Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2019 i The Team Roping Journal

Dear Roper, You all are a funny bunch, and I’ve got to tell you why. You see, I’m married to a fencing contractor. He’s a pipe/arena/run geek. When I shoot video or photos at Trevor Brazile’s or Ryan Motes’ place, my husband zooms in on the return alleys or the gate latches or the welds on the boxes. After my last trip to Trevor’s, that husband of mine grilled me on why Trevor likes the wide sheet-metal boxes he’s got in both his indoor and outdoor arenas. Funny, I thought, but I went ahead and asked Trevor to explain so my husband could add that know-how to his arena-building memory bank. Trevor’s answer (which you’ll find on page 80) gave me and Assistant Editor Kaitlin Gustave an idea. Surely there…

2018 World Champion Header Clay Smith and three-time World Champion heeler Jade Corkill dominated at the Greeley (Colorado) Stampede, winning the average with a time of 17.4-seconds on three head, worth $3,982 a man. And that was just one of the rodeos that made up their $25,000-plus week during ProRodeo’s Cowboy Christmas run. Smith and Corkill came into the short round at Greeley at second callback behind Spencer Mitchell and Cody Doescher. Smith and Corkill roped their short-round steer in 6.6-seconds to move them into the number-one spot in the average, and placing second in the final round, worth $1,020 a man. Mitchell and Doescher had a leg in the short round to keep Smith and Corkill first in the average. “In the short round, everybody was just kind of…

The annual National Team Roping (NTR) Cowboy Christmas spanned four days and three states, with ropers competing for more than $375,00 in cash and prizes, including two new Ram trucks, 36 trophy saddles and 34 trophy buckles. Events took place July 4 to July 7 in Mormon Lake, Arizona; Rapid City, South Dakota; and Hamilton, Texas. Ryan Carlson of Britton, South Dakota, was the high point roper at the Central State Fairgrounds in Rapid City and drove home in the new Ram truck. Carlson topped the average in the #9.5 Truck Roping with Lane Severson and finished seventh in the average heading for Bill Gunville. “I think this was the seventh truck roping I’ve entered,” Carlson said. “I’d pulled some checks before, but it never quite panned out. This time…

Q: What do you do for a living? A: My family owns sugar cane plants, where we make sugar and also ethanol fuel for cars. I’m the president of our company, Usina Alto Alegre, and I work for the board. I meet with the partners and owners of the company once a month. My brother Jose is the CEO, and he runs the company. Q: How much does your job allow you to rope? A: I ride and rope every day. We raise about 30 colts every year, so they keep me busy. Q: So you mostly heel? A: Yes, now. But I used to rope calves, too. I moved to Joe Beaver’s house in 1999, and rodeoed in the U.S. for three years from 2000 to 2002. I heeled…

In addition to being an equine veterinarian in Abilene, Texas, for the last two decades, Dr. Randy Lewis is also quite the comedian. His bio on the West Texas Equine Clinic’s website certainly hints at this characteristic, but, when asked if he’d be interested in an interview about what he does outside of the arena, Lewis, 49, didn’t skip a beat. “I had no idea you all knew I was a male gigolo.” He followed up the icebreaker with a hefty chuckle, leaving the impression that it’s probably mighty fun to sit arena-side with this 6 heeler, who emphasizes the value of relationships when it comes to his actual professional endeavors. “That’s my favorite part, for sure. I mean I enjoy the horses, no doubt, and I truly do, but…

{ Vital Stats } AGE: 24 ROPE: Powerline Lite HM by Classic NFR QUALIFICATIONS: 1 PARTNER: Clayton VanAken HOME: Pueblo, Colorado CAREER EARNINGS: $315,427 Finding Power in Position I see a lot of lower-numbered ropers or kids getting too close to the cow throughout the run, which doesn’t allow for enough distance. That affects a lot of things, but most importantly, it affects the position your body is in as you deliver. That body position relates directly to the power you can put on your tip. TOO CLOSE Being too close to the cow going down the arena and through the corner will cause you to try to sit down and back in your saddle to create the distance you need to see the feet and deliver your…

Master Traditionalist Bit by Les Vogt “I like that bit because you pull on the horse and he won’t really bend—it’s even pressure. There’s a solid slobber bar on it and it’s all solid. I don’t use it a whole lot but, when you get a horse that you want to know if you are pulling him and turning his head, this bit is a pretty good one to use.” —Shay Carroll Two-time NFR qualifier lesvogt.com…

