The Last Stand: J.B. Mauney’s Painful Exit from the Bull Riding Arena
October 5, 2025, 3:30 PM EDT.
In the brutal ballet of professional bull riding, where eight seconds can crown a legend or crush a spine, J.B. Mauney stood as a titan. Born James Burton Mauney on January 9, 1987, in Charlotte, North Carolina, he wasn’t molded by sprawling Western plains but by the gritty resolve of the Southeast, where the rodeo’s call lured him from teenage rebellion to the horns of beasts that could kill with a twitch. At three, he straddled his first calf; by 18, he turned pro, chasing the roar of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) circuit. Nicknamed the “Dragonslayer,” Mauney didn’t just ride bulls—he tamed the rankest, the ones that sent lesser men limping or worse. His career was a saga of triumphs, etched in blood and bone, but it ended not in a blaze of glory but in the sterile hum of a hospital, his neck bolted with metal, his future traded for survival. This is the tragic tale of a cowboy who danced with death too long, only to be silenced by its cruelest blow.
Mauney’s rise was raw defiance wrapped in talent. He debuted in the PBR in 2005, but his 2009 Rookie of the Year title marked him as a force. By 2013, at 26, he seized his first world championship, riding with a ferocity that seemed to defy physics. His career tally of 538 qualified rides placed him among an elite quartet in PBR history.<grok:render type=”render_inline_citation”><argument name=”citation_id”>5</argument></grok:render> His 95.25-point ride on Bushwacker in 2013, the eighth-highest in PBR records, was a clash of titans—Mauney versus a bucking demon whose name alone struck fear.<grok:render type=”render_inline_citation”><argument name=”citation_id”>5</argument></grok:render> Slaying Bushwacker wasn’t just a win; it was a coronation, cementing Mauney as the sport’s fearless king.
But bull riding’s crown is forged in pain. Mauney’s body became a map of carnage: dislocated shoulder, lacerated kidney, fractured legs, jaws, back, feet, shoulder blades.<grok:render type=”render_inline_citation”><argument name=”citation_id”>9</argument></grok:render> In 2017, his right arm took a hit requiring a screw and 13 anchors, yet he roared back, becoming the first rider to earn over $7 million by November 2016.<grok:render type=”render_inline_citation”><argument name=”citation_id”>6</argument></grok:render> He tied the record for most event wins at 35, outpacing legend Justin McBride, and held the second-most 90-point rides in PBR history.<grok:render type=”render_inline_citation”><argument name=”citation_id”>14</argument></grok:render> In 2014, he rode 16 consecutive bulls, breaking a tie with Terry Don West and carving his name deeper into the sport’s lore. Each ride was a middle finger to fear, a testament to his mantra: ride the best to be the best.<grok:render type=”render_inline_citation”><argument name=”citation_id”>6</argument></grok:render>
Off the arena’s dirt, Mauney was a paradox—a quiet cowboy who welded fences and raised horses on his Bucktown XV ranch near Stephenville, Texas, yet burned with a gambler’s fire when facing elite bulls. He idolized McBride, soaking up lessons in resilience: “No matter how bad he was hurting… he’d say, ‘Shut up. I’m not too hurt to ride.’”<grok:render type=”render_inline_citation”><argument name=”citation_id”>14</argument></grok:render> Mauney lived that creed, riding through pain that would’ve broken others. His 2015 world championship solidified his dynasty, but at 28, his body was already a patchwork of scars, whispering warnings he ignored.
