The Bull That Made Them Better: Man Hater’s Legacy

If Baryshnikov were a bull, it’s easy to imagine him being Man Hater.

His explosive power, formidable athleticism, and fluid grace produced countless video game-like outs.

With his front legs extended to grab the ground for his next leap and back hoofs kicking back high and hard, Man Hater was a huge flying muscle dart hurtling across the arena. Picture a stealth bomber doing stretch yoga.

Despite the power and fury, Man Hater was not unrideable.

When a diminutive, determined cowboy was able to stay straddled across the 1,700-pound bull as if mimicking Major T.J. “King” Kong riding the nuclear bomb dropped from the aircraft bay in Dr. Strangelove, it was the essence of the sport – a wild, devil-may-care joy ride defying all proper consideration of human self-preservation, but oh so much fun to watch.

Fans marveled at his high-flying performances and cheered the high scores, but the true beauty of Man Hater is what he meant to the riders.

He wasn’t an indomitable black hole the guys dreaded, an unlucky lights-out draw who summarily dispatched all who crawled across his back. Eleven cowboys who got on the champagne bull made the whistle and celebrated. Ten were for 90-plus points with an astounding average of 92.9 points.

He truly brought out the best of the best.

Cassio Diaz aboard Man Hater | Bull Stock Media

Cassio Dias knows that well. His 98.25 points on Man Hater in September 2024 amounted to the second-highest bull score of all time.

Marco Rizzo, too. It may have been like hanging onto a barrel thrown over a waterfall, but the cowboy from Georgia lasted eight seconds on Man Hater– good enough for the first 90-point ride of his career and first premier event win.

Andrew Alvidrez remembers his career-best 94-point score on Man Hater in Milwaukee in March 2025 as “my best ride, my favorite ride ever. We were in perfect sync and timing. It felt like we were doing the coolest dance imaginable. He was a damn good dance partner.”

Judges valued the bull’s explosive starts, high kicks, and seemingly impossibly long body extension. His near-perfect 49.50-point bull score against Sage Kimzey at T-Mobile Center in Missouri a few weeks before Dias’ historic ride was the highest ever recorded.

Bulls and riders share a near 50:50 split in merchandise sales, and Man Hater was the top seller among the animal athletes. Part of that was his name; nobody is cooler than the chick in a Man Hater t-shirt. More enchanting was to experience in person his brand of brutal ballet.

When Man Hater charged into the bucking chute, the arena crackled. It could have been a Saturday night party at Madison Square Garden teeming with night-on-the-town cowgirls seeing him for the first time, or in Fort Worth where it’s boots over heels every day and the knowledgeable crowd shouts “re-ride!” before the red flag is thrown.

It didn’t matter. Man Hater changed any building’s dynamics. When he was on the day sheet, history could be made, and everyone knew it.

The Instagram generation craves “holy sh-t” moments, and Man Hater routinely produced them.

Run the tests. I’m wagering that the arenas’ water pressure went up when Man Hater was bucking. The bathrooms were empty.

Raised and hauled by the late Gene Owen, Man Hater had already won the 2024 and 2025 YETI Bull of the Year titles and was ranked No. 1 this year.

After Owen tragically passed in a horse-riding accident in June 2025, his partner Jane Clark reached out to LeAnn and J.W. Hart to request they take the bull.

“It took our breath away,” LeAnn wrote in an email describing Clark’s phone call. “Out of pure honor and a bit of denial, we wondered if we were even worthy to step into those boots. But Gene had already told Jane he knew Man Hater had another title within him. We weren't just hauling a bull; we were carrying a vision.”

From the moment Man Hater stepped off the trailer at Hart Cattle in southern Oklahoma, he was different from the others, exuding a rare air of confidence and pride.

“He’d head straight for the ‘play pen’ and run to the very top of the hill, just to let every other bull know he was the king of that dirt,” LeAnn said.

Owen had stalled Man Hater alone, and it took time for the Harts to earn his trust. He finally started taking hay from LeAnn’s hand a few weeks ago.

Last Saturday night in the Championship Round in Little Rock with Brady Fielder aboard, as the clock approached eight seconds, the powerful bull had a misstep and stumbled.

He limped off the dirt, and the Harts saw something shift.

“J.W. went to the back, and for the first time ever, that proud bull didn’t stand off,” LeAnn said. “Man Hater walked straight to the fence and leaned his whole weight into J.W. If he could’ve talked, I think he would’ve called him ‘friend.’ In that moment, he wasn’t just a world-class champion; he was a soul looking for comfort from the man who knew him best.”

J.W. stepped away to call Jane Clark. Her only concern was what was best for Man Hater. He was loaded onto the trailer and driven to Oklahoma State University, a leader in large animal care. But Man Hater’s leg injury was diagnosed to be beyond repair, and the difficult decision was made to bring him to rest.

As the seven-year-old bull’s heart started to slow, LeAnn took the quilt she has slept under every night for the past year – made from the old shirts of a grandpa, helping lead a girl to Jesus – and laid it over Man Hater’s big frame.

“I asked the Holy Spirit to meet him where the doctors and the rest of us couldn't reach,” she said. “Gene was a sold-out Christian, and there wasn’t a doubt in anyone’s mind where he was headed when he passed. He and Jane hauled Man Hater to two world titles, and I have a feeling Gene was standing there tonight with the gate wide open.”

Man Hater’s charge to the proverbial Mount Rushmore of bulls in his quest to join Bodacious and Little Yellow Jacket as the third to win three world titles has come to an end.

History will judge where he ranks in the pantheon of all-time greats after a career spent doing what he loved, living a full life as king of the hill, and – in breathing his final breaths under his owner’s special quilt – comforted in an abundance of never-ending love.