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  • Community Coffee: Tyler Waguespack

    Community Coffee: Tyler Waguespack

    “I grew up right south of Baton Rouge,” said 5x Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Steer Wrestling World Champion Tyler Waguespack. “Everyone around here has always drunk Community Coffee. 

    “And my dad orders the signature roast by the box load,” he added. “So, if you want to drink coffee at our house, that’s what you drink.”

    Tyler said he loves the energy the Community Coffee team brings with their sponsorship. “When we are all out at the finals, they come over to talk to my family, and it never feels like I am working for them because they treat us like friends,” he said of the crew. “They are real and genuine people.”

    Before his five world titles, Tyler Waguespack had a job shoeing horses at home in Gonzales, Louisiana. He said he received an invitation to Rodeo Houston in 2013, and after placing in every round and winning around $17,000 that week, he decided to pursue professional rodeo full-time. “After that week in Houston, I was sitting on the couch, and my dad walked in asking if I had horses to shoe,” Waguespack said. “And I told him “No, sir, I’m entered up the next couple of weeks to see how rodeo treats me,” and I haven’t looked back.

    “In 2015, when I realized I was far enough into the top 15 to make my first NFR, I called my dad, and when he picked up, I said, “Hey, what are you doing the first ten nights in December?” Waguespack said. “My dad has done everything for me to get me to where I am today.” 

    According to statistics posted by the PRCA, Waguespack now has five world titles, nine Wrangler National Finals Rodeo appearances, and a whopping 2.29 million dollars in career earnings. 

    “Growing up, I was always the little dirty kid following my dad around in the practice pen,” Waguespack said. “I enjoyed calf roping, but bulldogging is what I always wanted to be serious about.” He said he attributes his ability to stay calm under pressure to 4x PRCA Steer Wrestling World Champion Ote Berry. “The winning mentality and the winning attitude that he has is what’s helped me when I’m going to different places,” he said of his former mentor. “He is a very situational type of steer wrestler. As crazy as it sounds, there really is a strategy to it when you’re out there. 

    “I had the opportunity to live with Ote for two years when I was first getting started,” Waguespack said. “He had always been a great friend of the family, and he told me I could come live with him if I wanted to start taking it seriously and learn to really win. “A lot of times, these guys out there don’t like to take the time to talk to people when they get a big name made,” he added. “But Ote, he was always willing to talk to the younger guys no matter what.” At the 2023 WNFR, Waguespack won his fifth world title, earning him one more gold buckle than his mentor. “Every time he would wave to me, he would wave with four fingers. I could only hold up as many fingers as buckles I had,” he said. “But this year, the student has surpassed the teacher, and we took a photo where I am holding five fingers up.” 

    Waguespack said he has now taken his own aspiring world champion under his wing. 

    “Cash Robb is a young man that attended Tom Carney’s bulldogging schools, and my dad and I have always helped with those,” Waguespack said. “Cash’s dad, Justin, had called me a couple of times; I finally told him if Cash wanted the best opportunity at success, he could come live at the house and practice with me.“That is a young man who puts forth a lot of effort and has a ton of potential,” he said. “He is one of the only people who can keep up with me in the practice pen.” Waguespack said Robb, the 2023 Steer Wrestling Resistol Rookie of the Year, currently lives and travels to PRCA rodeos with him while completing college classes online. 

  • Team Cavender’s Anna Wilder

    Team Cavender’s Anna Wilder

    Anna Wilder started her career in rodeo in fourth grade. The 18 year old from Millington, Tenn., grew up around horses. Her mom, Bebe, barrel raced in college and her dad, Keith, started roping after he met Bebe. When she went to high school, she competed in all the timed events, barrels, poles, breakaway, goat tying, and team roping. “I started doing them all and wanted to be my best at all of them; goat tying, and breakaway roping are my favorite.” She uses the same horse for both events, Sadie, a little bay mare. Anna uses another horse, Movin, for barrels and poles.

    She just graduated from Tipton-Rosemark Academy, a small Christian private school; there were 23 in her graduating class. “That’s where both my parents went and it’s only about 20 minutes from home.” She has friends through high school rodeo as well as school. There are a few others in school that share her interest in running the barrels, but for the most part it’s just her and her brother, Daniel, who also goes to that school and competes in all the timed events. Anna has an older sister, Emma Kate, who competes in breakaway roping and ties goats. Emma Kate goes to UT Martin, which is where Anna will go in the fall. They will live together. Both girls are getting their college education thanks to scholarships.

