Shane and I met when we were 16, born and raised in Miami.  You wouldn’t expect a country boy from a big city but that is exactly what he was.  Maybe it was the way that things took their sweet time in the country, the values that never shifted from true North, or the music that spoke to his soul; but for a boy who grew up in Miami, he had always been country. We stayed in touch for a while after we graduated until the distance took its toll in the days before cellphones and social media; but whenever he crossed my mind, it was always with a smile.

At 19 he wanted more than the cowboy look, he wanted the life. So he went to the Five Star Rodeo and the Bergeron rodeo grounds in Davie, Florida, paid his entry fees, and got on the bull.  “Eight seconds is an eternity when you’re sitting on a bull,” he would say if you ask him what it was like to ride.  It wasn’t long before he figured out he would do better on his feet, so he started bull fighting as the blue and white eyed “Bullseye.” The rodeo took him all over the southeastern United States. It wasn’t long before word of mouth had him booked almost every weekend to draw attention or take the shot.   

He describes the rodeo the way some would describe a storm. Before the crowd rolls in, it is quiet and calm but you can feel something coming in the air.  The energy heightens with every arriving spectator until the whisper becomes a roar.  Words fail to describe the adrenaline rush and you’re either too stupid or too cocky to be scared.   He knew each time he stepped in that he was likely to take a hooking, but the allure of the camaraderie and the pageantry had their hooks in him deeper than any bull could ever manage.  Sometime around 26, he knew it was time to let the next generation take his place so he shifted his attention towards a career and starting a family.  He met the mother of his children when he was 30 and it wasn’t too long before they were raising kids and goats together. Jayden, his stepson, is now a man he feels blessed to call his friend.  Tuff is the one most like him – an introspective animal lover with a heart of gold.  Tripp is his funny, sweet-natured wild child and Masey, the only girl, is the one who roped his heart.  Though he and their mom didn’t make it together, they work hard at co-parenting and giving the kids the best life possible.

As for me, I’m a teacher, an artist, and a farm girl; but most of all, I am a mom to a cool little cowboy who loves horses almost as much as he loves his Mama. He is my reason for everything I do.

Now back to our story… sometime in 2019, after years of being out of touch, Facebook said I might know him.  Seeing his name did what it had always done, it made me smile. So I said hello and we picked up our friendship as if we had never been apart.   As we traded stories and caught up the missing years, he shared his dream of taking another chance at bucking bulls and branding.  Good friends, Bert and Dewey, introduced us to the yearlings we now own – Chasing Green Lights and Running Red Lights. These yearlings were more intense out of the chute than any of the others. It’s a sign of a champion, or so they tell me.

Bull riding, business, and love have a lot in common: they’re about guts, grit, and getting back up after a fall.  So here we are, old friends getting back up after each of us has had a hard fall – dreaming up a business, buying a bucking bull, starting a brand, and raising our kids in each other’s backyards.  We are clearly Off R Rockers.

2023 Update – We fell in love and got married! We’re still building this organization and helping kids chase their rodeo dreams!