Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2018 i The Team Roping Journal

Dear Roper, I sat on a panel by the stripping chute of the South Point Arena for just about every short round at the World Series of Team Roping Finale XII. I watched the abject heartbreak on some ropers’ faces after splitting the horns for more money than they’ll make in the next few years, and I saw some shaking with excitement after they just caught the most important steer of their lives. World Series of Team Roping producer Troy Shelley sat next to me, telling ropers who went to first in the average to wait just a second by the gate, just in case they would be the ones making the victory lap. Some sat there smacking their ropes on their legs, taking their cowboy hats on and off…

Bobby Lewis Quarter Horses dominated the junior division at the American Quarter Horse Association World Show this November, sweeping the Jr. Heading and Heeling. Renowned horseman and first-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier Joseph Harrison earned his first golden globe in the Jr. Heeling aboard Dual Patron, a 2013 buckskin stallion by Dual Sparks out of Look At Her Glo, owned by Bobby Lewis, while Lewis won the Jr. Heading aboard J Lows Glo, a full sister to Dual Patron. “I’ll be honest with you,” Harrison said. “I’m more about the horse part of it than the roping part. I’ve always wanted to ride a nice horse, something that you rode in there and people wanted to know what he was. Being at Bobby’s has given me the opportunity to…

At every stage of our roping career, and at every level of the roping game, we all want to team up with the best possible partner. I’ve roped with so many of the best-ever heelers in my career. Clay (O’Brien Cooper) was obviously my best partner in terms of chemistry, and in terms of success. The best headers and heelers always try to rope together. But you can’t always put together the best possible teams on paper, because there’s that question about chemistry that can only be answered after you put a team together. As this issue goes to press, I’m still not sure who I’ll be roping with in 2018. That puts me in the same boat as a lot of people, including recreational ropers and even a few…

Who did you rope with to earn your 301 points? I roped with my family. I won a lot of my money with my youngest brother who heels, and I roped with my high school rodeo partner, Cole Harmon, a lot. Where do you plan to spend your scholarship money? I’m a senior in high school. I want to college rodeo in Texas. I’m not sure where, though—either Tarleton or Weatherford College. Which horses helped you along the way this year? I rode two of my better gray horses—Buddy and Jack. Do you have career goals? I want to go to school for business, to be a sales rep. I want to work in the Western industry. I’d like to go to all the big shows for one of the…

Horses and people have worked together for thousands of years. This relationship was initially built to move man faster and farther than he could on his own. As a tool, the horse became critical for the daily existence of man; in war, on the farm, in transport of goods and services, and in the management of other livestock. The need for a “sound” horse was imperative to that functional relationship, but the technology to diagnose, treat, and manage performance issues really didn’t mature until most horses’ relationship to man evolved into less critical roles. No doubt, the professional roper relies on his mount for a paycheck; he just isn’t using him to flee a hostile enemy. Despite this fact, the performance of the individual horse is no less important, and…

PRCA world champions Levi Simpson and Jeremy Buhler added another major title to their resumes by winning the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association titles at the Canadian Finals Rodeo in Edmonton, Alberta’s Northlands Coliseum. The duo led the standings coming in but didn’t win a check at the CFR until the fourth round. The Canadian team battled back to tie for first and second in the fourth round with a 4.1-second run, win the fifth round outright with another 4.1, and win second in the sixth round with a 4.2-second run to bank $29,325 a man and finish the year with $59,006.…

Cameron “Cam” Dahozy won a day in the practice pen with me at my home in Lipan, Texas, thanks to Roper Apparel and Footwear. We spent the day working on Cam’s roping, helping him prepare for the 2017 World Series of Team Roping Finale. He had an outstanding swing, and he’s really hungry to learn. He studies his roping a lot, and people like that are the easiest to teach because they really want to understand every detail of their swing and their corner. 1 The first thing I noticed we could improve on was keeping his horse in his hand and having control through the corner. That’s one of the most common mistakes for any numbered roper. Heel horses are just like head horses. A head horse, particularly one…