    Rodeo has taught her a lot. “Definitely to trust God’s timing and patience. I’ll have my plans and goals and it doesn’t turn out how I envisioned,” she shares. “I have to think that it’s not my time it’s His. It happens a lot. It’s a continual thing – and it’s always just trusting in His plan.” Her plan is always to give it her all and leave it all in the arena; and give the glory to God.

    After the finals, she will go to little jackpots and she is hoping to go to the CINCH world championships at the Lazy E. She and her sister have been doing goat tying clinics around her place and they will have a few over the summer. She plans to college rodeo and see where that takes her. Her major is going to be in accounting and finance. “I’ve always been somewhat good at math, and it’s been suggested to me. I I shadowed someone that was an accountant and thought it would be interesting.”

    Anna has been part of the Cavender Team for a year. “It’s helped me in many aspects of life. I’ve learned about sponsorships and how the rodeo world works.”

  • Team Cavender’s Jada Trosper

    Team Cavender’s Jada Trosper

    Jada Trosper is cherishing every minute of her senior year and her time at home with her family. This fall, the 17-year-old from Ponder, Texas, will be a freshman at Oklahoma State University. “I am going into college six credits shy of my junior year,” said the captain of her cheerleading squad. She plans on majoring in business and minoring in media and marketing. “We have three family businesses and I have hopes to eventually take those over.” She also has her radar on working for a big-name company within the Western industry. “I want to give back to the community that I get to be a part of – the greatest people on earth.” Jada knows one thing is certain. “I do not want a desk job – I want to see the world and travel and be in this industry.”
    Jada competes in barrels and poles but retired her good pole horse last year. “Poles is my absolutely my favorite event; it takes pure focus and determination, and if you have a horse that can do it, it’s amazing.” Jada has a list of accomplishments a mile long and attributes her success to the rodeo contestants that have gone before her. “I am able to learn and grow as an athlete by watching the most successful athletes prepare their mental game, perform, and win.”

    Her mom, Melinda (MAIDEN NAME) was Miss Rodeo Oklahoma in 1994 and Jada and her 15-year-old sister, Tana, learned from her the strength – both mental and physical -it takes to compete. Jada competed in ????sports???? until her sophomore year, when she chose to focus on cheerleading and rodeo. “With cheerleading, I could still be part of all the sports,” she said. The family spent last summer living in a living quarters trailer, chasing Jada’s rodeo dreams across the country. This summer will be a bit different. “I will still rodeo, but it won’t be as far.”

    “This summer is my parents 25th anniversary, my sister will celebrate her sweet 16, and I’m going to college,” she said of the upcoming trip to Aruba. “We’ve been on maybe two vacations – we have horses. We are a unit and each other’s best friends so me being the first to leave the nest will be hard. We are going to do other special little moments this summer.”

    For now, Jada is excited to get to the Texas High School finals, Region 3, the end of the month. “My little horse got hurt, so he couldn’t run last year,” she said. “My young horse did amazing, but Texas is tough. This year my main man is back and I cannot wait to run down that alley.”

    Cavender’s Team member – Jada Trosper. “I have loved that company since I was a little girl. My dad was friends with Mr. Joe Cavender. I got a little insight into the brotherhood, but I wanted to know the story. Riley Webb has been a family friend and Miss Jennifer came up to me and said I was going to have an amazing opportunity. All she did was tell me a little of their story and then I got to go to Cavender’s Summer Camp. They take us to the headquarters and tell us the story of the brothers. They have the true family morals. They still work together – all the brothers care about giving back and they are giving back to us. We have been exposed to so many opportunities through them. They have completely excelled the sponsorship program – I am now part of their family.”

    COLLEGE INFO:
    They put a lot of effort into it – one of the few colleges that provide the resource to before we go for enrollment, they can see our skill level to determine our major classes – same one, but help a little more in the areas of weakness, but more personalization to it.
    Three hours, just far away – but if I need to swap a horse out, or shoe a horse, I will make the drive.
    Cody Hollingsworth – great guy – he seems like an amazing – and if the athletes show they want it, he will get behind them – I’m excited to work with him.
    I have been blessed to have several associations work with me and I get to go on the Cowboy channel and do a roundup interview – I love it and that’s why I want to pursue that career.

