Texas Rattlers
“A cowboy must be a good worker.”
- The 7th Tenet of Gene Autry’s Cowboy Code
Brady Fielder may have grown up in the red-dirt cattle country of Queensland, Australia, but these days, the lanky 5-foot-9 bull rider is all in on the Lone Star State.
Soft-spoken and sporting a shaggy coif of light brown hair, outside of his thick Australian accent, there’s nothing particularly flashy about Fielder. Whether his boots are on the ground or spurring bulls, he’s about as even-keeled and unoffensive as one can get. In fact, when riding a bull, he looks more like he’s adjusting a recently purchased recliner than straddling a whirling, 2,000-pound bovine. Don’t believe us? Check out the YouTube video of Fielder’s March ride atop Smokestack, the No. 10-ranked bull in the world. It’s the epitome of a rider in control — his back posture-perfect and his torso immovable. “Brady Fielder really does, sometimes, make this look too easy,” the PBR announcers said. Give him another minute, and he might’ve had Smokestack in a canter.
But this lack of flash has yielded results.
At 25, Fielder has become the backbone of Fort Worth’s premier professional sports team, PBR’s Texas Rattlers. And his consistency, calm demeanor, and understated riding style have elevated the Cowtown-based squad to one of the league’s premier teams.
Taken 26th by the Rattlers during the Team Series’ inaugural draft in 2022, Fielder was instrumental in the squad capturing the 2023 PBR Team Series World Championship in Las Vegas, where they unseated in-state rival Austin Gamblers during the final. Though this remains its only championship, the team hasn’t kicked its habit of winning; the Rattlers have never entered the PBR Teams Championship seeded lower than fourth. Only two of the league’s 10 teams can make this claim.
But it was 2024 that proved to be Fielder’s breakout year. He finished No. 8 in the Unleash the Beast standings and received the inaugural Great 8 award, which recognizes the PBR teams rider with the highest riding percentage — in other words, eight-second rides.
“It’s a great achievement,” Fielder says before immediately returning to his workman-like attitude. “It’s what I do for a living. It’s an everyday thing for me.”
Fielder’s most memorable moment during this award-winning season came during the Rattlers’ annual homestand at Dickies Arena, when the Australian’s 89-point ride clinched the team’s third win of the week and sent fans into a frenzy. With the victory, the Rattlers remain the only team in PBR that can boast an undefeated home record at 9-0 — a streak they’ll attempt to keep alive during the upcoming Rattler Days from Sept. 26 – 28 at Dickies Arena.
Now in his fourth season as a Texas Rattler, Fielder’s bull-riding campaign has progressed even further. In May, Fielder finished on the podium (No. 3) for the Unleash the Beast tour, which included seven consecutive weeks atop the standings and a historic 12-consecutive-ride streak. And the Rattlers, who kicked off their season in July, already find themselves in a fierce battle for the No.1 seed. As the season enters its final stretch, the Rattlers will no doubt be leaning on their quiet superstar.
“I’m very proud of myself for where I’ve gotten,” Fielder says. “But it’s all part of the process, and I’ve still got more that I want to achieve.”
Texas Rattlers
“A cowboy must never go back on his word
or a trust confided in him.”
- The 2nd Tenet of Gene Autry’s Cowboy Code
Raised on a sprawling 56,000-acre cattle station (that’s a ranch for us Yanks) outside Clermont, Australia, horses and cattle shaped Fielder’s early days — the rugged outback forging a cowboy spirit from the start.
“It’s all I’ve ever done since I was a little kid,” he says. “I started out riding sheep and calves.” Fielder still recalls terrorizing the calves in the branding pen on his family’s ranch. “One kicked me right in the belly, and I had a hoof print there for a while. It didn’t worry me one bit, though.”
Fielder would apply his cattle station experience to youth rodeo competitions across Queensland. This despite his family moving away from the ranch and Charters Towers, Australia, following his parents split when he was 5. But the rodeo fire was already lit, and years of local competitions would follow.
