Innholdsfortegnelse for August 1, 2015 i The Team Roping Journal

Being employed by Spin To Win Rodeo magazine for a dozen years has inevitably led me to wonder why the sport of team roping is so popular. Money and prizes—especially in the more recent past—are pretty simple answers. A more nuanced response might include the ideas of continuing a way of life and tradition. I think, though, there’s an even deeper reason people love to team rope. It seems obvious to me that humans yearn to live a rich life. I think we’re all searching for that thing that makes us come alive. The evidence is all over pop culture: thriller movies, roller coasters, skydiving, you name it. Team roping, I think, falls right in those categories. Backing into the box, calling for your steer and feeling the explosion of…

TREVOR BRAZILE Never let your kids throw a fit. They’ve got to be able to control their emotions. My dad told me he would do whatever he could to help me until I threw a fit, then he said he would be done helping. Whatever makes you lose your cool controls you. If you start controlling your emotions in and out of the arena as a kid, it’s a lot easier than trying to learn it as you get older. That goes hand-in-hand with another one of my pet peeves. Giving up on a run. I hate seeing people give up on a run. It’s habit-forming when you do it, and it’s weak hearted. I hate it. Never quit. It’s the little stuff like that that gets under my skin…

FINDING THE NEXT GREAT HORSE Finding the next great horse is a perpetual challenge for the top professional ropers. Wrangler National Finals Rodeo heeler Shay Carroll is always looking for the one that hasn’t quite reached its prime. In the following points, he shares his method to minimize the risk of horse buying. 1 Staying mounted is a never-ending battle. For me, every horse is a prospect unless already proven at the professional level. Since proven horses are extremely valuable, they are difficult to afford, which leaves many ropers like myself constantly trying to find the next great one before its prime. Continuously finding these horses before their prime is more than difficult—it’s next to impossible. They are simply that rare. However, I think there are specific traits a roper…

When I started roping, I didn’t know anything about how to ride my horse. I just kind of turned him loose, let him turn in, kept hustling him until I could see my shot, then took my shot. My horse was kind of automatic. As I started getting a little better at my skills, I was trying to set up more of a precise shot position-wise. That’s when I started to realize that the better I could control my horse, the more precise I could be at setting up my positioning and my shot. There was a time when I really thought I wanted a horse that was totally controllable, and that I was going to stay in total control of what I was doing. That worked pretty good when…

While there’s no official designation, Reno Rodeo is among ProRodeo’s “majors.” For team ropers, it’s especially true. Between the Bob Feist Invitational, Reno Rodeo Invitational and the PRCA rodeo, for 10 days in June no other rodeo feels so team roping-centric. What’s more, it’s the unofficial kickoff to summer, the Fourth of July and Cowboy Christmas. Even a casual glance at past Reno Rodeo team roping champions reveals names that are either world champions or established Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifiers. So when Zayne Dishion and Tommy Zuniga roped three steers in 16.1 seconds to win $10,683 and the coveted Reno Rodeo silver spurs, it’s safe to say they were immediately in good company. Since 1995, only five of the winners (in that time span, due to a tie, there…

The Winston ProRodeo Tour existed for just two years, 1985 and 1986, but some cowboys today consider it a golden era in rodeo for the major corporate sponsorship, television coverage and money paid out to rodeo contestants. The tour broke contestants down into teams, much like today’s Wrangler Champions Challenge. In 1986, though, the 18 teams were sponsored by such outside-the-industry corporate giants as Coca Cola, Jolly Rancher Candies, Coors, Polaroid, 7Eleven, United Airlines and Valvoline, in addition to traditional sponsors like Wrangler, Justin and Resistol. Teams were initially drafted in Reno in the spring of 1985, and to be eligible in 1986, competitors must have finished in the top 24 in their event. “Almost everybody that I’ve ever known of my buddies in that era, we all just loved…

Derrick Begay and Cesar de la Cruz needed a big win in 2013 to put them back in contention for a WNFR birth. That big win came at the 103rd edition of California Rodeo Salinas, when Begay and de la Cruz roped five steers in 42.8 seconds to win the average and catapult them to the 2013 WNFR for the fifth year in a row. For years prior, Begay had worn his Hork Dog Roping buckle, reminding him of his breakout win. But with the win at Salinas, Begay had earned the last of the three buckles he coveted most: from the Cheyenne Frontier Days, the Pendleton Round-Up and, lastly, the California Rodeo Salinas. “I gave my Cheyenne buckle to my dad, my Pendleton buckle to my mom, and Salinas…