  • Team Cavender’s Ethan Winckler

    Team Cavender’s Ethan Winckler

    “Don’t try to prove your haters wrong; try to prove the people who believe in you right.” These are good words of advice from 17-year-old Ethan Winckler, an Oklahoma High School Rodeo Association member from Winnie, Texas. Ethan, the youngest of three brothers (Tyler, 27, and Korbin, 21), remembers always looking up to his brother Korbin; being only three years older, Ethan had to do everything Korbin tried his hand at. From sports to riding sheep and calves, no matter what Korbin was doing, Ethan cried and begged his parents, Keith and Shantell, to let him have a go at it too. Ethan says he was the kid who always cried to go to the rodeo, but once he got there, he was crying again, but for a different reason..he was scared! His folks never forced him to ride, but he continued getting on sheep and then calves. As he got older he worked his way up to the steers, and it was then he realized how much he craved it, and with the talent he had, he was ready for more.

    Keith decided to text retired professional bull rider LJ Jenkins out of Porum, Oklahoma, to get help for his son and more opportunities to practice. Ethan recalls LJ saying, “Yep, come on!” So Ethan packed up and headed North, moving over 7½ hours from home to pursue his dream. Ethan and LJ created a bond and Ethan ended up staying in Oklahoma for nine months, becoming a member of the OHSRA and finishing his senior year enrolled in an online charter school. Ethan built a friend group in rodeo but quickly ran into a long buck-off streak. LJ told him to talk to Lonnie Austin (Sulphur Springs, Texas), who went right to work with him on the bucking barrel, and doing exercises to improve his form. With Lonnie living five hours away, Ethan would leave at 5 am, get to Lonnie’s at about 10 am, and they’d practice and train and get on bulls and then drive home day after day. Almost immediately, his form and riding style changed. He began winning and covering about 80 percent of his bulls. Then, on November 4th, 2023, Ethan had a little misfortune after making a ride at a High School rodeo. His landing was perfect, he said, but his knee kind of buckled underneath him, leaving him with a torn ACL, MCL, and a cracked femur bone from the impact. Dr Tandy Freeman performed an MRI and then scheduled surgery for December 1st. Dr Tandy predicted recovery would be 5-6 months.

    Before leaving for Oklahoma, Ethan went to school at the Hamshire-Fannett school in Hamshire-Fannett, Texas. He was first-team all-district in baseball his freshman year, then second-team all-district in football his sophomore year. His community is a small rice-farming town between Beaumont and Houston. “It’s very marsh down here with gators and pigs everywhere.” He laughs as he tells me a story about the time he and his buddies were swimming and fishing off a boat, and a ten-foot alligator came up on them. “Oh, we’re used to them,” he says, “they pretty much go away if you leave them alone.” Ethan is no stranger to the water; he’s saved his money to continue rodeoing by working for a crawfish farmer. He drives a boat, dumps the crawfish traps, cleans the crawfish, and delivers them to places to be sold. His buddies always told him with his build, he’d be a good bareback rider, so he tried it, but he just never got into it. He’s a first-generation bull rider, and he says his want to comes from “pure passion.” Ethan’s first bull, at just shy of 16 years old, was Universal Pro Rodeo’s “Chandler’s Mule.” A bull that went to the NFR that same year, Ethan got him rode for 87 points and 2nd place at the Hull-Daisetta rodeo in Texas. Ethan is sponsored by the Lane Frost Brand and has bought himself a 1999 red Ford conversion van to travel in, complete with a full-sized bed for sleeping on the road. He’s looking forward to the new Lane Frost movie coming out. He and his van are featured in the movie, and they’ve been out to film at the place where Lane Frost built his arena.

    Ethan takes care of his practice bulls while recovering from surgery, down at the arena on his family’s place, and likes to visit and hang out with his friends, most likely eating a nice hot “Cup a Noodles.” His future plans include pro rodeoing full-time with the money he’s saved from previous rodeo winnings and crawfish farming.

    He says he’d like to make the NFR finals his rookie year and be rookie of the year, and he has dreams of winning multiple world titles. Ethan’s favorite Bible verse is Psalms 16:3: “Commit your works to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.”

  • On the Trail with Ky Hamilton

    On the Trail with Ky Hamilton

    Since the 2023 National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, Ky Hamilton has become a household name. The 23-year-old professional bull rider, originally from Queensland, Australia, rocked the rodeo industry after coming back to win a gold buckle following a serious injury after being bucked off a bull during round five of the finals. Just as shocked as fans, the other competitors were not expecting to see Ky at the round six performance.

    RodeoReady Photo

    “I know those guys didn’t think I was going to show up and win, and they damn sure didn’t want me to, and I went ahead and did it,” said the four-time National Finals Rodeo Qualifier and 2023 Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Bull Riding World Champion.

