Stepping Up the Ladder One Rung at a Time Sees Tristen Hutchings at the Top

Tristen Hutchings may not have put the town of Monteview, Idaho, on the map. But, he certainly is responsible for gaining recognition for the community.

Monteview is located about 80 miles north of Blackfoot, where Tristen went to high school, played football, wrestled and competed in all of the rodeo events – except bareback riding. Both his parents competed in the arena and the opportunities for their children always included rodeos. 

Tristen can’t remember the first bull he got on or the first buckle he won. He started in the mutton bustin’ where he estimates that he was four years old. Riding horses and being outdoors was also part of his childhood. 

A divorce happened, but didn’t change the opportunity for rodeo. Tristen’s father, Lane, built a house on the family farm at Monteview and his mom settled in Blackfoot. Weekdays were filled with school, football and wrestling through the fall and winter. Spring saw him and his older sister, Timmi, competing in the Idaho Junior Rodeo Association. 

Timmi began this generation’s legacy riding sheep. Tristen followed. Timmi rode calves, Tristen followed. Then there were the mini bulls. 

“My sister was always really good at everything growing up,” Tristen said. “We grew up riding mini bulls. It was like one girl and 20 boys getting on. My sister used to always whoop everybody. We got competitive real fast because that’s all we knew was to try and win.”

After Tristen was through with high school, his mom, Shanna Swan, moved to Texas. Timmi was already there competing at Odessa College for coach C.J. Aragon. Tristen followed Timmi once again. When coach Aragon moved to Sul Ross State University in Alpine, so did the Hutchings.

His college career included saddle bronc riding and steer wrestling as well as bull riding. In fact, he qualified for the College National Finals Rodeo twice in steer wrestling and bull riding. He still was working on his confidence, but during the 2019 college season at the final rodeo at Texas Tech he won both of those events. He finished as the all-around, bull riding and steer wrestling champion in the Southwest Region of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association and won two saddles and a horse trailer. 

“That showed me that maybe I could rodeo a little bit and do good,” Tristen said. 

The next year all of college rodeo was affected by the pandemic. He qualified for his second College National Finals Rodeo in 2021 and that really showed him what he was capable of. He finished as the bull riding champion. In 2022, he was reserve and then in 2023, won the championship again.

After that first college title, he competed at Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association events the rest of the summer. He had joined the organization the previous year and was in his rookie season. Fellow bull rider Colten Fritzlan saw the potential in Tristen and told him that he needed to believe in himself and just do it. 

“That ended up being a terrible decision,” Tristen said. “I went to five rodeos, ran out of money and had to go to work to be able to get back home.” 

Then he was back at school, won the CNFR and that win allowed him to go rodeo for the summer of 2021. The whole experience taught him that he could rodeo and make money doing it if he was a good manager. 

Tristen may have finished as the reserve champion in 2022 at the CNFR, but that season was very pivotal for the man who now has five Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifications to his credit. He’s competed at rodeo’s championships the past four years and is currently at the top of the world standings and well on his way to the famed yellow bucking chutes this year.

His first trip to Las Vegas came with it’s own set of challenges. He was competing at college rodeos and pro rodeos at the same time. And those college rodeos included multiple events. He stayed among the top 25 in the world standings for most of the year. Then with less than six weeks left in the regular season, he won the Gem State Stampede Xtreme Bulls and their rodeo. 

A win over Labor Day at Washington’s Ellensburg Rodeo and a top four finish at their Xtreme Bulls saw him reaching for a goal that he wasn’t sure he would ever achieve. 

“The last 40 days of the season I won about 60 grand,” he said. “I basically went from like 25^th to fourth in the world standings.” 

Tristen was still in school and took advantage of the opportunity to practice there to prepare for the NFR. All of those practice bulls didn’t prepare him for a bout with the flu. So, he entered his first NFR when he was really sick. He was feeling a little bit better, won the first round and was feeling a lot better. That caught up with him and he bucked off the next three. He won the next two rounds then got bucked off again. The final round, he was the lone bull rider to get a score and he won all the prize money for that night. He finished the season third in the world. 

“I went from my girlfriend helping me pay my entry fees at the college rodeos to having $300,000 in my bank account,” Tristen said. “I might have had to walk sideways through the doors because my head was so big. When I showed up to school that fall, I had $80,000 or something saved up from rodeoing all year long. I thought I was dirty, filthy rich. Then I went to the NFR and won 250 grand. I had never even heard of money like that before in my life.” 

His first NFR will always be his favorite because of how life changing it was. It affirmed that he could ride with the best in the world, he could make a living in the rodeo arena and most importantly, his mom, Shanna Swan, got to witness all of it. 

“It was definitely a big change and an eye opener,” he added. “It showed me what I could do with a bull rope in my hand and travel the countryside. It never was easy because when I went to high school, I really didn’t do that well. Then I went to college and didn’t do good. I didn’t even know if I was going to be a bull rider until I made the CNFR. I felt like I had a better chance in the saddle bronc and steer wrestling.”

Working those other events has made Tristen a better competitor. 

“I’m sure it’s made me a better bull rider from a competition aspect,” he said. “I don’t feel like the bull riding is very easy to choke at. It’s so action-packed and adrenaline pumping. You have to be all-in.” 

Timmi and Tristen lost their mom in a tragic car accident in October of 2023. He competed at the NFR that December and finished the season in ninth place. He finished the next two years in fifth place. Timmi is now the women’s rodeo coach at Western Texas College in Snyder. They have a younger sister Alexis who is competing in college rodeo. And Tristen has a special angel that is always riding with him. He relies on lessons she taught him and strives to be like his mom. 

“I think I’ve learned how to be a really good competitor and a humble competitor,” he said. “Getting in the rodeo arena and nodding my head, whether it was in the timed events or rough stock events. Doing all sorts of events and learning how to take the losses helps you learn how to win.” 

Learning how to win and putting the self-doubt behind him has been a slow process that has taken him through the ranks of rodeo. 

“It’s been like a ladder that I had to climb one step at a time,” he said. “I had to prove to myself that I could do it, then I could move up and move up again.”