1 00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:09,440 This is a symbol of the great iconic American cowboy, which symbolizes hard 2 00:00:09,440 --> 00:00:12,660 work, and your handshake means more than your signature. 3 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:18,340 If I'm moving bulls, horseback, and stuff, I've always got it on. It's kind 4 00:00:18,340 --> 00:00:19,340 like your uniform. 5 00:00:20,460 --> 00:00:23,180 We want to give you the best quality product. 6 00:00:23,700 --> 00:00:26,900 We want to give you the best customer service possible. 7 00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:32,320 We want to deliver on time, and we want to do all of those things at a fair 8 00:00:32,320 --> 00:00:33,320 price. 9 00:00:34,960 --> 00:00:37,340 If you're a cowboy, you wear a cowboy hat. 10 00:00:39,160 --> 00:00:43,420 It's American Hat Company. It's 110 years old. We make one thing, and that's 11 00:00:43,420 --> 00:00:44,179 cowboy hats. 12 00:00:44,180 --> 00:00:47,220 We don't make T -shirts. We don't make ball caps. We don't make anything else. 13 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:51,620 We're in the business of making cowboy hats. We're not playing baseball. We're 14 00:00:51,620 --> 00:00:55,140 doing cowboy stuff, so that's what we do here. 15 00:01:42,030 --> 00:01:47,390 Bowie, Texas is a small town in between Decatur and Wichita Falls. 16 00:01:47,870 --> 00:01:49,350 5 ,200 people. 17 00:01:49,990 --> 00:01:53,670 People ask me, well, where's Bowie, Texas? And I tell them it's 14 miles 18 00:01:53,670 --> 00:01:55,630 the spot where Jesus lost his sandals. 19 00:01:55,870 --> 00:01:57,450 You just got to go a little bit farther. 20 00:01:59,170 --> 00:02:01,310 I love the people in this town. 21 00:02:01,930 --> 00:02:05,970 My youngest daughter is a police officer here. I'm proud to be able to help 22 00:02:05,970 --> 00:02:09,550 raise my granddaughters here and be a member of this community. 23 00:02:10,600 --> 00:02:12,100 Good morning. How are you today? 24 00:02:13,420 --> 00:02:15,060 Good, good. Hanging in there. 25 00:02:16,180 --> 00:02:19,540 Everybody's doing good. Looks like everybody's happy working. 26 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:22,040 Getting it done. 27 00:02:22,300 --> 00:02:25,520 We do not import any finished goods at all. 28 00:02:25,940 --> 00:02:28,720 Everything we bring in, we bring in in raw material. 29 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:30,880 Then we make it right here in Bowie, Texas. 30 00:02:31,160 --> 00:02:33,020 And it's handmade here in Bowie, Texas. 31 00:02:33,420 --> 00:02:38,220 This is where it all begins. So these are raw straw bodies. These are all hand 32 00:02:38,220 --> 00:02:40,560 -woven. So it's really kind of a work of art. 33 00:02:40,940 --> 00:02:45,280 But you can see in this form, it's very pliable. 34 00:02:45,660 --> 00:02:51,380 And so we have to get it from this form to this form. So where it's going to 35 00:02:51,380 --> 00:02:54,560 actually cover your head and protect you from the elements. 36 00:02:54,780 --> 00:03:01,360 I happen to be the beneficiary of some folks that took some chances on American 37 00:03:01,360 --> 00:03:04,960 Hat Company. And those folks would be Keith and Susan Maddox. Keith, our late 38 00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:06,680 owner, and Susan, our current owner. 39 00:03:07,630 --> 00:03:13,270 So that's a raw felt body, but it is made to our specifications. 40 00:03:13,830 --> 00:03:19,050 Keith went to Portugal and blended furs, belly, beaver, and mink, probably the 41 00:03:19,050 --> 00:03:20,530 finest hat you can buy. 42 00:03:21,790 --> 00:03:24,850 So Keith Maddox, he was a rodeo cowboy. 43 00:03:26,490 --> 00:03:29,150 Grew up on a ranch in Weezer, Idaho. 