    Ky, who joined the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association in 2019, came into the National Finals Rodeo with over $250,000 in earnings in the regular season and started the finals in second place. Hamilton scored an 86.5 in the first round, a 78 in the second, 87.5 in round three, and an 89 in the fourth round of the NFR. 

    Still riding the high from his recent success, Ky drew the bull Bales Hay’s MAGA, owned by Honeycutt Rodeo, for the fifth round. During his ride, Hamilton’s head collided with the bull, rendering him unconscious. Fans and athletes watched as he was carried out of the arena on a stretcher and taken to University Medical Center Trauma Center in Las Vegas, where it was discovered he had suffered a concussion as well as injuries to his ribs and lungs. 

    Due to the severity of his injuries, medical professionals recommended he sit on the sidelines for the following rounds of the rodeo. However, the cowboy had different plans.

    “The whole time I was in the hospital, I knew I was coming back,” Ky said. Although he wanted to immediately return to the rodeo, he said he waited for a doctor to review any changes in his lungs the next morning before actually leaving the hospital. 

    “There was no doubt in my mind that as long as there was nothing worse with my lung, I was going to be riding,” said Ky.

    Not only did Hamilton return for the next performance, he tied for third place with 85.5 points and took home over $15,000 in round six alone. During round seven on Wednesday night, he was the sole rider and had a $99,000 payday. He continued his winning streak in the following days, earning over half of a million dollars overall in addition to a world championship title.

    RodeoReady Photo

    “I showed that I came there to win, and nothing was getting in my way,” said Ky.

    Although Hamilton has collected numerous wins in both the United States and Australia, he said the countries vary greatly when it comes to the rodeo industry. 

    “It’s a hell of a lot bigger,” Ky said about American bull riding and rodeos. He said that events are more spread out in Australia and have a smaller payout. Because of this, he said people in Australia must work a day job rather than travel full-time from rodeo to rodeo, which is a common practice for American cowboys and cowgirls.

    “Over there, you only get to go to about one rodeo per weekend, and there’s one performance, and that’s it,” Hamilton said. He also said that the stock and competitors of Australia are not on the same level of difficulty as the ones he has seen in the United States. 

    “Everything’s just on a smaller scale over there,” he said. 

    Ky competed for the first time in America at the age of fifteen, and a few years later, the bull rider decided to move from Australia to the United States to rodeo full-time. He now resides in Texas and travels to compete in rodeos across the nation. In 2023, Hamilton won rodeos in Texas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon, North Dakota, Idaho, Utah, New Mexico, and Wyoming.

    With his successful 2023 season ending, Ky is now focused on the year ahead. 

    “It’s the same every year; just try to win a world title… I damn sure want to do it again,” he said. Ky said another goal he has for this year is to ride Bales Hay’s MAGA, the bull that cost him round five and sent him to the hospital.

    “He sure got the better of me, so I’d like to get even with him,” Hamilton said. 

    Ky plans to return to the arena in January 2024, sharing that he hopes to ride in Fort Worth, Texas and Denver, Colorado. Although he will be back on the road, he will be missing his travel partner, Stetson Wright, who is out due to a hamstring injury sustained at the NFR in December. 

    Despite the numerous injuries and Stetson’s absence, Ky will be continuing his chase for another gold buckle and won’t be throwing in the towel anytime soon.

    Editor’s Note: Ky was also featured in the November 2020 Edition of “On the Trail” by writer Siri Stevens  



  • Community Coffee: Rowdy Parrott

    Community Coffee: Rowdy Parrott

    [“Community Coffee is a Louisiana company, and being from there, that’s all I grew up knowing, and drinking is Community Coffee,” said Rowdy Parrott, a Louisiana native and 3x Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier. “Every gas station and truck stop around there has Community Coffee.

    “I saw they were breaking into the rodeo world, and I had a contact with them that I knew from high school,” said the 29-year-old steer wrestler. “He told me I was on the list of people they were planning on reaching out to, and I signed with Community Coffee in 2021.” Rowdy said he likes his coffee simple and hot. His favorite being the Signature Blend Dark Roast with no added sugar or creamers.]

    Rowdy Parrott, originally from Mamou, Louisiana, but now living in Bellville, Texas, said he fell in love with rodeo and steer wrestling after he learned to chute dog in the 8th grade. Chute dogging is a step down from steer wrestling, where younger athletes can learn to throw a steer without jumping from a moving horse. 

    “I had a friend who lived down the road, and I started roping and chute dogging with him,” Rowdy said. “Then I steer wrestled all through high school, and I bought my pro card right after high school in 2013.” “I love the physical side of steer wrestling,” Rowdy said of his choice in rodeo events. “I played football and other sports, and I really liked the feel of being able to throw a steer down, and I was better at that than I was roping.” 

