Innholdsfortegnelse for February 2018 i The Team Roping Journal

Dear Roper, If you live in the North and are anything like me, you’re fighting it right now. The cold weather, paired with the nasty flu going around, might just have you holed up in your house by the fire, while your horses, haired-up and hog-fat, are burning through hay in the barn and pastures. But the die-hards are still heading to the jackpots every chance they get. I hear it was a balmy 65 degrees Fahrenheit in the barn in Torrington, Wyoming, over New Years for the World Series of Team Roping qualifier there, despite the biting winds and negative wind chills outside. And every Tuesday leaving the office at night, I pass a load of steers heading to the practice barn in Longmont, Colorado, for the weekly roping…

One of the things that makes this sport so challenging and intriguing is that you’re basically multi-tasking when you rope. Physically and mechanically, there’s the roper and the rider. There’s the roper’s perspective and part of the equation, that handles the mechanics of swinging, timing and roping the steer by two feet. Then there’s the rider, who operates your horse and uses the riding style you’ve developed, which controls and maneuvers your horse throughout each run. We all know the mental side of competition is a huge factor, and that can be split in two also. We all have to deal with doubt, and thoughts about things like pressure, where your thoughts are trying to work against you. Then there’s the side of confidence, which is the truth of your…

{ Vital Stats } AGE: 38 ROPE: NXT MS by Classic Ropes WNFR QUALIFICATIONS: 14 WORLD TITLES: 1 PARTNER: Erich Rogers HOME: Marana, Arizona EARNINGS: $2,072,867 CONTROL Riding my horses with them in my hand and between my feet works better for me than just trusting them. If I put my hand down and just let my horse be in control, 80 percent of the time, he’s just going to do what he wants to do. I’ll only get the exact reaction I want 20 percent of the time. If I keep him up in my hand in between my legs, I can have control every step of the way. IN THE BRIDLE That means a lot more to me than just pulling. It means I’m using my…

RYAN MOTES Horse: Starbucks, 19; Rocky, 14 Saddle: Ryan Motes Roper by Bar H Why? It’s a saddle that Bar H and I developed together. I like to ride a roughout seat. We build a custom tree that fits a wide range of horses—kind of an in-between, real narrow high withers and also fits some rounder-backed horses. It’s a comfortable riding saddle and I’ve had luck with it on a wide range of horses. More: $2,150 shop.barhequine.com PAUL EAVES Horse: Casino, 10 Saddle: Coats Saddlery Why? Larry does such a good job on fitting my horse and fitting the rider. We ride all day and these saddles are comfortable to ride. The main reason is because they fit everything we put them on. More: $4,500 325-651-5080 coatssaddlery.com KORY KOONTZ Horse:…

A lot of folks think I was always a great roper who could quickly and consistently catch practically every steer... While in fact, I was the exact opposite! You see in my younger days I would rope 2 or 3 in a row and then miss the high team steer when the money was up... Thinking back, it was 1973... 4 years before my first National Finals... It was a cold foggy evening and we were in winter overalls... I was out in Ceres, California at Don Gatz arena with my horse, Cowboy... And as usual, at that time in my life, I was feeling okay until... All of a sudden, I was up and the high team steer left the box... I was nervous, feeling the pressure and doubting…

“The morning after I won the world, we went and got the horses and the steers. I bought two—the fifth-round steer, because we won that round, and the 10th-round steer, because it was steer #13, in Las Vegas, for the 10th round. It felt good, amazing, really, but they take the buckle from you that night to get your name on it, so it wasn’t the same. We loaded up and left Las Vegas by 11:30 a.m. I have my name written all over my truck, so everyone was honking and waving on the way home. At times I feel like the same average guy, but the people who know rodeo and roping, they make you feel like something different—it feels great.”…

Tyler Wade and Trey Yates Aaron Tsinigine and Kyle Lockett Spencer Mitchell and Jason Duby Jay Tittel and Cullen Teller Paul David Tierney and Tanner Braden JB James and Cesar de la Cruz Manny Egusquiza and Levi Lord Brit Ellerman and Marcus Banister Tom Richards and Jake Smith Kolton Schmidt and Cole Davison Cole Dorenkamp and TJ Watts Dustin Bird and Jake Minor Doyle Hoskins and Ryon Tittel Clayton Van Aken and Richard Durham Garrett Rogers and Russell Cardoza Jake Cooper and Logan Medlin Brock Hanson and Ryan Motes Charly Crawford and Clint Summers Bubba Buckaloo and Joseph Harrison Ty Blasingame and Levi Tyan Brady Tryan and Dustin Davis Corrected Jr. Looper Results In our December issue, we mistakenly wrote that the young ropers who won the preliminaries at the…

