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ANAHEIM — If the 90 bucking bulls who are inhabiting Honda Center this weekend needed a team captain, Ricky Vaughn would be the perfect fit.
After recovering from a near-death experience two years ago to finish fifth in the PBR world rankings last season, the 4-year-old is tied for 15th entering in the three-day Team Series event that begins Friday.
It’s unclear if Ricky Vaughn has earned respect from his fellow bulls, but he definitely has from the riders.
Eli Vastbinder was awarded a score of 91.75 after completing a run aboard Ricky Vaughn at the PBR Team Series season opener in July in Oklahoma City. He credited the second-best score of his career to the back-bending ride provided by Ricky Vaughn.
“He’s not one that has a bunch of dirty moves and is going to try and trick you and buck you off,” Vastbinder said. “He’s a bull that’s just going to buck really hard, give everybody a fair chance and, if you can stay on him, you’re going to be well over (a ride score of) 90.”
Not only is Ricky Vaughn capable of giving cowboys the ride of their life, but he’s also as sweet as a golden retriever, a trait that’s uncommon among bucking bulls, who can range from 1,700 to 2,200 pounds.
“He’s got the best personality, and anybody that’s interested in being in the bull business, or is a fan of bucking bulls, needs to meet him because he’s that kind of deal,” said his owner, HD Page. “His personality and the way he goes about things, they just don’t come around like him very often.”
Ricky Vaughn’s grandfather on his mother’s side is SweetPro’s Bruiser, one of three bulls in PBR history to win three world championships (2016-18).
Page considers SweetPro’s Bruiser to be the best bull he’s ever owned and not just because of his success in the ring. He was unusually friendly, playful and loved to get on the truck for a business trip.
When SweetPro’s Bruiser died two years ago, Page buried him under a tree in the front yard of his father’s property. His legacy lives on through his offspring, who continue to produce talented bulls like Ricky Vaughn.
“Not only was he special as far as a bucking bull, but as a friend,” Page said. “It sounds kind of crazy, but it’s not a whole lot different than having a dog or horse. Some of these actually turn into people’s pets and you bond with them and, yeah, you do get emotionally attached to them.”
Named after the Charlie Sheen character in the baseball film Major League, a hard-throwing right-hander who was nicknamed Wild Thing, Ricky Vaughn showed every sign of being a top-notch bucking bull two years ago, but then Page began to notice an awkward tilt to his head when he lifted it up from feeding.
Page thought he might have an infected horn, but when he took a closer look, he couldn’t find anything.
He noticed something else, however.
“I was pretty sure he was having trouble seeing because he was getting uncomfortably close to you,” Page said. “Now, he’s just a big old puppy dog. He follows you around. You’ve got to scratch on him 24-7, but back then he wasn’t all about that. He was just young and full of energy, so he wasn’t all about being gentle.”
Page brought him to Boren Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital at Oklahoma State, where he was given anesthesia, loaded onto a table and rolled into a CAT Scan machine.
Soon after, he was diagnosed with a life-threatening abscess in his pituitary gland.
The rare condition had caused fluid to fill his head cavity, gradually blinding him. If the leakage wasn’t stopped, Ricky Vaughn had no chance of survival.
Page initially decided to bring him back to his ranch in Dickson, Oklahoma to live his final days in a familiar place, but because Page got Ricky Vaughn to a hospital early enough, the medical staff believed they still had a longshot chance of saving him.
The treatment would consist of costly experimental medications and delicate hands-on care, but Page put his faith and pocketbook behind the hospital team, particularly one resident veterinarian, Laguna Hills native Megan Righi, who discovered a passion for taking care of animals while working on the agricultural farm at Mission Viejo High School.
“The Pages are willing to go all-in for their bulls, which is really nice,” Righi said. “We’re game to try anything if they’re willing to go for it.”
In order to get Ricky Vaughn into a tight chute for treatment, Righi devised a simple but effective method. She filled a metal bucket with cattle cube treats and rattled them, luring Ricky Vaughn with the smell and sound and rewarding him every few steps.
“It’s not very far, but he did have to make two left turns to get to (the chute),” Righi said.
Those treatments went on for several weeks at the hospital before Ricky Vaughn began to regain his vision in one eye and slowly the other. He was sent back to the ranch, where treatments continued for another six weeks until he was deemed 100 percent.
“I got to go see him a month later and he looked great,” Righi said.
Ricky Vaughn recovered enough to compete in two PBR events at the end of 2022, then went full time in 2023, quickly emerging as one of the most difficult bulls to ride on tour.
“To be able to come back and be one of the best bulls going is kind of a cool story,” Vastbinder said. “He would make headlines even if he didn’t come back from an ordeal like that.”
