Downey man’s remarkable approach to archery and rodeo  

DOWNEY — Nathan Urie doesn’t let anything stop him from trying something new. 

The 25-year-old, who lives in Downey with his wife, has always figured out how to take on the next challenge.

A picture of Urie posted online by Archery Idaho an Idaho Falls business, caught the attention of EastIdahoNews.com. It shows Urie using his teeth to draw a bow. 

“A bunch of Paralympic shooters use a mouth tab and draw their bows back that way,” Urie explained. “You kind of bite down with your molars and then pull against them. You are just really holding the strings still with your molars.”

It sounds like it could be painful, but Urie said it’s not as bad as people might think.

A mouth tab is described as a leather or synthetic tab attached to a bowstring that allows an archer to draw and release the bow with their mouth instead of their hand, according to Youtube survivalist Remi Warren.

Urie just started learning how to do it in January and competes in the sport.

The reason he uses his mouth is apparent when you meet him.

“Over the years, I have had some wild questions. I should have written them all down. But the main one is obviously how I lost my arm and then, ‘How are you doing that with one arm?'” Urie said. 

Urie was born without his left arm.

“I’ve got six siblings and then me. It’s just kind of one of those unexplainable deals. I was born with one arm, and the rest of everybody was born with all four limbs,” he said. 

He’s been used to it his entire life, and he encourages people to ask questions rather than not. 

“Parents a lot of times get after their kids because kids don’t care and they’ll just ask,” he laughed. “But that’s what usually makes it awkward, which is when the parents are like, ‘No, no, no!’ I’m like, ‘It’s fine, it doesn’t matter.’ They are just curious.”

Urie has also done rodeo for many years. He competed in saddle bronc riding and team roping. 

Saddle bronc riding tests a rider’s skill, strength and style. They attempt to stay on a bucking horse for eight seconds. Team roping is a timed event where two ropers on horseback work together to rope and immobilize a cow. 

Saddle bronc riding is pretty simple because you have to use one hand anyways, Urie said. But team roping was different and he had to figure out the best method. 

“This old cowboy that I really respected told me, ‘Ah, I don’t think team roping is for you. You should try something else,'” Urie recalls. “That pushed me into team roping. Just because I wanted to show him that obviously it could be done and done well.”

In past news articles online, Urie has been known to “overcome adversity since he was born” and has been called the “one-armed cowboy.”

Urie got his Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association permit and competed in ProRodeo. It’s clear he sets his mind to what he wants to accomplish and gets it done. 

“It really has not been much that I have come across. Monkey bars were tough as a kid but other than that, it was just tossing me in with any sport or anything and I just figured out a way,” he said. 

Urie gave some advice to people who might face challenges. Don’t let anything stop you.

“It’s fine to look stupid. I do it all the time. So just get out there and do it. Just change the way you think. And figure out a way to do it. Talk to someone who knows how to do it and chances are pretty good that you can figure something out,” Urie said.