story by Lily Weinacht
Sr. Boy World Bareback Riding Champion
“I love being a cowboy. I love roping and riding and everything to do with horses,” says Jacob Raine, the 2018 NLBRA Senior Boy World Bareback Riding Champion. “I’ve done pretty much every event, but bareback was the most challenging. It’s like a boxing match, and what I like about it is that it’s pure electric energy. I told myself I was going to do it no matter what, and I was going to be good at it.”
During the first two years of his roughstock career, Jacob, who hails from Mount Pleasant, Tennessee, says all he did was spit out dirt until he went to a Sankey Rodeo School. “That put everything together for me, and I really picked things up. A judge for the IPRA, Em Crager, got me set up, and Josh Crager, a former IFR world champion, is the one who really taught me the basics, and to respect other people and yourself. And Joe Kissel is the most outstanding man I’ve ever met. I wish I could have his outlook on life, and with the humble way he treats people, you’d never know he’s a world champion.”
Now a world champion himself, Jacob is still hard at the rodeo trail. He’s competing in the Southeastern Professional Finals Rodeo in February, and prior to that, he’ll make his debut at the International Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City as a rookie. The 2018 season was also his rookie year in the NLBRA, and Jacob plans to return to the Little Britches chutes as well, along with running ribbons for Andrew Duncan in the ribbon roping. “Little Britches is the best way to start out, in my opinion. They have professional people putting things together, and legit judges and stock contractors, and I just like the way it’s put together.”
Jacob came into the NLBFR leading the bareback riding, and with fewer mistakes every ride and a new rigging at hand, he was optimistic. “I knew people there wouldn’t be giving it to me and I was going to do my part. After the short round was over, my good buddy Jeremy Fowler tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘You just won this deal.’ It was a goal I’d worked really hard for, and the best way to achieve your goals is to not believe in failure.”
When he’s not traveling to the next rodeo, Jacob enjoys being outdoors, from running track and working out, to kayaking, hunting, and fishing. He graduated high school when he was 16 and works part time for his dad’s company in between rodeos. “I didn’t skip any grades, but there’s times when you’re homeschooled that you have to do a lot more work, and it’s made me who I am and I’m grateful for it. To make a living just rodeoing—it’s been great. Not very many people can say they do what they love and can make a living at it. This coming season after the NFR, I’m going to get my PRCA permit filled and see where things go. I want to qualify for The American Semi-Finals—there’s a qualifier at the Bridgestone arena right next to my house on the World’s Toughest Rodeo Tour—and take it one step at a time.”
