Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2021 i The Team Roping Journal

Dear Roper, While we’ve been working on this issue, we’ve also been working on something else BIG for team ropers. We just entered into a partnership with the video streaming site Roping. com. Now powered by The Team Roping Journal, Roping.com combines our industry know-how and experts with the video technology behind this platform to change the way you improve your roping. At TRJ and our predecessor, Spin To Win Rodeo, we’ve worked with Jake Barnes and Clay O’Brien Cooper for three decades, so partnering with them at Roping.com makes perfect sense. We’re committed to bringing you even more educational content from these two legends than ever before. We’re working with our other existing coaches—Matt Sherwood, Kolton Schmidt and Hunter Koch—to bring you new and innovative content from them as…

Q: Remind us of the years you roped at the Finals, and please name your NFR team roping partners. A: I roped calves at 18 NFRs between 1985 and 2006, when my body said, “No more.” I team roped at the Finals with Monty Joe Petska in 1997, Bret Gould in 2000, Brad Culpepper in 2002 and Cole Bigbee in 2006, though I made that last one roping with Marty Becker and Nicky Simmons in the regular season. I made the NFR in two events three times, in 1997, 2000 and 2006—four times, if you include 1988 when I made the National Finals in the tie-down and steer roping. Q: When and why did you decide to get serious about your team roping? A: I never would team rope until…

In March, Scott Seiler was in Guthrie, Oklahoma, pulling in pretty check when he heeled four in 44.46 seconds behind Darwin McGowan for a team total of $70,000—the best payout Seiler has ever earned in the roping arena. Outside the arena, Seiler, who turns 59 this month, earns his keep farming peanuts—a venture that has a long history in his family. In the 1930s, Seiler’s great-grandfather began a Florida peanut operation that has grown into the current 1,000-acre, Ocala-based Seiler Farms. “We do have a cow-calf operation, too, that me and my nephew run together,” Seiler explained. “But the peanuts are the main thing.” Seiler Farms specializes predominantly in Valencia peanuts—a variety that’s grown around Portales, New Mexico, due to its short growing season. Because Florida features a much friendlier…

I was at a friend’s house practicing on a young heel horse when my curb-strap broke on my bridle. I figured I’d ride her without a chin strap to see how she did. On the very first steer, I ran down the arena and, when the steer turned, she just cut to the inside when I tried to pull on her. On the next steer, when she did that, I lifted her up and I put my feet into her to hold her out and control her body. In that situation, she shaped up perfectly because I was really focused on riding with my feet to counter the fact that I was riding her with what amounted to no bridle. We probably roped five steers, and the first one was…

All roads lead to an Ariat World Series of Team Roping qualifier in July 2021. The month will be WSTR’s busiest qualification month, hosted by many of its best producers. Whether traveling north, west, east or south, for most, there is an event within easy driving distance. Visit the cool temperatures in Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Montana and Canada, or enjoy Cheyenne Frontier Days and JX2’s Big Daddy in Wyoming. The South provides ropings in Louisiana, Tennessee and Alabama, or you can attend events across the great states of Nebraska, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Texas. Whether taking a backyard leap or planning a roping vacation, one thing is for sure: A few hundred qualification spots to the big show in Las Vegas will be awarded this month. Visit wstroping.com for a…

USTRC and Cinch are pleased to announce the continuation of the Cinch Ladies Award program. This has been a great program targeted to lady ropers and the program continues to evolve with a slight change on how year-end awards will be calculated. Instead of money won, the heading and heeling award will now be on accumulated points earned throughout the entirety of the team roping season. This will encourage participation not only at the Finals but also at the USTRC Signature events. The new system levels the field but still awards double the points for winnings at the Cinch USTRC National Finals. For the 2021–2022 season starting May 14, 2021, and culminating at the Cinch NFTR next April 24–May 1, 2022, female ropers will be vying for the Cinch title…

Early this year, a letter was sent to The Team Roping Journal. It was composed by Sam Burke—a Missouri-born team roper who left the comforts of home to perform his patriotic duty and serve our country as a commissioned officer in the United States Marine Corps. His military career took him across the world, including Japan and Afghanistan and, as he transitioned toward civilian life, to the nation’s capital. For Burke, though, none of it inspired the same love of country that welled up within him when he attended the 2020 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. In July 2020, Burke accepted employment in his first civilian role as the Operations Manager for the 2021 presidential inauguration. By December, he was up to his eyeballs in unforeseen turmoil and stress. But returning…

Lately, I’ve been working on setting up my shot better down the arena. Before, I was setting up for a fast throw every time, but that shot was my only option. I’d have to force the shot and pull it off or it wasn’t happening because I was riding too close and not giving myself another option. The top guys all do a really good job of setting themselves up for being able to take the shot if it’s there or taking an extra swing and letting the steer develop. 1 I’ve been working on my distance down the arena—being far enough away that the corner can develop but close enough that, if the steer is perfect, I can heel him on the first hop. It’s been a hard thing…

“I give Rio two scoops a day just because he is older now. It makes his topline look better. He’s got a little bit of wither, so when he gets older, I feel like his wither is going to show more. When I turn him out to pasture, he gets a grass belly easy.“I never felt like I needed to have supplements. I do give Ulcer Guard, only if needed. That grain—and good alfalfa—has always worked for me.”— Dustin Searcy { Feed Cart }  Taking you into the feed room of the best in the business. Dustin Searcy HAY Alfalfa morning and night Rio gets one flake morning and night Other horses get one flake in the morning and two flakes at night and turned out on grass…

Catching a totally untamed animal that’s never worn a rope is exactly what spawned the first Cheyenne Frontier Days in 1897. A handful of local bronc busters were coaxing wild horses into a railroad car and had to get super handy when one broke away. Their talents drew a crowd and gave the watching Union Pacific executive the idea for the Wyoming festival celebrating frontier cowboys—in its 125th year this July. It’s no surprise that when the Daddy of ’em All—known for its fresh stock and giant head start—finally added team roping 20 years ago, it was on beef cattle. Heck, the handiest ropers have always practiced on “muleys.” Northerners spent many a winter 30 years ago crowding indoor barns to strap plastic horns on them. But just lately, more…

The subject of changing rodeo formats is one of the most complicated and controversial cowboy conversations of our time. There are two sides to this story, too, and even the closest of forever friends are divided on this topic. Traditional old-schoolers are steadfast in their belief that the best man is most likely to win when the drawing-contest factor is minimized over the course of a multi-head average. The new wavers want to stir things up a little, and feel a format that shows fans a winner every performance, then deciding the champ in a sudden death, one-head finals at rodeo’s end is the way to go. We decided to open up a public dialogue with various viewpoints from within the industry, with the understanding that we sometimes have to…