{"id":21831,"date":"2025-06-13T16:47:59","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T16:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/knapps-winding-road-leads-him-back-to-ute-mountain-roundup\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:09:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:09:10","slug":"knapps-winding-road-leads-him-back-to-ute-mountain-roundup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/knapps-winding-road-leads-him-back-to-ute-mountain-roundup\/","title":{"rendered":"Knapp\u2019s winding road leads him back to Ute Mountain Roundup"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Scottie
Scottie Knapp rides a bull on Day 1 of the Ute Mountain Roundup rodeo, Thursday, June 13, 2025, at the Montezuma County Fairgrounds outside Cortez. (Erika Alvero\/Special to The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

CORTEZ \u2013 Few on the Pro Rodeo Cowboy Association circuit have experienced quite the highs and lows that Albuquerque native Scottie Knapp has faced during his decade-plus career riding bulls.<\/p>\n

Just last July, Knapp feared that he had broken his neck after a fall in the Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo. Fortunately, the injury proved to just be a severe sprain, but the former Turquoise Circuit Finals champion then had to reevaluate his future in the sport. His decision didn\u2019t take long.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a hard pill to swallow \u2013 these things happen in bull riding \u2013 but as soon as I was cleared, I was back,\u201d said Knapp, \u201cthe bigger challenge was making sure that I didn\u2019t try to come back too soon \u2013 and overcoming that mental hurdle of believing that you\u2019re fully prepared.\u201d<\/p>\n

The injury proved to be just another in a long list of setbacks for Knapp, including a stretch where he had three surgeries in a span of 15 months, yet true to the bull riding mentality, the opportunity to get back for one more chance proved to be too enticing to pass up. Knapp had been turning his fortunes around prior to the Frontier Days disappointment, including a win at the 2024 Ute Mountain Roundup as part of a seven-win calendar year. He\u2019d accrued over $60,000 in yearly winnings to that point, and appeared poised for a run at a coveted NFR spot.<\/p>\n

With the healing under his belt, Knapp headlined the riders taking to the nightcap event at the Montezuma County Fairgrounds on Thursday night, hoping to build on a win from just a week earlier in Flagstaff\u2019s Pro Rodeo event. He\u2019d also collected the Yuma Silver Spur Rodeo crown for the second straight year earlier this spring \u2013 a back-to-back feat he sought to repeat with UMR.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had been shut out all week leading up to the UMR last year, but had a great calf from Powder River Rodeo (livestock provider) \u2013 it\u2019s never easy anymore,\u201d reflected Knapp with a laugh.<\/p>\n

While the win itself wasn\u2019t the full reason to come back to defend his title, Knapp noted that the community hospitality played a big part in his Thursday night reprisal. \u201cThe way that the UMR committee treats the contestants, the quality of all the stock, the energy the arena brings \u2013 those are big incentives to return to a rodeo like this,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Inside the PRCA top 50 heading to the rodeo season\u2019s midpoint, Knapp remembers vividly the grind that it takes to make it all the way to Las Vegas \u2013 where in 2016, he took seventh at the NFR to help him earn sixth overall in earnings in the world standings.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou work all year to get to that point \u2013 and you\u2019re competing not only at your highest level, but against other riders who are at their peak, too,\u201d said Knapp of his NFR ride, \u201cI\u2019d like to get there again.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the setbacks have been intense, so too is his passion for the sport, something that he gained from his father, who took up the sport in his mid-30s before passing along the love of bull riding to his son.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight around the time the movie \u20188 Seconds\u2019 came out, that\u2019s about the time my father had taken up the sport, so there was no question I\u2019d be hooked,\u201d said Knapp, noting how the UMR falls on the eve of Father\u2019s Day weekend.<\/p>\n

Now with two children of his own \u2013 aged nine and four \u2013 Knapp knows that rodeo will be a part of his family for another generation. \u201cThe older girl is getting into the goat-tying, and the younger one is starting to get down the pattern of the barrel racing,\u201d said Knapp with a smile.<\/p>\n

His journey has been one requiring persistence and plenty of aches that he may endure for the rest of his life, but Knapp wouldn\u2019t have it any other way. It\u2019s a trait that endears him to hundreds of fans that sit on the edge of their seats when Knapp grips the ropes and the chute opens.<\/p>\n

\u201cComing into the summer, it\u2019s all about building momentum \u2013 and even with everything I\u2019ve dealt with, you have to just jump into it head first and believe that you\u2019re the best that you\u2019ve ever been,\u201d said Knapp.<\/p>\n

While Knapp is hoping that his Cortez stop on his rodeo circuit helps him continue his recent surge back toward the top, he also sees the big picture while raising two kids and their love for the sport. \u201cMy goal is to just have as much fun as I can, because I know it doesn\u2019t last forever,\u201d he said on his way to saddle up for another ride in the Montezuma County summer night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

2016 NFR bull rider Scottie Knapp on comeback trail<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21832,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[38,39,28,37,36],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-21831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-dolores-high-school","tag-dove-creek-high-school","tag-headlines","tag-mancos-high-school","tag-montezuma-cortez-high-school"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21831"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21831\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77478,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21831\/revisions\/77478"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21831"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=21831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}