PBR Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour: Dakota Louis and what it takes to be the best bull rider

Dakota Louis tore a groin muscle over a year ago. It's a pretty important muscle for a rising star in the professional bull riding scene. He tried to give himself a couple months to fully rest, but most of last year he was on the back of a spinning, kicking bull, injury be damned.

Louis is one of the 35 riders competing this weekend at the Professional Bull Riders Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour at the Spokane Arena. PBR is clear that this is NOT your typical rodeo— this is only "the toughest sport on dirt" featuring world-class human and bovine athletes. Fireworks, strobe lights and blaring speakers replace calf roping and mutton busting. It's closer to a rock concert, but with the sweat and adrenaline of men putting their lives on the line and beasts tasked with testing them.

Louis grew up in northwestern Montana in the Rocky Mountain foothills. He's been riding bulls since he was 18, thanks in part to his father, who was also a bull rider.

"He was superman in my eyes," Louis says. "At a young age, he just put into my heart exactly  what I wanted to do. Me being at this level is truly a dream come true for me."

Now Louis has a son of his own, who often sits ringside to see his dad compete. Louis' little girl is there, too, but even in 2024, bull riding is a male-only sport.

Louis started rising to stardom in 2020, and in 2022 won his first Unleash the Beast event, the highest level of bull riding competition, in front of a hometown crowd in Billings, Montana.

"From being a young cowboy with a dream sitting in the grandstand at a young age to being able to be that guy holding that buckle up as the champion at the end of the week — it was truly a weekend I'll never forget," Louis says.

Louis is of both Northern Cheyenne and Blackfeet descent, and joins riders like Cody Jesus and Keyshawn Whitehorse, both of Navajo descent, whom he considers "top tier PBR Native American riders."

"I feel like in a way we're paving a way for not only anybody who wants to do it right now, but anybody who's looking for that little bit of hope or pride or something to push forward through. Us having such a huge support system of not just our own reservation or one nation, but all nations throughout the entire world, it's such a blessing for us to be able to be at this level and do something that we love to do."

Jesus dealt with his own injury-riddled 2023 season but hasn't hung up his spurs yet. Because you wouldn't get into this sport if you were scared of pain.

To be the best bull rider, you've got to believe you're the best bull rider. You've got to stare at a horned, angry hunk of muscle that outweighs you 10-to-1 and believe that you're stronger. You've got to get in the arena with a deadly partner and dance. You've got to, even if every part of your body is telling you not to.