Sean Mulligan grew up in Valentine, Neb., going to rodeos with his dad, Bill, in a 1978 Ford Super cab pulling a two horse inline. “His first love was calf roping, but he’s a better bulldogger.” Sean learned from him, jumping his first steer at Paul Cleveland’s school in Ogallala when he turned 16. Sean grew up with three older sisters and made the National High School Finals rodeo his junior and senior year. He was recruited by Pete Burns to the University of Wyoming. “I bull dogged – roped in college, but there’s a reason I bulldog; I can’t rope – I have to ride up and grab them by the horns.”
He started rodeoing fulltime after graduating with an Ag Business degree in 1998. He hit the northwest with Lynn Churchill and had a good fall out there. “I loved the country – and I thought rodeoing was awesome.” His career as a PRCA cowboy includes four WNFR qualifications – 2000, 2004, 2007, and 2011. He met his wife (Bryel Zancanella) in college. “She won the region in breakaway roping every year but her senior year.” She quit roping after college due to a bad shoulder and concentrated on training barrel horses. Bryel was raised in Rock Springs, Wyo., where her dad is a vet. Her initial plan was to go south for college and is glad she didn’t because she met Sean while getting her teaching degree from the University of Wyoming.
“After I graduated, I did my student teaching in Rock Springs, and taught for a year in Brookings, South Dakota. I loved the kids, but I wanted to spend more time with the horses.” Sean and Bryel moved from Brookings, South Dakota, to Coleman, Okla., and ended up in the stallion business quite by chance. “I was riding for some people from South Dakota and found an FM Radio horse for them on the internet. We found another colt, full brother to FM Radio (AQHA Junior Barrels World Champion), that was really nice and bought Lions Share of Fame off the internet from a picture. We got him home and my sister-in-law started him, put him on the barrels, and the rest is history.” They had decided to leave “King” a stud as long as he earned that right. They watched his full brother, Gun Battle, run the fastest qualifying time at the All American Futurity, winning second in the race. After watching that, they decided to keep King as a stud. He won $60,000 as a futurity colt.
Full story available in our February 2015 issue.
