Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2017 i The Team Roping Journal

Dear Roper, As our staff worked to develop The Team Roping Journal—a brand new concept for the sport—we sought inspiration from magazines of all genres to see how editors of some of the country’s finest publications communicate with their readers. Taking one final glance for ideas for this letter, the smells of the cologne ads in GQ and the perfume ads of Glamour and Vogue really hit me. And while their editors didn’t provide me any insight to help me explain how we’re doing something never done before in this sport, those scents wafting off the pages sort of did. If you could flip through the pages of this magazine and breathe deeply, I hope you’d smell the burning rubber on Paul Eaves’ horn when he won Laramie in the…

I REALLY WASN’T WORRIED ABOUT WINNING IT, I WANTED TO CATCH AND KNEW WE’D HAVE A CHANCE TO WIN A LOT OF MONEY. Heading into the 32nd annual George Strait Team Roping Classic, Florida heeler Clint Summers was fighting his head, thinking about calling it quits and picking up a head rope. “I had been roping with Matt (Sherwood) and we were going to rope at The Strait and be done,” Summers explained. “We ended up winning it, but I still ended up selling my horse to try and start heading.” While Summers did win the whole roping, this buckle is actually for the overall fast time in the first go-round. “I got the buckle the first day of the roping,” Summers said. “I was overall fast time of the…

On a hot, muggy day in mid-July, friends and Shelley Production employees Jett Sharp and Ethan Shelley won big at the Stephenville, Texas, Heartland #11, banking $18,850 per man for a time of 32.91 seconds on four head. “Jett and I have been roping together for a while, and every time we have been up for big money, I have missed for him,” Shelley said. “I was hoping this time would be different.” On what Shelley said were “the ugliest heel loops in history,” he still caught two feet, and were third team back. So they just had to be patient and see what the top two teams were going to do. As he got off his horse, Shelley was getting ready to go flag and went and asked Sharp…

Northwest logger Tim Fuller, 66, joined forces with his 27-year-old carpenter nephew, Casey Fuller, to take the first-ever No. 12 High Desert Showdown June 21 in Reno. The talented twofer took $50,400 back to Lewiston, Idaho, and Clarkston, Wash., respectively, after roping four steers in 32.05 seconds. “I read an article by Clay O’Brien Cooper one time where he said, ‘This is not really important in the scheme of life,’” said Tim, a No. 5 Elite header, of Champ’s sage short-round mindset advice. “It’s just another practice run.” “I’ve learned that 90 percent of the time, your first shot is going to be your best shot,” added Casey, a No. 7 heeler, who’s also a nephew to NFR steer wrestler Darrel Sewell and NFR saddle bronc rider Butch Knowles. “You’re…

Stacie Sorensen Flower Mound, Texas, is currently second in the USTRC’s CINCH Ladies Standings. Number and End I’m a 5 header. I got bumped up after The Patriot. Big Win My back was hurt, so I really couldn’t rope before The Patriot for about two months. I just put my horses on a walker and I roped the dummy and just tried to prepare my mental game. Then, I went to get on the horse that I rode all day for the #11 before the short round and he was lame, so I had to hurry up and move everything over to my other horse and I really didn’t have time to think about anything. I like to hit the corner and go, so Bobby Simmons and I just made…

When Tyler McKnight pulled into Salt Lake City to rope his first steer in the first performance of the Days of ’47 Cowboy Games, he had $300 to his name and a blown trailer tire, and his 19-year-old header JR Dees had $19 in his bank account and drove there on borrowed fuel money. When they got together to run some practice steers just hours before the first perf, they only caught three over the few pens they ran. “I had never roped with him in my life, and I could not imagine being him and still thinking we had a chance to win it because I roped terrible,” Dees said of the ill-fated practice session with his partner for the day. “We had never roped together in our lives…

 Tyler Merrill and Gabriel Salgado roped four steers in 31.94 seconds to win $17,525 a man at the #12 Heartland Finale in Graham, Texas, June 10. “I back into the box, didn't know what I had to be, but was just in the zone.” Merrill and Salgado had wanted to rope together for a while, but just didn’t have the opportunity, Merrill said. They both had other partners before this Heartland, but just by chance each man lost his partner right before so they could rope together. It didn’t take long for everything to click, as they roped smooth all day to be high team back. “I was just patient, watched how everything unfolded, stayed calm and concentrated,” Merrill said. “I backed into the box, didn’t know what I had…

{ Vital Stats } AGE: 43 ROPE: Spyder by Classic Ropes WNFR QUALIFICATIONS: 8 HOME: Morgan Mill, Texas PARTNER: Jake Long CAREER EARNINGS: $1,747,803 No matter where I plan to throw my rope, I need to ride my horse to the end of the box and let him catch up to the steer without reading my throw. That means I need to stay aggressive out of the box while still staying out of my horse’s way—a balance that isn’t always easy to strike. I’ve got to stay off my horse’s face while using my body to drive my horse to the steer, and I’ve got to get my rope up and moving. This allows my horse to run for a few strides to help us catch up and…