44 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:35,500 His dad, Dwight Maddox, was probably one of the toughest guys you'd ever meet. 45 00:03:35,540 --> 00:03:37,240 Still rode bulls at the age of 58. 46 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:42,980 You know, I grew up in a Western family. My dad rodeoed professionally. 47 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:44,240 I grew up on a ranch. 48 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:49,720 I've been wearing hats and boots, so I can remember. 49 00:03:50,220 --> 00:03:55,180 Keith had a good rodeo career, but knew that he wanted to go into business. He 50 00:03:55,180 --> 00:03:57,140 wanted to have his own hat company. 51 00:03:57,550 --> 00:04:01,010 He always felt like a good pair of boots and a good hat. Every cowboy needed 52 00:04:01,010 --> 00:04:02,010 that. 53 00:04:02,390 --> 00:04:07,670 This is a collection of old hat blocks, just as a way of remembering our 54 00:04:07,670 --> 00:04:08,970 heritage and our history. 55 00:04:09,230 --> 00:04:13,810 Some of these can be stacked to make a top hat, but now we use a tapered crown. 56 00:04:14,190 --> 00:04:19,370 So instead of it going straight up on the side, they're tapered to look more 57 00:04:19,370 --> 00:04:20,370 like that. 58 00:04:22,310 --> 00:04:27,430 In 2004, Keith and Susan Maddox were able to put the money together and write 59 00:04:27,430 --> 00:04:32,390 check for the American Hat Company. They moved it here to Bowie, Texas, with the 60 00:04:32,390 --> 00:04:34,730 help of the Economic Development Department here in town. 61 00:04:35,030 --> 00:04:39,090 And it was all about quality, quality, quality. That was his thing. 62 00:04:39,690 --> 00:04:42,290 So we start here with a way out. That's what this is called. 63 00:04:42,510 --> 00:04:46,970 So these tickets tell these guys how to press the hat. 64 00:04:48,310 --> 00:04:51,210 The key that they've got to do is they've got to make sure that... 65 00:04:51,600 --> 00:04:57,620 When they put it on there, that that vent stays straight. 66 00:04:58,000 --> 00:05:02,460 Each one of these guys will press between 250 and 300 hats a day. 67 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:07,580 This is the area where they cut the brim down and sew the wire on. And then as 68 00:05:07,580 --> 00:05:12,760 the hat is getting ready to come through the factory, they lay the sweatband 69 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:16,340 inside it. So it's been pre -made waiting for that hat to show up. 70 00:05:16,600 --> 00:05:20,660 Tammy is sewing in reading, so she's got a big old roll of it. 71 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:22,760 when that seats inside your hat. 72 00:05:24,660 --> 00:05:26,060 So it gives it a nice head. 73 00:05:27,180 --> 00:05:29,520 And then they sew the sweatband together. 74 00:05:29,800 --> 00:05:32,600 And then this has got to fit inside the hat. 75 00:05:32,860 --> 00:05:37,240 If you cut that or trim that a little bit, it's going to throw everything off. 76 00:05:37,400 --> 00:05:41,500 So then what we're doing here, Michelle is tacking the sweatband onto the hat. 77 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:45,240 And then once they're through all that, there's one other step. 78 00:05:45,520 --> 00:05:47,140 This is called hot blocking. 79 00:05:47,580 --> 00:05:51,680 She puts them on these hot blocks, and the hot blocks then smooth out the 80 00:05:51,680 --> 00:05:55,920 sweatband to make sure there's no wrinkles or anything in the sweatband. 81 00:05:55,920 --> 00:05:59,100 got these, so she can also put that inside the hat and make sure she's 82 00:05:59,100 --> 00:06:02,820 the right size of the right hat. Then they come over here to the inspection 83 00:06:02,820 --> 00:06:07,100 department. They do a final inspection, make sure that everything is what it's 84 00:06:07,100 --> 00:06:11,920 supposed to be. So that's the straw side of the business. This is probably the 85 00:06:11,920 --> 00:06:15,160 most recognizable piece of apparel on the planet Earth. 