story by Lily Weinacht
Clayson Hutchings of Springville, Utah, is leading the way to the RMPRA finals in the saddle bronc riding, with more than $4,000 separating him from second place. The 17-year-old, who also competes in team roping and tie-down roping in the UHSRA, grasped a bronc rein for the first time as a freshman in high school. He and his cousin Scott Lauki already welcomed a rowdy ride while breaking colts on the family ranch, and when they were urged by their uncle Dave to try rodeo, they found a practice pen of broncs and entered the 2015 Intermountain IceBreaker High School Rodeo soon after. “It was no good. We had been getting on some practice horses but they were a lot softer than Ben German’s horses he brought to that one,” Clayson recalls. “It took probably a year before we were competing in the top three.”
Today, he and Scott are leading the saddle bronc riding in the UHSRA, while Clayson finished the 2018 season second in the nation after competing in the NHSFR for the first time. The cousins travel to all of their rodeos together, often joined by fellow RMPRA competitors Austin Davis, Wyatt Stanfield, and Cooper Bennett. “If we’re going a long way, we try to get three people. Whoever is in the passenger seat keeps the driver awake, and whoever is in the back can sleep.” The 2018 season is the hardest Clayson has competed in the RMPRA yet, and he attributes his success to staying healthy and getting on good roughstock. “I’d say Duchesne was a really fun one to go to. There’s always a big crowd, and I really like the screen that replays the rides,” says Clayson. “The RMPRA livestock is the best I’ve got on, and everyone is there to have a good time. I’ve gotten to know the bronc riders pretty good, so it’s fun.”
Clayson’s parents, George and Julie Hutchings, come to many of his rodeos, while his older brother, Howard, is a pickup man for Ben German’s Broken Heart Rodeo Company, and their younger sister Laura started breakaway roping. Clayson ropes calves off his friend Kendon Hortin’s horse at high school rodeos and heads for Scott in the team roping off one of his family’s horses. He practices as often as he can at Brady Daybell’s arena, and meets with the Heber high school rodeo team once a week to practice.
When he’s not rodeoing, Clayson works with his dad on the family ranch, where they run 200 head of cows. “We run 900 head on the mountain in the summer, and 500 in the winter in the desert with my grandpa.” Clayson also worked for the Spanish Fork Cattle Company this summer running cattle, which became especially critical during several wildfires this year. “It’s been kind of hard to be up there all the time keeping the cows out of the fire and be at school, but my teachers have been working with me,” says Clayson, who is a senior at Springville High School. “Most of my school is now on the computer, so I do it at home, and I’m taking a guitar class.” Clayson also played football in eighth and ninth grade, but chose rodeo as his main sport for the rest of high school. “I’m going to graduate in January, and in March I turn 18 and I’ll buy my (PRCA) permit. If I’m winning money and not going broke, I’ll keep doing that, and if not, I’ll go to college next fall,” he finishes. “My goal is to be able to win at 80 percent of the rodeos I go to, and this year I did.”
