Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2023 i The Team Roping Journal

Dear Roper, I wait until most everything has come together for each issue before I write this letter to you. Sometimes, that happens at the 11th hour—as it certainly did, this time month. (It's 12:15 a.m. the day we go to press, so maybe it’s the 12th hour, but that’s not how the saying really goes.) Anyway. On the top right of this page, you’ll find our volume and issue number. That means very little to all of you, I’m sure. But as I started this letter, it caught my eye, and I realized that this starts year seven of The Team Roping Journal. These anniversaries always sneak up on me—I’m sure because they come in the middle of summer, when our staff is literally up at all hours of…

It’s always puzzled me in a way that I got caught up in the roping dream at such a young age. “It” was just in me, like a Divine purpose. And once that dream and vision got inside of me, that was that and roping for a living was all I pursued from that day forward. In looking at people in our sport and all sports who’ve been able to be successful in doing what they dreamed of, it’s become pretty clear to me that “it” is either in you or it’s not. I’ve seen a lot of people over the years who say they want something. But there’s a disconnect. They think what they want would be cool. But for some reason they don’t make it happen. Seeing that…

“I was a lot in the same boat that Nelson was. He didn’t know it at the time, but we found out that my wife was pregnant and she was very sick and she told me at the Spicer Gripl, ‘Hey, I need to go home.’ She was sick for nine months, so she didn’t take it very well. And she said, ‘I feel like you need to keep going. I want you to go, but I can’t go.’ And I said, ‘Hey, if you’re not going, I’m not going. If you need to go home, I need to be home with you.’ And I talked to Nelson on the way home from the Spicer Gripp, and we were either going to head home or to Caldwell maybe. And I…

At the Barrier | association news | industry news | Ropers planning on attending the Ariat WSTR Finale, please make note of the following: As an added convenience, Finale entries can now be processed online at GlobalHandicaps.com. Ropers who qualify and meet the entry deadline criteria are guaranteed a spot. For any teams who qualify at ropings in September, you have 30 days OR until Oct. 13, 2023—whichever is sooner—to send in your entries. Direct entry ropers in the #10.5, #9.5 and #8.5. may be waitlisted on a first-come basis, so get your entries in! Oct. 13 is the final entry deadline for all entries except for the Riata Open to the World event: Open ropers can pay a higher fee on-site. All incomplete entries, except in the Open, will…

Ropers | at home with | Jake | Clay O | other gig | resistol jr. | cinch ladies Q: It’s birthday month for both of you. JC will be 23 on September 14, and LJ will turn 24 on September 18. That means you’re the same age for four days every year. Is it true you’ve been team roping partners all your lives? JC: Yes, it is. We’ve roped together ever since I was 8 and LJ was 9. Our dad started us both heading, and we both headed for the first month. Then Dad (Luke) picked the most mature one with a rope and horsemanship to be the heeler. Q: Who taught you two to rope? LJ: Our dad and older brother (Jessy). Dad grew up riding bareback…

| Ropers | other gig Growing up in a family filled with professional Hunter/Jumpers, Arizona’s Georgie Murray was destined to make a career in the English riding industry. “I was basically on a horse before I could walk,” said Murray, who turned 36 on July 13. With years of experience and the help of her mom, Audrey Murray, Georgie has been running her own operation, Dapple Gray Farm, in Rio Verde, Arizona, for the past 10 years. There, roughly 30 horses are in training, countless amounts of lessons are given, and clients are accompanied as they travel the horse show circuits. “It’s what I’ve always wanted to do. We have people where we start them from their very first riding lesson and all the way to competing at the highest…

| Competitive Edge | 5 flat Coy Rahlmann’s Salinas-Winning Secrets Coy Rahlmann and Jonathan Torres hadn’t been on top of the world when they pulled into California Rodeo Salinas in late July, but by the time they rolled out on championship Sunday, they were $10,307 a man richer after roping five steers in 48.5 seconds for the bucket list rodeo win. For Rahlmann, the win was a test of his abilities to just catch five, a mantra he went into the rodeo with. Here’s how he did it. MENTAL GAME We hadn’t drawn great all summer, and we were getting so frustrated when we did draw well, that I wasn’t on my game. Honestly, going into it at Salinas, I’m not going to say I didn’t have first in mind,…

