Trinity bareback rider’s mom thought he was ‘a little bit crazy’

Cy Luschen had to talk his mother into letting him become a bareback rider.

Now, she’s watching him compete for a championship in the North Texas High School Rodeo Association. He is one of three from Euless Trinity competing in the NTHSRA Finals on Saturday and Sunday (May 21-22) at Fort Worth’s Cowtown Coliseum.

Joining Luschen will be chute doggers Francisco Gonzalez and Anthony Dickens.

“It took some convincing for my mom to let me do it. She thought I was a little bit crazy,” Luschen said, laughing. “My dad thought it would be a better event for how I’m built.”

His dad — and coach — was apparently correct. Michael Luschen has watched his son, a junior, steadily advance over three years of competing in the event.

Luschen has qualified for the NTHSRA Finals for three years. As a freshman he finished last, last season he climbed to sixth, and this year he has qualified as No. 4 in the final regular season standings.

Luschen remembers that freshman season and said he uses it as inspiration to put him where he is today.

“I go back and look at those old rides, always looking at what I could have done better, and those are the things I’m working on all the time,” he said.

“This season, Cy has really improved his riding. He gets out there every weekend and gives it his all,” Coach Luschen said. “He knows when he gets bucked off what he did wrong and works on improving on it for next time.

“Overall I am very happy with his riding. To go from last his first year to going into finals in fourth this year is great.”

Gonzales was fourth in the chute dogging standings as of this past weekend, and Dickens was 11th. Both are seniors.

Gonzales finished third last season in the regular season and in the finals.

Luschen said he understands why his mother and other moms might be concerned at times. After all, bareback riding can be dangerous.

A rider is almost flat on his back while on the horse — a horse that does not want him there. There’s the danger of getting thrown off, getting a hand caught in the rope, and once in a buck-out event in Stephenville, Cy said he saw a contestant hit his head when a horse jumped over a fence and out of the arena.

“The horse doesn’t know he’s supposed to stop (when the eight-second buzzer goes off),” he said.

Luschen once got kicked in the face. Like the tough guys rodeo contestants are depicted as, he was back competing in about a week.

“The feel, the adrenaline rush you get, it’s incredible,” he said of competing. “I still get butterflies when I go into a new arena.”

This story was originally published May 16, 2016 at 11:20 AM with the headline "Trinity bareback rider’s mom thought he was ‘a little bit crazy’."