Finding out what makes a cowboy a champion

Thursday was a busy day for me. I spent hours just hanging out behind the Reliant Stadium at the rodeo trying to find out just what makes a real-live cowboy.

It turns out that being a cowboy at the rodeo isn't all about winning saddles and gold buckles. In fact, based on many of the athletes that I met, the rodeo and riding has been a part of their lives since they were young.

Matt Shiozawa was one of the guys that I ran into. Shiozawa lives in Idaho, but was in Houston competing in the tie-down roping event in the BP Super Series.

"I've been serious about competing in the rodeo since high school," said Shiozawa. "This is what I do as my full-time job."

The 28-year-old has been around rodeos all his life. His family had a farm and he says that competing professionally was something that he's always wanted to do.

"Both my dad and my brother used to compete in rodeos so I've pretty much been around it all my life," said Shiozawa. "My dad and my brother competed locally."

Shiozawa has won a number of rodeo events including finishing 20th in 2004 in the world standings. He's also competed many times in the National Finals Rodeo.

"At first it's a lot practice, but I now feel my skills are as honed as they could be," said Shiozawa. "I believe that being the best athlete you can be is every bit as important as skills training so I weight train and keep in shape."

Jason Havens from Oregon was also there getting ready for Bareback Bronc Riding event.

Havens has been competing for the 17 years and placed in four of 10 rounds at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in 2007.

"I had a cousin that was in the rodeo, and when I was a kid, I would go and watch him," said Havens.

Havens grew up riding horses. But while his immediate family didn't have a farm, he had other family members that did.

"I always wanted to be in the rodeo," said Havens. "I couldn't afford to get a saddle, but my cousin had extra bareback harnesses so I did got into bareback riding."

Havens says that all though high school he practiced whenever he could.

"There were amateur stock contractors by the high school and I would practice on their horses. I also practiced at Walla-Walla Community College while I was attending school there," said Havens.

Like many of the athletes at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, both Havens and Shiozawa spend much of the year on the road. This year Shiozawa estimates that he'll be spending about 10 months going from competition to competition, while Havens will spend approximately 150 to 160 days on the road. The athletes don't travel alone. Many of them travel the circuit together.

"Bareback riders Bobby Mote, Brain Bain, Ryan Gray and I all travel together," said Havens. "I meet Bobby back in college and we just started travelling together."

Havens and Shiozawa are currently competing in the BP Super Series at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, and while they are little quiet and don't seem to want to talk about how great they are, the guys are pretty good.

As of March 5, Shiozawa was first in the Series 1 tie-down roping standings. Havens was 8th in the bareback bronc riding standings.