By Steve Miller, Journal Staff Writer
THE RAPID CITY JOURNAL (Rapid City, SD)

Wearing short green pants, a cowboy hat and running shoes, Mike Matt zips past an angry 2,000-pound bull, slowing just enough in front of the horns to distract the bull from the rider it has just bucked onto the rodeo arena floor.

To make sure another thrashing bull notices him rather than the cowboy on the ground, Matt grabs a horn briefly and then speeds away to the arena fence, the bull in hot pursuit.

Matt says this no longer gives him the thrill it once did.

But he's a professional bullfighter. It's possible that they're wired a little differently than the rest of the population.

Matt, 33, has been using his speed, quickness and guts to save bull riders' hides since he was a kid helping his bull rider brother back home in Cutbank, Mont. He turned pro in 1994. "Maybe the novelty of it has worn off some," Matt said, although he acknowledges that he still gets anxious.

But he is still plenty good. He won world bullfighting titles in 1996, 1997, 2000 and 2004 and was nominated again last year as bullfighter of the year. He is working his 11th Black Hills Stock Show Rodeo for Sutton Rodeos starting today.

In any case, two years ago, Matt launched another rodeo career as a specialty act in which he stands on two thoroughbred horses as they jump over a 2003 Chrysler Sebring convertible.

That, apparently, provides enough of a thrill.

He says jumping over a car while standing on the backs of two thoroughbreds involves some "mental strain. But when it works, it's the best feeling in the world," he said. "It is a rush."

Sometimes, it doesn't work, exactly, but it's still entertaining, Matt said. "The horses always jump the car. It's just a question of whether I'm going to be astraddle the two horses or not."

The Roman riding, he says, is much more difficult than bull fighting. Part of it is the preparation and training involved. "It's a lot of time, but it's the most rewarding thing I've ever done."

A modest, soft-spoken cowboy, Matt did well enough with his new act to be nominated as specialty act of the year last year by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. Matt said that Roman riding isn't new but that no one else has been Roman riding - and jumping over cars - since the 1950s.

Matt will perform his "El Diablos" act during all seven performances of the Black Hills Stock Show Rodeo this weekend in Rapid City. The rodeo is part of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Winter Tour.

He will be joined by Tomas Garcilazo, a charro (Mexican cowboy) and trick roper from Mexico City in another specialty act during all seven performances.

Announcer for the rodeo will be Wayne Brooks of Texas, who won the PRCA announcer of the year title in 2005.

Crash Cooper will replace the popular Flint Rasmussen as the barrel man. Rasmussen has gone to the Professional Bull Riders tour full time.

Meanwhile, Matt, along with fellow bullfighter Loyd Ketchum, will continue plying his trade, dodging bulls and saving cowboys for all seven performances of the stock show rodeo.

Matt suffers with a left ankle that was smashed by a bull eight years ago that he hasn't let heal properly. He says he hasn't lost any of the speed that served him well as an all-conference football defensive back in college. But he admits the pain is "inconvenient" in the arena.

He said all bullfighters get hurt periodically. "If you're doing your job, you're going to get run over."

The bad ankle makes it hard to pound the pavement, but Matt has stayed in shape by riding an exercise bike, swimming and lifting weights.

Now, he rides four hours a day training the thoroughbred jumping horses at home in Stuart, Okla. Matt owns them in partnership with Leon Adams, also of Stuart, who taught him Roman riding.

But Matt says Roman riding and fighting bulls both demand as much mental preparation as physical.

With the bulls, he said, "your brain works against you. It's telling you I don't want to be here. Let's go home," Matt said. "You've got to have all this stuff conditioned in your body, so when it happens, it's all reflex. If you go thinking about things out there, you'll be late."

Late is somewhere between thrill and disaster.

Contact Steve Miller at 394-8417 or steve.miller@rapidcityjournal.com