story by Lily Weinacht
Efren, Alonso, and Joel Gallego are hung up on bull riding. The three brothers from Elfrida, Ariz., discovered the sport in their late teens, and they readily admit to their passion for all things bovine, including raising their own bulls under the name 3G Bucking Bulls.
Joel, the youngest of the brothers at 21, was the first to start his bull riding career, which reached a high point in 2015 when he was crowned the GCPRA Year End Bull Riding Champion. He rode his first steer as a ten year old, but his oldest brother, Efren, had to wait until he was 18 to break in his bull rope. “Our mom didn’t want anything to do with rodeo, but I guess the idea of Joel riding a smaller animal was okay for her,” says 24-year-old Efren, who was the 2014 GCPRA Year-End Bull Riding Champion. All three brothers had tasted the fleeting thrills of riding calves on their uncle’s ranch. Around the time Efren turned 18, he was off to a rodeo to watch a friend ride bulls and help behind the chutes. He had every intention of obeying his mom’s instructions to stay off the bulls – until his friend convinced him to enter. “Efren had been on one practice bull, and he ended up winning the rodeo on the second bull he’d ever been on,” says Alonso, taking up the story. “He came home with a buckle and money, and Mom said if he was going to ride bulls, he might as well start right.”
With the chutes wide open to them, the brothers were borrowing their mom’s car to wheel into every rodeo they could find, calling her with news of how they’d ridden. “We’d go to every rodeo every weekend – our interest in bull riding hit us pretty hard!” says Alonso, 23, who’s in charge when it comes to driving. Though he was the last of his brothers to throw in his gear bag – riding his first bull when he was 17 – Alonso is just as dedicated to the sport, explaining that he even dreams about it. Since being stepped on at a rodeo two years ago, which broke four ribs and punctured his lung, Alonso has sustained several other injuries that put him on the sidelines temporarily. After four titanium ribs and 32 screws pulled him back together in 2014, Alonso was stepped on again, this time putting him in the hospital for three days with a concussion. After a second knock to his head while riding one of his own bulls, Alonso decided to take a solid year to let his body recover. He’s currently four months into the break. “It’s a little tough – I wake up thinking about it (bull riding), and fall asleep thinking about it,” says Alonso. “Working with our own bucking bulls is what keeps me at ease. Whatever I do, I give all the praise and glory to God.”
“What we revolve our lives around is bucking bulls. My brothers motivate me, and trying to outwork those guys is what drives me,” Joel adds with a laugh. Efren echoes his brother’s thoughts. “We try to push and help each other, and I think that’s what helps us keep going. Like almost every bull rider, the movie 8 Seconds also inspires me, and it’s fun being around people in the sport with a good attitude and a positive outlook. You have to stay positive and focused no matter if you’re winning or losing.”
Another driving force behind the Gallego brothers is Owen Washburn. “If I could be like anybody, I’d want to be like him,” Joel says of the PBR champion and bucking bull owner. He’s helped the brothers advance both their careers in bull riding and bull ownership. 3G Bucking Bulls was formed in 2015 when Owen, who’d met the brothers through rodeo, offered to sell them a bull. They added three more to their herd and opened their practice pen to friends, but when there were more riders than bulls, the brothers decided to expand. “We used to have Angus cows, and we sold them for these bucking bulls. Our family thought we were going crazy!” Alonso jokes. Currently, they have 15 bulls and 50 head of cows, with their first crop of calves arriving in the latter half of the year. They frequently bring several bulls with them when they rodeo. “We’d like to raise and sell bulls that are good enough to go to the guys on the PBR level,” Joel explains. “We’ve taken them to a few native events and several open rodeos.”
The brothers’ goal is to rodeo full time and for their bucking bulls to pay for themselves, but in the meantime, the three of them work for an irrigation company, covering nearly 500 irrigation pivots across Arizona and parts of New Mexico. Efren and Alonso are the technicians, working on the electrical portion of the pivots, while Joel is in charge of digging and laying pipe. “We’re out by six in the morning feeding bulls, then we’re at work by eight and we might not finish until six in the evening,” Efren explains. “By the time we feed and do chores, we might get in by nine. Luckily, we have a cousin who helps us out.”
When a little rest and relaxation can be wiggled into their schedule, Alonso might use it to train horses for the family ranch, which the brothers ride when checking cattle. “I like going out hunting or fishing, but I mainly just like anything outdoors,” says Joel. “We hate being indoors.” His goal in rodeo is to continue with the GCPRA while pursuing rodeo on the PRCA Turquoise Circuit, a goal that Efren and Alonso also share. Efren is additionally interested in expanding his work and becoming a certified electrician. “But,” he finishes, “I’d like nothing more than to go pro rodeoing with my brothers.”