CREATING MORE CHANCES I’ve focused this year on giving my heeler more chances to throw. Here’s how I broke it down. MENTAL GAME I’ve needed to let go of trying to win first every time. I’m trying to trust the process and the run instead of just trying to do it all on my own. I mean, I’m always trying to do better. I’m focusing more on getting a good start and riding my horse before I’m looking to throw. IN THE BOX I want to take a deep seat—not hunched over and not rocked back. That helps me ride my horse to the steer because, if my shoulders are back too soon, he’s just going to be reading my throw instead of running toward the steer. BRIDLE REINS I…

GOALS TRUMP MONEY Chad Masters has two gold buckles that say he knows all about being the best. He’s also well-versed in the bubble-boy business. “I’ve been 16th twice, 17th twice and 18th once, so yes, I know all about it,” smiled the 15-time NFR header, who’s roping with Trey Yates in 2023 and was just outside the top 15 at press time in late July. “We all know the NFR is where you get your bonus money every year. That’s where your profit margin comes from. But that’s not the most important thing. “I like what Jake Barnes always said— that he didn’t rodeo to make the Finals, he rodeoed to try and win the world. Your goals are so important, and everything we do from practice to making…

3,860 Teams Total $1,476,000 Cash Payout $50,000 In Prizes Congratulations to everyone who made the trip to the WSTR Cheyenne qualifier this July and got a piece of over $1.4 million dollars in cash and another $50,000 in prizes. So far this season, this event ranks 3rd in payouts, behind the South Point qualifiers at $1.9M and the Arizona Title Fights at $1.6M. John Johnson, USTRC President and JX2 Producer, puts on this amazing production at the Laramie County Community College, or L-Triple C as the locals call it. The venue is on a small sliver of land right on the campus that butts up to I-80 and a highway that runs you down to Denver on the back roads. At first glance, you wouldn’t think this would be the…

How to Save Ropes, Steers and Time Cade Rice has a world-championship training operation that thrives on quality and efficiency. One of his secrets? Taking his head ropes off in the arena. CATTLE MIX I’ve got a bunch of lopers in my practice herd, and I run them a lot. And all of those steers allow us to take the rope off in the arena, all day long. Here’s what that does. HORSE PERFORMANCE When you’ve got steers that let you take the rope off in the arena and know that’s coming, most of the time, they follow. A steer that follows allows you to track, track, track and to really let your horses hit the ground with the cows. I can rope them, and my horses get on their…

| Competitive Edge | horsepower Luke Brown has had several horse headliners in his career. The native South Carolina cowboy rode his game-changing sorrel Slim Shady at eight straight Wrangler National Finals Rodeos from 200815, and won more than $1 million on him. He rode a palomino he called Rock Star at three NFRs in 2016, ’17 and ’18 after that. Then there was another signature sorrel in Cowboy, who took Brown to two more NFRs in 2019 and ’20, and wins at the BFI, Cheyenne and The American. Luke has a whole herd of horses in his trailer, as he charges hard toward a return trip to The Show in 2023. Brown, who just turned 49 on August 16, took four horses on the road with him this year.…

Rodeo. What image is conjured up by the word? A bronc buster, twisting the air in a swirl of dust? In modern times, maybe it’s a bull rider, spinning furiously on a ton of bovine fury. Does a cowgirl come to mind? It should: The sport of rodeo has a much more feminine flair than most likely realize, particularly when viewed through a financial lens. While women have played a role in the sport even as competitors since its inception, the explosive growth of women’s breakaway roping in the last five years has highlighted a little known fact: Women are critical to the industry’s bottom line. It Has Always Been a Numbers Game Rodeo purses have always relied heavily on the number of athletes putting their entry fees into the…

It’s a rich environment for women in rodeo these days. More women right now are entering—and winning—jackpots and rodeos than ever in history. Team ropers Beverly Robbins heads better and Whitney DeSalvo heels better than a lot of men. They can hold their own, anywhere. But there’s just something about an even playing field. Something about backing into a box knowing that a big win means you’re the best of your gender, a true GOAT. For 75 years now, the greatest female team ropers in the world have been able to come tight on those big-time bragging rights. This is the milestone anniversary of the Girls’ Rodeo Association— now the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA)—because a few dozen trailblazers (including eventual team roping world champion Betty Dusek) came together in…