BY BRETT NIERENGARTEN
In his first three full seasons of bareback riding in the PRCA, Garrett Shadbolt has kept getting better and better and after finishing 25th in 2019 and 21st in 2020, he closed the 2021 regular season No. 10 in the World Standings.
If you want to have a good start to the ProRodeo season, winning big at Circuit Finals, San Antonio, RAM National Circuit Finals and San Angelo will go a long way and Garrett Shadbolt was great at all of them.
At the Prairie Circuit Finals in October of 2020, he won both Go-Rounds and the Average to collect $5,616 toward the 2021 season.
In San Antonio in February, he won nearly $8,000 after going 4-for-4 over the course of the two-week rodeo. All four of his rides were between 80 and 89.5 points.
SHADBOLT ON WOMANIZER IN SAN ANTONIO
At the RAM National Circuit Finals in April, Shadbolt placed in three of the four rounds and his 86-point ride on Spicy Chicken was second in the Short Round. He made $8,610 in Kissimmee.
Two weeks after his second-place finish at the RAM National Circuit Finals, Shadbolt won the Short Round and placed second in the average at San Angelo. He tallied just over $6,000 at the rodeo and was No. 6 in the World Standings at the end of April.
SHADBOLT RIDES NIGHT FLIGHT FOR 90 POINTS TO WIN SHORT ROUND IN SAN ANGELO
After not placing at a single rodeo in May and a handful of small rodeos in June, Shadbolt turned things back on again in July.
He rode his first 11 horses of the month for at least 80 points and 10 of those rides got him paid, the largest one being $7,473 for his first-place finish at the Spanish Fork Fiesta Days on July 24. During that stretch, he also won over $3,000 at three other rodeos - Prescott, Mandan and Sheridan.
SHADBOLT RIDES SHORT NIGHT FOR 89.5 POINTS IN SPANISH FORK
SHADBOLT RIDES ANGEL FACE FOR 88.5 POINTS IN PRESCOTT
In August and September, Shadbolt only won one rodeo, which paid him $1,109, but he earned more than $2,000 at the Douglas County Rodeo (Colorado), Lawton Rangers Rodeo (Oklahoma), Golden Spike Rodeo (Utah) and Tri-State Rodeo (Iowa).
In addition to recording his first two 90-point rides in the PRCA in 2021, Shadbolt also had 29 rides of 85 points or more, which is more than he had for his entire career (23) prior to this year. He also improved his average score almost two full points to a career-high 83.14.
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