86 00:06:50,720 --> 00:06:54,680 People calling me a goat never, that was not ever a goal of mine. 87 00:06:59,380 --> 00:07:04,380 That never really factored into my bull riding. I always told them, go buckles 88 00:07:04,380 --> 00:07:05,229 or not. 89 00:07:05,230 --> 00:07:10,490 When I hung that bull rope up, I wanted everybody to look and say, man, he never 90 00:07:10,490 --> 00:07:15,190 had any backup in him. He went at them every single time, and I feel like 91 00:07:15,190 --> 00:07:16,190 what I did in my career. 92 00:07:16,290 --> 00:07:20,790 J .B. Mooney is the guy, when you look up a cowboy in the dictionary, he's got 93 00:07:20,790 --> 00:07:21,790 his picture there. 94 00:07:23,250 --> 00:07:26,710 Arguably one of the greatest bull riders of all time, one of the toughest human 95 00:07:26,710 --> 00:07:28,710 beings that you'll ever want to meet. 96 00:07:29,170 --> 00:07:31,770 He broke his neck, and he knew he broke his neck. 97 00:07:32,460 --> 00:07:39,300 and sat out on a picnic table and said, hey, can somebody 98 00:07:39,300 --> 00:07:40,300 get me a cigarette? 99 00:07:40,520 --> 00:07:45,820 I mean, smoke a cigarette and then tell them the guys at the ambulance probably 100 00:07:45,820 --> 00:07:49,280 won't stabilize this because I think I've broken my neck. 101 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:54,420 Your friends and your family are the only person that's going to remember 102 00:07:54,420 --> 00:07:58,300 gold buckle hanging around your waist as soon as they hand that gold buckle to 103 00:07:58,300 --> 00:08:01,310 you. You've got to hit the reset like you never want it. Go again. 104 00:08:01,590 --> 00:08:05,550 Now, we've got a lot of great bull riders, but J .D. Mooney is on a whole 105 00:08:05,550 --> 00:08:09,650 plane, and you can just see the execution in his movement. He knows 106 00:08:09,650 --> 00:08:14,930 position he needs to get to, and he knows the exact intensity to use to move 107 00:08:14,930 --> 00:08:17,310 there. He knows how to find the rhythm of the bull. 108 00:08:20,170 --> 00:08:23,230 When I was 18, a bull stung me on the stomach, lacerated my liver. 109 00:08:23,710 --> 00:08:25,110 Broke all my ribs on the right side. 110 00:08:25,390 --> 00:08:29,030 I was a little bit young and dumb, so I didn't go to the hospital until the next 111 00:08:29,030 --> 00:08:32,049 day. I thought I was all right. And when I finally went, they told me it should 112 00:08:32,049 --> 00:08:34,230 have ruptured, and I bled out and never made it out of the arena. 113 00:08:34,470 --> 00:08:38,730 And I realized pretty quick, if I was going to do it, I better mean it. 114 00:08:41,570 --> 00:08:44,950 When I lacerated my liver at that job I was working at, they asked me, what are 115 00:08:44,950 --> 00:08:45,669 you going to do now? 116 00:08:45,670 --> 00:08:47,770 I said, well, I'm back riding bulls as soon as I can. 117 00:08:48,230 --> 00:08:50,930 Oh, you're going to go back? Bulldog killed you. I said, yeah. 118 00:08:55,820 --> 00:08:59,460 I wanted to ride bulls my whole life, but it didn't really, it's the side 119 00:08:59,460 --> 00:09:03,200 everybody knows. You just kind of put it in the back of your head and out of 120 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:09,080 sight, out of mind kind of deal. Say hello to your 2015 PBR World Champion. 121 00:09:11,320 --> 00:09:17,020 J .B. Mooney and Keith Maddox, the one thing that they had in common, no quit. 122 00:09:17,540 --> 00:09:18,540 Zero quit. 123 00:09:18,580 --> 00:09:22,040 Before I was 18, we got on bulls seven days a week and twice on Sunday. 