Cashton Fred remembers the first time he got on the back of an animal that didn’t want to be ridden. He was about 12 years old and had watched his older brother ride for a few years before he was ready to give it a try himself.

“I was scared for sure but then I did it and found out I really liked it,” said Cashton.

He turned out to be a fast learner. In just two years, Cashton went from scared to a state champion. The Tumalo-area teen won the 2025 Oregon Jr. High Rodeo Association’s steer riding title.

And starting June 22, Cashton will compete with some of the best young riders in the country at the National Junior High Finals Rodeo in Des Moines, Iowa. He plans to compete in both the steer and bullriding events against roughly 1,200 of the best young rodeo stars from across 43 states and parts of Canada, Mexico and Australia.

Cashton, who often goes by Cash, is 14 years old and preparing to enter high school next year. But he’s already riding bulls that can tip the scales at 1,500 pounds or more.

For spectators, a ride can feel like its over in an instant — a chaotic blur of movement and danger.

But that’s not the way it seems when you’re on top of the animal, said Cashton.

“Eight seconds feels like a year,” he said.

He said he has time to adjust his grip and his seat on the steer’s back. He can think about how to make “a tough ride look easy” in order to coax a top score from the judges.

He said a good ride is about “trying to look like you’re not trying that hard.”

Cashton said he gets plenty of practice riding mechanized equipment, which helps with timing and balance. His background in wrestling helps with balance, too, he said, — as well as  building core strength. He said he gets on the back of as many animals as he can at local arenas and pens to build his skills and get his reps in.

Cashton’s mother, Debbie Fred, said it can be nerveracking to watch her teen son compete in what can be a dangerous sport. But she said that junior rodeos protect young riders with helmets and safety vests and use top rescue riders and rodeo clowns to protect the competitors often just learning the sport.

Cashton was the top Oregon qualifier for the national finals. He is guaranteed two qualifying runs and if he is among the top 20 after those two runs are official, he will earn a spot in the Saturday finals. That’s where the national championship will be up for grabs.

Cashton said his first goal is to qualify for those finals, and he said if he does that anything can happen in the last run.

“I just gotta hold on (and) ride well,” he said.

Central Oregon residents can watch the event, which the Cowboy Channel will broadcast live on television and online.