Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2019 i The Team Roping Journal

Kenny Green Pattersson, 30, of Sweden, placed ninth in the #12 Ariat World Series of Team Roping Finale with a time of 32.70 seconds on four head, worth $45,000 with none other that World Series of Team Roping’s own Troy Shelley—making it all look easy after only having two and a half month’s worth of experience on live cattle. “The first time I came over here I was roping in Arizona and met Troy,” Patters-son said. “He told one of his friends to ask me if I wanted to rope in Vegas and I asked, ‘Who’s Troy Shelley. Can he rope?’ because I didn’t know him. Everyone told me that was a pretty good shot. So I figured if it was a good shot then I would rope with him…

Bubba Buckaloo and Hunter Koch Nick Sartain and Austin Rogers Cyle Denison and Tyler McKnight Tyler Wade and Billie Jack Saebens Garrett Chick and Ross Ashford Nelson Wyatt and Rich Skelton Rhett Anderson and Trace Porter Levi Simpson and Cole Davison Kolton Schmidt and Jeremy Buhler Jake Orman and Walt Woodard Brandon Beers and Daniel Braman IV Matt Sherwood and Tyler Worley Dustin Bird and Russell Cardoza (again) Billy Bob Brown and Shay Carroll Ty Bach and Trey Johnson…

In 2017, Beau Compton was welcomed into the folds of the Traditional Cowboy Arts Association, an organization which serves to preserve traditional cowboy craftsmanship of the North American West, such as saddlemaking, bit and spur making, silversmithing and rawhide braiding. And when the 15 (or so) chosen cowboy craftsmen present their works at the famed Cowboy Crossings exhibition each October at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, it’s essentially the NFR of cowboy artistry. Compton takes the work seriously. “I spend six months out of my year creating for the TCAA,” he explained. That’s six months of work in addition to the custom work Compton provides for his clients at Beau Compton Silver, where he produces one-of-a-kind pieces like belt buckles and wedding rings. “For the TCAA,” Compton allowed,…

Knowing your mentality and how you’re wired to win is so important in building a strong team. With Paul (Eaves), he had my back if I needed to run one down there a little ways, so Paul knew when to get them fast. And the thing about Paul is, he hardly ever messed up. If I turned one for money, Paul caught them. He can heel fast or go catch. This year, I’m really excited about partnering with Jake (Long) because I think our styles will allow me to be aggressive by using my horsepower to make my job easier. I won’t have to take as many risks with my rope. All I’m going to do is set them up for him. As fast as he heels, it will be…

The newly crowned Yeti Junior NFR Open World Champion Heeler was only 9 years old a week before the Junior NFR. What goes into creating a fourth-grader who can rope and dally on two feet, three times, in 17.1 seconds? It starts with “Little Michael” Calmelat’s parents, “Michael” Angel Calmelat and Rachel Mendoza. Both were raised near Tucson in team-roping families. Michael’s grandfather was just a kid when he crossed the border to Benson, and the last name signifies French ancestry. Michael and Rachel met at a jackpot as teenagers and have been a couple since 1997. Michael is often mistaken for his sister’s son, Michael “Anthony” Calmelat, who grew up with him. His protégé became a #10 heeler, and Michael’s other sister’s boy, Cody Pearson, is also a pro…

Ty Woods, a 15-year-old from Decatur, Texas, and Michael Calmelat, a 10-year-old from Tucson, Arizona, were the last team paired up from the qualifiers to rope in the Junior NFR Open, presented by Yeti. They’d never run a steer together, and Woods had never met his pint-sized partner before their first round, 5.83-second, second-place run worth $603 a man. “I’d never even heard of him,” Woods said. “Some kid told me he’s a 10-year-old, and asked, ‘How did you get paired up with him in the Open?’ And I said I didn’t know, but we’d make it work.” Make it work, they did. The duo made four more clean runs, including a short-round clinching businessman’s run to win the Junior NFR Open average title and year-end, worth $2,680 each. “I…

As we all know, having a great horse can make you or break you. I learned a lot on this subject from guys like Bret Boatright, who always had good horses and was also always asking and looking around in every town for that next superstar. When I was younger, we had one horse. We practiced on him, jackpotted on him, and rodeoed on him. We didn’t know any better. With all the money out there now—what you can win and also the cost of horses—taking better care of your horses just makes sense. The first horse I ever saw that made a huge difference in someone’s career was Charles Pogue’s Scooter. He really elevated Charles’ career. Charles and his wife, Londa, took extra good care of that horse, and…

