Tough Draw Tuesday: Behind the Miles of Cowboy Christmas
- Kaycie Timm
- Jul 7
- 7 min read
Over the past few weeks, Tough Draw Tuesday has looked at summer run from two angles: first, as one of the most demanding and defining stretches in professional rodeo, and then as a reminder of why athletes, families, committees, fans, and partners keep showing up.
Cowboy Christmas showcases both of those perspectives.
Taking place over the Fourth of July long weekend, Cowboy Christmas packs some of rodeo’s biggest opportunities into a matter of days. In 2026, more than $3 million in added money was available across the stretch, with major rodeos like Ponoka, St. Paul, Cody, Greeley, and Oakley offering some of the largest payouts.
That kind of money can change the direction of a season quickly.
For athletes, Cowboy Christmas is one of the most lucrative stretches in professional rodeo. Dozens of opportunities to earn impactful checks are packed into a short window, requiring strategy, travel, timing, and performance.
For fans, it looks like full grandstands, big rides, fast runs, and Fourth of July rodeo traditions.
For athletes, it’s pressure, planning, missed sleep, and the chance to capitalize when the stakes are high.
It can mean competing at two or three rodeos in a single day. It can mean driving through the night, flying into one city and out of another, catching a ride with another contestant, making quick decisions, and staying ready when the next opportunity comes faster than the last one.
Ask almost any rodeo athlete, and they will tell you the same thing: Cowboy Christmas sets the tone for summer run.
The Kickoff Weekend
In early July, every dollar matters.
The athletes near the top of the standings are trying to separate themselves. Those sitting just outside the qualifying cutoff are trying to break into the NFR conversation. Others are looking for the kind of weekend that can change the course of their season.
For rookie bull rider Gavin Mitchell, this year’s Cowboy Christmas offered a firsthand look at what the Fourth of July run demands. Over a matter of days, he experienced the highs, frustrations, miles, and quick turnaround that define the stretch, ending with an 89-point ride at the Oakley Xtreme Bulls Tour in Oakley, Utah that gave him something to build on.
For other Tough Draw Sports athletes, success showed up across the weekend through several important moments.
TJ Gray captured the bull riding title in Mandan, North Dakota, with an 88-point ride on Dakota Rodeo’s Puckered Up, earning $6,486 and continuing to build on one of the strongest seasons of his career.
Mason Moody added a major win of his own in Mobridge, South Dakota, with an 87-point ride on Sutton Rodeos’ The Dark Knight, earning $9,560.
In Cody, Wyoming, one of the biggest rodeos of the Fourth of July stretch, several Tough Draw Sports athletes added money to their seasons. Carlee Otero finished third in the barrel racing with a 17.16-second run, earning $7,350. Colton Byram placed seventh in the bull riding with an 85-point ride, earning $1,557, while Gray split eighth with 84 points and added $389.
Otero also placed at St. Paul, finishing eighth with a 17.46-second run and earning $3,028 at another major Cowboy Christmas rodeo.
Jacob Lees continued building momentum in the bareback riding, winning Basin City, Washington, with an 89-point ride on Bridwell Pro Rodeos’ Buster for $4,970, among other titles. His efforts over the July 4 weekend helped move Lees to No. 1 in the PRCA Bareback Riding World Standings.
Following an action-packed weekend, Tough Draw Sports athletes Clayton Sellars and Gray both placed alongside Mitchell at Oakley. Mitchell and Sellars split second with 89-point rides, earning $9,541 each, while Gray finished sixth with 86 points and added $2,147.
Finding the Upside
For Mitchell, the Fourth of July run delivered both the frustration and opportunity that define professional rodeo.
As a rookie, the pace of the week can be eye-opening. The opportunities are bigger, the travel is heavier, and the margin for error is small. Every ride carries weight, especially when a strong finish can help build confidence and move a young athlete further into the professional ranks.
Mitchell had high hopes heading into the Fourth of July run, with four draws he thought could turn into money-making rides. However, as is the nature of the sport, those opportunities didn’t shape up the way he planned.
“I saw all my draws come out, and I thought I'd get along with all of them,” Mitchell explained. “My first bull at Cody was supposed to be really good, and I ended up getting a re-ride on him. I rode my re-ride, but I didn’t make any money. The first bull in Red Lodge was supposed to be really good, too. He ended up running off, so it was that same scenario. It wasn't my best week of rodeo, I can guarantee that.”
Despite the setbacks, the rookie bull rider kept his head up and focused on the next ride.
“It was brutal to see an upside to it, but you always have to think positive, and see that it's gonna turn around,” Mitchell continued. “Whenever you think everything is supposed to go your way, adversity hits, and it's all about how you climb out of it and how you deal with it.”
