Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2019 i The Team Roping Journal

Dear Roper, I sat in silence, with tears blurring the sight of my computer screen, when I first read the email from a reader, letting me know about Dominic Romero and his mother Michelle Arbizo. Dominic—or “CheChe,” as he was known in the tight-knit Tucson roping community—died on his 20th birthday on Jan. 4, 2019, in a hit-and-run accident along the side of a lonely road outside of Marana, Arizona. Michelle remembers the police officers at her door that morning, a full four hours after her son left this world alone and in an instant. She doesn’t recall much more from the hours and days and weeks that followed, but eventually, a good horse, a good dog and a family of team ropers helped pull her out of that dreadful…

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I was on my own and making a living roping when I was 16. So I naturally started pouring myself into practicing hard to hone my skills at an early age. Repetition of runs is what allows us to create a strong foundation of fundamentals that we then build on with our own personal roping style. I learned a long time ago that the steers you practice on are actually very important. Before I had my own arena and practice steers, there were people who let me come to their places to practice. At that stage of the game, I was so eager to just make runs that I wasn’t really thinking about the type of cattle I was getting to rope. I was just grateful to have somewhere to…

Vital Stats AGE: 35 ROPE: Whistler MS by Cactus NFR QUALIFICATIONS: 2 PARTNER: Brandon Bates HOME: Casper, Wyoming CAREER EARNINGS: $651,687 DUMMY WORK You’ve got to rope the dummy flat-footed—a lot. Lots of people can reach when they lean forward and step, but you can’t do that horseback. USING YOUR HORSE Some people assume reaching means forgetting about using your horse. But keeping your horse working is one of the biggest parts of reaching. When I’m practicing, I might reach, but I focus on keeping my horse moving forward. I keep kicking, I keep my body square and I push my horse forward so he keeps running. Shoot, sometimes I even miss on purpose. I want my horse listening to my hands and my feet and not my throw. If…

Qualifying for the National Finals Rodeo is hard. It’s a yearlong grind and roller-coaster ride, complete with all-night-drives exhaustion, slumps when you feel like you can’t buy a break and physical, financial and emotional stress. It’s no wonder the list of world-class team ropers who’ve both headed and heeled at Rodeo’s Super Bowl is short. Seven cowboys—Bret Beach, Trevor Brazile, David Motes, Walt Rodman, Mark Simon, Speed Williams and J.D. Yates, in alphabetical order—have managed to climb this Team Roping Mount Everest since the event became dally only (and has since stayed that way) at the NFR in 1973. Before that, there were many years when the NFR team ropers team tied five rounds and dallied the other five. When it was “half and half,” some teams switched ends every…

The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and Rural Media Group announced a multi-year agreement that will see the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo move to The Cowboy Channel (TCC) and RFD-TV beginning in 2020. “This is a huge milestone in the growth of the PRCA,” PRCA CEO George Taylor said. “Never before has ProRodeo assumed the prime placement and coverage that will be seen under this deal. Our hats are off to Patrick Gottsch and his family, the owners of Rural Media Group, for their enthusiastic interest, support and devotion to our sport.” The deal will begin early in 2020 and will be preceded with the launch of the weekly PRO-RODEO Tonight show on TCC. The PRCA regular-season coverage on TCC and RFD-TV is planned to begin in January. The finals of…

Q: Who all have you roped with this year? A: I roped with Bubba Buckaloo this winter, and it was awesome. Bubba did a great job, and gave me a lot of good opportunities. We placed at Denver, placed in a round at San Antonio and made it to the finals at Houston. I started roping with Cody Snow at Logandale (Nevada) the first week in April (while Wesley Thorp was home for the birth of his and wife Susanna’s second son), because Bubba didn’t want to go to California. Cody and I roped through Clovis the end of April. Roping with Cody was one of my favorite parts of this year. We won some kind of check at every rodeo we went to—Logandale, Oakdale, Red Bluff and Clovis (California).…