“The most important thing I’ve ever built.” That’s how three-time gold-buckle header Clay Tryan described the arena at his home in Lipan, Texas. It’s the place he perfected his run with the best heelers in the industry, laying the foundation for millions and millions in earnings between the rodeos and major open jackpots. Ask any of the best in the world, and they can rattle off the dimensions of every part of their arena, from lead-up to stripping chute and everything in between. They’ve tediously perfected elements of their arenas to maximize the efficiency of their practice. And they’ve fixed—or have been meaning to fix—lots of little things they wish they’d done differently the first time around. Clay Tryan ARENA DIMENSIONS*: 140 feet wide by 270 feet long ARENA MATERIALS:…

Before winning California Rodeo Salinas this July, Brooks Dahozy, 32, proudly sported his 2017 Sisters (Oregon) 77th Rodeo buckle. “It’s a cool rodeo. It’s up there in the mountains, close to my house. It’s almost like a hometown rodeo for me. They give sweet buckles—they’re so pretty. I finally took it off the other day and strapped on my Salinas buckle.” Dahozy roped with Oregon’s Jason Duby, where they won the first round with a 5.5-second-run and stopped the clock in 12.7-seconds on two head to win the rodeo, with the Minors coming in second. “Riley Minor gives me a hard time about it all the time. He had a chance to win it that day, too. Riley and Brady were a couple teams behind me. I had a strong…

Spencer Mitchell and Joseph Harrison struck up a conversation with David Teets Jr. and his son Tony standing along the fence at Cheyenne Frontier Days, discovering that Teets is serving our country in the Air Force while trying to continue roping in the Professional Armed Forces Rodeo Association. Teets explained that because of his deployments, he has trouble staying consistent and sharp with his roping. Mitchell and Harrison immediately exchanged phone numbers with this gentleman to help critique his runs while they’re on the road. “People at Cactus Ropes introduced me to David before,” Mitchell said. “He told me at Cheyenne he’s worried about bugging me, but I told him that anything I need to do to help him, I need to do. Even if it’s something as small as…

Ty “Blaster” Blasingame and Kyle Lockett don’t team up too much. Just twice now, to be exact. But the stars are in absolute alignment for this unlikely team of Colorado and California natives, who—as of late July—are two-for-two, as in batting a thousand. Fate brought the two odd-men-out together as a team at RodeoHouston earlier this year, which resulted in a $55,750 a man windfall win that gave them both a jump on a very unlikely return to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in 2019. They struck again in front of a capacity crowd at the $1 million Komatsu Equipment Days of ’47 Cowboy Games & Rodeo in Salt Lake City. And the script felt so familiar. Blaster, dad to daughters Kashlyn and Kodie and currently calling Casper, Wyoming, home,…

The bubble. It’s not the place anyone wants to be right now, but it’s inevitable that there are teams put in that position every season. September 30 is the last day of the regular season, and after a grueling year it’s everyone’s goal to be on the Vegas side of the Top-15-cut finish line, because coming up short can be really hard emotionally and financially. In all the years I rodeoed hard, I was only on the bubble one time. But I’ve seen the stress the bubble causes guys who’ve given it their guts all year long. The most important thing on the line, of course, is a chance to rope for big money at the NFR (Wrangler National Finals Rodeo) after fighting hard since last October 1. There are…

Zane Tisdale, 32, grew up in Amarillo-Canyon wanting to be a cowboy. He’d been able to get his hands on a rope prior to college, but a multi-season commitment to baseball prevented him from really diving into it. What he could get his hands on, though, was leather. “I started doing leatherwork in college—2008 or 2009, I think, is when I hand-sewed my first wallet. I wanted to have some cool leather stuff but probably couldn’t afford it. And, I’ve always been hands-on and wanting to build my own stuff. Even back in high school I took five years of welding in the ag classes and four years of workshop, so I try to build all our own furniture and things like that.” As he continued his education in pursuit…

The Torres Brothers—Joshua and Jonathan—have consistently been Top-30 team ropers in recent years. This 2019 rodeo season has been no exception, but there have been horse-related curveballs to contend with. This month, we’ll talk about where Joshua’s ace head horse, the 9-year-old dun he calls Junior, has been and when he’s due back. Next month, we’ll move over to the heeling side and focus on Jonathan’s bay Biggie, who at 13 is also MIA since being kicked in the warmup arena at the Reno Rodeo in June. A year ago this month, Joshua and Jonathan Torres were ranked 15th in the world and seemingly on the brink of qualifying for their first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. They’d been rodeoing up in the Northwest, when Joshua missed the books for the…

