When 19-year-old Kaley Mae Hook from Shandon, Calif., Decided
to participate in the 2013 Back Seat Bucker season, it wasn't her
first bull experience. Her participation was merely an extension of
what she has been engulfed in for the last several years. Already
a female contractor in California, she saw the ABBI's Back Seat
Bucker program as a perfect way to expand her already elaborate
bull network.

"I was always attracted to the other end of the arena - even though
my dad was a team roper," Hook said. "When I was about 14, one
of my friends asked me to flank a bull for him. That was all it took.

I just fell in love with bucking bulls. Then when I graduated from high
school, my parents (Frank and Jenny Hook) surprised me and bought
me a bull and a cow from Randy Shippy."

They say bulls are like potato chips. You can't have just one, and
Hook can surely attest to this adage. Once full fever had set in, she
was ready for more and went to her first bull sale with the intention
of adding to her first two animals.

"In 2011, I decided to expand and went to my very first sale, which
was at the NFR," Hook said. "I purchased two bulls. One from Humpz
nd Hornz Bucking Bulls and the other was just a ranch bull that had
no certain blood lines. Then I started buying and raising bulls."

It didn't take Hook long to find herself a place to go. She quickly started
hauling and entering open events on the west coast.

"My very first bull event was an open event in Porterville (Calif.), and I
brought home two checks," she said. "I took third with my Oscar's Outlaw
bull in the futurity and won the classic event with my bull Bitter Water,
who scored an 89."

During her first competitive season, Hook was attending Central Arizona
College. But the call of competitive bull ownership was persistent, and she
decided she wanted to come home and focus on her program.

"I started realizing that I probably needed to come home, because my dad
was having a hard time taking care of all my bulls by himself, so I decided
to take a break and get to cracking on my program. And once I did, the
bulls started doing really good, and we were bringing home checks."

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Even though Hook took a hiatus from college,
she made a promise to her family.  "I promised
my family that I would eventually go back to
school," she said. "And when I do, I want to
study Ranch Systems Management."

For now, Hook has mostly purchased bulls to
handle and haul, but her aspirations are to work
on building her own herd, which will eventually
produce buckers she can utilize in competition.

Still, she is very aware of the demands of making
this leap and has put forth much effort into
preparing to do just that.

"My main goal is to start breeding my own bulls
instead of buying them," Hook said, "but you
have to start somewhere. I mean you have to
learn the bloodlines and I think eventually
raising my own will be the best way to do it."

When it comes to handling facilities, the Hook
family initially purchased a portable arena, but
quickly found out big bulls can wield a lot of
power and do a lot of damage.

"We purchased a portable arena initially, but
knew we needed something more permanent,"
Hook said. "As soon as we started getting bigger,
older bulls around, they quickly started to bend
up panels. So, at this point, my arena is not
portable anymore - we will put it that way."

Hook splits her bulls between her own place and
her parents place in Shandon. Her bulls between
2 and 6 years old stay in Shandon and her
yearlings stay with her. As she should be, she
is particularly proud of her hands-on approach
and the independence she's worked hard at
when it comes to her program.

"I do everything myself," she said. "I work with
my bulls almost every day, putting them through
the chute and handling them. Then taking them
on trailer trips to town or places to get them
used to hauling and exercising. I do all the
chute work and chute breaking myself. I get in
there and sit on them and rub on them and I
flank and haul them, too."

Beyond the bulls Hook keeps in California, she
also has partnership bulls out of state with
various people.

"I have a 3-year-old Charlie Bullware son named
Charlie Beware with Rick Wagoner, a 2-year-old
named Firing Pin with Bob McBride… then I
purchased a 2-year-old from Monty Samford that
I just brought home after he competed at Spring
Fling. He is strictly my ABBI bull and actually my
friend Mkenzee Hegwood and I will be taking him
to the ABBI event coming up in Boise, Idaho."


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"At the auction, I was glad to have Kent Cox to help me choose, and
he and Gary are good friends. So after I picked, Gary came up to me
and said, "You know, how much do you want for this bull?

I will go in partners with you. It literally brought a tear to my eye.
I was really excited to have the chance to be partners with the
Longs."

Hook admits going into the Back Seat Bucker auction was rough on
her nerves, especially because she had no idea what to expect and
decided to participate in the program only weeks prior to the auction.

"I was really, really nervous at the auction," she said. "I didn't know
what to expect. When it comes to bulls, you just gotta give it all
you've got and jump in with both feet. And that's just what I did.
I just bailed in and it turned out really well. I am very excited for
the season to start."

Like so many other Back Seat Buckers owners, Hook has found the
networking to be extremely enjoyable and in particular very helpful.

"I really enjoy being around all the people," she said. "You can't
find better people than there are in the bull business. They are all
just like a big family and they all take care of each other. The
program is a great program. You get to buy a bull, you get to go to
competitions and you get to watch them buck at events with a group
a really great people.

What is immediately obvious about Hook, besides her striking beauty,
is her sweet personality. She will be putting both to work in an
upcoming pageant that has special meaning to the 19-year-old
Mdewakanton Sioux.

"I am currently running for the Miss Tule River Indian Rodeo Queen
contest in Porterville, Calif," Hook said. "So I will hopefully also be
competing at the INFR."

Hook competed in tribal dance competitions, but since her bull
enterprise is now in fast forward, she has had to make some tough
decisions on what she can and can't find time to do.

"I hope to someday be a role model for other female stock
contractors and I have become great friends with a young Native
American contractor from Albuquerque, New Mexico, named Sho
Cash Kieyoomia," Hook said.

"She is 16 and it really made me feel good when she told me that
I was one of the only role models that she ever had. I have been
able to mentor and help her learn about cows and bulls and that
has been really rewarding."

[Article Source/Credits: PBR online] See the complete story on
KMH in the Spring ssue of The American Bucking Bull Magazine.

The magazine can also be viewed on American Bull Inc.'s
Facebook page.

Visit AmericanBuckingBull.com for more info on ABBI and
BackSeatBuckers.com for more info on BSB.

*P13Mag video interview feat., Kaley Mae Hook is attached BELOW
the 1st magazine image.

And last but not least is her latest roster addition and 2013 Back
Seat Bucker bull, The Real McCoy, which she is now partnered with
Gary Long on.

Long won the 2012 BSB Champion title with Long Shot 2.  "I picked
him at the draft in Albuquerque and ultimately ended up partnering
with Gary Long on him," Hook said. "I just love Gary and Nancy Long.

They are the best people. They help everybody and they put their
whole heart into everything they do. I met them at an open
association event on the west coast. Gary and I were competing
against each other for the stock-contractor-of-the-year trailer award
and I met him when I got to the finals. I was 20 points behind him
in the trailer race. I wanted the trailer so bad and when it was over,
I ended up winning.

I was so excited and Gary was so nice to me. He told me if I ever
needed any help to just call - and I do call him a lot for advice. He's
just a really great man."

The week before Hook left to go to Albuquerque for the Back Seat
Buckers auction, she called Long who had once told the young
contractor that if she ever wanted to partner on anything, he would
love to.

"Because of that, I called him to see if he wanted to partner on a
Back Seat Bucker bull," Hook said, "but unfortunately, he had already
partnered with somebody else. So I just went ahead with my plans.
I studied all the bulls the whole week before Albuquerque and the
whole drive there. I put down the ones that I liked the best and Lot 7
from Cord McCoy ended up being my lucky number.

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