Aiden Kaiser Riding a Bull

Bull Rider

by Pat Hickey

May 19, 2024

. . . I should’ve gone on back home,
Cuz one thing I’m allergic to, is badly broken bones!

But I climbed on his back, as he stood in th’ chute,
An’ I wrote out my WILL, then stuffed it in my boot.

Now th’ chute boss wuz hollerin’, an’ shakin’ his fists;
“GIT THIS SHOW ON TH’ ROAD, I AIN’T GOT TIME FER THIS!”

So, I yanked my hat down, plumb over my ears,
Took a deep firm seat, an’ prepared to shift gears.

Bull Ride by Richard Beal

Aiden Kaiser and his mom, Holly Ream at the Westville American Legion

For weeks Americans have watched endless demonstrations against Israel masking fury to destroy Israel and exterminate Jewish people, as well as an equally powerful demand for Death to America, as free speech.   The brigades of Cosplay Bolsheviks are not foreign operatives, but scions of America’s most educated and affluent native-born families.

Yankee names that go back to the Mayflower and the assimilated pampered ethnics donned keffiyehs and waved Hamas banners.

It is reported that scores of outside agitators were among the arrested across America from Columbia University to UCLA.  From sea to shining sea, America’s privileged youth screamed from “The River to the Sea.”

Just wait until August, when the play-acting guerillas square off with Chicago Police Officers at the Democratic National Convention.  One might believe that America has its head up its royalty.

Me? I feel hopeful for America.  What we read about and watch in the media is not America.  It is the flabby American academia, Hollywood, Madison Avenue and the supine media.   Real America is like a seventeen-year-old high school student who rides bulls.

Westville High School is paradise for this retired English teacher.  I work as a substitute teacher – K-12 for the New Durham Schools. Westville is home to an Indiana prison and light industry, like the Dollar Store warehouses.

There are many farm students as this area is rural Indiana. 4-H is huge at Westville High School.

Westville people are hard-working and serious about the education of their children. Westville schools are some of the most engaged with their families that I have experienced in almost fifty years in education.

Several weeks ago, in my capacity as a substitute teacher, I accompanied the fourth grade to LaPorte County Fair Grounds for a LaPorte 4-H and Purdue Extension agricultural showcase of various farming, livestock and environmental exhibitions.

The kids were delighted to pet and hold rabbits and witness the bleat of newborn calves, but fidgeted mightily through lectures about soil conservation and the dangers of pesticides.

All of the exhibitions were well done and presented.  I learned that LaPorte County, not only grew monstrous mountains of corn and soybeans, but also was the top pickle and tomato harvesting center for Vlasic Pickles and Red Gold Tomato Products. We were directed to and from exhibits by high school and university 4-H guides.

One of the guides was a tall and lanky drink of water who had caught my attention in the high school wing of Westville schools.

At six foot five inches, this cowboy-clad young man I mistook for a varsity basketball player with a love of cowboy hats.  I asked the latter-day Gary Cooper if he played on the Westville Blackhawk Basketball team.   “No, Mr. Hickey,” the lad replied and offered, “I play no school sports, but I bull ride.”

I had not had this long springald in any of the high school classes as yet and asked how he knew my name.  “Everyone knows you.  Westville is not that all that big,” the Bull Rider understated, in keeping with the culture of his avocation.

We were directed outside to the cattle pens. It was mighty cold that day.

Two weeks later, I was asked to cover for the agriculture teacher, Ms. Ashley Kuhn, and in one of my classes was the tall bull rider, Aiden Kaiser.

His deportment in class was terrific and I learned from other students and teachers that Aiden Kaiser was a serious and helpful student, I was impressed with his manly bearing and his courteous behavior to his classmates.  Aiden Kaiser was the antithesis of the pasty and shrill Ivy League Intifada play-alongs on the evening news at Columbia, University of Chicago, Northwestern and UCLA.

The next day, I asked my Principal, Alissa Schnick, for permission to interview the bull rider from Westville High School.  Ms. Schnick is a great no-nonsense leader and the faculty admire her direction of the school.  Many had worked under “policy” educators at other area middle and high schools and found a home here at Westville – where actions have consequences.

With permission granted, I gave a note to Aiden, in which I ran the idea of doing a story on his career as a bull rider asking for an interview in the company of his mother.   Americans need to know about a high school bull rider.  Most importantly, parents need to hear what a teacher, or reporter asks of their children. A bull riding high school junior is news that teaches.

