1 on 1 with a bull rider

"And I say I'm not crazy, I'm really not," Thomson, 29, continues. "I think I'm a fairly intelligent person. It's just something I fell into and something I love. I love being a cowboy, I love the lifestyle."

Above: Scott Shiffner goes toe-to-toe with High Style. High Style wins.

Thomson is a third generation cowboy who grew up on the ranch and has been around rodeos his entire life. He was riding horses by age 2. Bull riding began at age 14. 

"I played hockey, I played everything else, and it's like anything. You find something you love and something you're good at and you stick with it," says Thomson, who's earned the nickname TNT. "It's a very high risk, but with risk comes reward."

And injuries. Thomson has had "numerous" surgeries on his knees -- 10, to be precise -- and has needles and pins inserted in his ankle.

Not bad considering his day job is to battle bucking bulls that have a minimum 1,500 pound weight advantage on him.

"That's why it's such an exhilirating feeling when you can get by something that mis-matched," says the 2008 Canadian bull riding champion. "It really is unbelievable." 

Watching bull riding for the first time is the kind of jaw dropping experience that leaves you thinking of whiplash and wondering what person in their right mind would choose to mount an enormous, bucking bull named Wild Fire, Risky Remedy or Warning Sign.

"Everybody thinks bull riders are crazy guys doing this for fun. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of guys out there who aren't very smart," Thomson says, smiling. "But I've made a good living out of it. It's not like I'm scratching by."

And it's not something he'll be doing much longer. Thomson has been riding bulls for 15 years and figures he's "got a few left." Bull riders usually retire in their early 30's, "when the injuries start to pile up," he explains.

He got into bull riding by accident. Thomson had an interest in bronc riding when he was a teenager, but a friend entered him in a rodeo under the bull riding category. And cowboys don't back off challenges. 

"He was getting on, so I got on," Thomson says. "I actually rode my bull that day and I won the rodeo, and the rest is history.

"When you can conquer that big a fear and that big an animal, it's an unbelievable feeling."

We'll have to take his word for it. 

Get your Stampede Twitter updates here.