Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2025 i The Team Roping Journal

Dear Roper, I planned to put the biggest winner of The Patriot week on the cover of this issue, but when 19-year-old Ketch Kelton won the Cinch Timed Event Championship, my heart hurt a little bit that I wasn’t putting him on the front page for this massive accomplishment. But luckily, in true Ketch Kelton fashion, he took care of that for me when he won the Hooey JR Patriot in Fort Worth with Michael Calmelat, blasting their steer in 3.25 seconds (and another in 3.26 with Denton Dunning one run earlier). This is the second-straight May issue with Kelton on the cover, because in 2024 he went on a tear and dominated across the JR Ironman, placed at the BFI and won the Patriot, too. This “kid” is a…

Q: You finished a close second to Logan Moore in last year’s rookie heeling race. Who all did you rope with in 2024? A: I roped with Aaron Tsinigine, Ketch Kelton, James Arviso, Brayden Schmidt and Tyler last year. Q: Why so many headers in one year? A: I never really had a set partner until later in the year, so I just got whoever I could. Ketch and I only went to two rodeos, and Brayden and I only went to Red Bluff (California). I was going to the (National) High School Finals and all that (also including the International Finals Youth Rodeo and World Championship Junior Rodeo), and finishing my high school career. Q: How hard did you hit the pro rodeos last year? A: I think I…

Justin Ungeheuer takes his calling as an educator seriously, dedicating his life to shaping young minds—both human and horse. By day, Ungeheuer, 53, is a principal at the Tointon Academy of Pre-Engineering in Greeley, Colorado, where he guides students toward academic success. He also operates a welding business, building chutes, alleys, hay feeders and other industry essentials. “I have four passions in life,” he said. “My first is always to be the best husband I can be; my wife does so much for me. Then it’s being a principal and giving my all to the kids and the staff at my school. And there’s my welding business, where I make anything and everything you’d need for horses and cattle.” With two demanding careers already on his plate, finding time for…

PRACTICE CATTLE WADE: If the steers are fast, that’s when you evaluate. We should probably rope less and focus on what type of run we want to make. Roping too many fast steers without a plan can create bad habits. Say you’re practicing for a full-contact setup, but all the steers are too slow. That’s really when we focus on making sure our horses are scoring: reacting to the cow, making sure they’re willing to do whatever. The goal is to have enough control, and working on that at home is important whether you’re trying to be 10 or 3. Do you want to have enough confidence in your run that you can actually execute the exact situation instead of blindly roping or do you just want to go and…

Dustin Egusquiza and Levi Lord have roped their way into being considered constant contenders in the world championship conversation. Last year’s regular-season champs are back in team-roping-title contention in 2025, and hoping to hurdle the gold-buckle hump for the first time. Their roping’s been on point all along. It’s their horse herd they’ve been busy bolstering. This talented team is now loaded for bear as they head out to hunt down their gold buckle goals. “The regular season means a lot, and one of my goals this year is to try and break the regular-season earnings record (of $227,878 set by Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira in 2022) before the NFR,” said Marianna, Florida’s Egusquiza, who like South Dakota’s Lord now lives in the Lone Star State of Texas. “But…

When Trevor Brazile told readers in our October 2024 issue that rope-horse trainers desperately need good colt starters, it caught the attention of a horse-training instructor at Lamar (Colorado) Community College. The result? Starting in the spring of 2026, LCC will offer one of the country’s first collegiate rope-horse training certificates. Since the 1970s, LCC has been the rare college with a colt-starting focus as part of its Horse Training and Management associate degree. The program instructs students through starting three colts and specializing one more in a particular discipline. Next spring, instead of spending their final semester apprenticing with a trainer, students can stay at Lamar for the ropehorse training course, likely taught by one of the wolfiest heelers in the country. “It was really a God thing that…

A 19-year-old winning the Cinch Timed Event Championship might sound surprising—but if you’ve paid any attention to team roping in the last few years, watching Ketch Kelton win the 2025 Ironman title made perfect sense. Kelton won three of five rounds en route to the title—a massive $109,000 inside the Lazy E, adding to the at least $100,000 he’d already won on the hallowed ground of the famous red-dirt arena in the last year. That includes the Hooey JR BFI and a third-place finish at the Feist in 2024, as well as 2024’s Jr. Ironman title. “The only thing that could beat this is maybe the NFR,” Kelton, of Mayer, Arizona, said. “Just nothing else could beat this. It was a dream come true when I got to come here,…

Your perspective in a run—how you see things, and what you’re looking for—is important. We sometimes hear different people who teach team roping tell us to focus on a certain spot. It might be the right horn, left horn or back of the head for headers, and things like the right hock, top of the hips or whole picture for heelers. I’ve heard all of these things, and that’s what works for those people. But issues sometimes arise when we take what works for others literally and it doesn’t work for us. For instance, if you hear someone say you have to see the feet to catch when you’re heeling, you might develop the habit of waiting to throw until you can see both feet. As I look back on…

DRIVING TO THE STEER I like to drive to the steer with my hand down and forward, my body to the front of the saddle and my eyes fixed on the base of the left horn. Here’s how it works. KEEP YOUR LEFT HAND DOWN I like to keep my left hand down because it keeps me forward, aiming at my job. It also helps my horse’s front feet and shoulders stay on the ground, driving directly toward the steer. It’s not about micromanaging—your horse is doing his job, and you’re doing yours. GUIDE WITH PRECISION When you keep your hand low, it creates a light, responsive feel. It’s more like flying a plane than driving heavy machinery. Your movements become smoother, and the horse responds naturally. Subtle movements keep…

“We just want to help people in need during a tragedy… Not only did we give scholarships already this year, but we’ve helped three families through tragedies in just eight months. The foundation isn’t just about scholarships—it’s about being there when people need it most. After Ace passed away, I remember being at the funeral home, going through something no parent should have to. Before we left, they said, ‘Hey, we need a check.’ That stuck with me. We want to be able to help people in those moments. I believe wholeheartedly that there’s a movement in the Western industry—of putting Jesus Christ first. We don’t know what tomorrow brings for anyone. But what we do know is that we can help others, we can support them, and we can…