His personal life offered fleeting refuge. In 2016, he married Samantha Lynn, a barrel racer whose rodeo roots matched his. Their son, Jagger Roy, born in 2019, brought a new lens to Mauney’s world. Fatherhood softened the Dragonslayer; he’d delayed settling down to chase titles, later admitting it freed him to ride without restraint.<grok:render type=”render_inline_citation”><argument name=”citation_id”>4</argument></grok:render> But even Jagger couldn’t tether him from the arena. In 2021, Mauney joined the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA), qualifying for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo despite facial lacerations from a brutal wreck.<grok:render type=”render_inline_citation”><argument name=”citation_id”>9</argument></grok:render> A 2023 concussion at the Houston Livestock Show, where a bull knocked him cold, was another ignored omen.<grok:render type=”render_inline_citation”><argument name=”citation_id”>9</argument></grok:render>
The end came on September 6, 2023, at the Lewiston Round-Up in Idaho, a PRCA Division 2 Xtreme Bulls event. Mauney drew Arctic Assassin, an 11-year-old bull from Sankey Pro Rodeo & Phenom Genetics—not the rankest, but a spinning vortex of raw power. He nodded, the gate flew open, and for a moment, he was in rhythm, spurs digging, rope taut. Then Arctic Assassin lurched backward, launching Mauney skyward. He landed headfirst, the arena’s roar fading to a sickening hush. The crack in his neck—fractured C6 and C7 vertebrae—wasn’t just a sound but a guillotine on his career.<grok:render type=”render_inline_citation”><argument name=”citation_id”>3</argument></grok:render>
Rushed to St. Joseph Regional Medical Center in Lewiston, Mauney faced surgery on September 8. Surgeons removed a disc, fusing his spine with a rod, plates, and screws to avert paralysis.<grok:render type=”render_inline_citation”><argument name=”citation_id”>0</argument></grok:render> On September 12, he posted on Instagram: “Surgery went great… Unfortunately with the surgery, it ended my bull riding career. Just wanted to let everyone know that I’m ok and now on the road to recovery. (This) is not the way I wanted to go out but everything happens for a reason.”<grok:render type=”render_inline_citation”><argument name=”citation_id”>0</argument></grok:render> At 36, after over 1,000 bulls and more prize money than any rider before, the Dragonslayer was grounded—no farewell ride, no final bow, just the beep of hospital monitors.
Recovery was a slow descent into a new kind of hell. Confined to Bucktown XV, Mauney faced a Texas sun that mocked his immobility. Doctors warned that another headfirst fall meant death or a wheelchair.<grok:render type=”render_inline_citation”><argument name=”citation_id”>1</argument></grok:render> The hardest blow wasn’t physical—it was telling five-year-old Jagger that Daddy’s rides were done. “The hardest part was explaining to Jagger that his riding career was over,” Mauney said on a podcast, his voice fracturing.<grok:render type=”render_inline_citation”><argument name=”citation_id”>4</argument></grok:render> Samantha, his anchor, stood firm, her own rodeo grit mirroring his, but even she couldn’t fill the void. Mauney turned to welding fences and training horses, tasks to mimic purpose. “The s— you gotta do when you retire,” he told WFAA, the quip masking a hollow ache.<grok:render type=”render_inline_citation”><argument name=”citation_id”>1</argument></grok:render>
In a twist of fate, Mauney acquired Arctic Assassin after the wreck. Gifted by the stock contractor, the bull now grazes his pasture, a “dog gentle” pet he scratches like a loyal hound.<grok:render type=”render_inline_citation”><argument name=”citation_id”>13</argument></grok:render> Videos of Mauney petting his vanquisher went viral, a cowboy at peace with the beast that ended him. “He got me out of sync early,” he said, dissecting the ride with a general’s calm.<grok:render type=”render_inline_citation”><argument name=”citation_id”>13</argument></grok:render> Owning Arctic became a quiet rebellion, a way to reclaim control from the wreck.
By 2024, the rodeo world showered Mauney with honors, each a bittersweet echo. Added late to the Bull Riding Hall of Fame ballot, he topped the vote, inducted alongside icons like Myles Tork.<grok:render type=”render_inline_citation”><argument name=”citation_id”>1</argument></grok:render> The PBR lauded his 35 event wins and unyielding spirit, but no plaque could replace the arena’s dust. Mauney’s legacy endures not in the titles—two world championships, millions earned—but in the image of a man who rode until his body betrayed him, whose last stand was a fall that broke more than bone. Today, October 5, 2025, at 3:30 PM EDT, J.B. Mauney remains a ghost in the chutes, a legend whose fire the sport may never see again.
