In 1983, Snyder became the first Canadian to win the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) bull riding world championship.

[19][10] During that season, Snyder achieved a 95-point ride on Northcott's Confusion[e] at the Canadian Finals Rodeo (CFR), a CPRA bull-riding record[3][20] which has not been surpassed as of July 2023.

[24] For the 1985 season, Snyder rode on the PRCA Winston Pro Tour,[25] which consisted of top-tier professional rodeo athletes drafted into 18 individually sponsored teams.

[26] Snyder was the bull rider for the Willie Nelson Wrangler Team, which debuted at the Coors Challenge in Austin, Texas, on September 5.

After suffering a dislocated shoulder at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo in February 1993, Snyder officially announced his retirement.

[3]: 141 Through 1992, Snyder felt a growing excitement about all-bullriding rodeo events which were drawing record audiences in the US,[30] having been outspoken about the lack of recognition received by bull riders as athletes.

[10] He moved from Medicine Hat to Calgary in 1993 with his wife,[31] marketing representative Rhonda Schlenker-Snyder,[7][8][g] and together they founded Bullbustin' Inc., a professional bull riding production company.

In May 1993 they produced their first event, Cody Snyder's World Champion Bull Bustin' at the Stampede Corral in Calgary, as a spectacle that treated its athletes as stars.

[31][7] Snyder served as captain of the Canadian team for all four years of the PBR World Cup series (2007–2010) contested between riders from Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, and the United States.