From wakeboarding to bronc busting, Rocker Steiner calls his own shots | Fort Worth Report (2024)

Rocker Steiner is not your average 20-year-old — and he’s glad about that.

The name Steiner may ring a bell to longtime rodeo fans. His father was a steer wrestling world champion in 2002. His grandfather was a bull rider and world champion in 1973. His mother, sister and grandmother are barrel racers.

Despite the generational involvement, rodeo was not Steiner’s original path. Growing up, he played every sport except soccer, and fell in love with wakeboarding.

“Rodeo was just the absolute last thing I thought I was going to do,” he said.

But wakeboarding wasn’t going as well as Steiner wanted. His father suggested the then 13-year-old try team roping, but his grandfather encouraged him to try bareback riding.

Steiner had never ridden a horse before.

“There’s no way to gradually get into it,” Steiner said when asked how he adjusted to this new sport. “I just jumped right into it, pretty much. Get on a horse and see what happens. Try to get better from there.”

A strong start to a young career

As a new rider, Steiner drew his style from other riders he looked up to and combined different techniques into his ride. One big inspiration is 28-year-old Clayton Biglow from Clements, California.

“Whenever I was 13, 14, I was always watching videos of the guys that were 27 years old and making the (National Finals Rodeo), winning world titles,” he said. “From the time I was little, I was trying to be like them.”

Although Steiner learned how to ride a horse at the age of 13, he didn’t start competing until he was 18 and able to go pro.

Steiner explained that most people who start riding bareback horses enter amateur competitions to get experience. But thanks to his family, the young rider was able to practice at home, on the family’s 300-acre ranch.

With only two professional sessions under his belt, Steiner is already making a name for himself. In 2023, he finished fifth overall in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.

During his first year in 2022, Steiner was selected as Resistol Rookie of the Year and won just as many rodeos as he did in 2023.

His favorite rides have been Yippee Kibitz, on which he won the Fort Worth rodeo in 2023, and Virgil, C5 Rodeo’s world-record-setting stout, gray horse.

But Steiner is not surprised by how well he’s done.

“It wasn’t like I just surprised everybody that I made the finals. I was calling my shot since I’ve been 16 years old that I was gonna make the finals whenever I was 18,” he said.

When asked about his approach to preparation, Steiner’s recipe for success is fairly simple: Don’t overthink it.

“I just turn my mind off and let my muscle memory take over,” Steiner said. “There’s nothing too much I think about. I never set a trap for a horse, come up with a plan of what I’m going to do. It’s always just the same thing.”

One of the biggest misconceptions about this sport is that it’s more than just a fun hobby, Steiner said.

“I think some people don’t realize that we do this for, like, a living, I think they just do think we do it for fun and that we don’t take it seriously,” Steiner said. “But it’s a job and a career.”

Despite this family’s established rodeo heritage, Steiner doesn’t let the legacy of his ancestors’ winnings — two world champions and several qualifications for the National Finals Rodeo — put pressure on him or overshadow his victories.

Instead, he set expectations for himself, for what he wants to accomplish.

“Of course, there’s some pressure on me, but I just don’t look at that. There’s pressure … that I put on myself — no other people put on me so much,” Steiner said.

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Steiner’s father, Sid, has been supportive of his son’s career path and is excited about the future and what can come next for Steiner.

“I’ve told Rocker he’s better than I was and so I hope that takes pressure off him because there should be no pressure on him because he’s his own guy,” his father said. “He’s done way bigger things than I ever did, and he’s only 20 years old.”

Sid described the family dynamics as “a traveling circus.”

“My wife raced barrels so she and (daughter) Steely kind of do their deal, and I’ve gone with Rocker and then we just kind of always meet up down the road,” he said.

Although Steiner is currently riding his winning streak, he’s not sure what the future might bring. While some people ride bareback for years, the young cowboy from Weatherford is open to the possibilities that can come up later on in life.

“If you’re winning and you’re healthy, you could go as long as you want. I’m probably not going to end up going that long. I couldn’t see myself rodeoing when I’m 30,” he said. “There’s some people that rodeo is their whole life, but rodeo is just a part of mine.”

Sandra Sadek is a Report for America corps member, covering growth for the Fort Worth Report. You can contact her at sandra.sadek@fortworthreport.org or @ssadek19. At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.

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