Bull riding began in ancient Greece and flourished in Spain, as an aspect of bullfighting. A huge animal bred to shed and energized to destroy any and all competition offers an Olympian challenge to any hero.

I am terrified of horses, having been kicked by a dray horse when I was seven, and shudder at the thought of climbing onto the chine and shoulders of a Minotaur.  Meeting a cheerful and wiry teenager who regularly saddles-up on a Brahma bull excited my curiosity and challenged my guts.

The sport was brought to America by the Spanish and evolved with the expansion of Rodeo.

Texas Rangers eventually became ranchers and the vaqueros who worked with these Tejanos taught them the art. By the 1930’s, bull riding had become an essential element of the rodeo.

A bull is placed into a chute and a rider boards the animal holding onto a rope around the animal’s neck and shoulders with one hand.

The rider’s other hand must not touch the bull, the rope, or the rider throughout the struggle. The “toughest eight seconds in sports” begins when the chute is opened, and the bull bucks and bounces the rider. The rider must hold on and stay aboard for eight seconds and only then do judges begin scoring.

The rider and the bull are judged. Only the rider must endure the eight seconds of hate.

I met Aiden and his mother, Holly, at the Westville American Legion Post. Holly Ream announced at the outset of our meeting Aiden days aboard the beef were at an end.

“Aiden wanted to bull ride and I agreed, but I cannot tell you what his thirteen rides had done to me. He was stepped on, nearly gored, thrown and bounced off the chutes.”

Aiden told me that he had never gotten better than six seconds aboard the bulls and at that I marveled that he had gotten on a second time. Holly showed me some very graphic photos of the lad’s injuries.

Aiden had attended the Terry Don West Bull Riding School in Illinois and also in Oklahoma and learned a great deal, but the young man realized his mother’s anguish every time he mounted a Brahma. He will forego bull riding. Aiden Kaiser is a member of the Indiana High School Rodeo Association and 4-H, where he is scheduled to compete in trap shooting (currently ranked # 2) and the short rifle and with  Indiana High School Rodeo Association.

Bull riding lessons were $300. Aiden helped pay for his hobby as a landscaper’s helper and has recently established his own business, Kaiser & Co. Yard Services.

Aiden Kaiser wants to make a success of himself and already has more than enough skin in the game.  He wears a cowboy hat that he earned and paid for and takes it off in the presence of ladies and indoors. He has the hat and, in time, will have his own cattle. Aiden Kaiser, like most of his schoolmates at Westville High School, works hard, puts his heart into his work and schooling and loves his mother with heartbreaking honesty. Aiden will no longer chute the bull but shoot trap instead. He may ride a bull somewhere down the road. He might get thrown, but this man will climb back into the chute.  Forget the posers and loudmouths.

Aiden Kaiser is one of millions of young people.  These are not the children of privilege, but kids from two parent and single parent homes where respect in all of its manifestations is honored.  They are brought up to take their lumps and to hand some back. They know never to take what is not theirs nor to envy those who might just do a notch better than them. They learn to be brave.  They learn to be there for the job and not to expect a well-done, or badge of participation. Aiden Kaiser and his kind take the bull by the thinnest rope and hang on.  They can state, “I rode the bull” and always matter-of-factly.

Aiden Kaiser is the real America.

-30-

Born November 8, 1952 in Englewood Hospital, Chicago Illinois, Pat Hickey attended Chicago Catholic grammar and high schools, received a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature from Loyola University in 1974, began teaching English and coaching sports at Bishop McNamara High School in Kankakee, IL in 1975, married Mary Cleary in 1983, received a Master of Arts in English Literature from Loyola in 1987, taught at La Lumiere School in Indiana from 1988-1994, took a position as Director of Development with Bishop Noll

 Institute in Hammond, IN and then Leo High School in Chicago in 1996.  His wife Mary died in 1998 and Hickey returned with his three children to Chicago’s south side. From 1998 until 2019, it became obvious that Illinois and Chicago turned like Stilton cheese on a humid countertop. In that time, he wrote a couple of books and many columns for Irish American News. When the kids became independent and vital adults, he moved to Michigan City, Indiana, Hickey substitute teaches K-12 for Westville, Indiana schools and works as a tour guide/deckhand on the Emita II tour boat. He walks to the Michigan City Lighthouse every chance he gets.

