story by Lindsay Whelchel
Bull rider, Corey Bailey, 25, is used to pressure and the bright lights in a rodeo arena. He’s a four-time qualifier to the Championship Bull Riding World Finals, and has been riding bulls professionally for several years, but this is the first year he’s adjusting to the pressure of incorporating a summer rodeo run in the International Professional Rodeo Association.
He’s clearly adjusting well.
Corey has been consistently picking up paychecks across the country and has risen to the top-five of the world standings early in his summer outs.
A Tennessee native, Corey got on his first bull at the age of 10 and fell in love with the sport. He junior high school and high school rodeoed, picking up multiple state titles. After high school he went pro and excelled on the CBR stage.
Though he did compete in a few IPRA rodeos intermittently in the past, this is his first year rodeoing hard. He familiarized himself with the plentiful IPRA summer schedule and has set out to get on as many bulls as he can to, not only stay consistent heading into the CBR World Finals, but qualify for the International Finals Rodeo at the end of the season.
Corey is recently married to wife Krista, who is studying to become a speech pathologist. The young couple just bought some land and are planning to build a house.
Corey explains that he has enjoyed getting to develop a group of traveling partners and see his rodeo family more regularly now that he’s on the IPRA rodeo trail.
“You meet a lot of different people. At these IPRA [rodeos] you’ll see a lot of people from rodeo to rodeo that you see going up and down the road.”
And that road is only speeding up for Corey this year, so look for him at the next event near you.