Over the Cowboy Christmas run, Mitchell also drew encouragement from his traveling partners Colton Byram, a fellow Tough Draw Sports athlete, and Creek Young, a four-time NFR qualifying bull rider.
“I'll bring up a slight problem, and they'll be like, ‘heck, that ain't nothing new,’” Mitchell shared of his traveling partners. “It's good to get some perspective from guys that have been there, done that. Being able to hang ideas off of them, learn from them, and feed off of that energy of riding that constant high. Not being too high, not being too low, just being consistent.”
For athletes like Mitchell, Cowboy Christmas is more than a busy week. It is an introduction to the reality of professional rodeo at full speed—something both Young and Byram know well.
“I bucked off one on the 4th, and I was pretty irritated about it,” Mitchell admitted. “[Byram] looked at me, and he just said, ‘That's rodeo.’”
After five days of setbacks, Mitchell’s 89-point ride in Oakley gave him something to build on.
“Yesterday, I had a really good one,” he said of his Oakley bull. “I watched Tristan Mize ride him and win in Pecos, so I was really pumped. There were a couple of boys there that had ridden him, like Jake Gardner, and they were like, man, he feels so good. Throw out your chest and ride hard. That's what I did, and it seemed to work out pretty well.”
Behind the Miles
Cowboy Christmas is one of the clearest examples of what makes rodeo different from most professional sports. There is no home stadium, chartered team plane, or guaranteed paycheck for showing up.
Athletes are responsible for getting themselves and their gear from one rodeo to the next. Schedules change quickly, trucks break down, flights get delayed, and every decision has the potential to impact an athlete’s success.
For roughstock athletes, that might mean riding in one state, loading up, and making it to another rodeo just hours later. For timed event athletes, it can mean sending horses across the country with a fellow competitor and getting saddled moments before competing.
Tough Draw Sports athlete Damian Brennan offered a real-time example this year when Cowboy Channel+ followed along as he competed at three rodeos in one day, showing the pace and planning Cowboy Christmas demands of serious competitors.
Success during Cowboy Christmas requires more than entering every rodeo available. Athletes have to choose where to go, how to get there, and what opportunities make the most sense for their event, their standings position, and their long-term goals.
That is the reality fans do not always see.
They see the scoreboard after a winning ride or run. They see the payout, the buckle, or a jump in the standings. What they may not see are the overnight drives, missed sleep, entry decisions, airport runs, horse care, fuel stops, split-second schedule adjustments, and the people helping make sure an athlete gets from one rodeo to the next.
“We went from Oakley, Utah to St. Paul, Oregon, all the way to Cody, Wyoming, and then to Livingston, Montana, all in the same day,” Mitchell shared of his July fourth run. “We try to switch off rotations on driving as much as possible just so we can get sleep and have something to eat.”
For many athletes, having a solid support system makes the difference between barely surviving Cowboy Christmas and capitalizing on the opportunities the weekend presents. That’s why sponsors and partners matter so much during this stretch. Their support helps athletes stay on the road, chase the next opportunity, and keep moving through one of the most demanding parts of the season.
The Bigger Picture
In spite of the physical and mental demands, the impact of Cowboy Christmas can show up quickly for those who persevere.
A few rides can change the direction of a season. A strong week can create momentum, while a tough one can make the road to Las Vegas more difficult. For athletes chasing their first NFR qualification, the Fourth of July run can be a turning point. For veterans, it can reinforce the importance of staying consistent through the busiest part of the season.
This stretch rewards athletes who are prepared, healthy, strategic, and ready to take advantage of every opportunity available.
“This is how we make our living,” Mitchell explained. “But if you don't keep riding bulls and keep winning money, you go home and get a 9 to 5. You’ve got to have a short memory when it comes to it. It's fairly easy on the 4th run just because you have so many bulls back to back to back, you don't have time to think about what happened yesterday. You only have time to think about what's gonna happen today.”
Across the Tough Draw Sports roster, the weekend reflected the range of Cowboy Christmas outcomes: major wins, important checks, standings movement, and lessons that will carry into the rest of summer run. From bareback riding and bull riding to barrel racing, the weekend showed how much opportunity exists for rodeo athletes.
Why Cowboy Christmas Matters
Cowboy Christmas has become one of the most recognized stretches in professional rodeo because it requires talent, timing, toughness, strategy, and support all at once.
Across the country, competitors chase some of the biggest opportunities of the summer while managing the parts of rodeo most fans never fully see. Standings can shift in a matter of days, often opening or closing doors on the road to the National Finals Rodeo.
For some athletes, Cowboy Christmas brings a breakthrough. For others, it brings lessons.
For everyone willing to enter up, get down the road, and keep showing up, it represents one of the greatest tests of the season. As summer run continues, the impact of this year’s Cowboy Christmas will continue to show up in the standings, the momentum, and the stories still unfolding down the road.
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