Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2025 i The Team Roping Journal

Dear Roper, I'm writing this letter from my home office the day after the close of the $19.7 million Ariat World Series of Team Roping, and two days after Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp won their second straight world titles, Thorp's third overall. What the Western industry pulled off in the three weeks following Thanksgiving 2024 should go down as a watershed moment in our sport's history, quite honestly. And it's been the privilege of my career to watch as our team told these stories. First, our team at breakawayropingjournal.com trekked to Scottsdale, Arizona, to cover the Kimes Ranch Million Dollar Breakaway. Casey Allen and Lillian Kent championed our content there, delivering behind-the-scenes angles and stories that helped add character and flavor to this epic event. While they were there,…

The whole rodeo world had a hard time watching Coleman Proctor miss that last steer in Round 10 at the 2024 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo with the possibility of two gold buckles on the line. Coleman roped great all week—all year, for that matter—and you hate to see it come down to one steer. They say that's rodeo, but in my book Coleman has a gold buckle attitude. Coleman's happy-go-lucky mindset reminds me of Bobby Hurley's back in our day. Bobby was fun-loving and giggling all the time. He could mess up in a big situation, and tell a joke riding out the back end. I always admired and envied him for that, because I wasn't able to do it. I knew being sick about making a mistake wouldn't change…

Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp proved their gold buckles had nothing to do with luck when they stopped the clock in 3.8 seconds to win second in Round 10, sealing the deal on their second straight world titles—Thorp's third overall—with season earnings of $361,480. In doing so, Wade, of Terrell, Texas, and Thorp, of Throckmorton, Texas, bested the single-season earnings record of $340,708.23 set by Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira in 2022. Despite their record-breaking season, their world championship was far from guaranteed as they rode into the box at last out in the tenth round. In fact, as they watched the teams in front of them falter, they found themselves alone in the alley, shouting back and forth to each other trying to figure out what sort of run…

association news | industry news | new products The Cinch NTR's National Finals will celebrate its 11th year this March 8 to 15 with its 2025 Finals. Open to the world with no qualifications needed, the event puts an exclamation point on the Arizona roping season with $20,000 cash added in the VIP championships and an #8.5 Ram Truck Roping. Held annually at Rancho Rio in The Team Roping Capital of the World—Wickenburg, Arizona—the NTR Finals kick off with an #8.5 Megabucks as a warmup for the #8.5 Ram Truck Roping and Rising Star Dummy Roping. The week is loaded with Over-60 legends ropings, an Open Championship on five head, businessmens’ ropings, an all-girl, a mixed roping and even a #6 two-steer championship. “This week is designed to provide something…

The horses that walked through the ring at the Riata Horse Sale are eligible for a $100K incentive at the 2025 Riata. The first-ever Riata Stallion Incentive Showcase Horse Sale saw 50 horses walk through the the South Point Equestrian Center ring, selling $2 million in horses in its first year in front of a crowd of 3,000. A 2016 Bamacat gelding Sue Bama and a 2021 Winners Version mare Runnnin Winners each dropped the gavel at $200,000. Plus, Riata champion heel horse TRR Lucky Hometown brought $125,000 as the high-selling heel horse of the event. Sue Bama was consigned by Chad and Paje Turner of Turner Performance Horses, while Runnnin Winners was consigned by A & C Racing and Roping. Tripp Townsend consigned TRR Lucky Hometown. “The sale hit…

When news sprinkled out-phone call by phone call, text by text—of 18-year-old Ace Ashford's death while cow-boying in August of 2024, the team roping world stopped in its tracks. Ropers posted win pictures of themselves smiling with the young superstar in the Texas and Arizona sunshine. Friends remembered Ace's endless humility and kindness. ProRodeo cowboys jumped on planes from the Northwest to be with family on the day we said goodbye to Ace, little brother to NFR heeler Ross, in the high school gym in Lott, Texas. And Hill Rodeo Cattle's Bobby Joe Hill—a longtime friend of the Ashford family—flipped through his notebook, looking for a steer's num ber—a number that will come to mean a whole lot more by the end of this story. Hill had remembered seeing Ace…

at home with | Jake Barnes | Clay O Q: Is there a lot of team roping action where you grew up? A: I grew up in Elk City, then moved to Gracemore, Oklahoma (population 274) when I was 10 or 12. It's not like team roping in Texas, which I call the wolf den. It's a whole different ballgame in Oklahoma. The same crowd of people pretty much trades money here. You take their money this weekend, then they take your money next weekend. Down in Texas, there are enough different players that it's a different setting every single weekend. Q: Do you see yourself spending more time in Texas moving forward? A: I don't get free as much as I'd like to, because I work a lot. I'm…

JUST CATCH VonAhn made up his mind to catch his way through the last few rounds of the NFR. Kollin VonAhn finished 2024 sixth in the PRCA world standings with $247,311 won, heeling for his friend Andrew Ward. But his Finals was a rollercoaster ride, and he didn't hit big until Round 10 when he and Ward won the day money with this 3.8-second run. Here's how he battled back to end the week with a big check to put their Finals earnings at $121,928.37 a man. 1 We placed in two or three previous rounds, so whatever round I missed the red steer really made me mad. But my mental game was to quit trying to win first place. They give so much money away, the only thing sadder…

Could Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp have won a second-straight set of gold buckles without riding the 2024 team roping horses of the year at the 2024 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo? Maybe. Their rope-handling skills are world-class sharp, and the competitive fires burning inside them both run hot enough to boil blood. Several scenarios could have played out riding into Round 10, but it's safe to say that their NFR horse choices did not hurt their gold-buckle cause. And Spur and Turbo weren't the only four-legged stars on center-stage display at Rodeo's Super Bowl. “I was never known for having a good horse,” said TWade, who now owns Espuela Bro, the 2024 Nutrena Head Horse of the Year presented by AQHA, who's best known as Spur. “From growing up heeling…