He did it again. Columbia Falls High School junior Azreal Lara traveled to the Yeti Junior World Finals last month and came home as the World Champion bareback rider for the second year in a row.

The soft-spoken 16-year-old, for whom winning feels “normal,” was confident going into this year’s competition and said he was not nervous during his rides. He employed the same technique as last year, along with his pre-ride practice of whispering to the horse in the chute. 

“I don’t think about anything,” he said. “I try to stay calm because if you’re nervous, the horse feels it and then the horse can get nervous and start freaking out and you get hurt.” 

Lara scored 79 on his first ride and 75 on his second. Going into the short go, he was ahead by three points. Last year at the same time, he was only up by half a point. 

“His ride was absolutely perfect,” said his mother, Natasha Alejandre. “The kid that was three points behind him would have had to score a 91 to beat him.” 

On his third and final ride, Lara scored a remarkable 87.5. 

“The ride felt so amazing,” he said. “Better than my other ones. So nice.” 

The night before competing, Alejandre said her son finds out which horse he’ll ride and looks for videos of them. He studies the horses to see how they come out and how they buck.  

The World Champion bareback rider’s winnings included two buckles, a pair of handmade boots, hats, gift cards and jerky, in addition to a check for $2,500. 

"It was really cool watching him after his win this year because it was different than last year,” said Alejandre. “Last year after his win, he was ... really nonchalant. And this year you could feel the excitement coming off of him. He was so amped up.”  

LARA HAS support from sponsors and from a loving family. When he started riding, the family was new to rodeo, but his younger sister was winning barrel racing buckles. His sister’s success was, in part, what spurred Lara into rodeo.  

Jeanne French is his biggest fan. She is his grandmother Joanie’s twin sister.  

 “I think it's what he puts out there and others feel it,” French said of Lara’s energy in and around the arena. “Every time I've watched him, I feel he’s going to win.” 

She remembers when Lara started riding bareback on mini horses and said she knew he was going to be great when he was just 11 or 12 years old. She was not the only one with that opinion. 

“There are people who’ve watched rodeo for a very long time who just saw him ride three or four times and said, ‘That kid is good. He’s going to be great,’” his mother recalled. 

Another source of support comes from Uncle Carl, Lara’s “road buddy,” who travels in the backseat with Lara to all the rodeos. A talented woodworker, Carl made the young bareback rider a shelf for all his winning buckles. 

THIS WAS LARA’S third trip to the finals. His first was in 2022, and he admits he was not ready for that one, as he’d only been riding for about 18 months. Still, he finished in fifth place. 

Earlier this year, Lara began working with coach Logan Corbett, a former bareback rider who has developed a workout program for saddle bronc and bareback riders.  

Alejandre said the new program has helped Lara’s mental game and his nutrition. The program provides guidance for finding good nutrition while on the road for rodeos, even in gas stations. Corbett was at the finals this year and watched Lara’s rides. 

With his birthday in March, Lara has two more years to compete at the Junior Finals. Once back from Las Vegas last month, Lara began competing at the Brash Rodeo Series at the Majestic Valley Arena.                               

“This is all I see him doing,” Alejandre said of her son and his passion for rodeo. “For the last two years, I've known this is what he’s going to do with his life. It's his world.”