– By Tim Ellis for Canadian Rodeo News
Most professional athletes would tell you they would want to retire at the top of their game. But, Saskatchewan bull rider, Jared Parsonage took that desire to a whole new level. He leaves after winning both the Canadian Pro Rodeo championship and the PBR Canada title within six weeks.
“If a guy wrote his own script, I don’t know if you could have written it up any better,” suggests Parsonage, who made the retirement announcement in mid-November at Rogers Place in Edmonton, the venue where he captured both of the above championships.
“I knew all year that I was going to walk away. Only my family and a handful of friends knew. I purposely didn’t say anything because I wanted the focus to be on winning and nothing else.”
The strategy worked. The 32-year-old finished off his 12-year professional bull riding career by riding his last nine bulls – five at the Canadian Finals Rodeo and four at the PBR Canada National Finals. He was paid just shy of $200,000 for those rides, winning the aggregate title at the CFR and the PBR Finals title in the process.
“That’s pretty cool to be able to say you did that,” offers the Maple Creek cowboy. “It wasn’t easy. I was pretty fortunate.”
Humility aside, the three-time Canadian pro rodeo champion leaves behind an impressive resume for the Hall of Fame voters. The entries also include ten Canadian Finals Rodeo qualifications, a Calgary Stampede championship, two appearances at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo and combined career earnings (CPRA, PRCA, PBR) well north of a million dollars.
“The only thing really left to win would be in the U.S. and I really don’t have any interest in doing that,” says Parsonage, who earned trips to the WFNR in Las Vegas in both 2022 and 2023, when he finished seventh in the world bull riding standings with nearly a quarter-of-a-million dollars in season earnings.
“The time comes for everybody. I’ve got lots of stuff on the go here with the family and the ranch. I feel like I’ve taken all I can from the sport and now it’s time to give back a little. And, hopefully I can stay involved in the sport somehow.”
“The sport and western lifestyle have provided me with way more opportunities than I ever expected I would have. It’s not even the bull riding, it’s the whole industry, the people I’ve met, the relationships I’ve built, the friends all over the world and the places I’ve been to are what I’ll remember most. As far as what I’ve won, I guess I’ll always have the buckles. Most of what I have is because of bull riding.”
Parsonage’s third Canadian title was won in October at his ninth CFR appearance. And it came just a year after a serious injury forced him to miss competing in Edmonton.
“That injury probably couldn’t have come at a worse time,” reveals Parsonage, who finishes with a sixty-four percent career CFR riding percentage and is one of only three cowboys who have won three titles in the CFR era. “Getting hurt is part of it but I’ve been pretty lucky with injuries.”
“I just always tried to be the same guy every time I climbed in the chute. Bull riding wasn’t near as important in the last few years. At that stage of my career, things were either going to work out or they weren’t.”
“I’m glad I was able to walk away on my own terms. Now it’s my turn to stay home and do the chores.”
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