Thursday, January 23rd 2020, 2:35 pm
Oklahoma professional bull rider Ryan Dirteater said he's retiring from the sport at the end of the 2020 season. Dirteater, a Hulbert native and 11-time PBR Worlds Final qualifier and 2016 World Finals event winner, hopes to capture his first PRB World Championship before leaving the rodeo arena.
His final event is expected to be November 4-8 in Las Vegas.
“I always have said I would ride until I am 30. and I will be 31 in April,” Dirteater said.
“It’s been great. I love the sport. It is why I am doing it right now. I just love being home. I love my cattle. I love my family. I love my friends. I feel like I have accomplished a lot of my goals, but I haven’t accomplished the No. 1 goal I always went for, which is to win the world."
Related Story: Oklahoma Bull Rider Back Competing After Previous Injury Accident
News On 6 interviewed Dirteater after a bull stepped on him during a Tulsa competition in August, 2019. Dirteater spoke from his hospital bed about breaking four ribs and collapsing his lung.
"There's a saying," Dirteater said. "You mess with a bull, you get the horns. It's true."
Dirteater started riding when he was 10 and has been a professional for 13 years. Dirteater said he'll never forget where he came from.
"That's where my roots are, and where they'll always be," he said.
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