Toby Inman has been around rodeo most of his life. He started riding bulls and bucking horses, then he jumped into the fray, so to speak.Age: 26
Born: Jan. 7, 1983
Hometown: Davis Junction, Ill.
Toby Inman has been around rodeo most of his life. He started riding bulls and bucking horses, then he jumped into the fray, so to speak.
“Someone didn’t show up for the practice pen, so I just did it,” Inman said. “I fell in love with it.”
During the prestigious Miller Lite Bull Blowout in Denton, Texas, the longest-running protection bullfight competition in the world, Inman and his partner, Dave Jantzi of Sugar Creek, Ohio, finished second overall, quite an accomplishment given the field of players.
"To go up against these guys, it literally puts you up against the best," Inman said. "It doesn't bring me down; it builds me up."
Inman is an up-and-coming superstar in the sport of bullfighting, now in just his fourth year in the business. Already, he’s played on some of the biggest stages, qualifying for the freestyle fights that were part of the PBR World Finals in 2006.
“Not everybody else can do it,” he said. “It’s exciting. It’s just one of those things. Some people like to bike. Some people like to throw horseshoes. Some people like to skydive.
“I don’t see jumping out of a perfectly good airplane as a rush, but I do like to step out in the arena and help people. I’m just having a good time.”
And having been a hired hand – one who is paid by rodeos or bull-riding events to protect fallen bull riders – he understands the need. He’s also adjusting to life in the competition bullfights, where he pays an entry fee and doesn’t leave the arena with the paycheck unless he’s finished in the money.”
“It was different when I first stepped into it,” Inman said. “Going from rodeo good to competition, but I’ve always competed through life. You can take a tape from a really good protection bullfighter and take a tape from the protection matches, and you can definitely see the differences.
“In protection matches, every point counts, and you’re fighting for every point you can get. If you don’t go out there and dig for points, you’re going to go home with nothing."
Click HERE to visit Toby's Web site.