story by Siri Stevens
Jim Arnold is the Bull Riding Director for the National Senior Pro Rodeo Association. He used to ride bulls, but switched to saddle broncs when he was 24. He joined the association four years ago, cracking out his rigging for the first time in 12 years. “I was working, working, working, and Jim was a grumpy guy – I needed something to recharge my batteries and I knew that rodeo could do that. I tried to rope, and ended up pulling a muscle in my back and the horses I was riding were bucking – I figured I might as well be a bronc rider. I had to let my chaps out a couple holes, and I had to get in shape. The first year was rough – they knocked me around hard. But I made it to the Senior Finals – and got the back number. I knew right then and there that was my outlet to recharge my batteries.” Tammy, a real estate agent, goes with him when she can, running barrels.
“I started riding bulls when I was 11, I always wanted to ride saddle broncs but I couldn’t afford the saddle and it was hard to find one to borrow that had long enough stirrup leathers – I’m kind of tall.” He hit the rodeo road when he turned 24. “I went with my brother, Kurt, for ten years, hard all through the 90s – PRCA and amateur. We hit several states, and loved every minute of it. We still get together and talk about it – he lives up in Buckeye and he still helps me get out on my horse. He’s a professional shooter so that’s where he spends his time.”
Jim hung his spurs up in 2000, when he got married to Tammy. “We had five kids between us, and after inventorying my life, I knew it was more important to get a decent job and do that and raise the kids. I hit 32 rodeos between January and the fourth of July and that was it.” He went to work for Northern Pipeline and APF, the electric company in Arizona. “I kept thinking about my own business and jumped out on my own welding and fabricating business in 2005.” The company morphed into a towing, road service, and hauling company. He started with ten used tires and a shop in Lordsburg, New Mexico – halfway between Tuscon and El Paso. “I’m a workaholic, so it doesn’t matter to me where I am. I’m close enough to the big cities.” He has let his son take over that business, Badlands Towing, and Jim spends his time hauling things – working two weeks on the road, and two weeks at home. “I get to see a lot of pretty country but I don’t get to pull over.”
He spends his off time going to or promoting the National Senior Pro Rodeo Association. “The bull riders voted me in as a director in the bull riding, even though I ride saddle broncs,” said the 49-year-old. Jim does what he can to promote both saddle bronc riding and bull riding. “I call myself a rough stock director,” he chuckles. “There’s a couple new faces on the National Senior Pro board. we are all fired up about the association and we are excited to get the association better and stronger for the contestants. We are on the right track.” Jim promotes the conraderie and friendships that the senior rodeo has brought him. “When we have our roughstock only deal in Panguich, we invite the young kids to come and join us. They all say what a good time they have with the seniors.
Jim has one more year in the 40s in the bronc riding to win the world, he’s sitting second right now. “Lance Miller is a heck of a good bronc rider and you’ve got to be on you’re a caliber to ride against guys like that.” Jim stretches every day and he built his own bucking machine that bucks in the front and the rear. “My wife drags it behind the pickup and I practice spurring. I have a total gym too that I try to get on. I make sure I eat right; but the biggest thing to me is that I stretch out every day.” He knows that behind it all is the mental attitude. “You’ve got to keep a good mental attitude and ride broncs in your mind every day. You only perform as good as your competition – the better the competition, the better I ride.” His goal for the future is to ride as long as he is healthy and support the roughstock part of the association. “I want to win as many gold buckles as I can. There’s only three places in the world you can get a gold belt buckle, the WNFR, the IPRA, and the NSPRA – I’m excited to help move this forward.”
Jim’s mom (Pat Arnold) goes too, the 76 year old still barrel races and goes with them when she can. “She’s won more saddles and trophies than all of us put together. She’s a hand and a whole lot of fun to go with. When they say rodeo is a family affair, this is it. Whether we win or not, we try our hardest and celebrate that we can still do it and we still love doing it.”