According to seven-time World Champion Header Jake Barnes—who, as a kid, got to witness the wolves at work at a little roping down near El Paso—nobody was doing it like H.P. Evetts was. And it was game changing. “The area that I was in,” Barnes explained, “that was unheard of. Nobody had ever seen anything like that before.” Barnes went home that day and started practicing and perfecting his reach. For Monty Holcomb Paul “H.P.” Evetts, his introduction to reaching wasn’t entirely different. “There was some people like old Jack Gomez, and he used to throw a long ways, so I thought that was cool,” Evetts said. Evetts also recognized room for improvement in Gomez’s technique. “He couldn’t tell, though ... at the ropings, there are places where you don’t…

Question: What is the biggest key to keeping a head horse leaving flat and fluid? — TJ Jones, Weatherford, Texas Answer: The biggest thing that gets overlooked is the work that goes into the box before you ever chase cattle out of it. The horse needs to know how to move fluidly in the box before you ever try to work on them during a run, because when you try to teach that with cattle, the intensity is always too high and the horse never learns as well. But, if he has all those buttons put in him before that time comes, it’s second nature. He still understands what you’re asking him even though there’s pressure. Before I ever run after cattle, I want to teach my horse to sit…

I think it’s probably the coolest roping that there ever is, and my best friend won it in 1995. He’s kind of been my mentor my whole life and I think it’s probably the coolest roping there is to win. — Thomas Braman When the flag dropped on their final steer in the #15 USTRC National Finals Shoot-Out, Thomas Braman and partner Dennis Gatz exited the arena with a time of 29.4 seconds on four head. “It was pretty tough from what I remember,” Braman, who works at TC Oil Company, said. “I think we were 6 or 7 on our last one.” Braman won the Top 10 buckle aboard a horse that has been seen in the Thomas & Mack with two-time World Champion Header Chad Masters. “I was…

The Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame announced today their 2020 Hall of Fame inductees: Lari Dee Guy, Mr. & Mrs. Charles and Kit Moncrief, The Priefert Family, R.H. Steve Stevens, Jr. and 2020 Spirit of Texas Award Honoree—Aaron Watson. Induction into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame is the highest honor bestowed on individuals who have shown excellence in competition, business and support of rodeo and the western lifestyle in Texas. One of the premier events prior to the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo, the induction ceremony will be held at Billy Bob’s Texas on Thursday, January 16, 2020. Presented by Bobby Norris Farm & Ranch Realty and The Norris Foundation, the event includes cocktails, a silent auction and cowboy cuisine prior to the 7:00 p.m. induction ceremony. Tickets…

OPEN: Clay Tryan & Jade Corkill, 36.92 seconds on five head, $40,000 ALL-GIRL PROAM HEADER: Briana Votaw & Junior Nogueira 29.49 on four head, $6,000 PROAM HEELERS: Lane Ivy & Bob Stellflug, 34.87 seconds on four head, $10,000 PROAM HEADERS: Wade Bruemmer & Joseph Harrison, 21.86 seconds on four head, $10,000 DUMMY ROPING WINNERS: Dash Tryan, Ryder Smith & Eli Smith…

Lately I’ve been thinking about my body position through the turn. I’m realizing that I want to lead with my left shoulder and get it in front of my right shoulder, and I never get my shoulders square to the steer. If I keep my shoulders square, it’s easier to keep my horse’s shoulders up and easier to be ready to throw. Here’s why. Vital Stats AGE: 30 ROPE: Powerline Lite MH by Classic NFR QUALIFICATIONS: 2 PARTNER: Tyler Wade HOME: Nowata, Oklahoma CAREER EARNINGS: $529,331 1 I don’t want my horse anticipating the turn, starting too early and pulling on me. If he starts to shoulder in, it blocks the feet with his head through the turn. There’s no good that really can come of that. That’s why I…

“There are so many people roping now. There are so many people that have made money who want to go out there and they want to buy a really good looking, really broke horse, and they’re not afraid to spend some money for one. Everyone wants to look good when they ride in the pen and people can afford them now. These ropings are paying so much money, which is phenomenal. Denny Gentry has done a great job with all of that. I think this is a great place to showcase horses.” NFR Qualifier and BFI Champion Heeler, on the explosion of the American Rope Horse Futurity. Listen to the full interview on “The Score,” a podcast by The Team Roping Journal, available to stream or download wherever you listen…