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RANCHO RESORT
MAINTANANCE POSITION

Most 15-year-old boys don't keep their belt buckles in a glass display case.

But they're not junior bull rider Cody Wortman.

Wortman's 16 belt buckles represent first place or top 5 finishes at local and national bull-riding events.

Some of his belt buckles are on exhibit in his family's Catalina home. A pair of his chaps hang on the wall.

His newest buckle was acquired after he finished fourth at the National Junior Bullriders Association finals last month in Shawnee, Okla.

"It was pretty scary," he said of the junior national finals. "After I rode the first bull, things calmed down."

Wortman, whose nickname is "Chowdog," is the current Arizona Junior Rodeo Association 13- to- 15-year-old bull-riding champion and the 15-and-under Arizona Youth Bullriders Association champion.

He doesn't exactly know how he manages to stay put on the back of a 1,200-pound bull for eight seconds.

"I know what to do in order to stay on, but I don't know how I do it," he said. "It's just fun. It's something not a lot of people can do."

Wortman was raised around horses and has wanted to be a professional bull rider since he was a child, but his mother insisted he stay off bulls until he turned 12.

"He was so gosh-darn little, but he really wanted to learn," Cindy Wortman said of her son.

He competed in his first Arizona Junior Rodeo Association event when he was 12 and finished in second place.

Wortman was there to document her son's first competitive ride with her video camera, but she didn't record half of his ride because she was screaming at the top of her lungs in support of her son and forgot to follow the action.

His mom accompanies him to all of his competitions and records and photographs all of his rides.

Wortman's 6-year-old brother Tristan goes along, too. Tristan has tried calf riding but stopped after he suffered a concussion.

Their father Bill Wortman died more than a year ago, but Cody fondly remembers his father being there to dust him off when a ride didn't go his way.

"If I fell off, he always tried to make everything better," he said of his father. "If I was scared, he talked me through it. He was there to let me know I could do it."

His father's death has made him even more determined.

"He was very sad, but he did not give up," Cody Wortman's grandfather Don Alff said of his grandson.

Wortman has mostly avoided serious injuries, but he recently tore some ligaments in his right wrist, which is his riding hand.

"I've been stepped on a million times," he said of some of his other minor injuries.

Bull riding is no different than any other sport, and injuries can occur on any athletic field, Cindy Wortman said.

Her son wears the typical bull-riding uniform — a padded vest, chaps and cowboy boots — but he also wears a helmet.

Wortman said she supports her son because he one day wants to be a professional bull rider.

"I think it's awesome," she said. "He has a talent a lot of kids don't have. He excels in everything he does."

Cody Wortman is homeschooled and spends most of his weekends on the road in Arizona competing in different events.

He sometimes wins prize money, which can range from about $25 to $170, and uses his winnings to pay entry fees into other events or to buy rodeo gear.

Entry fees can cost anywhere from $50 to $75 per event, Cindy Wortman said.

He received about $700 after finishing in fourth place at the junior national finals in Oklahoma.

Wortman used the money to buy a calf.

"I want it to be a bucking bull," he said.

When he isn't competing, stock contractors ask the 110-pound Wortman to act as a bull fighter — think rodeo clown without the makeup and costume. His job is to protect a rider, who has hit the ground, from getting tossed, kicked or gored by a bull.

Wortman takes the job seriously.

"If a kid gets hurt, you feel like it's all your fault," he said. "I feel proud of myself when I save somebody."