{"id":5422,"date":"2016-11-02T07:31:54","date_gmt":"2016-11-02T12:31:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/equestrianinfluence.com\/horsehappenings\/?p=5422"},"modified":"2020-01-14T12:23:20","modified_gmt":"2020-01-14T17:23:20","slug":"bushwacker-mauney-team-surprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/equestrianinfluence.com\/horsehappenings\/bushwacker-mauney-team-surprise\/","title":{"rendered":"BUSHWACKER AND MAUNEY TEAM UP FOR SURPRISE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo by Tom Donoghue<\/em><\/p>\n

By: Justin Felisko<\/p>\n

LAS VEGAS \u2013 The red curtains inside the Showroom at the South Point Hotel Casino and Spa were drawn back and the capacity crowd in attendance of Tuesday night\u2019s PBR Heroes & Legends Ceremony let out a gasp.<\/p>\n

Three-time World Champion Bull Bushwacker was staring back at them, basking in all of his glory as the 2016 Brand of Honor recipient.<\/p>\n

Even two-time World Champion J.B. Mauney couldn\u2019t help but smile as his arch nemesis gave a nod of approval to Mauney\u2019s introductory speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hung on to him long enough for them to say I made the whistle, but in my eyes he is the greatest bucking bull there will ever be,\u201d Mauney said. \u201cPeople will raise bulls their entire life and they will never have a bull like Bushwacker. It couldn\u2019t have happened to any better gentleman that I know than Julio Moreno.<\/p>\n

\u201cBushwacker is the best bull I ever seen in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bushwacker is the 2016 recipient of the Brand of Honor, which is awarded to a bull for his exemplary performance throughout his career, and he also stole the show in Las Vegas one more time with a surprise appearance on stage.<\/p>\n

Quite frankly, it shouldn\u2019t have been too much of a surprise.<\/p>\n

What hasn\u2019t Bushwacker done?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s not forget he filmed a TV commercial inside the MGM Grand next to Leo the Lion a few years ago.<\/p>\n

Still, a large part of Bushwacker\u2019s legend was accomplished in tandem with Mauney.<\/p>\n

The two met 13 times at all levels of competition. Bushwacker won all but one of those encounters.<\/p>\n

Mauney opened his speech by saying, \u201cJulio asked me to speak about Bushwacker here and I told him, \u2018Yeah,\u2019 because he is a good friend of mine. Once after I told him yeah, I kind of started thinking to myself, \u201cWhy am I going to talk about a bull that kicked my ass so many times?\u2019<\/p>\n

Following a laugh from the crowd, Mauney continued, \u201cEverybody always asked me when he retired, \u2018Are you sad?\u2019 And I said, \u2018No, I don\u2019t have to get on him anymore. It was kind of a pride deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The always superstitious Moreno said, \u201cI thank J.B. J.B. was on him 13 times and Bushwacker\u2019s number is 13. It kind of worked out good like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bushwacker set a PBR record with 42 consecutive Built Ford Tough Series buckoffs until Mauney\u2019s historic 95.25-point ride in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in August 2013.<\/p>\n

\u201cCody Lambert said it the best when I did ride him that night,\u201d Mauney said. \u201cI got lucky that night and I did because it could have been 8.1 seconds and I wouldn\u2019t have rode him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mauney called the ride the \u201cmost memorable\u201d of his career. He then went on to tell the audience the tale of when Bushwacker kicked the lights out at J.W. Hart\u2019s annual bull riding in Decatur, Texas, in May 2011.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe scariest time I ever had was on him,\u201d Mauney said. \u201cHe put a lot of stitches in my face, he knocked me out a few times, but the worst one I ever had was at J.W. Hart\u2019s bull riding. The way my luck ran, I was the first pick in the short round, I drew a chip out of the hat and I had Bushwacker. Last guy to go that night, so they are jamming the place up. They have it cranked up. First jump up out the chute, the breaker blows and the lights go out and I am tied to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone said, \u2018Did it bother you?\u2019 I said, \u2018Yeah, it bothered me really bad because I have been on him many times in lit-up buildings and I couldn\u2019t ride him, and I was tied up to him in the dark.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Mauney and Moreno both paid homage to former Bushwacker handler Kent Cox, who passed away in 2014.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only other man in this world that knows more about him than me and Julio put together (is Kent Cox), and he isn\u2019t with us anymore, but that was our joke,\u201d Mauney said. \u201cWhenever I saw him he would say, \u2018Do you remember when he kicked the lights out?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Moreno added, \u201cI also want to thank Kent Cox, who is not with us now. He was part of this. Also, Dr. (Gary) Warner. After his first World Championship, Bushwacker got (injured) and Kent called me and told me he couldn\u2019t walk. He swelled up. We sent him to Dr. Warner and he saved him for us. He went on to two win World Championships.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bushwacker is the sixth bull to be honored with the Brand of Honor. Little Yellow Jacket (2011), Dillinger (2012), Red Wolf (2013), Bones (2014) and Chicken on a Chain (2015) are previous winners.<\/p>\n

There may be no greater animal athlete than Bushwacker, and there is arguably no better bucking bull to have competed in the PBR.<\/p>\n

Bushwacker\u2019s six-year Built Ford Tough Series speaks for itself.<\/p>\n

He bucked off 64 of his 66 BFTS opponents and dumped 84 of his 87 foes since his first out in 2009. He won World Championships in 2011, 2013 and 2014 to join Little Yellow Jacket as the only three time World Champion Bulls.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been on a lot of great bulls, a lot of them do the same things over and over,\u201d Mauney said. \u201cThirteen times he never had the same trip twice. That was because he was smart. When they run him into the bucking chute there was no tricks.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe stood and you moved him around where you wanted to and it scared the shit out of me. He just acted like it was another day in the office. \u2018Just nod your head because I am ready to slam you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Bushwacker\u2019s rivalry with Mauney added to the bovine athlete\u2019s legendary status and the two shared the stage one final time on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you Bushwacker and J.B. and the PBR for making him what he is today,\u201d Moreno concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo by Tom Donoghue By: Justin Felisko LAS VEGAS – The red curtains inside the Showroom at the South Point Hotel Casino and Spa were drawn back and the capacity crowd in attendance of Tuesday night’s PBR Heroes & Legends Ceremony let out a gasp. Three-time World Champion Bull Bushwacker was staring back at them, basking in all of his glory as the 2016 Brand of Honor recipient.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3906,"featured_media":5427,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[52,2044,98],"tags":[1944,1943,1942],"class_list":["post-5422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events-magazine","category-magazine","category-western-events-magazine","tag-j-b-mauney","tag-south-point-hotel-casino","tag-world-champion-bull-bushwacker"],"yoast_head":"\nBUSHWACKER AND MAUNEY TEAM UP FOR SURPRISE - Horse Happenings<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/equestrianinfluence.com\/horsehappenings\/bushwacker-mauney-team-surprise\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BUSHWACKER AND MAUNEY TEAM UP FOR SURPRISE - Horse Happenings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Photo by Tom Donoghue By: Justin Felisko LAS VEGAS – The red curtains inside the Showroom at the South Point Hotel Casino and Spa were drawn back and the capacity crowd in attendance of Tuesday night’s PBR Heroes & Legends Ceremony let out a gasp. 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