Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2018 i The Team Roping Journal

Dear Roper, Throughout my career, the stories behind great horses have been my favorite touch-point to the roping industry. Looking back, a love for horses and their stories is what sent me down this path to begin with. The ropers and their stories came much, much later. So when Assistant Editor Kaitlin Gustave and I sat down to search the pedigrees of all of the horses that helped their jockeys qualify for this year’s Wrangler NFR in the heading and heeling, I got a little carried away. The resulting pedigree analysis is on page 96 of this issue, and the pedigrees of 32 of the best horses to have ever stretched a steer are featured on teamropingjournal.com. I’m not alone in this love for great horses, and I know that…

JAKE ON THE NFR AVERAGE I like Clay Smith and Paul Eaves in the average. Clay’s not just going to throw when the barrier pops. He’s going to get a good start, and stick it on ’em. Then Paul’s going to rope ’em fast. And Paul’s not just going to set himself up for one shot. He’s going to have a little bit of defense going, too. I just think that they have a really patterned run. They have a lot of control and consistency together, and that’s what it takes to win the average. Every year I say that record’s got a great chance of going down. It looks like it’s going to be broken, then something happens, and suddenly it’s stuck around for 24 years. Realistically, as fast…

Adrian, Texas’ Madison Clark and Canadian, Texas’ Nicholas Lovins won the #10 Junior NFR after roping four head in 31.32 seconds, worth $14,500. They also won first in the incentive with a time of 23.73 seconds on three head, adding $1,200 to their earnings. “When the short go started I couldn’t even be down in the arena because my heart was pumping so fast,” Clark said. “Once they called my name, it kind of all went away, and I just focused on what was going on.” Clark was more nervous than ever as she anticipated backing into the box to run their final steer. They roped their short-round steer in 7.59 seconds to move them to the lead of the roping. “Afterward, they kept all the short-go people back there…

As a heeler, entry into the corner really dictates how the rest of your run comes together. The roping part comes easier if you keep steady momentum through the corner. Too fast of an entry will cover the steer up and cause you to adjust by pulling on your horse or getting your body out of position, and you will need to overcome that with your rope. If you’re too late on the corner, you’re out of the picture and hustling to get there. Keeping your horse locked in, at a medium distance, will keep the momentum of the run so the roping part is a lot easier. 1 My horse is in my hand, and I’m focusing on keeping my weight in my stirrups. My header has him roped,…

I’ll be covering my 32nd consecutive Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas this month, and what being up close and personal with my cowboy friends all these years has taught me is that you just really never know who will blow everybody’s doors off before it happens. I’ve seen guys who had heck hitting hair when they ran the steers in that Thomas & Mack Center Arena just a couple days before go-time catch fire on opening night and hold that heat for the duration after such tiny tweaks as a last-minute horse change, or a little off-campus practice session. No one could have predicted that Allen Bach could possibly climb from 15th to first running and gunning behind Doyle Gellerman at the 1990 NFR for Big Al’s second…

Trevor Bowling, 12, of Hamilton, Ohio, won the stock trailer given at JX2 Production’s Hillbilly Redneck Novice/Amateur Trailers of the East Coast Roping this past September, finishing the roping as the high-point #3 and under of the roping. Bowling and partner Cody Warner, of Louisville, Mississippi, also won the short-go fast time, and Warner won the Massimo Side-by-Side. The roping, in its 18th year, took place in Morristown, Tennessee’s Walters State Great Smoky Mountains Expo Center.…

An emotional JD Yates won his second consecutive American Rope Horse Futurity Association World Champion heading title in 2018. JD Yates piloted the 6-year-old bald face sorrel gelding DT Air Jordan to his second consecutive American Rope Horse Futurity Association heading world title with a score of 929.54 on four head. DT Air Jordan is by Shiners Lena Chex out of Margies Little Jess and was raised by Dean Tuftin. The horse is owned by Kyle and Greg Hause of Gill, Colorado. Greg hopped the arena wall as the roping came to an end to hug his jockey. “It’s just the idea to compete, and have a chance to win big,” an emotional Yates said, choking back tears on the floor of Fort Worth, Texas’ John Justin Arena after the…

Q : What does a typical day in the life of Frank Thompson look like these days? A: I have a job in the oil field out near Grover, Colorado. I work seven days off and seven days on. I’m also partners in the Full House Horse Sale in Newcastle, Wyoming, which is held the third Saturday each June. Q : How’s life in the Cowboy State compared to your native Mount Rushmore State? A: South Dakota will always be home. I’m very proud to be from Buffalo, South Dakota, and Harding County. Buffalo may arguably be the bulldogging capital of the world. There are no transplants in Buffalo. Nobody would move there, so you have to be from there. A lot of bulldoggers have come out of that country,…

When Leo “Beaver” Bird got sick of the brutal Montana winters and moved as a wrangler to the then dude ranching capital of the world—Wickenburg, Arizona—recreational team roping was in its infancy. Dynamite Arena had been up and running for a few decades already, but the few Northern snowbirds, many working as dude wranglers in Wickenburg, didn’t have anywhere else to rope. That was 1992, and that year Beaver convinced his boss at the Wickenburg Inn, Merv Griffith Jr. (of The Merv Griffith Show fame), to let him build an arena and host ropings with fellow wrangler Terry Ellenberger. Open ropers showed up from time to time, but mostly local retired ranchers came to play in those early days. “When we started putting on ropings, it was $15 a man,”…

