Beaty entered his first rodeo at the age of 11

Contributed photos
Blaine Beaty (above) and Coy Thorson (below) are living their dreams riding on the professional rodeo circuit. Both Otter Tail County residents continue to compete in local and national rodeos all summer.

By Tucker Henderson

Reporter

Many people go through life working a tolerable job to get through the day. Therefore, it’s not everyday that people meet someone who can truly say they are fulfilling their dreams. Two Otter Tail County locals will tell you just that, however, as Blaine Beaty of Deer Creek and Coy Thorson of Henning are living their dreams, riding bulls at rodeos across the country.

“Me and my brother started team roping around 2011 or 2012, something like that,” said Beaty. “I rode broncs a little bit in college for a couple years.”

Beaty, who is a 2017 Frazee High School graduate’s rodeo career began when he was about 11-years-old in 2010, when he first entered into the rodeo. He and his brother used to watch Professional Bull Riders (PBR) on television and he decided he wanted to try it out.

“I told my mom I wanted to try it,” he said. “She knew Troy Meech over in Nimrod with Meech Bucking Bulls and we went over there and I had all the right connections and the guys to show me how to do it and here we are. That’s pretty much what we do for a living. I sell some horses and work concrete when I’m home, but rodeo is pretty much my full-time.”

As a full-time professional bull rider, Beaty has competed in rodeos across the country, including in the cities of Denver, Colo., Tucson, Ariz., Forth Worth, San Antonio and Houston, Texas.

Contributed photo
Coy Thorson and Blaine Beaty are pictured with a young rodeo fan during a recent event. The two local cowboys have been a staple on the rodeo circuit this summer.

“There’s a whole bunch of rodeos down there that we go to,” he said. “I won a guitar in Houston, that’s the biggest winter rodeo of the year, one of the biggest rodeos too. I won the super series out there, won the guitar, nothing too crazy I guess. I never made the short round in Fort Worth or in San Antonio, I got close, but didn’t get it.

“It’s kind of a slower year for us, so looking forward to the circuit finals and hopefully getting the average and getting anther saddle out of there,” he continued. “I won it last year, so it’d be cool to back-to-back it and get the average title this year too.”

Although Beaty travels a long way from home, he has local friends and family who come along with him to each rodeo, all of whom find a new friend, technique, piece of gear and more along the way.

“I’ve learned a lot, met a lot of good people,” he said. “We gotta stay positive and keep our heads high even in the lows, because rodeo isn’t always fun. Keep your head up, believe in God, keep getting to the next one.”

Coy Thorson is Beaty’s traveling partner and is a 2016 Underwood High School graduate. He currently lives a few miles outside of Henning. He is also a bull rider and makes his living from the rodeo, as well as selling horses and cows on the side.

Thorson’s rodeo life began when he was quite young, at five-years-old, when he entered the Little Britches event at the local rodeo. He said he began on a calf that year and worked his way up from calves to steers and to the bigger bulls.

“By the time I was 10, I was riding bulls,” said Thorson. “Everybody in my family, my brother and two sisters, they did rodeo, so I grew up into it under all them. I always liked the bull riding when I was a kid, that’s what I wanted to do I guess. When I was in high school, I did every event.”

Thorson began professional bull riding when he was 18-years-old and it remains his main event, though he will do some team roping from time to time. He has had some big highlights over the years from winning the average at circuit finals in 2022 to placing second at a rodeo in Pendleton, Ore.

“That was a pretty cool one,” he said. “I’ve won quite a few of them I guess. I’ve made the circuit finals every year that I’ve been rodeoing, but I’ve missed entries for it a couple times, so I haven’t gone every year.”

The 2025 rodeo season was cut short for Thorson as he sustained a brain bleed over a month ago and is currently being treated for it in order to heal up with the hopes of getting back out there next year.

“The rodeo ain’t for the weak, that’s for damn sure, but we’ve always had a great time, traveling, going around meeting new people, living on the road with your buddies, there’s not really a better life you could have,” he said.