    Rowdy credits Tom Carney and Mike Waguespack, a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association cowboy in the ‘90s, for teaching and helping him perfect his technique when he was younger. “I always looked up to those top guys like Luke Branquinho,” Rowdy said. “But the most help I received really came from Tom and the Waguespacks.” Rowdy said he and Tyler Waguespack, who has five PRCA Steer Wrestling world titles, competed in the National High School Rodeo Association together. “Wags was two years ahead of me in school, so we have been rodeoing together for a long time,” Rowdy added.

    Rowdy was crowned the Louisiana High School Rodeo Association steer wrestling champion in 2011. He also represented the state of Louisiana at the NHSRA Finals in 2009 as a team roper and in 2010-12 in the steer wrestling. 

    After high school, Rowdy said he hit the road chasing the end goal of a world champion gold buckle. In 2013, he won PRCA Rookie of the Year in the steer wrestling and made his first WNFR appearance in 2017. Now Rowdy travels with his younger brother Remey, who also steer wrestles, and Tyler. During the summer, when school is not in session, his wife and three children travel with him. “I have an amazing wife, Lynette,” Rowdy said. “We have three kids, two boys and a girl.”  

    Rowdy and Lynette met at a rodeo while they were both in college. While he said he did not compete in college rodeo longer than half of a single semester, Rowdy did receive his Bachelor of Science in criminal justice from McNeese State University. The couple married in 2015 and have two sons, Pacen and Bayler, and one daughter, Vail. 

    “The boys are wild,” Rowdy said. “They love steer wrestling. They wrestle each other and love being out in the arena when we are practicing.” “The boys are awesome, but my wife really wanted a girl,” Rowdy said. “They say girls stick to their daddies, but she’s still so young that hasn’t started to happen yet.” 

    In Bellville, around an hour west of Houston, the couple owns and operates Crawfish Outlet to Geaux, a seasonal crawfish hut. “From mid-February to the end of May, crawfish season, we sell boiled crawfish to-go,” Rowdy said. 

    “In 2020, when covid hit, I needed another job,” Rowdy said. “I grew up farming rice and crawfish, and they have these huts all over, so I decided I wanted to try it out.” The business started out under a tent on the side of a road in Bellville. But it soon rose in popularity, and now, Rowdy said, they have their own building. 

    “My house isn’t far from Houston,” Rowdy said. “So, all the steer wrestlers stay at my house and eat crawfish during the Houston rodeo.” While he did not make the 2023 WNFR, Rowdy said he is using that to motivate him going into the 2024 winter rodeos.  


  • Team Cavender’s Sage Gaillard

    Team Cavender’s Sage Gaillard

    With a family with rodeo flowing through their veins, Sage Gaillard is no stranger to the competition or the lifestyle of competing on the arena floor. Sage has major wins from her freshman and sophomore years, claiming the gold at the Texas High School State Finals in barrel racing.

    Sage competes in barrels, breakaway, and goat tying. She has had most of her success in barrel racing. Sage shared that her favorite arena to compete is in Abline where the Texas State High School Finals are held. She had two good clean runs but didn’t have a fast enough time to make it to the National High School Finals Rodeo.

    When getting in the competitive mode, Sage shares that she treats it like any other day; she tries not to get nervous but instead spends time with her friends. She also listens to music of all genres and one of her favorites is Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus.

    When Sage is not on the rodeo road, she is found at school or hanging out with her friends. She shares that if she could spend the day with any celebrity, she would love to meet professional barrel racer Hailey Kinsel.  When Sage has a moment at home, she loves to binge-watch Gilmore Girls. While on the road Sage shared that her favorite road trip snack is peanut butter crackers.

    Sage has been a member of Team Cavender’s Youth Rodeo Team since her freshman year of high school, when her brother, Gus Gaillard, introduced her to the team. She has continued to grow and make new friends along the way. Her favorite thing about being part of the team is the team summit where the members come together and meet professional rodeo athletes and learn life skills such as how to interview and be more professional day to day. Now as a senior, she is looking forward to the next chapter in her life. 

    Sage shared about life with her brother Gus, a PRCA saddle bronc rider. He is a third-generation saddle bronc rider in the Gaillard family. “It is great to see my brother accomplish his dreams,”. Sage’s family also has a great history of rodeo athletes, as her father was the reserve college finals champion back in the ‘90s. Her mom also competed in breakaway roping. 