Brady Fielder
“We could qualify through this association back home,” Fielder says. “And if you finished, I think it was in the top five or something, you might’ve had the chance to come over [and compete in] the States.”
And this is precisely the path Fielder took. After success in Australia, Fielder was 15 when he would punch his golden ticket to ride in the Youth Finals in Abilene — an event he competed in for three consecutive years.
“That was sort of my first taste of [competing in the U.S.],” he says. “Didn’t do so well to start off with. But by the third year, I kind of got a little experience in how it all works and what it’s all about.”
In 2019, Fielder would officially turn pro in bull riding, competing in the PBR Australia tour, where he’d capture the Rookie Champion award and qualify for the PBR World Finals in Las Vegas. But after going 0 for 5 and notching only one attempt over the five-second mark, Fielder’s first outing in Las Vegas proved to be a humbling experience.
“I really thought that I had a chance to win the world finals over here in Vegas and that kind of thing,” Fielder says. “But it didn’t go how I planned, and that really kind of upset me. It broke me a little bit, but I knew this is where I wanted to be, and I wasn’t done yet. I had that fight in me. I knew I was going to come back and do great.”
Picking himself up and dusting off the loss — something bull riders become accustomed to — Fielder would split time the following year between his home soil and the U.S., where he competed in PBR’s Unleash the Beast before COVID-19 decided to wreak havoc on the world. Returning to PBR Australia in late September, Fielder capped off his year with a victory at the Australian Grand Finals. Returning to PBR Australia in 2021, Fielder would compile five podium finishes and end the year ranked second on the tour.
Fielder would become a regular rider on the stateside PBR tour in 2022 — a year he spent living out of a suitcase and juggling 17-hour return flights home to maintain his visa.
“That was a lot, but I was quite determined to make it work,” he says. “I think [my determination] is how I was able to make it all happen, really.”
That same year, the PBR Teams League launched. With a new format and eight charter franchises (increased to 10 in 2024) in the likes of New York, Nashville, and Kansas City, no longer was it one cowboy against the world. Riders were now drafted to teams, traveled on coordinated schedules, and squared off in five-on-five matchups. It was more akin to the NBA than the PBR. The season runs from summer to fall, ending in a high-stakes playoff and a championship weekend in Las Vegas in October.
For a sport rooted in individual skill, the change was bold. But Fielder took to it like a natural.
“When you ride bulls your whole life by yourself, you don’t think much about team dynamics,” Fielder says. “But once I got in that locker room with the Rattlers, it clicked. We’ve got each other’s backs. We ride for each other.”
Texas Rattlers
Brady Fielder embodies the very qualities coach Cody Lambert wants to instill in his riders: toughness, fairness, and a steady presence, both in and out of the arena.
“A cowboy must always tell the truth.”
- The 3rd Tenet of Gene Autry’s Cowboy Code
The Rattlers’ practice facility in Bowie is where the real work begins. A sprawling maze of chutes, metal gates, and livestock, a fully covered arena means that weather never stops the Rattlers’ training. It’s the team’s home away from home, alive with the steady rhythm of boots striking packed dirt and the metallic clang of gates swinging shut. Here, sweat is currency, and discipline isn’t just preached — it’s lived.
During the offseason, Fielder and his teammates push through punishing drills, knee-deep in the dirt, away from the cameras and fanfare — just desire and a quiet pursuit of excellence.
The team clubhouse — humble and rugged — doubles as a crash pad for rookies starting out, offering a roof over their heads until they can stand on their own. The two-story structure resides on the north end of the arena and is equipped with a weight room and meeting space. The digs also feature a catch-all area where riders can store their ropes and safety gear, conveniently located near a washer and dryer. Further into the inner sanctum is the kitchen/commons area. This is where the team is meeting up today.
