Pete Carr Pro Rodeo bucking horse Larry Culpepper has been on Zeke Thurston’s radar for a long time now. He’s watched the animal compete at other rodeos, but never been fortunate enough to see their names together on a draw sheet.
After close to a decade of ducking each other, Thurston finally got the matchup he had been waiting on at the Oakley Independence Day Rodeo in Oakley City, Utah, over the weekend.
“That horse came around close to, shoot, it had to be 10 years ago now. He got pretty famous right away, so I’ve known about him for a long time,” Thurston said. “He’s been a really good horse now for a while and I’ve waited a lot of years to get my turn.”
The wait proved to be worth it as Thurston went for 92 points to easily take home the Oakley title and $8,404 in earnings. Sage Newman was the next closest competitor finishing at 89.5 points.
The result was the most notable outcome in an incredible Fourth of July run for the Big Valley, Alberta native, helping him flip the script on his 2025 season.
Along with the win in Oakley City, Thurston placed third at both St. Paul (Ore.) and Mandan (N.D.), along with a sixth-place effort in Killdeer, N.D.
Since finishing his first ride on June 26 in Reno (Nev.), Thurston has been on a tear, riding at least once for 10 straight days. Between the five rodeos he competed at, Thurston accumulated more than $26,600 in prize money, vaulting him to more than $72,700 in earnings for the year.
It’s a big turn for a cowboy with four gold buckles already to his credit who is chasing his 11th trip to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo this December. As he heads back to Canada for the Calgary Stampede, the holiday success feels like it might be the start of something special.
“I had a slow winter and was fighting some saddles and equipment and drawing kind of poorly. It was a slow start,” Thurston said, noting he was down in the 20s of the PRCA World Standings just a few weeks ago. “I don’t go to a lot in the winter, I just go to the four big ones, and if I win good, I win good. But I’ve been riding good this spring and rolling now, so it should be good.”
Photo by Roseanna Sales/For PRCA