When you’re trying to make a fast run you stick it on one and head out of town, so you eliminate a lot of the technique involved in handling cattle. Back in the day, the guys who just went and made clean runs, and put a velvet handle on steers, were the guys who used to win the most. Nowadays, a lot of five-head averages are almost like five rodeo runs. I’ve noticed this year at the jackpots that you no longer have the luxury of taking your time to set up runs, even at the jackpots. The bar has been raised again. The only time you have time for velvet handles now is when the cattle are really strong and when the scores are set way out there, like…

Travis Graves estimates he hauls his horses 70,000 miles each year on the rodeo road. While not all team ropers dedicate their lives to the open road, many are traveling and spending long days hauling in the hot sun heading to the jackpots, junior rodeos, amateur rodeos and more. We caught up with Brazos Valley Equine Hospital’s Dr. Charlie Buchanan of Stephenville, Texas, and Dr. Joe Stricklin of Greeley, Colo., for advice on how to make a hard summer more tolerable for equine athletes. WATER INTAKE “Keeping your horse drinking is always important, and even more so when you’re hauling in the summer. Adding salt onto their feed can keep them drinking well. You can also add Koolaide in the water to give it a good flavor and encourage drinking”…

BIGGEST WINNERS When Aaron Tsinigine snuck back to the Navajo Nation for three days rest after the Fourth of July run, he had about 20,000 reasons to breathe a sigh of relief. Tsinigine and Ryan Motes added $19,998 to their PRCA world standings totals from June 25-July 4, boosting Tsinigine from 11th to fourth and Motes from 16th to sixth. “I’ve just been trying to catch every steer,” Tsinigine said. “That’s been my game plan since I left home. It hasn’t always worked out, but this makes it all better.” Tsinigine and Motes won $9,426 a man for their 4.2-second run at the Cody (Wyo.) Stampede, a time that held from the first slack through the rest of the rodeo. They were 5.0 on their first one at the Greeley…

I’ve seen Cory Petska around all his life, and never seen tears in his eyes before the flag dropped on his last steer at the 2015 BFI on June The emotion was rare and raw, and the coolest of watching it flood out of him that Monday afternoon in the Reno Livestock Events Center is that he didn’t even try to contain it. There was no prideful stoicism or ego about it. Pure elation poured out of Petska as he and partner Erich Rogers pulled off an unrehearsed yet simultaneous and synchronized hat launching. “This is a straight-up dream come true,” said Petska, 35, who lives in Marana, Ariz., with his wife, Sherry Cervi. “When I was a kid watching my (three-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo header) dad (Paul) and…

All-Around Cowboy: Dawson Cantu, Zolfo Springs, Fla., 1,980 points All-Around Cowgirl: Caxton Martin, Alma, Kan., 1,160 points All-Around Rookie Cowboy: Ethan Lombardo, Marshville, N.C., 1,100 points All-Around Rookie Cowgirl: Greeley Eastep, Bainbridge, Ind., 795 points Overall Team Champion: Utah, 9,440 points Girls Team Champion: Texas, 3,105 points Boys Team Champion: Utah, 8,200 points Bareback Steer Riding: Jayco Roper, Oktaha, Okla., 208 points on three Barrel Racing: Laney Robinson, Mars Hill, N.C., 46.407 seconds on three Girls Breakaway Roping: Caslyn Weidenbener, Queen Creek, Ariz., 8.08 seconds on three Boys Breakaway Roping: Jake Raley, Brush Prairie, Wash., 7.59 seconds on three Junior Bull Riding: Kyle McDaniel, Fort Worth, Texas, 191 points on three Girls Goat Tying: Kamryn Duncan, Den-ham Springs, La., 25.75 seconds on three Boys Goat Tying: Jake Anderson, Gos-hen, Utah,…

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Finishing 16th in the world can be a heartbreaker for any professional rodeo cowboy. It means you worked all year just as hard as the cowboys who finished in the top 15, but you won’t have the chance to run at the big money at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. For some, that 16th spot is the kiss of death. They’ve used all their savings and fell just short. Financially, emotionally and even mentally, some cowboys never recover. Cory Solomon finished in the “crying hole” not only in 2013, but in 2014 as well. “I just came up short not having enough horsepower,” the Prairie View, Texas, cowboy said of both years. “I don’t care how good you are, if you don’t have a good horse that…

Barrhead, Alberta’s Kolton Schmidt won’t be needing his student visa next year as he heads out onto the ProRodeo road, but he put it to good use one last time at the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyo., this June. Schmidt, a junior at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, and Sawyer Barham, a junior at Coffeyville (Kan.) Community College, took home the CNFR team roping title by knocking down four steers in 24.2 seconds. The title is the partnership’s first big win, despite a lot of close calls over the last two years. “We’ve been in a lot of tough situations together,” Schmidt, who also holds the 2013 Canadian Professional Rodeo Association heading title, said. “And we’ve always said that we rope really good together but we could never win…