Riders of the Texas Rattlers : Brady Fielder
Riders of the Texas Rattlers: Brady Fielder
If you’ve been keeping up with the Ariat Texas Rattlers this season, you’re probably somewhat familiar with Brady Fielder. If you’ve been tuning into our games, chances are you’ve at least heard his name – usually followed by big scores and high praise from the likes of Matt West, Kate Harrison, and Cord McCoy.
The 24-year-old-cowboy hailing from Clermont, Queensland, Australia, has been taking the 2024 Camping World Teams Series by storm this season – with no signs of slowing down soon. Read on to get to know this rising Rattlers superstar.
For Brady Fielder, bull riding is a passion that knows no bounds. His dream of going pro has spanned a couple of decades and at least as many continents – a dream that has carried the Queensland cowboy hundreds of thousands of miles from his native Australia all the way to Texas in the process of becoming reality.
Fielder’s love for bull riding started early in his childhood, which he spent with his family on a large cattle operation in the Australian outback.
“Growing up, I spent most of my days outdoors with my brothers and sister,” Brady recalls. “We made our own fun. Riding the stock was one activity we all enjoyed together, and horse riding was a daily event.”
Brady got his early education via distance learning (home school) roughly 250 miles from the school he attended in his later years. As he got older, he spent most of his extra time in the practice pens, working hard at perfecting his craft. With his father, his two older brothers, and uncles on both sides of the family being roughstock riders, there was no shortage of family encouragement when it came to getting his start.
“No matter where I was,” Brady says, “someone was there to help me.”
In a similar respect, it seemed that no matter where he was, people associated him with bucking bulls. Whether at home in the arena or at school on the football field, bull riding remained a crucial part of his identity.
“Most of my schoolmates called me ‘Ringer.’ None of them rode horses or bulls, so they all seen me as the ‘Ringer from the Bush,’” Fielder says — Ringer being the Aussie slang equivalent of cowboy, and the Bush a reference to rural areas like the one Brady grew up in.
For as long as he can remember, Brady’s only plan was to ride bulls. Following high school, he wasted no time in breaking into the Professional Bull Riding scene. Fielder says “opportunities kept arising” for him as he set out to achieve his dreams; he won the Rookie of the Year title following his first year with PBR Australia, and in 2019, he qualified for the PBR World Finals in Las Vegas.
“I knew from a young age that I wanted to be a world class bull rider,” he says. “I pictured myself many times, standing in that arena, holding the trophy.”
A season of high scores in the Australian circuit had secured the young gun’s spot at the big dance in 2019, and he headed into the World Finals with that familiar vision of victory dancing in his head. A less-than-perfect performance in Vegas, however, sent the then 19-year-old-cowboy back Down Under without any new titles or trophies to his name.
“Going into Vegas, I had done so well all year,” Fielder says. “I expected to do well again, but I didn’t do so well and that hit me.” He didn’t leave Sin City entirely empty-handed, though, but rather with a new understanding of success in the sport and goals for the next season fresh in his mind.
“That’s where it kind of started for me. Now that I had a taste of it and knew what it was all about, I was determined to get back better than ever.”
And that’s exactly what he’s done. Every year, Brady has continued to chip away at the competition, working his way up through the bullriding ranks one 8-second-ride at a time. At the Unleash the Beast World Finals this past spring, his 89.75-point-ride aboard Hoka Hey and subsequent 90.25-point marker on Chateau Montelena's Montana Jacket helped him secure the number 3 overall spot heading into the 2024 Camping World Teams season.
His consistency has proved invaluable to the Ariat Texas Rattlers in the weeks since Oklahoma City: Seven of his fourteen matchups so far this season have resulted in qualified rides, with three of those trips marking a nearly-perfect 89.25-points. His confidence and reliability ride after ride has led Cord McCoy to dub Fielder “the most effective guy on the Texas team right now” and Coach Lambert to keep his name in the starting lineup game after game.
To stay sharp in between competitions, Brady prioritizes daily workouts as well as functional training—like riding horses bareback and working outside—throughout the week. When it comes to the big event every weekend, his pregame rituals remain simple enough:
“A good night’s sleep and a good steak,” he says. “But whatever goes – I’m easy.”
Fielder says the best part about being an Ariat Texas Rattler is team sportsmanship and “building a bond of winning together.” He appreciates his teammates’ knack for “keeping it real” and credits his time on the road with them as making him better, “not only as a bull rider, but a better person.” The best piece of advice he’s ever been given by them is also the mantra he tries to live by every day: “Enjoy the process, and love every bit of it!”
Brady says his favorite memory as an Ariat Texas Rattler is winning the 2023 World Championship with his teammates – a memory he’s keen to make another of this year.
Your Ariat Texas Rattlers are on a hot streak as of late, knocking off a couple more rankings with each passing weekend as they continue their climb to the top. Download Merit Plus to stream the games live and keep up with the action as it unfolds every ride. Better yet, stop by Fort Worth September 26-28th to watch Brady and the boys take on the competition, live and in-person. Tickets to Rattler Days are available on our website.