Sandro Ferretti (on the right) poses with his older brother, Enzo (on the left) and their sister Carla. Sandro is a bareback rider at McNeese State Univ.; his brother used to ride, and Carla is a high school soccer player in France. She hopes to attend McNeese State in the fall of 2017 – courtesy of the family
Sandro Ferretti’s friends have given him a nickname: the Cowboy. Not that unusual for an American, but very unusual for a Frenchman.
That’s because there are no cowboys in France, except for Sandro Ferretti.
Sandro (pronounced SAHN-dro), grew up in France and learned to love cowboys and rodeo when he and his older brother, Enzo, spent summers in South Carolina.
They were raised in Noves, France, the sons of Richard and Helene Ferretti, and spent summers in the U.S. Their dad, who knows five languages, wanted his sons to learn English. So he sent the boys, who had worked for horse trainers in France and Italy, to South Carolina to work for another trainer. On Saturday nights, the boys watched the bull riding buck outs that took place. One day, they tried it, and “we liked the adrenaline rush and the way it felt,” Sandro said.
So, Enzo decided to live in South Carolina as a foreign exchange student. While there, he competed in high school rodeo in the bareback riding and steer wrestling.
As soon as Sandro was out of high school, he came to the States as well, following his brother, who was at Ft. Scott (Kan.) Community College as a rodeo contestant. There he learned from Coach Chad Cross how to ride bareback horses. He started making the short rounds at college rodeos, and “I fell in love with it.”
After earning his degree at Ft. Scott, which is a two year school, Sandro had two more years of college eligibility. He decided to attend McNeese State University in Lake Charles, La., where he has a rodeo scholarship. He’s working on a degree in business administration with a minor in entrepreneurship and enjoys competing under the tutelage of Coach Justin Browning.
Rodeo for Sandro is going well. He’s currently ranked fourth in the Southern Region. The top three in each region qualify for the College National Finals Rodeo, and Sandro is only a handful of points behind the number three cowboy.
After college graduation, he plans on staying in the U.S. and rodeoing professionally. Then, after rodeo ends, he’d like to find a job in international business. Sandro speaks French, Italian, English, and quite a bit of Spanish as well. His dad emphasized that his children know other cultures. “When my dad graduated he left home for five years and hiked from one country to another. Listening to his stories drove us to see the world and see what it’s about,” Sandro said. “I’ll hopefully rodeo as much as I can, but I’d like to get some work where I can explore internationally.”
Sandro is friends with another famous Frenchman who is a rodeo cowboy. Evan Jayne, a two-time Wrangler NFR qualifier, has helped the younger cowboy quite a bit. “He’s been my hero, since I met him,” Sandro said. “He did the same thing I did, and made it big time. He’s achieved a lot.” The two just met each other last year.
Sandro’s family has come to visit a few times, and his dad loves the U.S. and the fact that his boys are doing well. Even though his parents have never been around horses, they support their sons. They also have a daughter, Carla, who is a senior in high school and a soccer player. She hopes to attend McNeese State this fall and continue in soccer.
Sandro loves the U.S., but misses his family and friends from home, and the wine. Wine is a big thing in France, and “we’ve been drinking it at the table since we were ten or twelve years old,” he said. Wine in the U.S. “isn’t too bad but it’s definitely not as quality as what we have.”
Sandro, who can be shy, says his accent is a help when he meets people. “They fall in love with the accent,” he said.
His friends back home are intrigued by what he does. In France, “nobody knows about cowboys or rodeo. It’s not a thing back home, but they think it’s awesome. They like to joke around with it.”
And it’s something Sandro plans on doing for a long time. “I really like the way of living and thinking.”