The World Series of Team Roping Finale XII set a record for yet another year, paying out $12 million to team ropers between the Finales and the qualifiers held at the South Point Hotel & Casino. From rodeo legends winning their biggest single paycheck in the arena to hard-working men and women roping the four best steers of their lives, the World Series of Team Roping Finale XII again changed lives. Tyler Bach has watched his dad, Allen, win more than most kids ever will—but no gold buckle or major jackpot win has ever compared the two feet he saw his dad rope December 10. Looking at his dad from aboard his facing head horse, Tyler watched as they came tight on the short round steer at the #15 2017…

The first year on the rodeo road can change a guy—sometimes he learns to throw faster, to enter smarter, or to drive longer hours. But Trey Johnson’s rookie year was about a little more than that. “I grew a lot as a man during that time,” Johnson said. “Just drawing near to God through the whole year—battling through the ups and the downs. Instead of it just being a goal to me, it was more about growth to me as a man. It just reminds me of God’s faithfulness and to stay faithful to Him and to stay focused, to keep working hard.” So when Johnson straps on his Resistol Rookie of the Year heeling buckle from the year 2000, it reminds him of the character that season helped him…

Long-time producer Kenny Zamora launched the Team Roping Champs organization in November 2017, looking to create a hybrid format that caters to all levels of ropers. The ropings, hosted regionally when Zamora isn’t producing a USTRC event, will feature payoffs ranging from 100-percent to 70-percent payback, with the highlight of the program being the Game Changer 100-percent payback division. TRC will host a Game Changer at every qualifying event for members only, and the Game Changer will alternate between the #15, #13, #12, #11, #10 and #9 divisions. “The goal is to have at least six qualifiers in each state—Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and eventually Texas—and host a state finals,” Zamora said. “We’ll determine which divisions at which qualifier of the six will be the 100-percent payback roping. We’ll look…

{ Vital Stats } AGE: 22 NUMBER: 7 heeler ROPE: NV4 by Classic HOME: Springfield, Ark. 2017 USTRC EARNINGS: $73,300 Whitney DeSalvo, 22, is wrapping up 2017 in the top spot times two, ranking first not only in the USTRC’s Cinch Ladies Standings after raking in a cool $73,300 for the year, but also finishing up as the WPRA World Champion Heeler. Amidst her recent successes, she’s also decided to continue pursuing her bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas at Monticello and has some words of wisdom for making the most of life on the road and what it takes to be number one. —G.R. Schiavino Q: What does it mean to you to end the year in the #1 spot? A: It means quite a bit,…

Noel Phillips was spending most of his time heading steers at jackpots and circuit rodeos in Arizona when he got a gig that definitely never crossed his mind growing up. Phillips, of Benson, Arizona, has spent nearly 30 years driving teams of horses in films like Titanic, robbing banks and trains onscreen, and wrangling horses on sets all over the country. The 1972 national high school team roping champion still ropes horns at WSTR events, too, when he’s not commuting to a TV studio or movie set in his own Mooney airplane. He got into the business on a whim. Phillips was roping in the early 1990s with guys like the late Byron Wilkerson and Fred Davis (he and Davis placed in a round at Tucson one year along with…

{ Vital Stats } AGE: 31 ROPE: GT4 HM in winter, Powerline Lite HM in summer WNFR QUALIFICATIONS: 1 HOME: Columbus, Kansas PARTNER: Lane Ivy EARNINGS: $277,021 Every year, it’s guaranteed that someone’s going to win the world and someone’s going to end up 16th. This year, I ended up in that number-16 hole, and I don’t take being 16th lightly. I strategized, planned and did everything that I knew to do. Looking back, I never made a decision that was the easy way out or a decision that cost me, ultimately. I would handle this worse if I thought I’ve peaked in my roping. I am a slow learner, but I’m a hopeless optimist. Success is not a straight line, it’s peaks and valleys. I went to…