Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2021 i The Team Roping Journal

Dear Roper, About a decade ago, our Account Representative Nick Griggs texted me at 6 a.m. Vegas time to let me know he’d be down at the South Point Hotel & Casino’s Café for breakfast. Nick and I didn’t aknow each other very well then—I was just 23 and fresh out of college, and Nick—well I won’t tell you how old he was, but safe to say he’s had some decades of experience in this industry. I’m a morning person, and I was already wide awake pecking away at my keyboard in my barely-unpacked hotel room when I got the text. I remember putting on my first “Vegas” outfit, which at the time was a new pair of jeans and a shirt that said Spin To Win Rodeo, and I…

Q: What was it like growing up in Mesquite, and who were the biggest influences on your early rodeo career? A: Mesquite, Texas, was the place to be at the time, especially in the rodeo business. Back in that day, Mesquite was considered a rodeo capital, because of all the rodeo cowboys who lived around there. And the TNN broadcast of the Mesquite Championship Rodeo did a lot for the sport. The biggest influences on me as a young man were Donnie and Pete Gay. I watched them ride bulls at Mesquite, and looked up to them. When I got ready to rodeo, Donnie took me under his wing and showed me the ropes about entering and travel. Q: You rode bulls at the NFR in 1978, ’79, ’83 and…

When we started talking about what to write for this New Year’s resolution-themed column, I was stuck. Honestly, I don’t know how I’ve ever done anything successful because there aren’t any secrets I can share with you. Here’s what I can say for sure: If you truly focus on adding consistency and discipline into your roping—and your life—there’s nothing you can’t do. Consistency. When I’m talking consistency, I’m talking consistent cues to your horses. If you’re going to show your horse certain cues with your legs or with your hands, show them cues consistently enough to make a habit, to where they can recognize those things so those buttons will be in them when you need them. Most people will learn about a button from a trainer, and ride a…

Dustin Egusquiza has now headed at three Wrangler National Finals Rodeos. But he’s only gotten to spin steers at Rodeo’s Super Bowl once in the three years he’s been there on his main mount. And this time, an eye infection that has Dude at least temporarily blind in his left eye is threatening the future of his rodeo career. “I’ve had Dude since he was 4, and he just turned 17,” said Egusquiza, 25, who’s a native of Marianna, Florida, and now lives in Mineral Wells, Texas. “I couldn’t ride him at the 2017 NFR (where Egusquiza headed for Kory Koontz), because he had navicular. Then I got him nerved. He was fine, and I rode him at the Finals in 2018 (where Egusquiza again headed for Koontz) and since…

DEC. 7-12, 2020 RANCHO RIO Payout: $1,130,840 Produced by: Yost Events, Inc. #14.5 $24,180 Jason Stewart (Pendeton, OR) & Brayden Schmidt (Benton City, WA) 26.87 on four head GOLD BUCKLE BEER OPEN $15,320 Riley Minor (Ellensburg, WA) & Brady Minor (Ellensburg, WA) 34.05 on five head 2020 PRCA Purina co-Heel Horse of the Year, Brady Minor's Leos Highbrow, aka "Sug," got the call in Wickenburg, helping the Minor brothers top the Gold Buckle Beer Open. #13.5 $24,040 Sam Garside (Prescott, AZ) & Dustin Hintz (Coolidge, AZ) 32.50 on four head #12.5 $26,960 Tyler Montano (Gallup, NM) & Lane Stock (San Tan Valley, AZ) 31.83 on four head “THIS WAS PERFECT TIMING BECAUSE IT WAS THE LAST ONE FOR ME THIS WEEK. I’VE MADE THE SHORT ROUND A LOT,…

Due to restrictions imposed by Nevada’s Governor on Nov. 22, the 2020 ARIAT World Series of Team Roping Finale XV was forced to reschedule to the following year, causing the association to pivot its plan with benefits for contestants to stay entered or re-enter. Because the Finale could not be moved to another state with such short notice, the association held Mega-Qualifiers in Wickenburg, Arizona, and Decatur and San Antonio, Texas. For results from those qualifiers, see page 50. With the expectation that a vaccine will allow life and roping to return to normal in 2021, the WSTR will offer Finale ropers a qualification for each entry, which hopefully will put already-entered ropers first among all other members of WSTR for the 2021 Finale. “We want to be as flexible…

In November, Georgia’s Sarah Toole maintained her spot at the top of the standings with $5,905, and her lead of $2,945 over the rest of the pack, which stayed relatively quiet, with the exception of Boone, Colorado’s Connie Harris and Roswell, New Mexico’s Kelly Torske. Harris, a 4.5 header, made a 3-spot gain up to No. 5 when she took fast time in the short go of the #11.5 at the USTRC’s Panhandle Classic, produced by Mc3 Team Ropings. The $500 earnings, won with Mike Weir in 7.74 seconds, was enough to displace the rest of the field—the spread is a mere $380 between No. 4 and No. 9 in the standings. The bulk of Harris’ earnings were won in October at the USTRC Southern Colorado Classic, where she earned…

