story by Lindsay King
The son of a bareback rider and rodeo photographer, Whitten Hoover was destined to make a go out in the arena. “My dad rodeoed for most of his life, so I was just born into it,” said the Ainsworth, Nebraska, native about the man who rode bareback horses until 2002. “I started out in junior rodeos in the summer team roping, then I got on calves.” Whitten was hooked and in the seventh grade he added bull riding to complete his trifecta of high school events. His brother rode saddle bronc horses and Whitten decided he wanted to be the bull rider of the family. “Bareback just came a bit more natural to me, but I didn’t really care for bareback when I first started. I got dumped on my head almost every time.”
Whitten quickly got the hang of it as he made four trips to the NHSFR in the event and made two appearances at the CNFR. As a junior in high school (2007), Whitten won state finals. He finished in the top ten at nationals the year before and competed in a couple of short rounds. “I made the college finals my first two years and as a sophomore I finished tenth in the short round. That was probably my biggest and proudest accomplishment.” The previous year (2009), Whitten was rookie of the year in the M-SRA. After two years at Chadron State with Dustin Luper as his coach, Whitten decided it was time for a shot at the big leagues. “I learned a lot of new things from Dustin, he fine tuned my technique. He helped me move on to the next level.”
As Whitten makes his way between amateur and professional rodeos, he does his best to help the younger guys along the way. “The most important thing I tell other guys is to never stop learning.” Whitten said he never fully pursued the professional trail, but has been an avid competitor in the M-SRA and NSRA. “There are definitely some talented guys going to those rodeos, it is highly competitive.” What the bareback riding may lack in numbers, it more than makes up for in quality. “Not a lot of guys ride bareback anymore but the ones that do sure are tough. You can’t just slack off and hope to win.”
Pouring concrete for a living keeps Whitten in shape for riding. But he does try to work out on a regular basis just to keep his competitive edge. “I have a spur board that I work on a lot. Repetition is key. I also have a little machine called the masher that works my core and helps me practice my motion.” His motivation to stay healthy is about more than just riding well. “Traveling wears on a person more than the event does sometimes. But staying healthy is the number factor of making a ride fun. If you are sore and bummed up, it’s not fun and it just ends up being more like work.”
A shoulder surgery in the winter of 2014 allowed Whitten to get back to his full potential after taking the entire year off. He married Alanna that following summer. “My wife is super supportive, she is always pushing me to enter and knows how much I love and enjoy it.” Together, the couple has two daughters: Hadley, 3, and Weslee, 1. “I try to take the girls with me as much as possible, but it can be tough to watch them when I am trying to compete.” The other branch of Whitten’s support system is his parents and siblings. “They still follow me around and go to about as many rodeos as I enter. They have always been there for me.”
