Like a lot of cowboys, Ty Rinaldo was born into bull riding.

His dad did it. And by the time he turned 8, he had persuaded his mom and dad to let him do it, too.

The Grand Junction native won the Colorado high school bull riding title three times, went to college on a rodeo scholarship, competed all four years in the College National Finals Rodeo and promptly began moving up the professional ranks.

Then came a fateful ride at a rodeo in Delta. It was 1993 - nine years into Rinaldo's pro career - and the last ride of the night.

A few seconds into it, Rinaldo and the bull smacked heads. He went flying, landing backward on the ground, just before the bull gave him a solid stomp.

When the medical crew got to him, Rinaldo wasn't breathing. He had no pulse. He was unconscious for 17 hours after a ride in a Flight for Life helicopter.

"That was it," Rinaldo said.

It was his last professional ride on the back of a bucking bull. But it wasn't the end of the road for Rinaldo and professional bull riding.

Today, he is a stock contractor, one of the men who raises and trains bulls for rodeos across the country, including this month's National Western.

"He lives for this stuff," Rinaldo's wife, Nancy, said recently as she watched her husband and a local veterinarian check the bulls before heading to last week's Professional Bull Riding Denver Chute-Out.

"It keeps him involved," Nancy added with a smile. "But it doesn't keep him out of trouble, necessarily."

Bulls are like athletes

Ty and Nancy met at the high school rodeo finals, where Nancy, who grew up in Colorado Springs, also was competing.

They stayed together through high school and college, got married and lived for a while in Oklahoma before settling on 10 acres in Larkspur, where they now raise two sons - Tanner, 11, and Tucker, 7 - and 13 bulls.

In professional bull riding, a rider's score comes from two judges, who each have a maximum of 50 points to give - 25 points for the rider, and 25 for the bull.

With his background in bull riding, Rinaldo knows what it takes to raise a good one - a bull that spins and kicks and bucks, right out of the chute.

Proper genes help, although good breeding is no guarantee.

"It's all in their heart," Rinaldo said. "If they want to buck, they'll buck. If they don't, there's nothing you can do to make 'em."

A bull begins training at a young age, usually with a remote-controlled dummy strapped to its back, in the arena the Rinaldos built out behind their house.

When the bull comes out of the chutes and starts kicking and bucking, the dummy is released, teaching the bull it's done something right.

"It's a learning process," Rinaldo said. "For the first three years, they're trying to figure it out."

As they get older, they have actual riders on their backs, usually guys who come by to practice, picking up some tips from Rinaldo along the way.

Meanwhile, the bulls get regular exercise and are on a strict, healthy diet of grain and hay.

"They're athletes, just like any other person or animal, like a racehorse," Rinaldo said.

And just like people, each bull has a personality.

They recognize Rinaldo when he comes out to train or feed or check on them, but he knows which ones not to turn his back on.

Some will let Rinaldo scratch them behind the ears; others are more ornery.

The younger bulls might seem nervous before a rodeo. The older ones are usually more calm.

"They'll save their magic," Rinaldo said. "When that chute opens, they know it's time for business."

And when Rinaldo loads up some of his bulls to head to a rodeo, the ones left behind have been known to look on in envy.

"I truly believe they like what they do," he said. "They'll look over the fence at me like 'Why are you leaving us?' "

A life he loves

In the hours before last week's Denver Chute-Out, Rinaldo checked on his bulls in the pens and chatted with the other cowboys.

His parents had come into town from Grand Junction. And in the lounge behind the chutes, they hung out with Nancy and Tucker and Tanner and a whole host of cowboys.

The Rinaldo boys learned how to play poker at tables like these, Nancy said. They're so used to growing up around cowboys, they've been known to play practical jokes on the likes of Adriano Morales, the living legend and only man to win three Professional Bull Riding World Championship titles.

But the boys haven't expressed the same interest in riding bulls as their dad or grandpa, choosing other, less dangerous sports instead.

"I'm thankful for that," Ty Rinaldo said.

Rinaldo, who also runs a hay business and is a Monument firefighter, took a few days off his other jobs for the National Western, and his bulls didn't disappoint.

Then it was on to Pueblo, for a bull-riding event there last weekend.

It's a life he loves and one he wouldn't trade for any other. If he could, wife Nancy said, he'd stay outside with his bulls "sunup to sundown."

"I don't know what it is about them," Ty Rinaldo said. "I could sit on the fence all day and watch them."

burnetts@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5343

Rinaldo's lineup

The bulls and how they fared during the National Western Stock Show's PBR Denver Chute-Out on Jan. 15:

Diez

4-year-old is so gentle he'll even let Rinaldo scratch him behind the ears.

"But he knows when it's work time, and in the arena he's probably the meanest bull I have," Rinaldo said. "He likes to hook."

* How he did: Bucked a rider off with no score, spinning in one direction then switching and going the other way. "That is a smart bull," the announcer told the crowd.

Evil Eyes

5-year-old, a fast spinner who will go either way out of the chute

"You never know which way he'll go," Rinaldo said. "If he spins five or six times one way, he'll switch and go the other way."

* How he did: Spun like a top, but his rider stayed on the full 8 seconds.

Flashover

5-year-old whose name comes from Rinaldo's other job, as a firefighter

A solid spinner who bucks hard, came close to making the Pro Bull Riding finals last year.

* How he did: Bucked his rider off and recorded the highest score of Rindalo's bulls.

Okie

4-year-old who was getting his first chance at a Pro Bull Riding event

* How he did: It's possible the bull - a new purchase from Oklahoma, who didn't do much out of the chute - hadn't yet acclimated to the cold weather. Rinaldo said he may have pushed him too soon.

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