Rate is a good thing to talk about considering the race horses I ride. People don’t often think of race horses having rate, but when trained and ridden correctly, they can rate with the best of them. SLOW MOTION The bigger the motor your horse has, the more time you have to take. I try to let him know what I’m asking first—tracking a slow steer or burro or a sled. Any time the horse starts not watching the steer, you have your ATV driver let up. Let him make a mistake, then correct him. People micromanage rate and never give their horses a chance to figure it out themselves. SOFT HANDS One thing you can’t do on a horse with a big motor is pull on him a lot.…

The last steer Travis Graves heeled on his sorrel superstar was to seal the deal with Chad Masters on the team roping average title at the 2017 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. He’s hoping hard that the next rodeo steer he runs on Manny will be at this month’s 2018 NFR. Graves bought Manny—who’s named after his last owner, Manny Egusquizasix years ago, when Egusquiza decided to switch ends and head. Graves has been missing Manny, who’s 18 now, all year long. “I don’t know for sure if it was that last run at the NFR last year, or something that happened over the years, in the trailer on the way home, or when we got home. But I haven’t been able to ride him since that 10th -round steer,” said…

“It’s rodeoing, it’s part of it. We’re older now. When you’re young, you think there’s no tomorrow if you miss. It drives you nuts. Now, you have to see the big picture of it and know how it works and how the season works. You try to do the best you can do, and if you’re ready and prepared, when it’s your turn, you’re going to do good.” —Travis Graves, on The Score, the podcast by The Team Roping Journal staff and available to stream or download on iTunes, SoundCloud, and Stitcher…

Quinn Kesler fell just short of making what would have been his first Wrangler NFR in 2015, finishing 16th in the World Standings with $65,840. Even though he didn’t qualify for the Finals that year, he ended up with the 2015 Resistol Rookie of the Year Heeler title. “I was very blessed to rope with Matt [Sherwood],” Kesle said of that inaugural year. “I’ve always dreamed about wanting to rodeo and my goal for that year was to win the Rookie. I know my partner, Matt, planned to amke the finals, but, I think that being naive and not having rodeoed before, I didn’t realize that making the finals could be my goal the first year.” Kesler may not have made it to the Finals that year, but he did…

Joseph Harrison and Dual Patron mark 941.29 on four head, winning the $20,000 payout at the American Rope Horse Futurity Association World Championship. Dual Patron, the 5-year-old buckskin stallion owned by Bobby Lewis and shown by Joseph Harrison, stood out heads and tails above the field at the 2018 American Rope Horse Futurity Association’s $110,000-added World Championship Oct. 19, winning the $20,000 title with a score of 941.29 on four steers. Harrison’s rodeo partner, two-time PRCA World Champion header Chad Masters, was on the head side as they roped their high-call steer in 7.32 seconds, in the event where the time counts as a third of the points. Judges Tee Woolman and Nick Sarchett each scored the horse an 83, the highest scores given in the short round. “He’s just…

Angels Among Us Sarah: We’re from Virginia and grew up roping on the East Coast, even though there’s not much roping there at all. My dad kind of had a mid-life crisis and decided he wanted to rope, so he taught both of us. Martha: Ever since we were little girls, our dad taught us how to rope. My dad was more of a calf roper, but a guy named Ron Renzi helped us a lot with our team roping. Our dad had cancer for four years, and he passed away two years ago. At the Wildfire, we were second high call to win it and I told Sarah, ‘Let’s just win this for dad,’ but it didn’t go right. So, this time, I didn’t say anything, but it turns…

Hobbs, New Mexico’s Korbin Rice and Hermleigh, Texas’ Zant Paul Lewis won the Yeti Open Junior NFR after roping four head in 26.40 seconds, worth $14,700. “I roped in the #13 earlier, and me and [Lewis] actually won fast time and that was about it,” Rice said. “It wasn’t all that great until now.” The young guns came into the short round in the number-one position with a fast time of 18.78 on three head and had plenty of time to rope to hang onto the winning spot. But, the short round was one for the books with headers reaching and heelers heeling two feet over their horses’ necks. “Whenever they started knocking them down in four, I thought that it might get a little tough, but it’s no fun…

SITUATION: Winning run from Stephenville TIME: 3.9 seconds OUTCOME: Tied for first, winning $3,532 a man. a) HORSE: That bay, Fonzie, is bigger and long-strided. This used to not be his setup. He used to be more of a long-score horse. He’s kind of converted and lets you do whatever you want to now. I think he’s pretty much good in all setups now. He’s easy to rope on, and he doesn’t usually hurt me. He always helps me in every scenario. In the fast setups, he reads my throw—if you’re reaching he’ll keep running for you. b) START: I think the barrier might have been even there. It pulled fast. Austin Robertson had a good set of steers over there. They all started good and left good. Everybody, for…

“It shouldn’t be a drawing competition,” Oren Mathews, 54, asserted across the table over Mexican fare at El Rialto restaurant, in the heart of Las Vegas, New Mexico. He’s speaking specifically to drawing steers at a roping, and more broadly about his motivation to produce quality events featuring Mathews Land & Cattle corrientes that ropers can count on. “It should be a roping competition.” At dinner, Mathews is flanked by 2018 BFI winners and, more recently, PRCA Turquoise Circuit Finals winners Cade Passig and Chris Francis on his right and left; with Francis’ wife, Kenna, and his soon-to-be-walking daughter, Karstyn, to his own left; while Cord Crowell, formerly of Floresville, Texas, takes a seat across the table, where he’s the recipient of the evening’s good-humored hard knocks, as is accustomed…