    Now as a senior, Sage is looking forward to the next chapter in her life. Although rodeo is not in the cards for her going off to college, Sage has ambitions to pursue a career in communications and marketing. She hopes to design a line of apparel and be active in social media content creation. 

    The Rodeo News family wishes Sage the best of luck in her new endeavors! She’s left a lasting impression on the young rodeo competitors ready to follow in her footsteps!

    Gaillard Family
  • Rodeo Life Media Corporation Expanding with Two Acquisitions

    Rodeo Life Media Corporation Expanding with Two Acquisitions

    Rodeo Life Media announces its acquisitions of American Buckle and Rodeo News magazines. Coming off of one of the most memorable and exciting Wrangler National Finals Rodeos, the expectations are high to see the momentum continue with some of the best rodeoing out of the chutes in 2024. Rodeo Life Media will be there to bring fans and readers expanded coverage of all things rodeo. “American Buckle Magazine has always been about elevating the sport of rodeo and connecting fans to their favorite athlete. Rodeo Life shares that same vision and will carry it on through Rick & Lori’s leadership,” says Chris Dize, founder of American Buckle Magazine.”

    Rodeo Life Media was founded on living a life of integrity with purpose and passion. Owners Rick and Lori Bizzell of Laramie, Wyoming, began Rodeo Life Media because of their passion for God, family, and country. These values will forge on as Rodeo Life works with its team of experienced rodeo professionals, including editor-in-chief Kristen Schurr. Schurr has strong ties to the rodeo industry, multiple years of experience in the publishing industry, and is a card-holding PRCA photographer. 

    Her work can be found in The New York Times, Cowboys & Indians Magazine, Western Horseman, Working Ranch Magazine, The Wrangler Horse & Rodeo News, Cowgirl Magazine, ProRodeo Sports News, PRCA Business Journal, Tri-State Livestock News, and more. Schurr said that she is excited about the future of rodeo and wants to deliver compelling, timely, and exciting updates to rodeo fans via Rodeo Life Magazine.

    Salted with humor and good-natured commentary, Rodeo Life Magazine coverage will feature rodeos nationwide, including articles on the lives of current and up-and-coming superstars and in-depth and timely information for the growing rodeo fan base. Rodeo Life will not back down from some of the difficult topics that affect our Western way of life, our families, our faith, and our country!

  • National Finals Rodeo Round One Canceled

    National Finals Rodeo Round One Canceled

    Due to the tragic events that unfolded at the University of Nevada Las Vegas campus on Wednesday, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and Las Vegas Events Board of Trustees announced that round one of the National Finals Rodeo was canceled.

     

    The shooting took place 0.4 miles from the Thomas & Mack, where contestants, staff, and contractors were in lockdown inside the arena while they were supposed to be practicing for the grand entry.

     

    “The PRCA is saddened by the tragedy that happened yesterday and our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their friends and families,” said PRCA CEO Tom Glause. “We have worked closely with our partners in Las Vegas and the Thomas & Mack Center to work through the NFR schedule, while maintaining sensitivity to the events that took place. We will bring our fans together on Friday evening to share our support for this community.”

     

    The first round of the finals will now be held on December 8th at 5:45 p.m. at the Thomas & Mac Center and will feature a moment of silence to honor the victims at the start of the performance.

     

    “Today’s shooting on the UNLV campus was alarming and deeply troubling,” Tom Glause said. “The PRCA is grateful for the rapid, professional response from law enforcement and first responders. Our thoughts right now are focused on the victims of this senseless act of violence.”

     

    In order to maintain the tradition of the ten rounds of the NFR, an additional performance will now be held on Wednesday, December 13th at 10 a.m. This event will not be open to the public.

     

    The Cowboy Channel Cowboy Christmas at the Las Vegas Convention Center, South and Central Halls, will continue as planned. It is open to the public and free to attend.

