Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2025 i The Team Roping Journal

Dear Roper, When the gavel dropped at $1.7 million on a 3-year-old filly at the Old West Futurity Sale, the internet did what it does best: questioned everything. How could that possibly pencil? And what does it mean for the rest of us? Fair questions. That kind of number raises eyebrows—especially in team roping, where big money has long lived in the arena, not the sale ring. But maybe this is the moment where those two worlds finally collide. You might remember when cutters started bringing million-dollar price tags. Not everyone understood it then either. But the money followed the value, and the value followed the opportunity. We're seeing rope horses catch up—faster and on a bigger scale. In 2017, when we started covering rope horse futurities in The Team…

When Joseph Harrison sealed the deal on the $50,000 Old West Pre-Futurity Heeling win aboard Stunnerr June 20, he etched his name in the ARHFA history books as the first rider to cross $1 million in futurity earnings. For the six-time NFR qualifier, this is a goal he's had his eyes set on for a while, and he knew he was on the brink of it when he arrived in Heber City, Utah. “It's just something that I've been after for about $700,000,” Harrison, 38, said. “I mean, it's been a little over a year and a half ago, Audrey (Hart) put on there that I was $315,000 or whatever and winning it. And in my mind—my mind is weird— but I thought if I could just be the first…

Training Heel Horses That Leave in the Right Lead When you're training heel horses, the lead they leave the box in matters more than people realize. In team roping, everything's always pulling left. So naturally, your horse should be in its left lead. But what happens when they leave in the right lead? It's not always black and white. UNDERSTANDING THE “RIGHT LEAD” PROBLEM The right lead is generally considered wrong for heel horses because it compromises their balance and power as they come through the turn. But here's the truth: some great horses, like Jackyl, left the box in the right lead and were still considered one of the best and winningest heel horses of all time. If the steer went straight or right, Jackyl would start in the…

Kycen's dad Brian Winn, 54, is a 7 header who terrorized the Wilderness Circuit for the past 30 years. His older and younger sons rope, too, but Kycen, now 28, was eaten up with it. He studied heeling, hard. As a kid, he loved to come along to the big slacks. “As soon as he got out of the truck, he was always looking for the best heeler there,” said Brian. “He'd follow him around all day asking how he did things. Even if it was the No. 1 guy in the world, he'd ask all his questions.” Kycen became an 8.5 as a teenager. After five qualifications to the College National Finals Rodeo (thanks to the pandemic)—where he won three total gorounds—plus a 2018 trip to Vegas where he…

It is fairly obvious that there is a major movement going on in the team roping world to place major emphasis on our great horses. When it comes to handicapped ropings Riata has led the charge for timed, all-age horse competitions. The September 2025 Riata Championships at the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, Oklahoma is just around the corner—and it's shaping up to be bigger than ever! As the HIGHEST paying World Series of Team Roping Qualifier of the year, this event has become a must-attend for ropers riding Riata horses. In addition to the Riata Events, with futurity incentives, new for 2025, the event will also have #13.5, #12.5, #10.5, #9.5 and #8.5 WSTR Super Qualifiers— open to all WSTR ropers, whether you're riding a Riata horse or not.…

After taking home $100,000 for the 2025 ARHFA Old West Futurity Heeling title with Jeremy Buhler June 20, SLR Swinging Hickory is the rope horse futurity industry's winningest mare on the heel side. Prior to the Old West Rope Horse Futurity in Heber City, Utah, the 6-year-old mare by Hickory Holly Time out of Swingin Tule had $72,760 in lifetime QData earnings. Since joining the 2016 PRCA world champion's program, SLR Swinging Hickory has seen big wins, including the 2024 Fall Gold Buckle Futurities 6-&-Under title. After her $100,000 payday, the mare is looking at more than $172,000 in lifetime earnings. And while $100,000 is life-changing money for both Buhler and SLR Swinging Hickory, it's the culmination of hours of dedication. “There's so much more to it,” Buhler said. “The…

at home with | Jake Barnes | Clay O | military salute | big break Q: What was life like growing up the son of a world champion (1994 World Champion Tie-Down Roper Herbert Theriot)? A: It was never boring. We were always busy rodeoing, at somebody's house and at big events. It was pretty cool that my rookie year in 2016 I remembered a lot of the rodeos from when I was there as a kid. There were a lot of opportunities being my dad's son, like going and spending time at Roy Cooper's place in Texas every summer. Q: Did your dad teach you everything you know? A: My dad taught me pretty much everything I know about being a cowboy, yes. There were things Roy helped me with…

