Kody Lostroh

Kody Lostroh (born September 18, 1985) is an American former professional rodeo cowboy who specialized in bull riding. He was the 2009 Professional Bull Riders (PBR) world champion.

In 2023, Lostroh was ranked No. 22 on the list of the top 30 bull riders in PBR history.^[1]

Kody Lostroh was born on September 18, 1985, in Longmont, Colorado.^[2][3] He watched a video of Cheyenne Frontier Days so many times that his mother Dena Schlutz signed him up to ride at the Boulder County Fair in 1993, when he was seven years old. He won a Little Britches Rodeo national bull riding title in 2003 and the Colorado High School Rodeo bull riding championship three consecutive years.^[4] Lostroh was attending the University of Wyoming, but quit after a semester to pursue the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) circuit.^[5]

In 2005, during his rookie year on the PBR's Built Ford Tough Series (BFTS), Lostroh won the first round of the event in Uniondale, New York, the Nassau Open, and became eligible for the Mossy Oak Shootout bonus worth $35,000. He successfully rode his bull and collected the bounty. He later ended up winning the overall event.^[6] He later won the 2005 PBR Rookie of the Year title, and in 2009, he won the PBR Built Ford Tough Series World Championship.^[4] He qualified for the PBR World Finals 10 consecutive times (2005 to 2014). Lostroh suffered multiple injuries throughout his career.^[7] For example, Lostroh injured his riding hand in January 2014 and missed most of the first half of that season.^[4] In August 2017, he was considering retirement to spend more time with his two daughters, when he began experiencing significant health problems. He was eventually diagnosed with a tumor wrapped around his carotid artery, requiring surgery. He went back to the PBR but still had some reservations.^[8]

On March 29, 2018, Lostroh announced his retirement from bull riding.^[9]

During his PBR career, in addition to winning the 2005 Rookie of the Year title and the 2009 World Championship, Lostroh won a total of 24 events and won over $3.1 million.^[10]

In 2022, Lostroh became the assistant coach to head coach Cord McCoy of the Oklahoma Freedom; one of eight bull riding teams of the PBR's Team Series, which debuted that year. It runs from the summer to autumn and concludes with the Team Series Championship at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. In September of that year, the Oklahoma Freedom won the event at Cowboy Days in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; the hometown event of rival team, the Carolina Cowboys.^[11] The very next weekend, the Freedom won their own hometown event at Freedom Fest in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. They were the first team to win their hometown event.^[12] The Freedom ended up finishing in fourth place at the conclusion of the inaugural PBR Team Series Championship.^[13]

In 2023, the Freedom were eliminated after the second day of the Team Series Championship.

In 2024, the Oklahoma Freedom became the Florida Freedom, as the team relocated to Sunrise, Florida.^[14] As a result, McCoy and Lostroh's respective positions as head coach and assistant coach would come to an end. Lostroh then became the head coach of the New York Mavericks; one of two new PBR teams which debuted that year.^[15] That same year, the PBR Team Series introduced the Ride-In Round. The event, which takes place at the South Point Arena in Las Vegas, has the bottom four teams from the regular season compete against each other to determine the final two teams who compete at the Team Series Championship.^[16] The New York Mavericks, along with the Nashville Stampede moved on to the Championship event, defeating the Arizona Ridge Riders and Oklahoma Wildcatters.^[17] Both the Mavericks and Stampede were eliminated after the first round of the Championship.^[18]

In September 2023, Lostroh was inducted into the PBR Ring of Honor at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.^[19] Also in 2023, Lostroh was ranked No. 22 on the list of the top 30 bull riders in PBR history.^[1]

In May 2024, Lostroh was inducted into the Bull Riding Hall of Fame.^[20]

He raises bucking bulls in Ault, Colorado, at the Shield of Faith Cattle Company.^[21][22][23] As of 2016, Lostroh and his wife, Candace, who is a barrel racer, live in Ault, Colorado, with their two daughters.^[24]

• 2016 PBR Media Guide (PDF). Professional Bull Riders. 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 13, 2018. Retrieved January 30, 2018.

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