  • Team Cavender’s Jase Stout

    Team Cavender’s Jase Stout

    If you happen to be behind the bucking chutes at a Texas high school rodeo, you may just come across a singing jokester who happens to be one of the top saddle bronc riders in the state. Jase Stout, from Decatur, Texas, has made a name for himself over the past three years.
    Jase started his rodeo career early in the mutton busting while his dad rode bucking horses. He soon moved from riding steers to entering his first junior high rodeo, where he rode saddle bronc steers. Jase quickly worked his way into the winning circle after entering high school. He made it to the High School National Finals in his freshman, sophomore and junior years. Although, those wins came with a price.
    During Jase’s sophomore year, he had a horse rough him up in the chutes. The judges gave him a re-ride which flipped over on top of him. He waited two weeks and got on two more head before finally heading to the doctor.
    “I ended up tearing my MCL and meniscus and had to have surgery,” said Jase.
    He had a long road to recovery but learned that patience is key with an injury like this. Jase took his physical therapy serious and managed to be back riding after two months. While he missed a few high school rodeos and UPRA rodeos he still managed to qualify for the finals.
    This year, Jase came back stronger than before his injury. He has been working on his endurance to ensure he has the strength in the event of having to ride a second horse. He stays in shape by doing a lot of cardio. He worked hard through the season and became the 2023 UPRA rookie of the year. He came home with a short-go win and claimed 3rd place overall in saddle bronc at the National High School Rodeo Finals.
    When Jase isn’t on the rodeo road, you can find him on the golf course or out hunting hogs with his friends for farmers and ranchers in the area.
    Jase shared he has gone to over 100 rodeos across the state of Texas and beyond this past year. He shares his go-to traveling snacks are a coconut Red Bull, peanuts and teriyaki beef jerky.
    He has come face to face with many great horses and many not so great but shares about the one he and many other riders keep an eye out for.“ A J and J Rodeo has a horse named Soda Pop Valley is one that we all have a love hate relationship with.” says Jase. “If you ride him you’re going to win but he’s a tough one to get by.”
    Jase graduated earlier this fall from high school and is currently taking a year to spend time hitting a lot of open rodeos before starting college in Weatherford in the fall of 2024. He is hoping to study ag business and plans to be involved in some trade programs and get his HVAC license.
    He has been a part of Team Cavender’s since his Sophomore year of high school. He has been so thankful for the doors the team has opened and the people he has met.
    “I have met some of my best friends through the team,” said Jase, “and honestly, this is more than just a team, it’s a family.”
    Jase is gearing up for the Junior World Finals in Vegas. This will be his fifth time to qualify for saddle bronc riding.
    Jase says, “I’ve been riding pretty good lately and have been hot, so I hope that carries over.”

  • 5 Star Champion: Randy Britton

    5 Star Champion: Randy Britton

    Pickup man Randy Britton has 154 performances under his belt and thousands of miles on his odometer from the 2023 rodeo season alone. Working for Cervi Championship Rodeo since 2012 has kept the Kiowa, Colorado cowboy involved in the sport that hooked him from boyhood.
    “I started rodeoing when I was 12 or so. Me and a group of friends thought it was a good idea and we rode bulls for a while. Then I rode broncs until 2005 when I broke my neck, so I had to quit. I’d started picking up a little bit in 2002 when a friend of mine started an amateur rodeo company, and I did high school and Little Britches rodeos. Come 2005, I was trying to decide what route to take, because it would be hard to do them both [compete and pickup] but breaking my neck helped me decide. They said I could never ride bucking horses again, and I never asked if I could ride a horse again,” Randy says with a laugh.
    He landed a few rodeos with Cervi Championship Rodeo in 2012 and was brought on full time in 2014. Randy has eight geldings he can work off of right now, the youngest of them a 6-year-old blue roan named Levi. He’s particularly excited for Levi’s future since he and his wife, Kathryn, purchased the gelding as a weanling and spent the last five years working with him. “I just started picking up on him this year. He’s matured a lot this year and I think he’s going to be really good. Miss Rodeo America rode him in Colorado Springs this summer. She got seven or eight calls from people trying to buy him. He’s a true blue roan and a pretty flashy little horse.”
    Randy and Kathryn recently sold their broodmares and decided to go back to buying yearlings or the occasional ranch-broke horses, who transition into picking up nicely. They also have a weanling and 2, 3, and 4-year-olds coming along from their breeding program. “Kathryn is in charge of the young horses, and when we had the mares, she figured out what studs to breed them to. She’s very good at that. We had cow horse bred mares and bred them to barrel-type studs who could run but weren’t super hot, so it was trying to find that balance.” Some of the bloodlines they sought out included Sun Frost, Peppy San Badger, and Driftwood.
    Taking care of his horses is paramount to the success of Randy’s work. One of the ways he does this is choosing quality sport boots and saddle pads, which led him to 5 Star Equine’s products this year. “I’ve always heard good things about their pads and I needed some new ones this summer. I talked to them about getting sponsored, and luckily enough they thought it was a good idea to pick me,” says Randy. “I’ve had a few horses that are hard to keep saddles tight on, especially when they’re getting jerked on pretty hard from roping. I put a 5 Star pad on my yellow horse who’s been that way for years, and I had to keep backing my cinch off. It was not nearly as tight as it used to be. They form to the horses and when you pull the pads off they have perfect sweat marks.” Randy also appreciates the safety 5 Star’s sport boots offer his horses’ legs while they work next to broncs and bulls in the rodeo arena. “With two straps on the bottom instead of one it feels like you can get them snug. And a lot of boots I’ve had heck with filling up with dirt and these ones don’t do that. They’re taller than a lot of boots, so they cover more surface area, which is important for me.”
    Randy is enjoying being home more this time of year with his wife and their four-year-old daughter, Tessa. His rodeo schedule picks right up starting with Denver in January, followed by San Antonio and Houston, where he stays for about two months straight. Kathryn and Tessa often fly out to visit him for several weeks during that time, and they hope to travel with him more as Tessa gets older. Randy has been chosen to work the Mountain States Circuit Finals three times, and the 2022 NFR Open. “I’d like to pick up the NFR ones of these days,” he finishes. “That’s really the only thing left on that list to get.”