Brooks Dahozy got the biggest win of his decade-long PRCA career to date when he won the California Rodeo Salinas with two-time World Champion Walt Woodard, roping five steers in 50.3 seconds and pocketing $8,665 a man. The win skyrocketed Dahozy, 32, to 29th in the world with $27,952.48 won. Before the win, Dahozy was barely inside the top 50 in the PRCA world standings. “That turned a lot of things around for me,” Dahozy said. “If I can get to winning now, it won’t be a problem to catch up.” Woodard, who has won Salinas three times, is now 37th with $24,682.80—less than $16,000 out of the No. 15 spot. “I can see the guy at 15th , and I can’t believe I can’t catch him,” said Woodard, 63,…

While ProRodeo’s Cowboy Christmas often gets all the press, recreational team roping, led by the forces of the United States Team Roping Championships, the Ariat World Series of Team Roping and the National Team Roping Tour, outpaced ProRodeo in volume and money over the long Fourth of July weekend. The ropings using the Roping Management Software handled 17,223 teams on 21 events from July 3 to July 9, 2019. “To me, that’s lots of roping and means our sport is staying strong, “ said John English, general manager of team roping operations for the WSTR. In the past few months, ropers have heard talk about the Global Handicap System, which is the company that has taken over roper analysis for the five big roping associations (replacing TRIAD). The WSTR and…

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Having a partner has always been part of team roping. It takes two to tango, as they say, and the same goes for team roping. If you’re trying to make a living at it, it’s a top priority to make sure you’re teamed up adequately and putting yourself in a position to maximize profits. But even if you’re a recreational roper who ropes primarily for fun, it’s always more fun to win and be successful at anything you do. So roping with the best possible partner at every stage of the game is important to everyone. Part of the equation at all levels is climbing the ladder to reach the upper echelon of partner opportunities suitable to your skill set. Like every other team roper, I’ve always evaluated my roping,…

{ Vital Stats } AGE: 29 ROPE: Powerline Lite XS by Classic NFR QUALIFICATIONS: 2 PARTNER: Nick Sarchett HOME: Humbolt, Arizona CAREER EARNINGS: $325,044 When we did this photo shoot, Jeremy Buhler and I were practicing together for the first time to get ready for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, which was just a few days away. With the short score in Vegas—not that different from the score most ropers see at the World Series of Team Roping or USTRC events—I was really focusing on getting a smooth, flat start and handling my steers for my heeler. In this article, I’ll tell you what I focus on to give myself the best shot every time and to do the same for my partner. I really want my horse…

{ Vital Stats } AGE: 27 ROPE: Powerline Lite S by Classic PARTNER: Billie Jack Saebens NFR QUALIFICATIONS: 2 HOME: Terrell, Texas EARNINGS: $552,100 PREVENTATIVE MEASURES First and foremost, I like to try to ride smart and prevent my horse from getting short in the middle of a roping to begin with. That means not going too fast at the beginning of the roping if I don’t have to. I like to ride to the steer and keep my corner smooth from the start. Being cautious and riding to prevent the horse from ducking can really save you in the end. It’s easier to have to duck on the last steer to make up ground than to duck on the first one and put yourself in a bad…

Hugh “Rooster” Chambliss covered a lot of ground in the arena. From competing in high school and professional rodeos to helping govern the ins and outs of rodeo through management, training and good ol’ boots-on-the-ground, in-the-dirt judging and flagging, Chambliss played an integral role in establishing the groundwork and boundaries in which today’s ropers still function. Chambliss was born in Clovis, New Mexico, in 1946, but spent his youth in the care of his grandmother in nearby Santa Rosa, east of Albuquerque. By high school, he was entering up in the saddle bronc riding, bull riding, calf roping and steer wrestling and, in 1963, he won the championship title at the National High School Rodeo Finals in the bronc riding. He got his RCA card in 1965 and continued to…

Ever ridden a heel horse that does virtually everything for you? That can literally make you catch two feet? One of the best in the world at it was Dunny Bar Five Koys, owned by two different world champs. Dunny traded Horse of the Year awards back and forth with Iceman throughout the early 1990s. He never took your throw away because he kept moving his front feet in his stop. Former world champion heeler Steve Northcott puts it in simple terms: “If a horse is dropping its rear end but also giving you two steps, it’s a lot easier to place your loop down there.” The veteran heeler, who owns Northcott Trucking with his wife, Celeste, recently moved to Huckabee, Texas, and plans to begin offering private roping lessons…