MINOT, N.D. (Badlands Circuit) – The top bucking horses and bulls for South Dakota and North Dakota were recognized at the Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo in Minot earlier this month.

Three horses and two bulls were selected for their athletic ability and prowess at rodeo competition. Winning in the bareback category was #822 Tator Tot, owned by Korkow Rodeo, Pierre, S.D.; Bareback Horse of the Year, and #117 Collect Call, owned by Muddy Creek Pro Rodeo, Bareback Horse of the Finals.

In the saddle bronc riding, the same horse won both the year-end and finals award: #4361, Bugsy, owned by Muddy Creek Pro Rodeo.

In the bull riding, the Bull of the Year went to the Bailey Pro Rodeo bull #742 Ice Man and the Bull of the Finals was awarded to Sutton Rodeo’s #213 Maserati.

Bugsy, an 11-year-old black stallion with a white stripe on his face, won both categories in the saddle bronc.

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The horse “is as gentle as all get-out,” Wilson said. “He’ll let you sit there and scratch him and pet him.” Stallions aren’t always desirable to be around; they can have lots of energy and can be dangerous.

But it’s not so with Bugsy. “He’s about as good as you can get,” Wilson said. “He’s a very well-mannered stud. He doesn’t act up.” The stallion’s sire is the famous Bugs Bunny, a bucking horse owned by J Bar J Rodeo, Sparky Dreesen.

Bugsy has been selected to buck at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo this year and the previous four years. Cowboys are often 90 points on him, if they don’t get bucked off.

“He does get pampered, because he is who he is,” Wilson said.

Muddy Creek Pro Rodeo, headquartered in Scenic, S.D., is also home to Collect Call, the bareback horse of the Finals.

Cancer was what made Collect Call find his true calling.

The 14-year-old was a saddle bronc horse for years until he was treated for cancer on his lip.

Wilson’s wife Paige and daughter Paytin put medicine on the horse’s lip for weeks till it healed.

But after that, the horse wouldn’t allow a halter to be put on him, so Wilson tried him in the bareback riding.

“He was better in the bareback,” he said. “I would never have known that until we got his cancer healed up.”

The horse is the opposite of Bugsy. “He’s crabby, he doesn’t like the other horses around him, and he bites at them. He’s an old grouch.”

Collect Call bucked at the 2024 National Finals Rodeo.

A three-year-old brindle baldy bull won the Bull of the Finals.

No. 213, Maserati, owned by Sutton Rodeo, is unridden in his first year of competition, said Zane Walker, flank man for Sutton Rodeo.

The bull is sired by Schott in the Dark, out of a daughter of Spotted Demon, who is a former PRCA Bull of the Year and Bull of the National Finals Rodeo.

When he bucks, “he’s around to the right,” Walker said, “and he makes almost the same trip every time. This bull has been phenomenal every time and I have high hopes for him.”

The 2025 Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo was held Oct. 10-12 in Minot, N.D. It determines the champions of the circuit.

Next year’s circuit finals rodeo will be Oct. 9-11.

For more information, visit the website at BadlandsCircuitFinalsRodeo.com