story by Michele Toberer
The road is calling, and he must go. Tim Palmer, 28, knows no other way of life and wouldn’t have it any other way. Whether he was on the road with his family as they traveled across the country with his evangelist preacher dad; or when he was older and chasing gold buckles on the rodeo trail. Even now, as he plans to retire from rodeo competition, he’ll hit the roads sharing his love of travel, fishing, and hunting in the outdoors on his YouTube channel, Generations Outdoors. “I have a gypsy soul and love to be on the road. I can’t just sit still, and although I’m putting up my bareback rigging and will miss the rodeo life; I’ll always cherish these days of travel and friends I’ve made along the trail. I’m grateful to finish my rodeo career after winning the 2019 International Professional Rodeo Association Champion Rookie Bareback title.”
Tim has competed as a bareback rider for 9 years, after his Arkansas friend, Nathan Tuckfield, got him into it. “Home was all over the place while we traveled with a 5th wheel travel trailer as my dad preached at revivals and churches. It was my parents, Tom and Patty Palmer, myself, and my older siblings, Andrew and Julie. Although I called Arkansas home, and lived there for a few years once I was 17; we also spent a lot of time in Pennsylvania, where I’ve now lived since 2012.” My grandpa was a calf roper and my uncle, Brad Palmer, was a team roper. My uncle really influenced me and helped me get my first rope horse and started in roping when I was 13.” Tim worked training rope horses for a couple years for the Baker Ranch, where they raised beef cattle and performance horses when he was 18 to 19. Tim fell in love with bareback riding once he was encouraged to get on his first bareback horse in 2011, and within two months he traded his rope horse for a Mighty Bronc bucking machine, some cash, and a bareback rigging. “I had all the equipment I needed and switched to riding bucking horses. It was way cheaper jumping in a mini-van than hauling a horse around to the rodeos.” Tim competed in multiple rodeo associations for several years, although he had multiple injuries that kept him out of competition throughout his run.
“After bouncing back from injuries, I lost a close friend and rodeo travel partner, Coy Lutz, after he was stepped on by a bucking horse at a rodeo on May 28, 2016. Coy was only 19, and he and I had big goals for rodeo that year that he never got the chance to pursue. His passing was a big motivation for me to continue his legacy and carry on our dream that we had to rodeo hard. I rodeoed as hard as possible until 2019 and was broke down a little, both physically and mentally. My friend Tyler Waltz, a 2018 IPRA world champion bareback rider, convinced me to travel with him in the IPRA circuit in 2019 and let my head clear. It was the best thing I ever did; it felt like a whole new world last season and I had a blast. I had a tough finals at the IFR50 after injuring my back the first round but finished up 11th in the IPRA world standings and won the champion rookie title. Rodeo is an amazing sport that I love more than anything, but I knew this was the time for me to switch my focus to other things.” For his time as a bareback rider, Tim is extremely grateful to many guys that helped him along the way, Tyler Waltz and his dad Dave, Coy Lutz and his dad Doug, Kaycee Field, and Kelly Timberman.
Five years ago, Tim started TEK Tree Service in Spring Mills, Pennsylvania. “I’ve been working as an arborist for several years, and now I’m going to focus on continuing to grow my business. I coach my niece and nephews in their junior rodeo competition and am passionate about moving my priorities to helping them achieve their goals and living for the next generation of rodeo.”