124 00:09:22,460 --> 00:09:25,860 And then once I got in the PBR and started going, nothing ever changed. I 125 00:09:25,860 --> 00:09:27,200 changed from day one. 126 00:09:28,820 --> 00:09:31,900 You know, when I broke my neck, that's what I told all the guys on the team. I 127 00:09:31,900 --> 00:09:33,120 said, look, I'm a proven fact. 128 00:09:34,140 --> 00:09:38,160 It doesn't matter how good you are or how good you're riding. One day it's 129 00:09:38,160 --> 00:09:40,940 and the next day it's gone. So you better mean it every time you nod your 130 00:09:44,270 --> 00:09:48,550 He's been wearing our hat for quite a few years now, and we've never really 131 00:09:48,550 --> 00:09:52,350 a contract. It's just been, hey, you know, give your hat. 132 00:09:52,670 --> 00:09:56,770 It was like a sponsorship deal without a contract. It was just a handshake, so 133 00:09:56,770 --> 00:10:00,250 I'd always tag him, and I always had American hats on, so it worked out. 134 00:10:00,570 --> 00:10:01,730 How'd you come up with the shape? 135 00:10:02,290 --> 00:10:05,870 It was just what I always wore. It used to be real bad. I would never let anyone 136 00:10:05,870 --> 00:10:07,330 shake my hat. No one. 137 00:10:07,750 --> 00:10:10,010 Now people call it, and that's for the JV shape. 138 00:10:13,100 --> 00:10:19,280 My name's James Andre, Capital Hatters here in Stephenville, Texas, and we 139 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:23,080 started back in 2004, so 21 years right now. 140 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:28,420 We're focused on our retailers that sell hats and do hats right, what we 141 00:10:28,420 --> 00:10:33,080 consider right, and that means to handshape cowboy hats in front of the 142 00:10:33,080 --> 00:10:38,740 customer. Yeah, we get hats all the time, you know, for the JV shade, so 143 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:41,240 very popular shade. He's made his mark in the hat business. 144 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:48,320 A wider, squared -off brim, a lot like the one that I'm wearing, all -around 145 00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:49,320 type crown. 146 00:10:49,900 --> 00:10:53,720 All -around is what I've got on. This hat right here is basically a Cattleman 147 00:10:53,720 --> 00:10:55,260 crown with some cutter bumps in it. 148 00:11:04,320 --> 00:11:08,500 Now we're walking up on Julie Dawson. Julie Dawson's been here about 12 years, 149 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:10,960 and Julie has shaped over... 150 00:11:12,519 --> 00:11:13,820 250 ,000 hats. 151 00:11:14,840 --> 00:11:17,320 So you see it's a lot of symmetrical hand movements. 152 00:11:17,680 --> 00:11:21,420 And she's measuring things with her hands, and you can see that they're all 153 00:11:21,420 --> 00:11:23,540 safe, very close to the same. 154 00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:37,400 And now your word's known if you've got a smile on your face. 155 00:11:40,349 --> 00:11:45,870 It really matters how sharp your corners are, you know, smoothness of your 156 00:11:45,870 --> 00:11:46,870 lines, the symmetry. 157 00:11:47,650 --> 00:11:52,550 The way I see it, if I wouldn't wear the hat, then I'm not going to send it out. 158 00:11:52,650 --> 00:11:54,670 I want it to look fantastic to me. 159 00:11:57,870 --> 00:12:02,230 When I was riding, they had to keep me stocked up because my dismounts weren't 160 00:12:02,230 --> 00:12:06,090 so good, so I went through quite a few straw hats during the summertime. 161 00:12:09,550 --> 00:12:16,430 In 2005, we had a grass fire come to Bowie, Texas, and we lost $13 .5 million 162 00:12:16,430 --> 00:12:17,570 raw hat bodies. 163 00:12:19,590 --> 00:12:23,650 Honestly, a lesser man would have probably said, okay, well, this is not 164 00:12:23,650 --> 00:12:24,650 cards. 