Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2024 i The Team Roping Journal

Dear Roper, As we were planning this issue, I heard one of the best guys in the world theorizing on retirement. He asked what I thought made guys with all the talent in the world step away from rodeo, go home, get a job or just ‘do something different’. A long time ago in Spin To Win Rodeo, we used to write ‘retirement’ stories. But after countless “Just kidding, I'm not really retiring” re-writes, when guys decided to get back on the road after only a few months or few years at home, we gave that up. Even guys like Jake Barnes and Clay O'Brien Cooper had been semi-retired before they made comebacks that looked a lot like world title runs. But regardless, at about this point of every rodeo…

If you draw good steers throughout the day, you should be able to start your roping and rope your roping the way you plan on it—regardless of what mistakes you have with your partner. You should be able to make a game plan, draw medium steers and stay in the roping. MISTAKES A lot of the time, you'll see somebody's partner make a mistake—get a barrier or a leg—and instead of sticking with their game plan throughout the day, they'll try to make up time in the next round. And more often than not, that takes away from what they do with their other partners that don't make a mistake. If you get a barrier or leg with one partner, and you try to get too aggressive, you can throw…

Professional rodeo is a grind—one that requires complete dedication to the craft. The hours in the practice pen, the time away from the wife and kids and the stress of needing to win all make rodeo not for the faint. The pursuit of a gold buckle—and a childhood dream to make a living with a rope—will keep the best in the world on the trail for a while. But sooner or later, everyone needs a break. Is it retirement? No, nobody ever really retires from rodeo. And none of these guys are quitters. But at some point, even rodeo cowboys need a change of pace. What finally pushed them over the edge to send them home? Martin Lucero AGE: 55 PRCA Member Since: 1991 Martin Lucero qualified for 16 Wrangler…

WHAT DOES THE A&C RACING AND ROPING PROGRAM PUT INTO A HORSE THAT CAN MAKE CARTERS WON TIME OUT GO FROM FUTURITY HORSE TO RODEO HORSE SO QUICKLY? The whole program over at A&C Racing and Roping is kind of cool, from Trinity (Haggard) putting the feel in to Kaden (Richard's) slow work to all the extra stuff Rhen (Richard) can do to ’em. As a whole, I've always been a fan. And now, getting to ride one and compete on one, I'm definitely a believer. The best thing [Carters Won Time Out] does is the scoring and everything else in the box. Everything she does is good, but the difference-maker for me so far is the go that she's been giving me. She's just so easy across the mouth…

Ropers at home with | Jake Barnes | Clay O | military salute | USTRC Q: Who taught you to rope, and what's been that person's most important piece of advice to you? A: My grandpa, Kevin Blackwell, who's my mom's dad, taught me how to rope. Probably the most important thing he tells me is to never take a bad shot. Catch the steer when you know you can, he always says. Q: You had a great rookie rodeo sea- son heeling for Ty Arnold last year, then won the Resistol Rookie Roundup behind Cole Thomas. Describe you and Ty's secret 2023 team sauce, and tell us why and how you and Cole connected for the Rookie Roundup in Fort Worth. A: Ty's always laid back, doesn't ever get mad,…

In November 2023, Delane Haynes made his Cowboy Channel debut. “I wear a Gus hat with a mule-kick and my bright shirts, and my dad said, ‘I wasn't even close to the TV, and I seen you,”’ Haynes said. Haynes, 56, had earned three berths into Fort Worth's Cowtown Coliseum competing in Charly Crawford's American Hero Celebration—the annual event hosted by the Liberty & Loyalty Foundation that honors and supports team ropers from the military and first responder communities. In the preceding days, the burgeoning roper earned his first qualification roping with reigning PAFRA world champion heeler Clint McMurtry, but also by getting on two qualifying ranch rodeo teams and competing in the team penning. Haynes grew up in the ranching lifestyle in and around Wheatland, Wyoming, and adopted his…

READING THE PLAY Derrick Begay and Erich Rogers have long been an inseparable duo in ProRodeo, having grown up near one another on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona. When Derrick Begay and Erich Rogers were in the truck together this summer, it was decided (at the suggestion of Paul Eaves, to give credit where it's due) to ask Begay to break down what makes Rogers’ heading game so exceptional on steers that go left. Note that we left in the very ‘Begay’ tone of the writing, addressing Rogers as “Rodeo Rogers” or “Rodeo” for short. 1 Rodeo Rogers is a veteran when it comes to roping and rodeoing. He has been there and done that. He loves roping more than anybody I know. Just look in the background: They have…

Douglas Rich has been to the Big Show before. He wore his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo back number heeling behind Coy Rahlmann in 2021. Herrick, Illinois native Rich, who now has a second home in Weatherford, Texas, has been having a record year in 2024 with Oklahoma's Jake Smith. As with any team, it's all about what's in the trailer for this tandem. Surf's up in the world standings, and Rich doesn't know what he'd do without the trusty gray he calls Malibu. “It's been going unbelievable, really,” said Rich, who's 29. “I've never had this much money won at this time (Smith and Rich had already won about $60,000 a man by the third week in June going into Reno). Hopefully, we can just keep doing our job…

Time To Glo, the 2019 son of Hickory Holly Time who's earned $140,000± in just 18 months of competition and is now owned by Time To Glo Partners under the guidance of Ty Smith, will join the elite Solo Select Stallion lineup. Time To Glo is the 2023 Leading Competing Roping Stallion, two-time AQHA Reserve World Champion and two-time Gold Buckle Superhorse, With the remaining half of his futurity career ahead, Time To Glo will compete as part of the Relentless Remuda, shown by Trevor Brazile and Miles Baker. “He's a dang good horse,” said Cade Rice, ARHFA World Champion, who jump-rode Time To Glo to the December 2023 Gold Buckle Superhorse title, “He's simple, That horse scores exceptional, In the heeling, you just set him up through the turn…

For the first time in history, lucrative paychecks await ropers based on judges’ opinions. Inevitably, then, eye appeal plays into the score. That's why futurity trainers are doing what it takes to spit, shine and polish (plus work on a horse's condition from the inside out). We gathered ideas from some of the best in the business about how they're making their colts stand out from the crowd, not only at futurities but to the owners of those horses as well. After all, as Relentless Remuda's Miles Baker says, “When people see you take pride in the condition of your horses, they know you take pride in the training, too.” Five-time NFR heeler Ryan Motes, 43, of Weatherford, Texas, and six-time NFR heeler Joseph Harrison, 36, of Marietta, Oklahoma, are…

I hope you are all beating the summer heat and enjoying those late afternoon and evening practice sessions with your pals and family. When I look back at the time spent underneath arena lights with my boys and best friends, those are always some of the best and most special memories. Simple, time spent practicing, competing, and enjoying each other while horse back. I still believe there is no other sport in the world that fills so many buckets like team roping. Friends, family, competition, horsemanship, humility, pride, victory, defeat, and characterare all revealed in the roping pen. There's truly nothing else like it and that is why ourteam works so hard to make sure your hard earned time and money is appreciated at USTRC events. As you know, ourseason…