Luke Mackey, a 15-year-old sophomore who attends Ignacio High School, has about 200 belt buckles and four trophy saddles that he has won over the years riding bulls and other animals.

His newest hardware is gold that he won at the world finals.

Mackey won the 14-15 year-old division at Junior World Finals presented by Yeti Dec. 2-6 in Las Vegas, Nevada, putting together three solid rides to take the crown.

“It was pretty fun,” he said. “There were a lot of lights, the best riders and good bulls.”

“It was amazing to watch him ride with the best kids in the world,” said his grandfather, Jerry Mackey. “It was the highlight of the year.”

Luke scored an 80 on his first ride to win the round. He then scored a 71 on his second ride to advance to the short-round final, where entered trailing Hudson Bolton by 2.5 points. Two judges judge the athletes on a 0-25 scale and two judge the animals on a 0-25 scale for possible score of 100.

In the short-round, Luke stayed tight on his bull while it bucked and spun and tried to kick him off to score a 76. Bolton also had a good ride and scored a 73, but Luke passed him by a 1/2 point to win the title.

His strategy to stay on a thrashing bull for eight seconds, he said: “Just keep your hand shut.”

Luke, however, admitted that most of his strength to stay on a bull comes from his legs and hips.

Luke started riding sheep when he was 3 years old. Then he transitioned to riding calves, steers and then, for about the past three years, bulls.

“He’s done it all,” said his mother, Corena Mackey.

“There’s isn’t nothing else to do, so I might as well make some money,” Luke said.

With some his winnings, his mother said he has bought five bulls of his own, and he uses them to practice every day. “All of the practice paid off,” she said.

Luke also competes in high school rodeo, doing team roping in addition to riding bulls. Corena said Luke has aspirations to compete on a college rodeo team.

To qualify for the Junior World Finals, Luke competed in the Southwest Region Leal’s Junior Bull Riding Championship in Arizona. The top three riders from the tour advanced to the world finals.

“We were going to Phoenix every other weekend to qualify,” Jerry said, adding that Luke competed in Arizona six times this year to qualify. Jerry, who is a retired horse trainer and takes Luke to competitions, said Luke competed in about 35 competitions per year before COVID basically shut down the Navajo Nation, where many of the competitions are held.

“Luke’s a tough kid and likes the adrenaline rush of it,” Jerry said.

Luke also won his first bull riding competition in the open division this year, competing against boys much older than himself. “He couldn’t believe it,” Corena said. “The kid is on fire.”

Luke has been stepped on by the bucking animals before and has had broken arms and wrists. The injuries, however, haven’t stop Mackey from competing. He just switched hands. “He switched arms, competed and won one with a cast on,” Corena said. “It’s scary, especially when they get hung up, but when they make the ride it’s super-exciting.”

The world finals took place at the Las Vegas Convention center and included barrel riding, steer wrestling, tie-down roping team roping, bareback riding and saddle bronc riding. Since the competitions took place on the second floor, Corena said, “You could feel the concrete shake from the vibration.”

The event, which is for athletes 19 years and under, has been around for a few years.

“It’s good for the kids to get used to the format, the lights and all of the people,” Jerry said.

“He was super-excited,” Corena said about Luke’s latest win. “He’s been working very hard for it.”