Born and raised in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Cody Snyder has had a love affair with rodeos and bull riding since he learned to walk. When his parents weren’t looking, Cody used to ride the calves and anything that had four legs on the family farm.
His first rodeo experience occurred at the age of five, when Cody rode a calf in competition. The calf promptly ran past a barrel and knocked Cody off. He got up, dusted himself off, and never looked back.
Cody started riding junior steers in rodeo competition when he was eight years old, and at 12, he finally rode his first bull.
By the age of fifteen, Cody was the Canadian Amateur Bull Riding Champion. Through 1980 and 1981, Cody gained the experience he needed to lead the Canadian Professional Rodeo Bull Riding standings in 1982. He was 19 years old.
In 1983, at the age of 20, and a virtual unknown on the professional rodeo circuit, Cody beat the odds to capture World Bull Riding Championship in Oklahoma, the first Canadian ever to win this award. He returned home to Alberta to a hero’s welcome. Cody also won the Canadian Bull Riding Championship in 1986. He was named “Cowboy of the Year” by his peers, in 1994. Cody was inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.
Ten years later, Cody retired as one of Canada’s top rodeo competitors. He holds the record for the most Canadian Finals Rodeo (CFR) qualifications in bull riding (9), as well as for the highest scored ride in Canadian Rodeo History (95 points) in 1983. He was a 4- time National Finals Rodeo (NFR) qualifier. During his career, he suffered a string of injuries including broken ribs, a punctured lung, a broken collar- bone, torn groin muscles, a dislocated shoulder and a career ending wrist injury.
Upon his retirement from competition in 1993, Cody never looked back and never left the bull riding business. Along with his wife and business partner Rhonda Schlenker-Snyder, Cody incorporated a bull riding production company called Cody Snyder’s BullBustin’. To date his company has produced over 200 professional bull-riding events throughout North America. He produces events such as the PBR Rocky Cup Canadian National Finals presented by Dickies, as well as several charity bull riding events which to date have raised over $2 million dollars for various charities across Canada. Cody has been instrumental in the growth of Professional Bull Riding across Canada. He also dedicates a lot of personal time to the development of young, up and coming bull riders.
Cody was inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame in 2002, the Canadian Professional Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2005 and is one of only 21 total recipients of the prestigious Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Ring of Honor in 2006. In June 2007, Cody was selected as the Captain/Coach of Team Canada for the inaugural PBR World Cup in Gold Coast, Australia. In 2008 Cody was voted by the riders of PBR Canada to be the Captain/Coach of Team Canada at the PBR World Cup in Chihuahua, Mexico.
You can catch Cody at celebrity autograph signings or as a color commentator on OLN, ESPN, Rogers Sportsnet, TSN or CBC as the voice of experience bringing you coverage of the world’s best rodeo and bull riding events. Cody was chosen as the color commentator for the exclusive 11event PRCA Prorodeo Winter Tour on OLN in 2003 and 2004 as well as being the voice of the Calgary Stampede television since 1997. He also produces and stars in his own half hour show called” I’ll tell you what” with Cody Snyder following each performance of the Calgary Stampede.
Cody is a celebrity endorsee and represents companies such as Wrangler Jeans.