PBR bucking bulls mean a lot to the men and women who breed them, raise them, care for them and haul them all over the country. Some elicit emotions usually reserved for family members.

Troubadour is one such bull. Tonight, during Round 4 of the PBR Built Ford Tough World Finals, his career will be celebrated.

Troubadour was named by the late son of Cindy Rosser and Julio Moreno, Mikel Jay Moreno. Mikel died in 2006 after a three-year battle with leukemia. He was 18.

Mikel named Troubadour after singer/songwriter Jewel.

“[The ceremony] is going to be something special because that is the last bull that Mikel named,” Julio Moreno said. “He named him after Jewel, one who writes and sings her own music. So that will be something special. That will really be the last one, because last year they retired Big Mike and he was one of Mikel’s, too. So it’s coming to the end of his bulls.”

PBR Livestock Director Cody Lambert and Dr. Tandy Freeman, director of PBR’s sports medicine team, were among the mourners at Mikel’s funeral. To honor Mikel’s memory and his ability to raise and train bucking bulls, the PBR established the Mikel Moreno Bull of the PBR World Finals Award, which is given to the bull who accumulates the most bull points at the Finals.

Troubadour shared the award three years ago with 2007 World Champion Bull Chicken on a Chain. That’s also the year Troubadour won $250,000 as ABBI Classic Champion. In 2008, he finished a quarter-point behind Tom Teague’s Bones in the World Champion Bull competition.

Troubadour sustained an injury to his spine this year, and after consulting with veterinarian Dr. Greg Warner of Elgin, Texas, Moreno decided to end the bull’s bucking career.

“He’s only 7 and I thought he could last a little longer, but that injury to his back, I don’t want to see him go out crippled,” Moreno said. “He could go on, but there’s a chance for him to buck so hard he could break [his spine], so I don’t want to take a chance.”

In 60 career PBR and PRCA outs, Troubadour bucked off 75 percent of riders, including all 22 at 2007 PBR contests. En route to his 2009 World Championship, Kody Lostroh earned Stephen Balgeman Troubadour carried Mike White to a 95.75-point ride in Tulsa, Okla., in July 2008 that many observers think should have eclipsed the PBR's highest-marked ride (96.5) in history.

Lambert agrees with the decision to turn Troubadour into a full-time breeding bull. Moreno said he recently covered 28 cows.

“Julio decided to let him go out as a champion, because he thought if [his injury] slowed him down just a little bit, guys that normally couldn’t ride him would be able to,” Lambert said. “When you think about a great bull like that, you let him retire with that type of dignity. If took J. B. Mauney or Kody Lostroh or Mike White, or somebody like that, to ride that bull. Everybody couldn’t ride him.

“He’s going out in his prime.”

— by Chris McManes