  • Community Coffee: Riley Webb

    Community Coffee: Riley Webb

    [“Ryan Rouse is the western sports manager for Community Coffee and my family has known the Rouses for a long time.,” said Riley Webb, now a 2x Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier in the tie-down roping. “We have always been close, but the Community Coffee Team is one big family, so it made sense to be a part of it.
    “I tend to like the iced coffee more than hot coffee, so I always drink the vanilla waffle cone lattes,” said the 20-year-old cowboy.
    According to statistics the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association posted, Riley earned $188,597 during his rookie year in the PRCA.
    “I’ve been with Community Coffee for three years,” Riley said. “My girlfriend [Josie Connor, a breakaway roper in the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association] is also a part of the team, as well.”]

    Riley Webb is a rising superstar in the PRCA and said he attended his first rodeo at only two weeks old. “I was born the first week of August, and the North Texas Fair and Rodeo is the third week of August. “My mom and dad have lived in Denton, Texas, for 25-plus years, and I grew up here,” he said. “They put on different roping events and junior ropings, so I started out just riding my pony around at those.” Together, Dirk and Jennifer Webb own and operate Webb Roping Productions and Ultimate Calf Roping. Together, they provide roping opportunities for ropers ages 8 to 80 plus. These are Junior World Finals sanctioned events.
    “My mom and dad have always helped Roy Cooper put on his junior ropings for as long as I have been alive,” Riley said. “So, my dad already had an in with the Cooper Family when I started roping. Clint Cooper, who has made the NFR several times, helped me get started with my horse at the time,” he added. “He has always encouraged me and always wanted me to reach my full potential.”
    Riley said for him, it has always been roping that he wanted to pursue a career in. “Ever since I was a kid, it was always my dream to make the NFR and win rookie of the year,” he said. “I played baseball for a while, but when I turned 11, I decided to really focus only on roping.
    “I did the church play days and rodeoed in junior high school, and then when I got to high school, I went to White Horse Christian Academy and did their distance learning program, so I did not have to be in a classroom,” he said. “My high school rodeo career was a little different than most kids.”
    Riley was the 2020 Texas High School Rodeo Association Reserve Tie-Down Champion his sophomore year and then won the National High School Rodeo Association Tie-Down Roping title the same year.
    During this time, he also made history by being the youngest person to qualify for the San Angelo Fiesta Days roping and The American Rodeo in the same year. “I was roping for a million dollars at 16.”
    He bought his PRCA permit shortly after he turned 18. “It really was like a dream. I roped at Mesquite, Texas, Wichita Falls, Texas, and Denton, Texas, all in the same weekend,” he said. “I won all three rodeos that first weekend to fill my permit. I set the arena record at Denton, my hometown rodeo,” he added. “That was huge for me. Everyone wants to get the hometown win, but to do it in my first go was amazing.”
    Riley said when he stopped worrying about where he was ranked in the standings and started to focus solely on roping, he began to realize he could achieve the goals he had set at such a young age. “I always pray and ask God for protection and ask him for the ability to show off the talent that he’s given me before every run.”
    At the 2022 WNFR, Riley was awarded the Resistol Rookie of the Year in the tie-down roping and the all-around. “I’d say I had a good rookie year. I didn’t have the best NFR last year, but that made me want to work harder and get off on the right foot when I was going into the 2023 season,” he said. “I really had a chance to show up and show out this year.”
    According to statistics posted by the PRCA, in 2023, Riley had 28 go-round wins and won $280,405 before the WNFR. He will be going into his second WNFR leading the tie-down roping.
    At the 2022 WNFR, Riley wore back number 40. This year, he will wear back number 2.