34 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {punchline} PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: ENZO COSTANTINI / GLORIA BRIGANTINO - 8 TO INFINITY PHOTOGRAPHY / MATT COHEN dear life before getting bucked off its back. As part of his pre-rodeo routine, Enzo finds out what horse he is slated to ride, walks over to where it’s penned up and tries to connect with it. “I am looking at the horse and trying to get right with that animal,” he explains. “You don’t want to struggle and fight against each other.” To stay in shape and endure the strenuous requirements of bronc riding, Enzo maintains a strict regime when it comes to diet and exercise. “You can’t hit the ground that hard after being on the couch for weeks at a time,” he observes. So he works out daily, sticks to a vegetable-centric Mediterranean diet and goes to bed early. “I got a late start in this sport,” Enzo admits. “What is going to keep me in this longer is my discipline, diet and motivation. I am Italian, so it is easy to go off the rails with meals.” anthem. Enzo remembers thinking, “I know I can find my way to the back of the chute somehow.” The 29-year-old’s rodeo dreams became a reality this year when he competed as a semi-professional bronc rider, one of the most difficult events. “I have a window of youth here and I might as well do what I have always been curious about,” Enzo notes. Initially, he considered competing in team roping events, but soon took the plunge as a contestant in saddle bronc riding (as opposed to the bareback version of the event). A sport that dates back to the Old West, bronc riding originated with cowboys challenging each other to see who could mount an unbroken horse, hanging on for ABOVE (clockwise from left): Enzo at a Compass real estate event at Oak & Violet in Menlo Park; in the chute for a practice run at the Gilroy Rodeo Grounds; and competing in the Gilroy Rodeo.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTcxMjMwNg==