Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2019 i The Team Roping Journal

Justin Thigpen—the Waycross, Georgia, all-around hand—joined the ranks of the best timed-event competitors in the business by winning the 2019 Cinch Timed Event Championship in his first appearance at the event, worth $100,000. Thigpen entered the fifth and final round with a record lead and maintained it throughout the final five head. In fact, he clinched the title before tripping his final steer in 17.3 seconds, finishing the event in 341.9 seconds. He placed second in the first and second rounds and won the third round, earning $7,000 for those efforts. He is only the second man to win the Cinch Timed Event Championship as a rookie. Mike Beers was the first in 1986. “Two weeks ago, I was in San Antonio, and they called me and asked if I…

Q : How did a kid from Watts get started wearing a cowboy hat in the first place? A: I worked for a boarding stable where people also rented horses—El Fig Riding Stable—a few miles from Watts. I cleaned stalls and rode ponies at the El Monte Horse and Mule Auction every Friday night. If a pony bucked with me, I got a dollar or two tip. Every little kid wants to be a cowboy, including me. So I saved up those tips and bought myself my first cowboy hat when I was 11 or 12. Q : Why bull riding? A: I was a city kid. I had no idea I was going to be a bull rider. Bull riding came to me. There was a calf roper, bulldogger…

For Sherry Robinson, 66, team roping and catching two feet is just about her favorite thing to do. “We try to rope about every night of the week in the summer,” Robinson said of herself and her roping partner and husband, Gaylon. “I enjoy it. I started out heeling and then I headed for a while, but oh man, I tell you what, heeling is just a gas. You rope two feet and it’s just awesome. You can’t hardly explain it. It’s addictive.” Robinson, a 3 roper on both ends who also runs barrels and competes in breakaway, has won plenty in each of her disciplines, but her 2012 Cruel Girl win tops her career highlights. Well, that, and roping with her nephew, recent winner of RFD-TV’s The American, four-time…

In team roping or any walk of life, there are two different approaches. Some people are good at handling business and understanding what’s going on around them, and others are just there for the enjoyment of it. When we start out roping as kids, it’s a hobby. It’s fun. As we progress and start to get better as we get older through college and into the pros, rodeo in general becomes your business, whether you handle it like an actual business or not. But when you make the decision to compete for a living, your best bet for being successful is to pay attention to the details and handle everything you do professionally. I think it’s important to talk about what to do when you win. Everyone is going to…

RYAN MOTES BELT: Flavio Ribeiro Why? It’s a solid black, floral tooling belt. It has a real classic, clean look. Flavio does a real fancy tooling job. It’s a heavy, thick, well-put together belt. MORE: $350 Instagram: @frmaker 979-204-4736 BILLIE JACK SAEBENS BELT: Lundy’s Leather Why? It’s a handmade belt made by Garret Lund. I wear it because it looks really nice and Garret is a good friend of mine who does really cool work. MORE: $250 Facebook: Lundys Leather 913-620-6059 JEFF FLENNIKEN BELT: Jared Ashcraft Why? It’s roughout leather with buckstitch through it. I kind of like mine more plain. My neighbor was learning how to make belts, so I sent him a picture and he made it for me. MORE: $75 Instagram: @jashcraft.leather 208-249-7349 WESLEY THORP BELT: ChiliDog…

When Perry Di Loretto founded the world’s first million-dollar #11 roping in Reno, Nevada, in 1996, it kicked off a legacy of giving back to the host community. Corky Ullman and Daren Peterson, who bought the roping in 2015, are keeping to tradition. Organizers have auctioned valuable items to raise more than $30,000 for Warriors and Rodeo and $15,000 for the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund. A local charity will benefit in 2019—Pinocchio’s Moms on the Run. The Reno non-profit provides financial assistance to breast cancer patients undergoing treatment in this part of Nevada. “It’s important to give back, and ever since Perry created it, the #11 roping has given back to Reno,” said Peterson. “Just like the BFI, which raises money for the Reno Rodeo Foundation, Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund…

The BFI is one of the biggest ropings there is, and it’s meant a whole lot to my career. It pays more than any other roping I’ve won, so it’s helped me build my place and get to where I need to be for my family. What makes it the Masters of team roping is the heritage. As a kid, we’d wait all year to get the Ropers Sports News to see pictures of our heroes at the BFI. We’d see Walt Woodard, Denny Watkins, the Camarillos. Back then, I could count on one hand the good heelers in the world, and every year they were at the BFI. Nowadays, they’re everywhere. People take the access they have for granted. You can watch it while it’s going on, and the…

Tyler West’s Grandma, Kay Lindley—the 19-year-old’s helper over the three rounds of the Lazy E’s Jr. Ironman—looked on with pride as her grandson received his $10,000 check for conquering the event’s 12 head in 179.6 seconds. The win also was worth another $1,000 for winning the third go in record-setting fashion of 32.2 seconds on four head. “He’s been a cowboy since he was a little bitty feller,” Lindley said. “This has been his dream to come to this and win it. I’m just so proud of him I could bust.” “My grandma is my biggest supporter,” West added. “She’s always been there for me. It was so special for her to be here all week.” West, a freshman at Southwest Texas Junior College on a rodeo scholarship, jumped into…

The Horse Sale at Rancho Rio took place on March 8, in Wickenburg, Arizona, in conjunction with the National Team Roping (NTR) National Finals V, seeing record sales of more than $1.1 million. With 60 consignments averaging $26,477, it continues to be the premier rope horse sale of the Team Roping Capital of the World. Lot #20, Lets Roo It, was the top seller at $85,000. A full brother to the 2018 high seller, Im Brad To The Bone, the sorrel AQHA gelding, “Tank,” is a 2013 model sired by Roo Star out of Probably Not A Shiner. A finished head horse, he was consigned to the sale by Melissa Miller of Belton, Texas, ridden by La Cygne, Kansas horseman Brad Lund and purchased by Laurie Mills, Mills Livestock Company,…

Business is booming in the roping industry right now, kind of like the economy in this country. Clay (O’Brien Cooper) and I have been on the roping-schools trail here lately, and that demand is directly related to the big-money opportunities in team roping today. Winning was everything when Clay and I were busy making our mark in the roping world. We’ve now shifted gears to helping other people rope their best so they can accomplish their dreams. Ropers everywhere have figured out that as expensive as rigs and rope horses are today, investing in a roping school is cheap. When ropers at every level are going to Las Vegas and winning $150,000, there’s a big carrot to be there with the best possible partner, riding the best horse and at…

Sooner or later, it’s a dreaded decision faced by virtually every horse owner: When is it time to say goodbye to that favorite four-footed family member? The big bag of mixed emotions comes from that fine line between prolonging a loved one’s life—even if it’s at great financial expense medically—and putting a compassionate end to his or her suffering. Matt Sherwood and Trevor Brazile are just two examples of world champion team ropers who’ve had to deal with this dilemma in recent times. Matt, who won the world in 2006 and ’08 on his sorrel dream ride, Nick, went through it last year. Trevor—whose world team roping title that is one of an unparalleled 24-gold-buckle collection happened in 2010 with Patrick Smith on the heeling side—has been worrying and wondering…

In the heat of the moment, after realizing they had just won the first-ever World Series of Team Roping’s American Cowboy #10, Justin McMillion and William Evans stepped off their horses to walk across the RFD-TV’s The American stage. At the center of AT&T Stadium’s arena floor, they were almost speechless while reporter Amy Wilson gave them the interview of a lifetime. When it was time to step away from the crowd and the noise and into the media room, McMillion and Evans couldn’t even think about where they left their horses, or even if they were tied up. McMillion could only focus on his shiny new buckle with tears of joy in his eyes. They were both ready to be with their families to celebrate what they had just…

“He was just so dependable. When you rode him you knew you were going to have a chance to win. He was going to score good and run hard. Even if you had a steer that ran, more than likely, he was going to give you a chance to catch that steer before he got his speed up all the way. That’s hard to find. He was going to give you a chance no matter where you were.” 15-time Wrangler NFR qualifier on his late, great horse, Scooter. “The Score,” is a podcast by The Team Roping Journal, available to stream or download wherever you listen to podcasts.…

Bobby Jean Colyer, a 5 header from Bruneau, Idaho, proudly sports her #9 World Series of Team Roping Finale X Top 10 Buckle. “That is most definitely the buckle that I’m proudest of because that’s the most money that I’ve ever won in one setting,” Colyer, who recently roped in the American Cowboy #10 at RFD-TV’s The American, said. “We won $57,000.” Colyer was roping with Jeff Palmer, from Mountain Home, Idaho, to place eighth in the roping with a time of 43.65 seconds on four head after catching a tough steer in the short round. “We came back somewhere around the 24th callback,” Colyer, who owns a rodeo entry company called Rodeo Central, said. “That was the first big short round that I’ve ever been in for that kind…

Clay Smith and Jake Long took home $25,207 a man for their win at the Ram National Circuit Finals Rodeo in Kissimmee, Florida, this March, stopping the clock in 4.8 seconds on their final-round steer. That skyrocketed the duo back up the PRCA world standings with $62,438.51 in earnings for Smith and $54,938.51 for Long. The Team Roping Journal’s podcast, “The Score,” features weekly interviews from the biggest winners in team roping, streaming any time on your mobile device, anywhere you listen to podcasts, or through your computer. This month, find interviews from: • Jake Long • Ty Blasingame • Charles Pogue • American Cowboy #10 Champions Justin McMillion and William Evans • Justin Thigpen Visit teamropingjournal.com to find the full podcast library.…

Ownbey grew up steeped in the cowboy tradition and spent much of his time rodeoing, breaking colts and day working at big ranches, until God delivered him another path. “I was actually laid off my job the weekend I was getting married,” Ownbey recalled. “I was at home and [my dad] had some old machinery sitting around the shop and I think—well, I don’t think—I know it was God just giving me the calling and the talent to be able to do it. I remember I was telling everybody I was going to build bits and spurs and everybody laughed at me and thought I was being funny. But that’s where it started.” It took a few years more before his wife, Jennifer, was able to join up with the…

Lately, I’ve been getting a lot of questions about why I’m riding such a small head horse. I’ve found that if I ride a small, stout head horse with a lot of try, I’m better off. There’s no prototypical head-horse size anymore. In the horse market in general, people are breeding fewer and fewer horses. Now, a roper’s options of horses to pick through are getting smaller and smaller. You’re having to ride what you find. Living in Texas, it’s cutting-horse central so you run across a lot of ex-cutters that top out at 15 hands. But they make head horses extremely quickly because they’re so cowy. They use their butts a lot because that’s what they’ve been taught since they were 2-year-olds. They’ll rate, they’ll drag their butts and…

Walt Woodard Bits “I like the fact that it puts pressure on the side of his tongue and on top of his tongue, but it doesn’t hit the roof of his mouth. It gives me flex and bend but it doesn’t hit the roof of his mouth. That horse is not strong. We broke him and brought him along. In my collection, we start off with the D-ring or the O-ring, then we move right up the ladder. There were six steps before we got to the Smooth One by One.”…

Individual stories of personal triumph, evolution and horses are hidden in the history books of the longest-running open roping of its kind—the Bob Feist Invitational. From baby-faced, young champs who’ve cashed big checks to legends who’ve won back-to-back titles at the Feist, lives have been changed over the long scores and strong cattle of the BFI. LOCALES The Bob Feist Invitational began in Chowchilla in 1977, moved to Las Vegas in 1981, Denton in 1982, took the year off in 1983 until finding its home in Reno in 1984. Reno first hosted the event in its outdoor arena, but the event moved to its current indoor home in 1989. BACK-TO-BACK Charles Pogue and Britt Bockius won the BFI back-to-back in 1999 and 2000, while Speed Williams and Rich Skelton accomplished…

The American frontier was a time and place when rules didn’t apply and scores were settled with shootouts. But that had nothing on jackpotting in the 1970s. To quote the best of the best, team roping was the “Wild West.” It was a cat-and-mouse game between producers trying to ban the handiest guys and those guys finding ways to get entered. Remember, rodeos paid hardly anything. Jackpots were the only way to come out in the black. “I’ll never forget,” said eventual two-time world champion header John Miller, “the rodeo was here in Phoenix, so Ace Berry and Jim Watson and Jack Rasco and I load up and go out to a jackpot in Laveen. As we pulled up to the arena, Bill Roer was right there and said, ‘I…