Comments 36

    1. I wish him well. The young man has courage and the plans for a successful life. God bless him and his mom.
      Kudos to her for raising a fine man.

    1. What a heart warming story and yes, it does show that not all of our kids are pampered, ignorant gang bangers and liberals. I live in Washington State now but grew up in Monticello Indiana and farmed with my dad, mom and sisters until I graduated from Purdue. I took 4-H and was always mechanically inclined so became a Mechanical Engineer and spent my last years in Valparaiso before me job brought me out to Vancouver. I’ll never forget my first job interview and my new boss told me that he hired every farm kid that he could because they were all hard workers and had a lot of common sense. I wish Aiden all the best as he grows up and I hope that he continues to be the gentleman that he is today and willing to try anything new. We need a lot more Aidens’ to bring our country back from the brink that we are on today. God Bless him and his Mom and Dad as well.

  3. Aiden is the type of young person that this country needs, not the knuckleheads that we’ve seen on TV, taking over (sic) “University” buildings and property, destroying them, then asking having the gall to ask for food during their “occupation”. While peaceful protest is a good thing, what we’ve been seeing on campuses is about as “peaceful” as the riots of the past several years, in cities all over our country, with idiots saying “Other than the buildings burning it is mainly a peaceful protest”.

    My favorite one of these recent imbeciles was young woman who was asked by a reporter “You’ve been changing From the River to the Sea”, to which river are you referring. She looked at the reporter, obviously bewildered, and said “The Nile?”.

  4. I should’ve gone on back home but I climbed on his back. Truer words were never spoken.

    In August, many young, foolish, idealistic yutes will crawl on the back of the proverbial bull. These attorney trained urban soldiers will come out to fight their own domestic war when they crawl on the back of the DNC bull. This is not the local watering hole with electric bull rides for $5.00. This is real life kiddies. The men and women in blue will be trained professionals that were not voluntarily placed on the bull’s back. These men and womed were not trained in some dank ofiice on 63rd street with an attorney at law sign on the front storefront window.

    The CPD will be tasked with protecting the front lines of this convention. The CPD will be in harms way. The CPD will have the spotlight on them. While the FBI, Secret Service and Homeland Security are in the confines of the United center shoving another slice of pizza down their pie hole while watching another dem zipper up and then go back into the maze of snowflakes without washing his hands, the CPD will be charged with mainting a semblance of order on the front lines.

    Unlike 1968 with Richie J there will be no orders given to shoot to maim arsonists or shoot to kill looters. Many of these misguided warriors will not just go home. Many may need medical attention. Crowds when out of control begin to turn on each other and people get hurt. Many may get incarcerated, This is not going to be the snowflake utopia they dreamed with rainbows and sugarplum fairies.

    Permits have been sough and denied to protest. These trophy kids will not be denied, After all they have a point to prove. As we used to say on the job, we have front row seats for the best circus in town. This will get interesting. God bless the CPD, God bless all the men and women in blue that involuntarily will be placed in harms way, God bless us everyone!

    1. Wow, and thanks, Paul, for your analysis!
      May God protect the CPD-and may karma be a beatch for these oily outside instigators and the pampered and delusional brats!

      1. Pat, What a pleasure those types of kids are to be around. My 2nd career as a high school reading teacher started in ‘05. In fifteen years things really changed here in the Tampa area. So sad so many kids don’t get a chance to be motivated curious students

  6. Thank you once again, Pat, for giving us ‘thirsty for hope’ readers a slice of the real America-the reason that many and I subscribe here. Except for the bull riding, this is the America that I grew up in, and which still struggles to survive via friends in West Central Illinois. God bless Aiden, his Mom, the Westville residents, and you, Pat.

  9. Great article Pat, and soot on – the real America!!! There’s many young men out there, being raised with the RIGHT way. Thanks for sharing this success story.

  10. Can’t remember when last I was so affected by a column. Tears flowed freely and abundantly as I read . . . Thank you, Pat, for that.
    Truly this is America . . . my America . . . your America.
    So blessed to read your words knowing my immigrant grandparents could not. I know if I were able to share this story with them, their hearts would be full to overflowing as well. This dream of America is why they left the ‘old country’ behind.
    Sharing the joy this day and believing that the gift that is America still lives!