165 00:12:25,350 --> 00:12:26,570 You know, I quit. 166 00:12:27,370 --> 00:12:31,810 But not Keith, and I wasn't there at the time, but I envisioned him just tilting 167 00:12:31,810 --> 00:12:35,770 his hat back on his head a little bit and pushing all of his chips to the 168 00:12:35,770 --> 00:12:39,090 of the table and said, you know what, I'm going to bet it all, and I bet it 169 00:12:39,090 --> 00:12:40,090 on American Hat Company. 170 00:12:41,370 --> 00:12:47,410 He mortgaged his house that was paid for, went into his 401K, and basically 171 00:12:47,410 --> 00:12:53,410 raised the money to go buy more raw material, plus keep the employees 172 00:12:53,470 --> 00:12:55,570 He didn't lay anybody off. He didn't let anybody go. 173 00:12:55,950 --> 00:13:02,930 He paid everybody their wages while he was waiting to get raw material and 174 00:13:02,930 --> 00:13:03,930 rebuild. 175 00:13:05,540 --> 00:13:09,300 You know, Samantha and Jagger were standing beside me in that hospital bed. 176 00:13:09,580 --> 00:13:13,740 And he said, he says, not 100%, but it's about 98%. You land on your head again, 177 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:16,160 it'll snap your neck either above or below where we fixed. 178 00:13:16,460 --> 00:13:17,460 I said, well, I'm listening. 179 00:13:17,680 --> 00:13:20,140 He said, below, you're in a wheelchair the rest of your life. Above, you're 180 00:13:20,140 --> 00:13:23,720 dead. And I said, well, the last 20 years of my life, I used my head as the 181 00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:24,679 landing gear. 182 00:13:24,680 --> 00:13:27,080 There's 100 % chance I'm going to land on my head. 183 00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:31,640 And I knew right then when he said it, it was over. I didn't say anything to 184 00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:34,380 anybody for a couple weeks, but I knew then, right? 185 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:35,720 Well, it's done. 186 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:40,660 And, you know, it's just part of it. 187 00:13:44,520 --> 00:13:47,900 Keith and Susan Maddox, they fought their way back. You know, it wasn't 188 00:13:48,220 --> 00:13:51,940 There were some lean times. There were some difficult times. I think there was 189 00:13:51,940 --> 00:13:56,340 one point where Susan said, should we just quit and go do something else? And 190 00:13:56,340 --> 00:13:58,860 says, quit? There's no option to quit here. 191 00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:01,880 You know, we lose our house. We lose our retirement. 192 00:14:02,100 --> 00:14:03,100 He had no... 193 00:14:03,400 --> 00:14:08,180 Plan B. It was always Plan A. He was dedicated to make Plan A work. 194 00:14:08,420 --> 00:14:14,080 He would often say, if you never quit, they can't beat you. 195 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:19,060 You know, everybody always asked me when I was riding, what's Plan B? Make Plan 196 00:14:19,060 --> 00:14:19,819 A work. 197 00:14:19,820 --> 00:14:20,820 Ride bulls. 198 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:23,220 There was no Plan C. 199 00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:26,080 When I started building the arena here. 200 00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:30,600 That was strictly for my own use, you know. That way, if I wanted to get on 201 00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:32,140 practice bulls, I didn't have to go anywhere. 202 00:14:32,660 --> 00:14:36,300 I could run them right down there. We'd buck bulls all day whenever we wanted 203 00:14:36,300 --> 00:14:40,100 to. And after brushing my neck, it just kind of led into, well, let's do bull 204 00:14:40,100 --> 00:14:43,480 rides here. We've got it, so let's do it. And that's where Randy came in. 205 00:14:43,700 --> 00:14:47,120 How's it going, guys? Randy Cortieri here. We're here at Bucktown. This is J 206 00:14:47,120 --> 00:14:51,380 Mooney's compound for bull riders, by bull riders. And today we've got an ABVI 207 00:14:51,380 --> 00:14:52,359 Classic. 