story by Lori O’Harver
WEATHERFORD, Texas – Just over two years ago, Leighton Berry buckled on his daddy’s old bareback riding spurs. It’s been a wild ride since that moment and promises much more of the same as his career unfolds.
Berry is a high school senior who’s making a name for himself in the rigging like his daddy before him, Kirby Berry. The elder Berry and Pete Hawkins crisscrossed North America together looking to mine world champion’s gold while Leighton was still riding calves and working every angle of the roping events. That all changed two years ago.
“I had a riggin’ bag full of all of the gear I needed and a good coach,” Berry said. “I’d been around great riders like Pete and my dad my whole life, so getting started was a natural step. Once I stepped in, I never looked back. There’s nothing in the world like the feeling of crawling on a bareback horse.”
Since then, he’s earned the right to wear those spurs. In fact, he’s earned the right to call them his own.
“Winners forget they’re in a race because they just love to run. That sums up Leighton Berry,” said Pete Hawkins.
The challenges he’s accepted and goals he’s set and met in his short career speak of a man who’s bound to be a serious contender for years to come.
Last fall, Berry had been reading about the Texas Bronc Rider’s Association Scholarship Shoot Out and wanted to ride to win it, but the timing was in conflict with the Elite Rodeo Athletes semi-finals the same weekend in the Dallas – Fort Worth area.
“I talked to TBRA President Daryl McElroy and told him I sure wanted a shot at that scholarship, but felt like I had a shot across town to qualify for the ERA finals,” Berry recalled. “He did everything in his power to work with me and it turned out I was able to ride and won that scholarship. This year, I’ve bought my card and plan to rodeo the season with the TBRA. I think it’s a neat deal that they’re doing this for us bronc rider guys. Just in their second year and they’ve already improved and grown the association so much.”
Berry cracked out hard this spring, setting his sights on qualifying for RFD-TV’s The American. When he called in to the World’s Toughest Rodeo for St. Paul, Minnesota, he learned there was one open slot left in the bareback riding qualifier. He entered up.
“I flew up there and met as many people as I could. World’s Toughest’s secretary, Courtney Morehead, helped me a lot. They’re all great people,” said Berry. “I like to get in there with the guys who are above my league because I get a little better somehow.”
“I drew a decent horse I’d never seen before and was third on him to advance to the semi-finals,” said Berry.
Berry made the short go of the semi-finals and drew Alberta’s C5 Rodeo’s #703 Shaking. Wyatt Bloom, another young qualifier, had seen the horse before and gave him all the help he could.
“In life and in the arena, there are two words my dad raised me with, ‘bear down.’ It’s all I need to hear. Skaking was tough in the chute, but when I nodded for her, all I wanted to do was give it 110%,” Berry said. “She was strong and at about 5 seconds, brought me over her shoulder. I slapped her with my free arm and then she clicked my heels.”
Just that fast his 2017 bid for The American was over. Just that fast, he thanked his lucky stars for the chance to ride and knew it wasn’t going to be his last one.