1. BRITTANY WHIDDON Whiddon, 30, began her journey to the top of the Ladies leader board at the mid-November NTRL USTRC Triple J Ranch roping in Sarasota, Florida, where the 4-header roped four steers in 38.34 seconds with partner Lewis Rimes, Jr. in the #11 Handicap for $780. The modest start was the foothold she needed to put her at the top when she followed it up with a $4,170-win with Rick Scruggs in the #11 at Perry, Georgia’s South Georgia Championships in late December for a total of $4,950, giving her a $685 lead as the season heats up. 2. BETHANIE SHOFNER Shofner, hailing from Los Lunas, New Mexico, and classified as a 5-header/4-heeler, will be celebrating her 21st birthday at the end of the month from the second…

SITUATION: Winning run from Round 8 at the 2018 Wrangler NFR TIME: 3.6 Seconds OUTCOME: Won the round, winning $26,230.77 a man, and fastest run of the NFR a) STEER: I thought that steer was the best one we had all week. Cole Davison had roped a leg on him, I believe, and was 3.6 and maybe Snow (Cody) and Thorp (Wesley) were 4.1 on him. He had a pretty fast track record. He was pretty slow and stayed straight—maybe took a half step to me. b) LOOP: I’ve battled with putting my loop high on the right. I like that it’s on the ground all the way through the legs. c) HANDLE: Bubba did a great job on that steer. He got out ahead of him. The steer took…

HORSEPOWER If you draw a heeler you don’t know well, whose number is lower than you usually rope with, ride a good horse. Some people can be tempted to ride a greener head horse, but riding a better horse will pay off. Your heeler will see you have confidence in him or her, and you’ll be able to give a better handle. DON’T REACH I like to run pretty close when I have a heeler I’m not familiar with. Having too much rope out will make it harder to handle the steer, and could catch your heeler off guard. PICK YOUR HORSE UP When I rope, I will pick my horse up a little bit just to get a hold of the steer. I don’t want to whip the steer…

There are moments in life we remember with an acute clarity. Science backs this: Traumatic or highly emotional events will be recorded in the brain in such a way that those events will be remembered with an exactness that eludes our other memories. For professional bareback rider Braxten Nielsen, the moment materialized on Aug. 31, 2017, when he was mounted in the chute at the Magic Valley Stampede in Filer, Idaho, aboard Sozo, a NFR-proven bucking horse, with his riggin’ set. He nodded, the gate opened, and the horse reared back to the point of nearly sitting down like a dog, pinning Nielsen between its tremendous kinetic weight and the chutes. “I heard a shotgun,” Nielsen recalled of the instant. “It was like a shotgun or a pop went off…

Last month I was pleased to say that the 30th National Finals of Team Roping would again be a great event and would remain at the Oklahoma State Fairgrounds next year; suddenly the phone lit up. Puzzled, I began to hear the rumor was out there that USTRC would not be returning to OKC??? I won’t speculate who is promoting this untruth. But this is a great event, why would you shut down the largest and second richest roping in the country? We have some great things in store for its 30th year. Nevertheless, when I came on board a lot of our contractors believed that they could change things up at the sanctioned events for the betterment. So last year we challenged our sanction contractors, “If you feel like…

HARD WORK WILL NEVER CHEAT YOU In a video of the event, Sozo, after that treacherous slice of time, recovers his forward motion and pitches out of the gate with Nielsen still aboard. The roughie’s instinct to ride keeps him holding on for two or three jumps before he ragdolls to the ground, the horse jumping wildly toward him. Nielsen, trained to get up and out of the way, sits up on his hands, but his legs lay lifeless in front of him. He reaches out a hand to Sozo’s muzzle to keep the bronc from stomping him. Sozo changes course. “The thought that was going through my mind,” Nielsen said, “was that all this hard work I’ve been doing—I’ve been chasing a dream—and it was just going to be…

“It feels like I’ve spent a lifetime getting [Remix] to this point but, really and truly, he’s right on track with where most horses are going to be their best. He’s turned into a pretty good one. I don’t know if I would put him in the elite category with Iceman, Switchblade and Jackyl, but we’re still working to get him there.” —Kory Koontz, 22-time NFR heeler, on The Score, a podcast by The Team Roping Journal available to stream or download on iTunes, SoundCloud and Stitcher.…