write it down and figure out where there's most money and how you can make it all line up and tie in. Well, nobody ever explained it to me like that. Is your upper hand?

Taylor McAdams: Oh, yeah, that's that's a great advice right there. Especially because when it comes down to it, it is a scheduling. I mean, it's almost like a math problem. Honestly, you gotta figure out how many miles it is to this, how long it would take you here and if you ended up at the same place, you know, what, which one would you draw out of it? It's just so it's, you know, it just interesting to me to see all of the work that goes behind it. And you think that that that work and in the beginning is worth it? Do you think it's paid off for you?

Laramie Mosley: Oh, absolutely. Just because now like, say me and Trey Benton or me and Lex just all decided to split and go different ways. Like there's not a single one of us that's reliant on the other like we're all a team going together and we all have Should out together. So, I mean, I thought if any one of us never knew how to enter, or how to schedule ourselves up, we'd be dead in the water. You got to know how to set yourself up for success, I guess.

Taylor McAdams: Well said I could not have said it better myself. And for everyone out there that's listening. They they're gonna want to follow along and get to know more about your story. So where can we find you on social media?

Laramie Mosley: I'm on Facebook and Instagram. And it's pretty simple. It's just Laramie Mosley. No, nothing. Nothing fancy.

Taylor McAdams: That's what I love it you what you see is what you get. That's, that's so inspiring, as well. Well, let me I think we're almost out of time. So I'm gonna go ahead and end it here. But I wanted to say thank you again for taking the time to do this. I know you're traveling, you're here, there and everywhere. I wish you the best of luck during the cowboy Christmas, the rodeo run and your final race to NFR. We'll be cheering you on this year. And I want to just officially say Welcome to Team Justin. And thank you for being so willing to jump on our brand and ride for the brand. And we're so excited to see your journey and how it all turns out for you.

Laramie Mosley: Perfect. Well thank you very much. I really appreciate it.

Taylor McAdams: Thanks for joining us on Kick Your Boots Up. I'm your host Taylor McAdams and we can't wait to share the next story of the West in children. Feel free to like subscribe and leave us a review. Follow us on social media at Justin Boots to keep up with our next episode. And we'll see you the next time you kick your boots up.