One year after his NFR debut, Zac Dallas is stronger yet and fully prepared to take on rodeo’s biggest stage again.
Rodeo Roundtable got the opportunity to talk with saddle bronc rider Zac Dallas while he prepares for the big show in Vegas this December! Dallas is now heading into his second consecutive Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, sitting seventh in the world standings with just under $200,000 won this season.
It was a fast rise for the Las Cruces, New Mexico bronc rider, who finished 14th in the world last year with $146,220. He came back in 2025 with big goals in mind, and accomplished a lot through the year.
Dallas’ two biggest victories this season were major career milestones including winning the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver and claiming the Turquoise Circuit Finals title in Camp Verde, Arizona. He also won the Bronc match in Sentinel Butte, North Dakota.
That Home on the Range Match stood out as a career highlight for the Las Cruces New Mexico kid.
“I ended up winning that—that was a huge honor,” he said. “My traveling partner had won it twice, and I had seen the bronc saddles they give out. I just always thought that would be a cool one to win. And Denver was another big win. Coming right after last year’s NFR, that was a huge confidence booster.”
When asked about his mindset going into Vegas this time around, Dallas said his goals haven’t changed, he’s just stepping in with more momentum.
“Honestly my goals are the exact same as they were last year,” he said. “I would just say I am in a better position now. I had a good year. I am feeling confident and I am excited to go and get to get on some really good horses.”
Dallas didn’t leave the Thomas & Mack with a huge amount of money last year, but rode well and the experience shaped him into a better athlete.
“I felt like I performed really well and I’m riding even better than I was then,” he said. “There’s different things in my bronc riding that I am doing better or more confident at. So I look forward to having even more success and riding even better this year.”
He calls the chance to return to Vegas a huge blessing.
“I am just blessed to get to go again and blessed to have the opportunity to be there again and win a bunch of money,” he said. “God has a plan and I am just blessed that getting to go to the finals again this year is part of it.”
Dallas spent most of the year traveling with fellow saddle bronc riders Allen Boore and Bailey Small. He is quick to say that his entire journey has been shaped by the riders he admires and now competes against.
“Throughout my career there are a lot of guys that have helped me and that I have really looked up to,” he said. “Taos Muncy, I mean he has always been in my corner helping me a lot. Then there are guys like Cody Wright, Billy Etbauer I look up to you know, and then obviously the guys I am riding against too like Zeke or Wyatt Casper. I sure look up to them.”
One of his favorite parts of the experience is being inside the locker room itself, which symbolizes reaching the top with the very best around you.
“Just being in there with the boys before and after we ride. It really is like a well-earned little brotherhood,” he said. “If you get the opportunity to be in that locker room you have done something right and you should be proud of yourself.”
Fans often don’t see those behind the scene moments those boys share in Vegas, or any of the things the contestants experience really.
“The amazing hospitality we get… everyone treats ya like royalty out there,” he said. “You can’t go anywhere without talking to somebody or someone wanting a picture. And just to get to ride out there during the grand entry—guys dream about that. We are treated like royalty out there, it's so cool.”
Zac had a different upbringing than some of the other guys when it comes to the 8 seconds in the arena. He was up in Wyoming doing some day work and starting colts after he graduated high school. College, and specifically college rodeo, was never really on his radar. But he got word of a summer night rodeo, climbed on his first bronc, and the rest is history.
“They had a summer night rodeo up there in Jackson Hole and that is where I first started getting on,” he explained. “Then I got on some horses in Arizona and worked different cowboying jobs there. I knew I wanted to pursue bronc riding.”
He’d only been on about 50 horses when he walked on to the college rodeo team at New Mexico State University, and from there, everything took off. He explains those first few years of hard work as a whirlwind, one worth while seeing now where the determination has taken him.
When asked what he would tell a young up and coming guy he said, “Don’t buy your card until you feel like you can beat anybody at the rodeo,” he said. “Be confident in yourself and trust your stuff. Plan on winning, you got too and don’t forget to have some fun too. You gotta be able to take the hits, all of them.”
His experience on the rodeo road the past couple years has taught him a lot that has helped him grow as a person and as an athlete.
“You might go ten or twenty rides without pulling a check. You might not even be doing anything wrong except drawing horses you can score on. So if you get a good horse, you gotta capitalize. This goes for anything though, in any event, if you draw a good steer or a good calf, go win because they don’t come around that often."
This December, Zac Dallas walks into the Thomas & Mack not as a rookie anymore, but as a real contender with goals, confidence, faith, and another season of proving he belongs among the best saddle bronc riders in the world.