2021 didn’t end the way Dustin Egusquiza wanted it to end.
The year went extremely well for Egusquiza, who won the Sandhills Stock Show and Rodeo, the Dixie National Rodeo, the Snake River Stampede, Ogden Pioneer Days Rodeo, and Othello PRCA Rodeo in Washington. In 2021 he either won or shared the win in 13 rodeos.
A member of the PRCA since 2016, Egusquiza, a header, made his fourth trip to the NFR in December. The 26-year-old cowboy rode into Las Vegas ranked No. 1 in the world, with $151,176 in prize money for the year and career earnings of more than $619,000.
After the 10th round, he found himself finishing third in the world standings behind champion Kaleb Driggers and Erich Rogers. As he looks back at the NFR, he has a very plain assessment of what happened.
“Well I could have done better,” Egusquiza says with a sigh. “Coming in at number one and then coming out number one is a little disappointing. I just mark it up as a bad week. You can’t miss the first two steers and expect to win.”
With the new season in full swing, Egusquiza is competing in jackpots on the weekends and working on “a little fencing” in his down time at his place in Mineral Wells, Texas. He says he won’t be changing the way he does things in ‘22.
“I’m going to try to stick to my game plan,” he says. “It got me to the (NFR) finals, so there’s no reason to change it. A lot of people overthink it but I think if you find success with something, stick to that. Keep it simple.”