Within days of the cancellation of the 2020 Ariat World Series of Team Roping Finale in Las Vegas, the association organized three Mega-Qualifiers to take place at The Rose Palace in San Antonio, Texas; NRS Arena in Decatur, Texas; and Rancho Rio in Wickenburg, Arizona. With special fees of $300 per roper ($500 in the Gold Buckle Beer Open), each Mega-Qualifier division complemented a full run of standard WSTR qualifiers, offering ropers great payouts closer to home and an opportunity to qualify all aggregate winners to the Ariat World Series of Team Roping Finale XV—now scheduled for December 2021. When the Nevada governor announced new restrictions for Las Vegas on Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020—just seven working days before the Ariat WSTR Finale was set to converge on the South Point…

DEC. 9-13, 2020 NRS ARENA Total Payout: $720,720 Produced by: Shelley Productions GOLD BUCKLE BEER OPEN $16,480 Kaleb Driggers (Stephenville, TX) & Cory Petska (Marana, AZ) 37.17 on five head #14.5 $16,770 Keston Rizzo (Wayne, OK) & Billie Jack Saebens (Nowata, OK) 30.04 on four head #13.5 $17,110 Clay Deen (Wills Point, TX) & Cooper Robertson (Lipan, TX) 31.89 on four head #12.5 $20,100 John Atkinson (Odem, TX) & Aaron Shelley (Coolidge, AZ) 33.49 on four head #11.5 $23,160 Chance Hanna (Lumberton, TX) & Colton Tate (Cameron, TX) 33.49 on four head #9.5 $18,280 B Rad Lands (Kaufman, TX) & Kelly Jackson (Kaufman, TX) 38.10 on four head #8.5 $15,500 Kayce Hein (Zapata, TX) & Scotty McCoy (Lipan, TX) 43.84 on four head "[THIS WIN] BOOSTED MY CONFIDENCE…

Organizers of the Wrangler Bob Feist Invitational Week announced that the $700,000 Wrangler BFI, held for 35 years in Reno, will partner in March 2021 with the other titan of the roping industry—the $200,000 Cinch Timed Event Championships—as they converge during the same week in Oklahoma’s Lazy E Arena. Wrangler BFI Week will happen March 14–18, immediately following the CTEC on March 11–13. “It’s been an incredibly difficult year for us all,” said Lazy E General Manager Dan Wall, who credits the arena’s success throughout the pandemic to its intense safety protocols, expansive camping areas and limited access in and out. “It really wears on contestants, fans, stock contractors and all involved in this sport to hear of events already canceling for 2021. Instead, we feel like this partnership between…

TIME TO STEP UP The when and how of asking your green horse to step up. We shot these photos in the Spring of 2020, when I had a load of green horses I was working on because COVID-19 had us stuck at home instead of rodeoing. I was sorting through these horses, and I was at the point with some of them where I was ready to ask for more and see how they handled the pressure. In these next five images, I’m going to lay out the process I use to ask a green head horse to step up, and how I troubleshoot what can go wrong. 1 I want him paying attention before we go to the box. I want to lope him around long enough that,…

DEC. 3-6, 2020 ROSE PALACE Total Payout: $638,540 Produced by: Mathews Land & Cattle #14.5 $14,930 Micah Smith (McGregor, TX) & B.J. Thompson (Deridder, LA) 28.65 on four head "I WAS A MAINTENCE PLANNER AT A PLANT IN LAKE CHARLES [LOUSIANA]. I GOT LAID OFF IN MAY BECAUSE OF [COVID-19]. SINCE THEN, I’VE JUST BEEN RIDING SOME OUTSIDE HORSES. SO FAR, I’VE BEEN ABLE TO KEEP ENOUGH HORSES TO KEEP ME BUSY." — B.J. THOMPSON GOLD BUCKLE BEER OPEN $21,440 Kaleb Driggers (Stephenville, TX) & Billie Jack Saebens (Nowata, OK) 33.88 on five head #13.5 $13,580 Lee Trice (Stephenville, TX) & Kent Nixon (Pleasonton, TX) 31.27 on four head #12.5 $14,540 Chris Bradford (Kountze, TX) & Jed Sibley (Denham Springs, LA) 32.67 on four head #11.5 $13,390 Heath…

“I grew up heeling. I heeled all through college. I started heading my second year of college. There were a lot of good heelers at the amateur rodeos that needed headers, and there were more heelers than headers, so I always roped the dummy—played around and reached, so I knew how to do that. But, it was a big difference when I got on a horse. If I needed to go catch, I really couldn’t. I could either be really fast, or I’d be too long trying to catch. It’s been a long progress to get to now.” — Nelson Wyatt, 2020 Wrangler NFR qualifier, from season 3 of “The Score”—a podcast by The Team Roping Journal, available to stream or download wherever you listen to podcasts.…