  11. Great article Mr Hickey. This is the America we all grew up in, minus the bull riding. God Bless the Kaiser family. It is like this in North Carolina. Great people, but I still feel lost here. I miss my favorite foods & people who actually know what they are doing, i.e. HVAC, repairmen. I would have liked to move to Wisconsin but they have become too progressive & taxes are still high there. My wife has relatives here in NC & Virginia. Her maternal side is originally from Clinton, Indiana. Half the family migrated to Chicago’s north & south sides, the other to the Detroit area. We are looking to be closer to the Chicago area & might look to NW Indiana. We have no mortgage & plenty of savings, but no matter where you go in the U.S. the home prices are insane. We would like to buy something like Kass’s home, with sumptuous wood floors. lol Keep up the great work!

  13. Every so often I come across an article that gives me hope for the youth of America. This is one of them. Thank you.

    You should go to a bull riding event. It is completely different than many other sports. In the early days, they only wore their clothes, boots, cowboy hats, and maybe leather gloves. Today after so many injuries they wear helmets, gloves, and body armor as well; and still get stomped, gored, and put into the hospital. The livestock is graded and everyone in the PBR circuit knows the animals by their reputation. These riders are a separate breed no pun intended. And the rodeo clowns give a whole new meaning to the terms brave and gallant

    I hope to read more good things about that young man.

  14. Stories like this give us all hope for the future. This country could learn a lot from much maligned Midwestern values from “flyover” country.

  15. Yes indeed! If anyone in the Chicago area has any pending surgeries scheduled around convention riot time, you might want to speed it up or delay it. My guess is Chicago police are going to tie up local surgeons with stuff they were putting off. September is going to be a nice time to be on the medical roll! Lets enjoy watching the Brandon meltdown!

    1. Enrique, you are absolutely correct. I hope your prediction comes to fruition.
      I’d much rather see a united turn your back march away from the chaos as it happens. An occasional middle finger would be justified too. Then watch the hypocrites who trash the cops, you know the ones who look to villify, defund and destroy, look for those frauds to be whining they aren’t getting police protection.

  16. I’ve watched many bull rides at rodeos. Bulls usually win. At the Fort Worth championship round a few years ago, the score was Bulls: 7; Riders: 1.

  18. Terrific article, Pat.
    God Bless Aidan, his Mom and Family – he is a great young man!

    And stay away from Downtown Chicago and surrounding areas during the DNC!

  20. Excellent article – – – superb topic, well-presented, and we appreciate it, to be sure. Some from my very large family have spread farther south – still in Illinois, but precious close to Indiana on farmland that they and their kids love to work. During the day, mom and dad work at their noble professions, both with Ph.D. after their names. In the evenings and on weekends, they’re working in their barns, tedding a field, putting up hay (theirs, or helping a neighbor) and raising a wide variety of prize-winning fowl. One of the sons worked through high school as a Chicken Judge! He, too, is tall and lanky, smile wider than his face; doffs his cowboy hat when he says “Yes, ma’am!” and realized there was school money to be made judging chickens!!! All good stuff….they’re out there, and they’re working hard. His brother learned to weld so he could more promptly fix the myriad equipment in those barns…stuff that needs to work in those ripening fields.

    Thanks for relating Aiden’s story.

    ..and a p.s. Looking through old articles written by one Pat Hickey, came across a tribute to a mutual friend. Ivan Kennessey. My late husband and Kathy grew up together before they escaped and re-met once they both arrived here. Those coolers and cases of cheese from around the world, including Kathy’s recipe for Hungarian Cheese Cream…..sigh.

  21. Great story. Great young man. I never thought of Indiana as Rodeo country. When I was at a trauma course many years ago, in the heart of rodeo country – Texas – I learned that bull riding was one of – if not the most – dangerous sport in the US. I also learned what you implied, that the bull themselves are coequal stars to the riders.

  22. Good read, Pat!
    I was fortunate to attend the world’s longest running Rodeo in Mandan, ND several years ago. Those kids were just like Aiden (but no bull riding) barrel riding, calf roping, sheep riding fun. Dad’s navy buddy, and now kids, are cattle ranchers and farmers. Truly the “salt of the earth”!

  23. Thank you for this sir. I appreciate the history lesson on bull riding. Most of all, I appreciate the contrast between the Ivy League students and this great example of a young man that rides bulls.

  24. What a fine example of a real American youth!
    Kudos to a family who understands the importance of rearing children who respect family, peers, and society! The goons at the University demonstrations have a whole lot to learn about respect!

Leave a Reply