208 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:55,760 The riders have a chance to win some money, but the bulls are the ones that 209 00:14:55,760 --> 00:14:57,260 competing for the year -end championship. 210 00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:00,940 Keith's cattle brand was a plus and an X. 211 00:15:01,500 --> 00:15:07,560 And the plus stood for the word positive, and the X represented times. 212 00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:13,100 was an avid believer in being in control of your thoughts, the power of positive 213 00:15:13,100 --> 00:15:14,100 thinking. 214 00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:16,060 He left that for us. 215 00:15:16,460 --> 00:15:19,000 That's our guiding light here at American Hat Company. 216 00:15:19,420 --> 00:15:24,280 We have not monetized it because what we didn't want to do was dilute his brand 217 00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:28,220 in any way, shape, fashion, or form, and his memory is not for sale. 218 00:15:28,480 --> 00:15:30,500 These are all requests for hat patches. 219 00:15:30,700 --> 00:15:33,660 That's just something we give away here every day. 220 00:15:34,020 --> 00:15:37,200 So that's today's, that's the request for today. 221 00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:39,900 These two go in the envelope. 222 00:15:40,940 --> 00:15:44,200 And on the inside of the hat, we also stamp. 223 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:46,120 The positive times. 224 00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:52,420 It's pretty cool to see these guys come in here with these bulls and showcase 225 00:15:52,420 --> 00:15:53,420 their ability. 226 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:58,860 You know, from the time I was 13 years old, I rode bulls. And now, his son 227 00:15:58,860 --> 00:16:01,400 Jagger is coming on strong. 228 00:16:03,180 --> 00:16:07,620 I wake up every day wishing I could get on one more. 229 00:16:09,130 --> 00:16:12,450 Some days I think it's a good idea, maybe just one more. I get on one more 230 00:16:12,450 --> 00:16:15,230 then Jagger will run by and I'm like, no, that's a bad idea. 231 00:16:24,590 --> 00:16:26,650 Okay, so this is where the magic happens. 232 00:16:26,930 --> 00:16:32,250 So this is called a finger blocker. So what this machine does is we'll have a 233 00:16:32,250 --> 00:16:33,250 raw body. 234 00:16:33,550 --> 00:16:36,770 And so this is how they'll start off before we start. 235 00:16:37,210 --> 00:16:41,010 the process of making it into a final finished felt hat. 236 00:16:41,290 --> 00:16:45,650 What really makes a great hat at the end of the day is the feel of the hat. 237 00:16:45,850 --> 00:16:49,410 The feel of the hat, the thickness of the brim, how it will hold its shape. 238 00:16:50,790 --> 00:16:56,530 I love to say when you buy a 1000X hat that it should come with a box of band 239 00:16:56,530 --> 00:16:57,990 -aids because you'll look so sharp. 240 00:16:59,910 --> 00:17:02,330 And what it's doing is making the hat pliable. 241 00:17:05,390 --> 00:17:08,410 And each one of these fingers has to pull evenly. 242 00:17:09,150 --> 00:17:12,770 So we'll lock it down, then we're going to re -steam it. 243 00:17:14,650 --> 00:17:16,050 I'll then choose the crown. 244 00:17:22,950 --> 00:17:26,290 It's going to give you your crown height and your brim size all in one machine. 245 00:17:27,730 --> 00:17:32,090 So this is before, and this is after it's come off the machine. 246 00:17:33,100 --> 00:17:35,980 So the next step is going to be what we call plating. 247 00:17:36,300 --> 00:17:37,920 This here is called your plating machine. 