Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2016 i The Team Roping Journal

While it doesn’t happen every year, it seems the sport of team roping offers up a new, somewhat transcendent, talent to the professional level often enough to keep things interesting. In recent years, we've seen names like Jade Corkill, Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira. This year, it’s looking like the name is Wesley Thorp. For nearly six years we’ve been seeing Wesley Thorp in national-level results. In 2010, at age 15, he won $65,000 at the United States Team Roping Championships. Last year, he won the #13 and the #15 Shoot-Out there. This year, he cracked out professionally on a full-time basis, won Tucson and put himself solidly in the PRCA’s top 5 at the season’s midway point. Then, he won the College National Finals Rodeo (p. 66) with lifelong…

Safety First The first thing for sure is safety. I want to know that they’re safe. I want to know that if I’m not out there with my kid, they’re not going to get in a wreck. I want my kids to be able to ride a lot and get used to saddle time, and the horse has to be safe for that to be possible. I want no buck, no setting back, no ignorant stuff. On Track I want a horse that will track a calf and do so on its own. I want my kids to rope and not worry about positioning their horses. If my kids have to pull their horses back over to the calf, they can lose their timing and their angle on their rope.…

Personally, I’ve always gained my confidence through hard work and practice. I was inspired when I was a young kid—10 years old or so—when I watched the movie Rocky. The underdog story where everybody counted him out and gave him no chance inspired me. His heart, his work ethic and try helped Rocky Balboa overcome his situation. I always kind of viewed myself as the underdog, but I felt that if I worked hard enough and tried hard enough it would make up the difference. I’ve known guys who are naturally very confident. That can sometimes be perceived as arrogance. Jake (Barnes) has always been similar to me in that he gained his confidence through hard work. That shared point of view helped us fit well together as a team.…

Minors Surge Riley and Brady Minor won the World’s Oldest Rodeo in Prescott, Ariz., and placed at four more rodeos to bring in $13,268 each and jump to second and third in the PRCA world standings, respectively. Claim Driggers Top and -Earner Nogueira Spot Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira weren’t inside the top 40 at the beginning of June, but after the Fourth of July run that netted just under $23,000 with wins in Oakley, Utah, Eugene, Ore. and St. Paul, Ore., as well as a split-win at Livingston, Mont., they’re sitting firmly inside the top five. “I messed up a couple places,” Nogueira said. “I roped a leg at Cody (Wyo.), and I burned my hand bad at Red Lodge (Mont.) so I couldn’t dally at Molalla (Ore.). But…

Canadian young gun Kolton Schmidt might be in uncharted waters leading the PRCA heading world standings in 2016, but the experience he gained north of the border prepared him for this leading role. At age 19, Schmidt won the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association’s heading title in 2013 with Tyrell Flewelling. Schmidt rode his black gelding, Badger, at the Canadian Finals Rodeo that year, where they placed in the average. He’s made the CFR a total of four times, including once at age 17—setting the record as the youngest contestant to ever qualify in the team roping. “I guess I learned to believe in myself,” Schmidt said. “I had to rope against a lot of tough guys to win that.” Schmidt and 2016 partner Shay Carroll are trying to make the…

A team roping partnership is a lot like a marriage, and there are times when you spend more time with your partner than your family. You need to be compatible with your partner, and most importantly inside the arena. It’s nice to be good friends, too, but you can rope with someone you don’t particularly want to hang out with, if you can win together. I’ve been fortunate enough to rope with the best—Clay (O’Brien Cooper), Leo (Camarillo), Allen (Bach), Walt (Woodard) and several more. You don’t always know on paper how a partnership will go. Speed Williams and Clay, as one example, were a great team on paper. But they didn’t win as much as they would have wanted to, for whatever reason. Clay and I had a lot…