Adam Pollard's DNA has “cowboy” written all over it. Serving as a Marine fit right in with the cowboy mentality and now it's come full circle—he's running the Military Rodeo Cowboys Association (MRCA). Pollard, 54 now, is a Midland, Texas, native who grew up ranching and was inducted in 2021 into the Military Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame. His ancestors roped at a very early rodeo in Pecos, and have a history as colorful as Yellowstone's Duttons. Pollard's great-grandfather got a law degree from Harvard in 1876, after which tuberculosis drove him to Texas. As a surveyor, he laid out the city of Lubbock, later serving as a Pecos County judge while acquiring large amounts of land and cattle. Then oil was discovered in west Texas. Pollard's grandfather, Clayton Williams,…

Cowboy Christmas is rarely perfect, but Clint Summers and Jade Corkill came remarkably close in 2025. Summers and Corkill had the best Cowboy Christmas of their careers, cashing in $29,897 a man and picking up checks at nine out of the 10 rodeos they entered. For reigning NFR average champ Summers, his 2021 Fourth run—which helped him qualify for his first NFR as a header—was successful, but not 100%. “We won quite a bit, but nothing like this,” Summers admitted. “I mean, I've never been 100% over a Fourth of July. It's a pretty cool feeling because we did draw some good ones, obviously, but we did draw some runners and stuff in there, too, and for it to still work out and our run to work, it is pretty…

Tate Kirchenschlager and Almost LostMy Ticket pocketed the largest single check of their careers, winning the 2025 ARHFA Old West Futurity Heading for $100,000 June 20. Kirchenschlager and the 2020 gelding by Roo Star out of Ticket Out Of Here came from second call to top the field with a 926.23 on four. While Kirchenschlager has an NFR qualification under his belt and is considered one of the top rope horse trainers in the country, winning $100,000 in one spot is life-changing for the guy who picked up futurities as a way to pay for rodeoing. “I don't even have the words to describe it,” Kirchenschlager said. “I've never won that much in one day. It really hasn't sunk in. It's life-changing money, I mean, for me and my wife.”…

Rhen Richard raked in $93,112 in the 2025 ARHFA Old West Pre-Futurity Heading, highlighted by the $50,000 win aboard Reliance Ranches’ Watch The Lane. Richard had four chances for cash in the short round June 20, but it was the 4-year-old stud by The Goodbye Lane out of Earlette to top the field June 20, with a 931.17. Richard also picked up $29,792 for second aboard Captain Leggett and $5,320 for eighth on Little Foose Sug. In the rounds, Richard added another $8,000. The six-time NFR qualifier from Roosevelt, Utah, isn't shy to say things lined up just right that day. “I had a day,” Richard said with a grin. “I think all the top guys have those days. I was just fortunate to do it at a big futurity.”…

Before Tanner Tomlinson was a PRCA world standings leader (as of June 2025) and NFR aggregate record holder, he was a permit holder in Robstown, Texas, trying something new. “The last year Corpus was a ProRodeo, I just figured I'd quit heeling and start heading,” Tomlinson said. It was 2019. Tomlinson was 19 years old, entered on a permit, and had never roped anywhere bigger than a one-header amateur rodeo. He was heading for Ty Arnold, and that week, he and Arnold roped three steers and walked out of Corpus with the first round, the short round and the average. “It was two outside in Robstown and one in the perf,” he said. “I'd never been in anything like it.” He did it on Ivy, a tough little sorrel mare…

Cesar de la Cruz roped at nine-straight National Finals Rodeos from 2006-2014—the first three with Colter Todd, then five with Derrick Begay and the last one with Tom Richards. His parade of partners is extra fun as we look at this year's world standings, and how the team of Begay and Todd's been doing with an NFR switch-ender on the back side. Cesar liked to name some of his four-legged partners after old West outlaws. His all-time favorite horse was a gritty bay he called Johnny Ringo, who recently headed to horse Heaven. The human this horse was named after was an absolute renegade known to run wild in de la Cruz's native Arizona in the 1800s. “I named him Johnny Ringo, because he was tough and cool, and he…

Crosby Ray Von—a 3-year-old mare by Stevie Rey Von out of MA Crosby by Valiant Hero—sold for $1.7 million at the Old West Roping Futurity Sale, setting a record for the highest-selling Western performance horse at public auction. Cracklin J Ranch's Allan Jones bought the mare from the Relentless Remuda and Solo Select partnership at the Heber City, Utah sale, with a million-dollar bonus up for grabs in 2026 to a sale graduate who wins the 4-year-old futurity next year. Auctioneer Steve Friskup dropped the gavel, choking back emotion at the moment's significance for the rope horse industry, while the Remuda's trainer Miles Baker wiped away tears. “Thinking about my roots, where I come from—some cool stuff has happened over the years, but this might've been the coolest,” said Baker,…