Inside this section of the clubhouse is where Rattlers’ head coach Cody Lambert presides. As co-founder of the PBR and one of the sport’s most enduring architects, Lambert commands attention without raising his voice. Boots thick with dirt and wearing a pair of black-rimmed reading glasses, he quietly goes over his notes for the day’s practice.
An experienced bronc buster and bull rider, in April 1993, Lambert became the first winner on the PBR tour, taking top honors at PBR’s inaugural event, the Tuff Hedeman Challenge at the Cowtown Coliseum. After Lambert’s win, his friend Hedeman joked, “Proving that longshots can win an event! Luckily drew probably the only bull in the championship round that he could ride.”
Lambert retired from straddling bovines in 1996 and subsequently spent three decades behind the chutes as the organization’s longtime livestock director, handpicking the bulls that helped shape the PBR into a global spectacle. He also invented the safety vest you now see all bull riders wear. He developed the lifesaving device after the tragic death of his friend, Lane Frost.
Enshrined in both the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame and the Rodeo Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Lambert and his wife, Leanne, now call Bowie home — but the arena remains his true domain.
When the Texas Rattlers formed in 2022 as part of the PBR’s bold experiment to introduce team-based bull riding, the vision was clear: Build something different, something lasting. If anyone could bring that vision to life, it was Lambert.
But coaching, for him, isn’t just about scores or titles — it’s about shaping character. He lives by a code and expects his riders to do the same.
The aforementioned code is a real one; one that might sound familiar to an older generation. The Rattlers follow Gene Autry’s Cowboy Code — 10 rules the singing cowboy created in the hopes of having a positive impact on the children who tuned into his legendary radio and TV shows.
Autry crafted the Cowboy Code with purpose. As “America’s Favorite Singing Cowboy” in the postwar years, he understood the influence he wielded. While Hollywood Westerns grew grittier, Autry set his cowboy apart — a hero rooted in honesty, patriotism, respect, kindness, and clean living. The Code wasn’t just a personal creed; it reflected the era’s idealism and the kind of role model Autry believed a cowboy should be.
“The code is 80 years old, but it should apply 80 years from now,” Lambert says. “It should apply every day. It’s common sense ... doing what’s right. And Brady was really one of those guys who understood that.”
For Lambert, coaching isn’t about perfect technique or flashy moves. It’s about hunger, resilience, and perseverance in the face of adversity. “I want guys who don’t quit,” he says, “guys who ride hard and leave it all out in the arena.”
The Rattlers’ roster reflects that ethos — a blend of international talent and Texas toughness. Alongside Fielder, the team includes fellow Aussie Callum Miller, Brazilians Claudio Montanha Jr. and Vinicius Rodrigues Pereira, and Texas standouts like Daniel Keeping, Ezekiel Mitchell, and Braidy Randolph.
“Everyone plays a role,” Riley Lambert, Cody’s son and Rattlers’ assistant general manager, adds. “It’s a brotherhood.”
Minutes after the team assembles in the clubhouse, Cody calls the men into a circle. The camaraderie is palpable — the respect, the easy jokes, the way they push each other. It’s clear these men genuinely care for one another.
It’s a scene few PBR fans get to see. Instead of chaps and beaver felt hats, the men are wearing gym shorts and baseball caps. Gone are their thousand-yard stares and tougher-than-life personas. Today, they are relaxed and ready to put in the work they need to improve their chances of making eight seconds on a raging bull. Only, instead of riding bulls on mud, they rotate through stations that include exercises such as push-ups, pull-ups, and farmer’s carries with heavy duffel bags across the arena. The arena itself is equipped with pro-level amenities, including cross-training setups, pull-up bars, weight stations, resistance bands, a dedicated warm-up zone, and a regulation dirt arena.
One of the most grueling parts of this practice comes at the end. Behind a stack of hay bales on the arena’s west side is a 10-foot obstacle course. Riders climb a giant rope to a set of steel monkey bars, finishing with pull-ups on another rope on the opposite side.
