Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2025 i The Team Roping Journal

Dear Roper, The 2025 Riata Championships made history. We knew it would be big—but $5.5 million in payout and a $2 million jump from the year before? That was beyond expectations. We dig into all of it in this issue—from the top stallions and sidepot strategy to the deeper infrastructure shifts happening through AQHA, Equine Network and the broader incentive ecosystem. This is the hard-news coverage Riata earned: 18 pages of results, context and analysis on the biggest stallion incentive event of the year. But while the payout numbers are loud, what sticks with me most is the idea behind it—that if we build it right, if we reward performance, ropers and breeders will show up. And they did. That’s what this month’s issue is really about—how both the big…

Did Colter Todd really just make his fifth NFR on a 5-year-old? Yes. That’s wild, even coming from the ranchy team of best friends that’s led on the heading side by Derrick Begay. Begay and Todd buddied with Erich Rogers and Paul Eaves in 2024, and Colter rode Paul’s heel horses. After Colter came up just short of the NFR cut in 16th place on the heeling side, he headed home to regroup. He asked God for direction on his next move. Stay home or go in 2025? What to ride? Colter listens to Him about everything. Colter’s wife and daughter, Carly and Madilyn, had bought a couple of yearling fillies a few years back, while scouting calf horse/heel horse prospects for Colter and Carly’s sons, Colter Lee and Traven.…

This year’s 67th-annual National Finals Rodeo marks the 40th time the biggest, best rodeo on the planet has been held at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. And when you look back to the $50,000 up for grabs at the first NFR in Dallas in 1959—remember, folks, the team roping, barrel racing and steer roping were held separately in Clayton, New Mexico, back then, and were worth another $11,858 combined—the $17.5 million total payoff at this year’s December 4-13 NFR is out of this world. RECORD RICHES The record payoff at the 2025 Wrangler NFR—which includes $13,501,505 for contestants and $4,050,451 for stock contractors—is part of the contract extension signed by the PRCA and Las Vegas Events in 2024 that guarantees the NFR staying in Vegas through 2035. Also, if…

The Cinch NTRL is gearing up for its 21st anniversary celebration at the 2026 NTRL National Finals, set for Jan. 2125 at the Jacksonville Equestrian Center in Jacksonville, Florida. In 2025, the event paid out a massive $1 million in cash and prizes, hosting 2,900 teams across five days. “This event has grown beyond anything we could have imagined when we started,” said John Johnson, NTRL president. “Ropers from all over the country make Jacksonville their destination every January, and we’re proud to offer one of the best experiences east of the Mississippi.” The Finals will feature shootouts and prelims from #7 through #13.5, along with Muley and Legends ropings, WSTR Bloomer divisions and breakaway roping throughout the weekend. With three arenas running simultaneously, competitors can expect a high-energy environment…

Q: Have you ever had a more stressful end to a regular season? A: The end of the 2023 season might have been a little more stressful. It turned out Hunter (Koch) and I didn’t need Sioux Falls. But it was pretty stressful, partly because I didn’t make it in 2021 or ’22. I love Sioux Falls, and when it came down to it this year, I wasn’t surprised. We were sure lucky to make a good run on our first steer to close the deal. It was 90% over after Round 1, and when we caught our second steer, it was a 100% done deal. Q: Did you literally make it in at the last rodeo you had left to count? A: I had one more rodeo had I…

People trying to work for industry icons Charly and Jackie Crawford usually just want to rope in return for mucking stalls. But in 2023, something different happened. A Senior Master Sergeant and 20year veteran of the U.S. Air Force, Shane White, dropped everything in Louisiana to work full-time for the Crawfords for six months, for free. This was no teenager looking for spins. White, then 40, had achieved the second-highest enlisted rank after two decades of leadership. Luckily, White’s cowboy roots gave him adaptability and a fierce work ethic. Raised near Maude, Texas, White grew up with a grandfather who annually had 30 to 40 colts for him to break. While stationed back at Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas, White realized he’d always wanted to learn to…

Even the best in the world don’t agree on everything when it comes to heeling, and, when riding young horses, the spectrum of what’s “right” is even wider. In this new series, we’re breaking down the finer points of technique. To kick it off, we’re talking to top heelers about what they’re doing with their left hand as they leave the box and head down the arena toward the cow. These images are all from the Solo Select Incentive Futurity, so these are all 4-year-olds leaving the heel box, with some of the best rope horse trainers (and ropers) in the world on their backs. And the way each man explains what he’s doing is illuminating, to say the least. DAKOTA KIRCHENSCHLAGER This is going to make no sense to…

For Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira, the 2025 PRCA regular season team roping title came at the end of a year marked by triumph, setbacks and a comeback story for the decade. Driggers and Nogueira, the 2021 and 2022 world champs, who also hold the regular season earnings record of $227,878 in 2022, closed out the 2025 season with the Governor’s Cup win in Sioux Falls for $32,000 a man, taking them into this year’s NFR as the No. 1 team with $198,497.72. A year that started with a strong spring—highlighted by their second-straight BFI win for $154,000 and the American Rodeo title for another $100,000 apiece—took a sudden turn when Nogueira suffered a horse accident while practicing May 12, fracturing his right tibia and damaging the ligaments around his…

Empires rise and fall. The Ming Dynasty ruled China for centuries. The New England Patriots defined two decades of NFL greatness. For the world of team roping, two teams stand alone: Jake and Clay. Speed and Rich. From 1985 to 1994, Jake Barnes and Clay O’Brien Cooper rewrote history with seven world titles—five of them consecutive. Just three years after their reign came Speed Williams and Rich Skelton, the team that did the unthinkable: eight gold buckles, back-to-back. It’s been 21 years since the team roping world last witnessed a true dynasty. The kind that dominated an era and made everyone else chase a number that suddenly felt unreachable. Now, with more money, talent and tools in the sport than ever before, what does a dynasty even look like-and can…

CAN YOU WRAP YOUR HEAD AROUND HAVING BOTH JOE AND TRANSMISSION AT THE SAME TIME? “I was looking at Joe and Tranny when I got the call (about Joe winning Head Horse of the Year). They stay together in a lot, and I was just thinking those two horses are two of the greatest there’s ever been. Not the best, but they’re dang sure in the pool of them. It’s pretty cool having them together at the same time. It’s pretty unbelievable, really.” — Clint Summers, talking about Mr Joes Shadow Bar and WSR Hesa Alive on “The Score,” available anywhere you stream podcasts. Listen to “The Score” anywhere you stream podcasts, and find every episode on teamropingjournal.com.…