{ Vital Stats } AGE: 39 ROPE: Nitro S by Cactus Ropes WNFR QUALIFICATIONS: 6 WORLD TITLES: 1 HOME: Dover, Oklahoma EARNINGS: $1,235,222 I can be the most confident person in the world, or I can be not so confident. Preparation and practice, to me, makes me confident. I’ve roped with guys who don’t care if they practice and don’t have to ride. That works for some guys, but not this guy. I find my confidence in the arena in how prepared I am to compete. If I feel like I put in my time in the practice pen, and I’ve worked my horse and I’m with him, that gives me confidence. If I’ve been rodeoing for a few weeks and I know my horse is going to…

TEAM ROPER JEFF BUSBY, 55, OF BROCK, TEXAS, spent his early years chopping weeds in cotton fields for $1 an hour. As an engineer in his garage some years later, he began what would become Av-DEC, a company that specializes in anti-corrosion aviation technologies and caters to the needs of individuals flying personal aircraft, businesses maintaining their commercial fleets, and even the U.S. military, which readily incorporated Av-DEC’s well-tested products into its manufacturing process. In addition to significant success in aerospace engineering, Busby, with his wife Andrea, owns and operates Busby Quarter Horses in Millsap, Texas, where they raise and train team roping and barrel horses, featuring their standing studs, Blazin Jetolena and Blazin Honor, as well as run cattle. Andrea’s is a recognized named in the barrel racing arena…

I buy, ride, and sell a lot of rope horses, so naturally people ask me all the time what I look for and my opinion on a rope horse’s most important traits. We’re all trying to find that next phenomenal horse everybody talks about—that Scooter, Barney or Butterbean. There are things I look for in horses at every level, whether I’m looking for myself or for a horse that suits a lower-numbered roper. There are also certain traits I consider deal breakers—things some horses do that I will not put up with. I will say up front that for my personal horses, there are a few quirks I am willing to put up with if they’re great performers. But for resale and general purposes, I do have a “no way”…

SITUATION: Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira were last out in the ninth round of the 2017 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. TIME: 3.3 seconds PAYOUT: $26,370.77 a man START KALEB: He started good, and I figured I’d just let it all hang out right here. JUNIOR: It’s so fast. I’d been putting Green Card too far forward. So I tried to ride him and put him farther back. I wanted to kick him and stand up and rope because I’d been getting in a bind in the corner. I wanted to just be ready. I was outside and the steer was already turned. It just came tight perfect. My horse was perfect. POSITION: KALEB: The main thing that will get you in trouble out there is if you don’t ride to…

Britt Conklin is an equine veterinarian who is employed by Boehringer-Ingelheim (the largest equine animal health provider in the world) and owns a Sports Medicine and Podiatry practice near Amarillo, Texas. This is the second installment of his TRJ-exclusive series on performance horse pain management. In our previous issue, we discussed the concept of pain in your performance horse. Because the horse does not have the ability to self report, we—as horse owners—are at a disadvantage in accurately localizing those sources of pain. Pain may elicit behavioral, physiological, or gait abnormalities depending on its origin and its severity, and this is typically what we pick up on when we become aware that something is wrong. Lameness issues can manifest into obvious gait abnormalities that may be easy to see, but…

HPV (human papillomavirus) is believed to cause 70 percent of all oropharyngeal cancers—cancers which occur in the back 1/3 of the tongue, the soft palate, the walls of the throat, and the tonsils. Men are more likely to have oral HPV, with some sources siting a 3:1 ratio, while others site a 9:1 ratio. Symptoms often include a non-painful lump on the throat, or the sensation of having something in your throat when swallowing. While an HPV infection can remain dormant for years, individuals experiencing these symptoms should not hesitate to schedule an exam. There are currently no FDA-approved tests to diagnose oral HPV. While the HPV vaccines were created to prevent cervical cancers and other genital cancers, it is believed that the vaccines could prevent oropharyngeal cancers caused by…