story by Michele Toberer
Born and raised in Ohio, Kyle Peterman feels like he is pointed in the direction of all his dreams, and gives much of the credit to bull riding, and the fact that it led him to a closer relationship with God. “I didn’t grow up in a really strict, religious household. But, going to rodeos and seeing the bull riders all praying together in the back before the rodeo caught my attention, and initially helped spark me to build a relationship with God.”
Kyle followed after his uncle and cousins that rode bulls. His parents, Scott and Shelly Peterman didn’t rodeo, but his dad broke horses in his free time from working construction, and his mom, who worked for a local hospital, was supportive of his rodeo aspirations. Kyle started practicing for rodeo by sneaking into his Uncle Joe’s barn to ride his bucking barrel with his cousins, and that led to entering his first junior rodeo when he was in high school. With almost instant success, Kyle rode the third bull he ever got on, winning his first buckle. He went on to compete in high school rodeo, and decided to enter steer wrestling as well, and won second place at the first rodeo he ever entered in that event. Kyle qualified for the NHSFR in 2010 and 2011 and won a round in bull riding in Gillette, Wyoming while he was a junior in 2010. “I’ve always been drawn to the bull riding, and it was the easiest thing for me to get into; buying a bull rope was a lot cheaper than buying a bronc saddle or horse.”
After graduating high school in 2011, Kyle went to Fort Scott Community College in Kansas, and graduated from there with a fine arts degree in 2013. Kyle went back to his home state, where he has been working for K Bar C Bucking bulls ever since. “I oversee the cow/calf part of the business and focus on helping the cows during calving season. We contract bulls for the PBR as well as some IPRA rodeos, and I often go to help at those rodeos too.” Having his own ranch and cattle of his own, is something Kyle has also been striving for, and he and his girlfriend, Jennifer Jarvis, now have a place with a dozen cows. “We are excited about this first calving season with our own calves, we have some rodeo cattle and some beef cattle, so we have something to play with and something to eat.”
Kyle has been a member of the Mid-States Rodeo Association since 2014, and was the MSRA Champion Bull Rider in 2015, 2016, and 2018. He was also the MSRA Reserve Champion Bull Rider in 2017, just $20 short of the champion title. Although he hadn’t steer wrestled since 2011, after entering the steer wrestling at a MSRA rodeo this summer, he won the event and made it to the season finals as an alternate. “Steer wrestling and bull riding both came naturally pretty easy for me, but in high school I worked as hard as I could on bull riding. That’s all I did on the weekends and during summer, it has by far been the event I’ve put the most into.” He appreciates the tremendous support of his longtime sponsor, K Bar C Bucking Bulls, and his newest sponsor, Blue Roan Boutique.
The future looks bright for Kyle and Jennifer, who breakaway ropes and barrel races, and they are glad to see that they are attaining things they once used to just dream of. “I feel like bull riding brought me to God, and I think that since we’ve given our lives to God, He has helped point us in the direction to be successful and have the lives we really want. We are truly blessed.”