“You never know what a bull’s gonna do,” Fielder says, catching his breath after completing the course. “You gotta be ready for anything.”
Texas Rattlers
“The Cowboy is a patriot.”
- The 3rd Tenet of Gene Autry’s Cowboy Code
The hardest part of this sport for Fielder has never been the bulls — it’s the distance from his home.
“[Moving to Texas] was tough, especially at the start. It took a little bit to adjust to the change, and I didn’t know how to handle it all, but it was all part of finding myself. And that’s what made me better: sticking it out.”
Fielder comes from a large family back home — two older brothers, an older sister, a younger brother, and a stepbrother.
“I talk to my mom sometimes,” Fielder says. “She’s always wondering how I’m doing. She obviously gets a little worried about me mentally and that kind of thing. But that’s just what mothers do.”
Fielder says he’s grateful for the Lamberts, who have become his surrogate family. When he first moved to Texas, Fielder didn’t have a place to stay. “So, I crashed on the Lamberts’ couch for nearly a year,” he says. “[It was a] short couch, too — my legs hung over the end.”
But the Lamberts aren’t the only family Fielder relies on. He depends on his teammates, and they depend on him. Ezekiel “Blue” Mitchell, the Rattlers’ newest acquisition from the Austin City Gamblers, says he’s admired Fielder from afar — even as an opponent.
“Brady is a great teammate,” Mitchell says. “He’s not someone who talks a lot or tries to pump everyone up — he just does the work and sets the tone by how he carries himself. He’s a natural-born leader that way. When he does speak, it’s always positive and uplifting. Even when you’re down on yourself, he knows exactly what to say to help get your mind right.”
Callum Miller, Fielder’s teammate from his homeland, echoes those sentiments.
“He’s always positive and keeps things simple,” he says. “Outside of the bucking chutes, he’s the same … quiet and easygoing.”
Easygoing is the last trait you’d expect in a top-tier bull rider, which is precisely why Fielder stands out. He’s an anomaly, and Lambert loves it. Fielder embodies the very qualities Lambert wants to instill in his riders: toughness, fairness, and a steady presence, both in and out of the arena.
The Rattlers take the Cowboy Code seriously. Everyone knows bull riding is dangerous, but it’s also about respect for each other, for the sport, and for the legacy they carry.
After practice, the men walk past a handful of ranch dogs scattered around the arena like furry mascots. They’re on their way to the northwest end of the facility, where there’s a mechanical bull — a favorite for practice, fun, and the occasional dare. It’s housed inside an inflatable, bouncy enclosure designed to soften any falls.
Fielder quickly hops on the hydraulic-powered beast as Keeping takes the controls. Lambert shouts out tips as Keeping cranks up the speed. Fielder rides the bull backwards, gripping the sides tightly with his legs. Remember, no stirrups in bull riding; it’s all about hanging on with raw leg strength.
There’s no trophy or prize here; it’s just an after-practice hangout. And in this moment, it’s clear, even when riding a literal tin-horned bull, this is what he loves. Despite the hardships, the broken bones, the broken retinas, and the 8,000-mile distance from home, he’s right where he wants to be.
Bull riding, Fielder explains, is a bittersweet relationship. “It’s a feeling I get inside. Even when it hurts, even when it’s hard, it makes me happy.”
Gene Autry
Gene Autry's Cowboy Code
- The Cowboy must never shoot first, hit a smaller man,
- or take unfair advantage.
- He must never go back on his word or a trust confided in him.
- He must always tell the truth.
- He must be gentle with children, the elderly, and animals.
- He must not advocate or possess racially or religiously
- intolerant ideas.
- He must help people in distress.
- He must be a good worker.
- He must keep himself clean
- in thought, speech, action, and personal habits.
- He must respect women, parents, and his nation’s laws.
- The Cowboy is a patriot.
