Whitehall Alumni Keeps Cowboys Safe While Living His Dream

Montana Pro Rodeo Circuit can weigh anywhere between 1200 and 1800 pounds; Kaleb Barrett weighs about 170. Yet he looks them in the eye with the utmost confidence, ready to spar at any given minute. Barrett, a 2002 graduate of Whitehall High School, is a warrior, an all-around impressive individual who has called Whitehall his hometown for as long as he can remember, and this past weekend he put his best foot forward and took the bulls at the Montana PRC head on – as a professional bullfighter.

Barrett didn't always want to be in front of the bull; in the beginning he wanted to be on top of them. A high school rodeo bull rider, Barrett had dreams of making it big in the rodeo industry by staying a top the horned beasts for as long as he could. However, fate and an honest opinion from a trusted friend, led him to bull fighting.

"In high school I was bull riding. I was training horses with my friend Karl Kimberling and he said I was wasting my time riding – that I had too much knee speed and athletic ability to do what I was doing, and that I was going to get hurt and waste that ability if I kept it up," Barrett said. "But I loved the adrenaline, the competition."

Fate had other plans, as not too long later in his college years Barrett was knocked out badly at a rodeo in Vaughn. With no bull fighters on the clock to help protect the cowboy, Barrett's friends Scott & Carson Merkel, also of Whitehall, pulled him out of harm's way. Barrett, who suffered serious injuries, realized his friends had probably saved his life and he flipped his dream of riding bulls to protecting the cowboys who ride those bulls. As of 2004 he was fully committed to bull fighting, in 2007 he received his Pro card for bull fighting; now more than a decade later, he has gone to the World Championship for bull fighting twice in the freestyle category and continues to keep cowboys safe at every match.

The intensity, adrenaline, and competition are still there – maybe in an even more extreme capacity than before – but Barrett said the "dance" is all about direction and diversion of bulls focus. To Barrett, it is an enlightened style of thinking; his dance partner is someone he cannot force to go one way or another, he can only provide an avenue and a hopeful direction to move towards.

"When you are going down the gun barrel, you have to deny your natural instincts to get out of the way of the bull. That's when you find out if you're going to be a warrior or not." The moment of realization that the dance is out of their hands is something Barrett and his comrades talk about often.

"It's intense up to the moment. Your heart is in your ears, and then everything slows down. We call this starting to "flow", a state of mind where you overcome what is happening and its an ultra-focus zen type of moment where you relax and really take stock of the situation. Where am I going to land when this bull hits me? How close am I to the gate? What hazards are there? You see all these funny details, like the bulls back as you are flying over him, but you're planning how to keep yourself and your cowboy safe. Full panic equals full injury," Barrett explained.

The comradery of Barrett and his bullfighting friends is strong, building the warrior mentality. This warrior state of mind, to some, may sound frivolous and overconfident, but Barrett's attitude towards life is anything but. With that said though, Barrett's viewpoints are so inspiring. this interview should have been recorded for others to listen to.

"Iron sharpens iron – you want to surround yourself with that mindset," Barrett explained. "Be comfortable with being uncomfortable, and that will make you strong. Foraging steel, you take elements, iron and carbon and charcoal, and make them extremely uncomfortable. Mold them together, take it out, pound it on an anvil. Damascus steel is strong but pliable, strongest ever, and it is heated, folded, hammered, heated, folded, hammered, again and again. When something happens with a bull, we joke and say he "put another fold in your steel" because you learned something there and we apply that to every avenue of life."

Barrett's bullfighting brothers have gotten him through a lot, but he holds one person dearest over all.

"Honestly, I couldn't have done this without my wife, Shawna. She's my greatest advocate, my greatest supporter, my number one motivator and coach" Barrett said, a bit emotional. Shawna, also a Whitehall native whom Barrett has been with since their sophomore year in high school, shares two children with the bullfighter – Jett, 3, and Trey, 1.5. "She really is the perfect partner to me. She sees when I'm not being aggressive enough and calls me out on it. She knows I have to be 100% committed, otherwise I'm at risk and not in control of the scenario and putting myself and the rider at risk."

Barrett said that he and his wife are very happy to have the rodeo community to expose their children to, as they both grew up in the lifestyle.

"It's really the last place you can just let your kids out of the truck and tell them to be back by bull riding time and you know they are safe," Barrett said, adding that the rodeo community has really taken to his kids and know Shawna by sight. "It teaches the kids to respect the animals, to respect other people's equipment."

More importantly, Shawna's support of Barrett's passion for such a dangerous sport is also showing their children to chase their dreams.

"No one can quit for you, but not one can go get your dreams for you - except you. I want the kids to know its ok to chase your dreams. But I also want them to know that its totally ok to have a safety net in case those dreams don't work out," Barrett added.

Both Barrett and his wife are RN's at St. Patrick's hospital, who have been very accommodating with Barrett's rodeo schedule, especially with the cancellations of events due to COVID-19 restrictions.

"Safety nets are great – but don't let the safety net be something that holds you back – you want that safety net underneath, not in front, of your dreams."