248 00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:42,280 And so every time he lifts up, it's releasing the moisture out of the hat. 249 00:17:42,540 --> 00:17:45,360 So the more moisture you get out of the hat, the tighter the bond and the 250 00:17:45,360 --> 00:17:49,620 fibers. So this lets us know how tight that hat is. So if it needs a little bit 251 00:17:49,620 --> 00:17:52,780 longer to bake, we can bake it in the place for a little bit longer. 252 00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:57,860 I mean, we're still finishing them by hand with an orbital sander, and they're 253 00:17:57,860 --> 00:17:59,420 not done. We don't have a recipe. 254 00:17:59,800 --> 00:18:02,200 So we have six different sandpaper grits that we use. 255 00:18:02,540 --> 00:18:04,160 They're not done until they feel good. 256 00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:10,840 It'll be nice and smooth, and it'll feel like silk. 257 00:18:14,580 --> 00:18:19,560 There's been plenty of times I get on six, seven, ride all six or seven, and 258 00:18:19,560 --> 00:18:21,220 just felt like something wasn't right. 259 00:18:22,120 --> 00:18:26,080 And before lights or anything at the arenas I was getting on, we pulled 260 00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:29,380 around, turned the headlights on, and kept loading them all night until I felt 261 00:18:29,380 --> 00:18:30,900 like I rode them like I was supposed to. 262 00:18:33,219 --> 00:18:35,900 Everyone always asks me, what bull riding school did you go to? 263 00:18:36,860 --> 00:18:37,860 Trial and error. 264 00:18:38,280 --> 00:18:39,280 What's that mean? 265 00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:41,960 It didn't work. I tried not to do it again. 266 00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:46,580 Trying to give younger guys a better opportunity than I had. 267 00:18:48,180 --> 00:18:51,840 I was taught when I had a young age, you play the game, you take the thing. 268 00:18:52,040 --> 00:18:54,780 And I did every day of my life. 269 00:18:55,400 --> 00:19:00,380 Even now when I get up, I hurt all over. But that's part of it. I was willing to 270 00:19:00,380 --> 00:19:02,100 do it to be able to. 271 00:19:02,700 --> 00:19:04,220 To be good at what I love doing. 272 00:19:08,160 --> 00:19:10,980 It's kind of unpredictable what a wild animal is going to do. 273 00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:16,400 You know, 274 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:21,440 every hat's going to tell a story. 275 00:19:21,680 --> 00:19:23,380 And we want to be a part of that story. 276 00:19:23,680 --> 00:19:28,300 And so we want to make the best hat there is. So that hat can be passed down 277 00:19:28,300 --> 00:19:29,420 from generation to generation. 278 00:19:43,180 --> 00:19:49,720 We're trying to make a statement for younger people that this 279 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:54,820 cowboy hat stands for something. The symbolism of that great iconic American 280 00:19:54,820 --> 00:19:55,820 cowboy. 281 00:19:56,060 --> 00:19:57,480 It's history. 282 00:19:57,740 --> 00:20:00,820 It's symbolism. It's tradition. 283 00:20:01,980 --> 00:20:04,740 If you're a cowboy, you wear a cowboy hat. 284 00:20:07,449 --> 00:20:11,890 Your hat is there to protect you on the worst days when the rain wants to run 285 00:20:11,890 --> 00:20:14,410 down the back of your jacket or the sun's beating on your neck. 286 00:20:15,070 --> 00:20:18,370 But then your hat's with you on the best days, the day you walk your daughter 287 00:20:18,370 --> 00:20:20,530 down the aisle and meet your grandkid for the first time. 288 00:20:21,250 --> 00:20:25,630 But then, when your journey on the earth is over, your hat will hang on the wall 289 00:20:25,630 --> 00:20:27,230 silently in remembrance of you.