AUSTIN SUCCESS HAS HODSON LOOKING SOUTH
March 30, 2010
Logan Hodson was mighty sore last November after suffering a neck injury at the 2009 Canadian Finals Rodeo (CFR). He’s healed up since doctoring out in the sixth go at CFR, and to watch the bareback rider this spring, you wouldn’t know it ever slowed him down.
The Telkwa, B.C. cowboy raked in $4,720 at the recently wrapped Rodeo Austin, finishing up in second place overall in the bareback riding.
“It went really good. I drew some good horses,” he grinned.
An 82-point ride on Rafter G Rodeo Company’s Citation in the first round helped set the pace for Hodson.
“I’d never been on (that horse), and for some reason I thought it was kind of a handful; but, when I got on her, she was just really, really nice,” he said of the previous NFR selection.
Nice enough for first place at the Mar. 23 performance.
Hodson drew a horse by the name of Metroplex, from the Beutler Bros. & Cervi Rodeo Company at the Mar. 24 performance. He was a 78 on it, and placed fourth.
Overall, Hodson split sixth in the first round and earned $158, as well as a spot at the Mar. 27 finals.
He drew Power Play, a horse from the Andrews Rodeo Company, and another NFR selection.
“That’s a horse that I got on last year at Belton, Texas (at the Bell County PRCA Rodeo) and I was actually an 87 on the horse last year, so I knew – I was really excited going in there,” he said. “She actually had a little bit of a weaker trip with me, but I didn’t ride her as good the first time, so I just wanted to make sure I stayed in my rigging and stuff. But she was really good.”
Hodson tied for first with an 84-point ride, but it wasn’t quite enough for the championship. That went to Steven Dent of Mullen, Neb., who was also 84.
It came down to the average, which Dent won by just two points. But still, Hodson is enthusiastic about the money he earned, and confessed that it has significantly changed how he’ll approach the rest of this season.
“I’ve never had this much money won in the wintertime; it kind of gives me money to go now,” said Hodson, who already saves a bundle on fuel costs each year since he converted his truck to run on vegetable oil.
“But I’ve always said over the last couple of years that I’ll see how the winter goes and if the winter doesn’t go good, I’m just going to concentrate on the Canadian rodeos, but now I’m going to go hard and try to make the NFR,” he smiled.
Currently, Hodson is ranked 25th in the World bareback standings – he has yet to enter the Canadian standings for the 2010 season – and has a total of $9,371 in earnings from PRCA rodeos.
By comparison, the 25-year-old cowboy who is also known to compete in the saddle bronc and bull riding, finished up his 2009 Canadian season with a total earnings of $23,310. He earned $13,969 of that in the bareback.
Definitely filled with a new enthusiasm – and the confidence a win at a large rodeo can bring – Hodson plans on getting to as many rodeos as he can this season.
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