36 PUNCHMAGAZINE.COM {punchline} PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF: MELISSA ATLE / GARRET MESSER Enzo benefits from a strong support network of family and friends who travel with him to rodeos. One of his strongest supporters is fiancée McKenna Schott, whom he plans to marry this November at Saints Peter and Paul Church in San Francisco. The couple first met while attending Woodside High and have been together ever since. While he promised to limit the number of rodeos he competes in before the wedding, Enzo looks forward to riding in the California Cowboys Professional Rodeo Association finals this autumn in Red Bluff, California. For Enzo, the discipline of bronc riding translates into other aspects of his life. “If I am able to open myself up and be as vulnerable as I am in that arena,” he says, “there is nothing that can stop me from being successful in other parts of my life.” Enzo trains at the Gilroy ranch of his mentor, saddle bronc champion and financial consultant George Veater. “I have taken a lot of notes from him,” he says. ”He is a big part of my story, as it’s not typical for guys in business to also be in the rodeo.” When he’s not practicing at the Veater Ranch, Enzo trains on a barrel with springs in his backyard, gaining the repetition and muscle memory he needs. “It simulates what you need to do in the arena on horseback when your second, third and fourth instincts need to kick in,” he reveals. “It is a bit of a blur out there.” Locally, Enzo enjoys riding with the Mounted Patrol, a Woodside horse club started during World War II when San Mateo County coastal horsemen were deputized to keep a look out for enemy warships. “I get to hear a lot of stories from guys older than me,” he reflects. “You are never going to stop learning from experienced horsemen. I recently started bringing a new, younger wave of guys to mix with the older group.” ABOVE: Enzo and fiancee McKenna Schott at the Mounted Patrol Grounds in Woodside; going out to check on the cattle at the Messer family ranch in Hollister.
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