One on one Competition Fuels Garrett Shadbolt

It started with wrestling.

              Garrett Shadbolt grew up competing, but it wasn’t the rodeo arena that held the 3-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier’s interest. Garrett has been among the elite bareback riders who qualify for the NFR in Las Vegas in 2021, 2022 and again last December.

              He is part of a multigenerational ranching family in the Sandhills of Nebraska. Garrett’s childhood was spent helping his dad on the ranch and going to rodeos with the family. His dad competed as a bareback rider.

              Sounds like a typical upbringing for a rodeo cowboy and one that would inspire a kid to follow in his dad’s footsteps. It didn’t happen that way for Garrett. He was planning a future that didn’t include rodeo or ranching, thinking maybe he could be a scientist.

              School was important and so was hard work. His parents started him in wrestling when he was six years old. He continued through junior high and by the time he got to high school he was burned out. 

              After taking his freshman and sophomore years off, he was back to wrestling and qualified for the state championships as a junior and senior. While the tournament didn’t go like he wanted, he did well enough to attract the interest of Doane University in Crete, Nebraska, for their new wrestling program. 

              High school also was where his fire for rodeo was lit. His best friend wanted to ride some ranch broncs. Garrett tagged along and did well enough that he decided to enter the Sheridan County Fair Ranch Rodeo in nearby Gordon. He won it and asked his dad to teach him how to ride bucking horses. 

              His quest for knowledge and ability to challenge himself often sees him taking the hard road. That was definitely the case in college. Not only did he major in chemistry because he knew it would be hard, he also pursued wrestling with a vengeance and started his own college rodeo team. 

              Doane’s new startup wrestling team got him to the university, but he still wanted to compete in rodeo. It wasn’t the most important thing, but he was going to amateur rodeos in the summer. He decided he needed to get into the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association and went as an individual without the support of a team or school. 

              In 2018, Garrett finished as the reserve champion at the College National Finals Rodeo as an independent student. He also finished his education, getting his Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry. Now, twenty-three years after he first stepped on the wrestling mat, he still loves it. 

              “Wrestling is one person against another. When you step onto the mat, there is no one out there to help you,” he said. “It’s just you and when you win, you take the win yourself. Same if you lose. I like that. The longer I wrestled, the more I loved it. In college, it’s a big commitment and a jump from high school, but it became part of my lifestyle.”

              Sounds a lot like most rodeo events. 

              “When you get in the arena, it’s just you versus the animal,” Garrett added. “You may have traveling partners, but you own the wins and losses.” 

              Wrestling prepared Garrett for success in the rodeo arena by giving him the tools he needs outside of the arena. 

              “I was dedicated to improving my craft, always learning and looking for ways to get better,” Garrett said. “You have to be resilient to wrestle, get knocked down, be okay with that and ready to go again. It’s a hard sport. It’s hard to lose. It’s hard to train for and it will beat you down. It takes a lot of mental strength to try, try and try again.”

              Garrett got put to the test last December at the NFR. He earned the bareback riding rookie of the year in 2019. Two years later he qualified to compete at his first NFR and finished the season in fifth place. He was 13^th in 2022 and then missed 2023 because of a broken leg. 

              He came out guns blazing in the 2024 season earning the championship at the National Western Stock Show Rodeo for the second time. He travelled with Bradlee Miller, and they wanted to walk into the Thomas & Mack Center together. 

              That happened and while Bradlee’s first NFR was the stuff that dreams are made of, Garrett’s was like being on that wrestling mat all over again. He was one of the few contestants that wasn’t able to capitalize on the huge payoffs in Las Vegas. 

              “In wrestling and in rodeo, you have to learn how to lose and come back,” he said. “But I can still look at it as a win because I was able to pick my head back up and go out there and give it my all every night. I feel like my best ride was in the tenth round and I don’t know many guys that would feel that way. 

              “The psychological aspect, the mental part of the NFR is unlike any other event. It’s taxing on you to put yourself under so much pressure, then fail, and then to do it all over again 24 hours later. It takes a lot of mental strength.” 

              Having a firm foundation because of wrestling has helped Garrett through all aspects of his bareback riding. He learned a lot about physical fitness, eating right and taking care of his body. And he is still looking for ways to improve his craft and learn. 

              “It’s like when you go and learn algebra, they always want to teach you the shortcuts. But if you can solve 10,000 algebra problems on your own, you invent your own shortcut,” he said. “It took me forever to figure out wrestling and I finally had a breakthrough in college. When I did I was starting to be a fierce competitor on the mat and in the arena. It’s given me a really deep understanding, because I never got to cheat the shortcuts.”

              Before he was a wrestler or a bareback rider, Garrett was a ranch kid. Because of that he was involved in the Future Farmers of America (FFA). That set his future when he met his wife at an FFA dance in 2012. He and Katie have one son, George, who is the big brother of sisters Mavis and Lindin. 

              Garrett is having the best regular season of his career and as of May 20 was ranked fourth in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association world standings. Any money he wins now is more important than ever as Katie is pregnant with their third daughter and is due during the busiest part of the season in July. 

              Last year, he got to take his family on the road and make memories. He never really planned on becoming a rancher, but he knew that was how he wanted to raise his kids. Garrett is the fifth generation of Shadbolts raising cattle and it’s likely that George will be the sixth. 

              Along with being a supportive rodeo wife and mom, Katie is also an ag teacher and FFA advisor for Nebraska Agriculture Academy, an organization that she helped found for homeschool kids who want to be in FFA. 

              Garrett’s sponsors are also weighted in agriculture, including Topp Herefords, Romsa Farms, Fuel Grill and Dragonfly Performance Horses. Those relationships have become very important to Garrett as he pursues his own ranching career. 

              “George is five right now,” Garrett said. “I’ll get him started wrestling next year. I thought I might be a rocket scientist or something. You never know where life will lead, but if it leads George to wrestling, or rodeo, I want him to have the tools to excel.”

              Garrett has helped the Gordon-Rushville High School wrestling team in the past and when he hangs up his rigging, he plans on getting back to wrestling as a coach. 

              “I never want to get complacent with what I am doing,” he said. “I’m dedicated to learn and get better. That’s really what it takes is just continually finding ways to improve yourself whatever you are doing.”