story by Siri Stevens
Dawson Stewart is the 2021 RMPRA Champion Steer Wrestler. The competition was tough. “The top four guys pro rodeo, “said the 22-year-old from Erda, Utah. “There’s probably 10 guys that pro rodeo out of the top 15 that went.” Dawson was excited to knock this title off his bucket list. He traveled every weekend with Shane Hancock, who won the year end in the calf roping. Dawson college rodeoed for Utah Valley University in the Spring but managed to be a solid $1,500 in the lead heading into the Finals.
Dawson lives with his parents, Corey and Cassie, on five acres, complete with an arena, a steer pen, and plenty of room for their horses; Gunner, his main mount, and six other horses. “I’ve had Gunner since 2015; I won the Utah High School Finals two years in a row on him, placed one out of going to the college finals.” At 19, Gunner is still going strong. Gunner came from Dawson’s cousin, who jumped a few steers on him and then put him out to pasture for a few years. “We got him and took him to a few schools and he bloomed – he’s liking his job. I have a backup horse that I hazed on a little bit this year. He’s green, but I haven’t had the chance to get on him and bulldog yet.”
Dawson started rodeoing when he was young, team roping as a heeler came first, adding cutting, calf roping and steer wrestling as time went on. “My dad always rode colts, team roped, and trained horses for others. I started out riding sheep and thought I was going to be a bull rider.” Dawson broke his arm early in his career riding bulls. “My dad said I couldn’t do both, so I stuck to the timed events.” He roped with his buddy, Zach Harrell, who lived three houses down while they were growing up. He got his start in bulldogging from his older brother, Gage, who went to the Junior High Finals in Gallup, NM, in the chute dogging, and kept going until his sophomore year – he never wanted to jump off the horse.
“I was the younger sprucy brother and wanted to one up him. It kicked my butt for a while – I almost gave up after taking a few good wrecks. By my sophomore year, I put on a little weight playing football, and went to a few schools to learn the technique and it finally clicked. I was learning from the best (Wyatt Smith and Luke Branquino) and it paid off.” His mother, Cassie, has supported him all the way. He has one more brother, Haden, who was more interested in motocross and cars than horses. “He saw me and my older brother fight over our rodeo stuff and decided he didn’t want anything to do with it.” He travels down the road right now in a stock trailer (four horse Cherokee) that has a home-made living quarters in the front.
Competing in four events, Dawson was 2016 USHSRA All Around State Champion his sophomore year. He also took the cutting and steer wrestling year end title that same year. “My junior year, I was one out in the cutting and won state again in the steer wrestling. I was almost a three timer, but missed it my senior year,” he said. He also placed third in 2017 at the Ote Berry’s Steer Wrestling, part of the Junior World Finals held during the WNFR. He couldn’t do any of what he does without the help of his #1 fan, Poppa Dave and all the friends, family, and businesses that have helped him along the way. Thanks to that support, Dawson has 11 saddles and more than 70 belt buckles in the basement. “Hopefully I’ll have a couple NFR buckles to go with them.”
After high school, Dawson went to South Plains College in Levelland, Texas, for three years, competing on the rodeo team. While there, he learned how to shoe horses. He went for one year at Utah Valley University, obtaining an Associate degree in Science. He is back home shoeing horses now, getting ready for the rodeo season. “I’m trying to put it together to hit the road a little bit,” he said. Dawson plans to compete at the NFR and beyond that, “I haven’t thought out that far. I have a big plan of rodeoing right now.”
