BELLVILLE, Ohio - Would-be rodeo riders risk cracked ribs and torn muscles for a few seconds on top of 1,500-pound behemoths at Mike's Rodeo Shack.
Amateur riders travel to this town, about 50 miles north of Columbus, to take part in the state's only bull riding school, run by professional bull rider Mike Yunker.
I'd drive up and down the highway all year for that one time it clicks
said Josh Mohler, a student at Ohio State University. For eight seconds everything works. You're a part of that animal and it's a great feeling.
Mohler comes regularly to the Thursday night rides that Yunker holds at his Ride with Pride Arena, a modest but raucous ring nestled against Richland County crop fields.
Yunker started the bull riding school five years ago. Now 45, he still competes in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Great Lakes' circuit, and also runs a hunting and western-goods store with his sister.
I owe a lot to rodeo
Yunker said. It's the best thing to happen to me in my lifetime.
Between five and 10 cowboys take part in each of Yunker's sessions. He estimates that about 110 students have come through his school since its inception.
Yunker has plans to expand his operation in the spring, and wants to attract cowboys from the East Coast, where there are very few bull riding schools.
Yunker only started bull riding at age 37 - an age when most bull riders have already retired. His passion for the sport has cost him broken bones, torn muscles and numerous stitches - including ones to reattach a nearly severed ear.
Four centimeters
his wife, Gale, said. That's all it was hanging on by when they reattached it.
But those experiences in the ring are invaluable for teaching his students. Yunker has five bulls that he uses for outdoor training, as well as mechanical bulls for indoor training. He also holds calf riding classes for kids as young as 4.
Yunker's sister says the hobby has been good for his overall health.
It really was a lifesaving decision for him
Kelly Potoczny said. Mike had two strokes by 36
he was overweight and a heavy smoker.
However, Potoczny said she was skeptical at first.
I said
`You could have picked a better mid-life crisis than climbing on a bull.'
But Yunker said bull riding was a perfect fit with his competitive personality.
Today I'm 45
but I feel like I'm 25
he said. There's no politics in this sport. It's between you and a 1
800-pound animal and either you win or he wins. And that's what I like about it so well.
Yunker's operation is part of a steady, if little-known, rodeo scene in the state.
Quarter horses are huge here, and the state regularly hosts several rodeos, workshops and shows. A three-day Lyle Sankey rodeo workshop took place this weekend in Mount Gilead; the elite Professional Bull Riders tour stops in Columbus next weekend.
And Ohioans still chase dreams of bull riding as a career.
Mohler, 24, said he leaves Columbus each Friday after classes to head for as many rodeos as possible. He's studying to become a high-school math teacher but would love to turn his hobby into a career.
I love it. It's been a job at times