Fulton Family Performance Horses, Todd County, S.D. LONG BEFORE THE LATE BRIAN FULTON’S name became synonymous with legendary performance-horse stallion A Streak Of Fling, Fulton qualified for two Wrangler National Finals Rodeos and won the all-around title in the Badlands Circuit 12 times. So when Fulton bought A Streak Of Fling almost 20 years ago, his goal was to produce top-of-the-line calf roping and team roping horses. “He was looking for a stud who could produce the types of horses he competed on,” Lisa Fulton, Brian’s widow, said. “He caught the eye of the barrel people, and that Cinderella story is what it is. Where he started from is what you’re seeing today in the team roping, bull dogging, and calf roping horses—that was his sole intent to begin…

Jackie Crawford and Annette Stahl roped four steers in 33.69 seconds to take the $41,000 team victory lap at the Charlie 1 Horse All-Girl Challenge, June 22 in Reno. Crawford, a 17-time Women’s Professional Rodeo Association world titlist who’s the wife of NFR header Charly and mom to baby boy Creed, also placed in the breakaway roping and was awarded the $2,500 bonus as the Charlie 1 Horse All-Around Champion. “I appreciate these producers so much for the way they leave this roping Open for those of us who take it seriously—it lets us show what we can do when they don’t cap classification numbers,” said Crawford, a No. 6 roper, who lives in Stephenville, Texas. “We’re always struggling to get better, and for producers to allow us to show…

Erich Rogers and Cory Petska secured the average win at the Sheridan WYO Rodeo with an average time of 10.0 seconds on two head, as well as a fourth-place check in the first round with a 5.0-second run, adding a total of $4,989 to each man’s pocket. Along with winning Sheridan, the duo won the 41st Annual Isanti (Minn.) Firefighters Rodeo; Hamel (Minn.) Rodeo & Bull Riding Bonanza; Lehi (Utah) Roundup; Rodeo de Santa Fe (N.M.) and Cheyenne Frontier Days; bringing their total earnings to $100,613.27 as the magazine went to press.…

Wyoming’s infamous rain and mud didn’t stop Erich Rogers and Cory Petska from smoking a 9.4-second run from seventh callback to win the short round at the Cheyenne Frontier Days, tying them with Brandon Webb and Kollin VonAhn for the average win, each with a time of 28.4 seconds on three head. Rogers and Petska took home $12,226 a man, while Webb and VonAhn won $13,162 each. Webb and VonAhn were tied for third callback and had tied for fourth in the first round with a fast 8.8-second run. Rogers and Petska tied for sixth in the first round, too, with a 9.0-second run. “We drew three good steers,” VonAhn said. “Our first one was really good. I felt like we just caught the rest of them. It’s hard to…

{ Vital Stats } AGE: 29 NUMBER: 6 header, 4 heeler ROPE: Relentless TNT By Cactus Ropes HOME: Stephenville, Texas Kayelen Helton began turning heads in the arena more than a decade ago when she won back-to-back Texas High School Rodeo Association breakaway championships. She’s since set herself apart as one of the top female headers in the jackpot ranks. Helton, who attended Stephenville, Texas-based Tarleton State University for her undergraduate and master’s degrees, is now a licensed professional counselor who works with children at Hood County Counseling Center in Granbury, Texas. Q: When did you decide you wanted to be a counselor? A: I went to college as a business major, and it was really boring to me. Business was so repetitive. I’d always been the person…

I used to be terrible about dwelling on mistakes. I always thought about all the bad stuff–the misses. I carried on like that, and I finally realized I needed to change the ways of thinking about the negative stuff. { Vital Stats } AGE: 31 ROPE: Powerline by Classic WNFR QUALIFICATIONS: 6 HOME: Round Rock, Ariz. PARTNER: Cory Petska CAREER: $ 1,047,835 Throughout my career, I’ve learned that I have to have a short memory. I’ve had to learn how to forget my mistakes and move on. I’ve learned not to dwell on negative stuff and to always be positive. No matter how south it’s going, I’ve got to go through one run and one step at a time. As soon as I get over with that one…

“When we first started roping we were thrilled if we won enough to pay our fees and buy dinner,” the Williamses said in unison. “We’re still amazed at what Denny Gentry has done for amateur team ropers. To be able to win this kind of money and prizes for catching four steers is unbelievable to us.” Their 38.54 seconds on four head, which bested this year’s 136-team field, finished 2.44 seconds ahead of reservists Marti Anderson and Roy Owens, whose 40.98 on four paid them $56,000. Riding into the short round seventh high call, the Williamses said winning the whole shootin’ match never really crossed their minds. “I sure didn’t think we would win it,” Peg said as she stepped into the winner’s circle. “I was hoping we would place…