Page 21 - 2019_NFR_RodeoLife_V4_complete (1)

Riding the An Interview with

Scott Guenthner

Highs and Rodeo Life: This might be your third consecutive appearance good solid runs. Every round is another rodeo to me and

at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (WNFR), what have
that’s how I stay focused. I try not to let the big lights,
you learned from your previous experiences that will make
everyone talking, and the news and statistics distract me. I
you more prepared for this year’s?
to do.
Scott Guenthner: Just to go night by night and treat every

round as its own round – I mean there’s an average at the end stay to my own little area and stay zoned in to what I need
that does count – but the rounds pay well so even if you don’t RL: Who was your biggest influence when you started
Lows of Rodeo can still win a lot of other rounds. SG: My biggest influence would have been my dad. He was
have the greatest average or be at the top of the average you
rodeo?
a Canadian Champion and won the Calgary Stampede. My

RL: What would it mean to you and your career to go to
relatives are all into rodeo, but it was my dad and my cousin
the Thomas & Mack Center and ride off with a World
that were the big influences. I started bulldogging by helping
Champion title?
SG: It would be a dream come true. I didn’t think I would ever my cousin out since he’s just a little bit older than me and
my dad helping me out right here in our own yard and the
go, or even make it to the WNFR, so to make it three times alleyway. He bought me some steers and I started grabbing
has already been a dream come true. To walk out of there them down the alleyway, flying them out and such.
with a title, I would be speechless – I would have no words
that’s for sure. RL: What was it like following in your father’s footsteps and
winning the Canadian National Finals Rodeo last year?
RL: Are runs different when you are running for a World SG: It was a dream come true. That was my goal when I was
Champion title? How do you stay focused and mentally little – I wanted to win the Canadian Finals and the Calgary
sound when the gold buckle is on the line? Stampede and follow my dad’s footsteps. Winning it last year
SG: I don’t really think of it like that. I just think of it as meant the world to me. I also lost my mom so it was a big
another rodeo. Every night is getting back in the box and deal to win it for my dad and for my sake to make her proud.
trying to do your best. I try to do everything right: not
hurrying, not rushing going to the nose, and trying to make RL: You joined the PRCA in 2013, was there anything you
thought you knew about the rodeo lifestyle that turned out
to be different when you really immersed yourself into it?
Has anything significantly changed since you started?
SG: There’s definitely a difference between Canada and
United States rodeoing. I thought I would go out to rodeo
then be home during the week sometimes, but it ended up
being that I leave and I’m pretty much gone for nine months
out of the year, especially when rodeoing both sides of the
border. Nowadays I’m married and have a kid on the way, so
it's a little bit different. I’m not seeing my wife as much, or my
family, or helping on the ranch like I used to. My family has to
take over my side of the workforce so that I can be gone and
live out this dream.

RL: With being on the road a lot, how do you find a healthy
balance between professional and family commitments?
SG: It gets a little tense sometimes, but I try to be there for
major important events like weddings and things like that – I
try to make it work and enter around them. I come home for
a little bit in the spring, but after that my wife typically comes
to where I am because I’m not home or anywhere near home.
Quite a bit of it is her coming to where I am to watch and
spend a couple of hours together, and that’s just how it goes.

RL: What has been your greatest win so far this season?
What about in your entire career?
SG: It would probably have to be winning Austin, Texas this
winter. It was the big boost I needed in the beginning right at
the end of the winter run. It’s one of those rodeos that has
been a long time and it’s a very cool and good rodeo to win.
As of now in my entire career that would have to be winning
the Canadian Championship last year. I went in season leader ª
Rodeo LIFE 21
PRCA ProRodeo photo PRCA ProRodeo photo