If you’ve never heard of Wesley Thorp, get over it. I watched him work for a solid week in June, and from the short-score conditions at the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyo., to the grueling, six-head Bob Feist Invitational Team Roping Classic marathon in Reno, Nev., the 20-year-old kid from Throckmorton, Texas, was flawless. “This has been a pretty awesome week, for sure,” Thorp said. “Both titles were huge goals of mine. It’s pretty cool to accomplish this in a week. I’m grateful. It hasn’t quite sunk in yet.” Thorp, who just finished his second year of online business classes at the Stephenville branch of Ranger College, won the 2016 CNFR heeling for his long-time best buddy, Weatherford College’s Cole Wheeler, and in commanding fashion with a 2.4-second…

World Champions Clay Tryan and David Motes have each won California Rodeo Salinas a record five times—mastering the rodeo’s five-head, single-box, long-score format under the sweltering summer sun. Tryan, who won it in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2009 and has earned $72,639 at Salinas with seven different partners, attributes his winning streak at the famed rodeo to his confidence. Simply stated, he was on a roll. “When I was younger, when I first started winning it, I had a good run,” Tryan said. “I was confident. I won it so much that my confidence just built and built. Back then everybody would run close, wait for their horse to rate, take another swing and head the steer, ease up for their heeler and be whatever time,” Tryan explained. “I…

Bubba Buckaloo and Kinney Harrell roped five steers in 33.71 seconds to win the Windy Ryon Memorial Open Roping, taking home $7,740 a man. OTHER WINNERS #11 Ladies: Barrie Smith and Jackie Crawford, 41.37 on five head, $3,770 each Invitational Breakaway: Devin Riggins, 12.42 seconds on three head, $1,890 Invitational Calf Roping: Timber Moore, $4,640 #11: Ronald Pritchett and Whitney DeSalvo, 33.05 seconds on four head, $2,825 each Steer Roping: Scott Snedecor, 54.23 on four head, $5,000 #9: Brian Luce and Luis Quirino, 37.14 on four head, $2,590 each…

Number and End: I’m a 7 heeler and a 6+ header, but I primarily like to heel. Association of Preference: My favorite association is the World Series of Team Roping. It pays really well, and the ropings are enjoyable to go to. Rope of Choice: I use the Heat Classic medium. Biggest Win: My biggest win, as of recently, was probably this #12 Heartland in Graham. This roping went well, we drew four really good steers, and my partner turned them really nice and made it easy for me to rope them. We have roped together before, he lives about 30 miles away from me, and we are friends, so that helped us. Even though we rope together, we have never won money together before. We had a chance recently…

Design: DE-OE have a unique “cut” that is deep in the back of the boot that covers the heel and bulbs of the foot, but then quickly recedes back up the sides and front of the foot toward the hook-and-loop closures of the boot. The natural design of a horse’s foot allows the perfect spot for a boot to fit into place between the bulbs of the hoof. Fit: Most boots have a protrusion that is supposed to fit in this space, but only the new DE-OE boots have the bulb inset lower to the ground, which allows the boot to fit securely into the natural crevasse of the horse foot. This fit keeps the boots in place during all exercises, which maximizes protection every stride. Performance: The new design…

After the Reno Rodeo committee presented Garrett Tonozzi and Wyatt Cox with their championship silver spurs for roping three steers in 16.7 seconds, Cox had a decision to make. Tonozzi had entered them at the Never Summer Rodeo in Walden, Colo., for the next day, and Tonozzi gave his young partner the choice as to whether he wanted to drive all night to make it to the mountain town’s amateur rodeo. “Three fourths of me was saying no,” Cox, who finished second last year in the Resistol Rookie of the Year race, said. “But I thought we’re trying to get ready for the Fourth of July, and we’re trying to make the Finals, and I need to heel as many steers behind Garrett in a rodeo setting as I possibly…

The College National Finals Rodeo—and a National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association title—are underrated. There’s little question that the men and women who compete in Casper, Wyo., every June are not only among the sport’s best, but are the future of rodeo. Even the competitors, though, sometimes don’t fully engage with the CNFR’s importance. This year’s heading champion, Cole Wheeler, was taken aback by the reception his win received in the team roping community. “I didn’t know how big of a deal this would be, but over the past week I’ve had lots of people walk up to me and tell me good job,” he said. “I’m surprised at the number of people who keep up with the College Finals. By far, it’s my greatest roping accomplishment.” Wheeler, who rodeos for Weatherford…