LAFAYETTE PARISH — Bareback rider Kade Sonnier is packing his bags for Las Vegas — preparing to make his second trip to the National Finals Rodeo, the elite event he calls “the World Series of rodeo.”
The Carencro native, leaves Friday to compete among the top 15 bareback riders in the world.
“I ride bucking horses for a living — I ride bareback horses,” Sonnier said. “And coming up, we leave on Friday for the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) in Las Vegas, Nevada. It’s like the World Series of rodeo.”
This year’s return didn’t come easy. Sonnier says his season started off rough — physically, mentally, and competitively.
“I didn’t feel like myself… physically, mentally,” he said. “I don’t know — just the confidence wasn’t quite there, and I didn’t have the winter that I planned on having.”
But once summer hit, everything changed.
“So when I left home to go summer rodeo, I had $28,000,” he said. “And by the end of September, I had $180,000.”
Sonnier credits the shift to stepping back, reevaluating, and relying on the right people.
“I think the main thing this year was surrounding myself with people that believed in me more than I believed in myself.”
He enters the NFR ranked sixth in the world — a strong position heading into ten nights of competition.
“I feel like I can go and capitalize on the horses that I’ve drawn and win the average,” he said. “I’ve put myself in a really good spot to be a world champion.”
When the dust settles in Las Vegas, Sonnier says he’s looking forward to a brief return to normal life.
“I’ll take a couple weeks to be home… enjoy time with my little girl… and get ready for the next year,” he said. “Kind of just get grounded and be a normal person for a little while until we’re back to it.”
Sonnier won’t be the only Acadiana cowboy competing this year. Church Point native Waylon Bourgeois also punched his ticket to the National Finals Rodeo, giving the region two riders on the sport’s biggest stage.
To see how they do at Nationals, you can follow along on Instagram and Facebook.
