Author: Lily Landreth

Tami Semas—professional barrel racer, saddle designer, and wife and mother of two—found her niche in the horse industry in high school, and dug deep into her passion after college. The first of her family to rodeo growing up, the 41-year-old from Brock, Texas, learned by trial and error, and her persistence earned her two qualifications to the PRCA Columbia River Circuit Finals, and a place at The American’s inaugural rodeo in 2014. In 2015, she was Equi-Stat’s highest-earning rider of futurity horses, and has trained multiple futurity and derby winners. “Where a lot of people who’ve had parents in that event have the process narrowed down a little bit, I had my biggest successes from my biggest failures,” says Tami. “I’ve spent a lot of time learning from horsemen how to get a horse really broke. I understand the game of barrel racing, and to combine that with horsemanship is kind of my approach. I wanted a very smooth motion in my horses around the turn, and I have learned to get a horse to be soft. I’m a small person—I can’t hold the horse around a barrel—and I’ve learned through various horsemen how to get a horse to respond through weight, leverage, and positioning to keep them light.”
Searching for a saddle that was balanced for Tami’s smaller stature led her to becoming a saddle dealer for seven years, and ultimately, launching her very own line of Tami Semas Barrel Saddles. “A lot of saddles on the market didn’t feel like they balanced my weight great, and either pushed me forward or back. I ride everything centered, and I bought a saddle from one company that worked pretty good,” explains Tami, who at that time was Double J Saddlery’s highest-selling dealer without a store. “I learned a lot about what many riders were wanting and needing. I came up with some ideas on how I would tweak things if I would ever be able to build my own saddle from scratch.”
Tami quit her dealer job in 2014, and she approached a manufacturing company about building her own saddle that same year. “A lot of things are the same with saddle parts, but they can be put together to have a uniquely different feel,” Tami explains. Her saddle came out in the 2015, her best futurity year to date, and the Tami Semas Barrel Saddle was a success. They now sponsor several athletes, including Hallie Hanssen, a futurity horse trainer from South Dakota. After two-and-a-half years, Tami decided to go out on her own for manufacturing, and with the aid of her custom tree maker and a new manufacturer, the latest line of Tami Semas Barrel Saddles will launch this fall.
Of equal importance to a balanced saddle is the saddle pad underneath, and 5 Star Equine became one of Tami’s sponsors the year her first saddle came out. “I’m a firm believer in their product. I’d used their pads over the last 10 years, and they’ve been a sponsor over the last 3 years, and we also promote them with our saddles,” says Tami, who is also using 5 Star’s new line of leg gear. “The things I use for my barrel racing and riding I call timeless tools. I’m not someone to use the latest and greatest thing that’s come out on the market; I’m going to use the tools that have stood the test of time, and I believe 5 Star is a product that has stood the test of time. That 100 percent natural wool has always allowed my horses’ backs to breathe well, especially down in Texas. I want a pad that absorbs shock, breathes well, fits comfortably on my horse, and can withstand weather conditions, and 5 Star has been that product for us.”
Tami, who trains all of her horses, sold her futurity horses this year, thinking 2018 was her year to rodeo. But when her horse Smooth N Famous, who won nearly $200,000 during his futurity career, had an injury this year, she had to turn him out to pasture and make a new plan. That became running and seasoning a 6-year-old, Colour Me Gone, she trained and sold but bought back recently. “I’ve pretty much seasoned him at the pro rodeos, and I’ve gone to Northside, which is an open rodeo every weekend. I always like the Diamonds and Dirt Derby, and we just keep training horses this year and selling them. Next year we’re hoping to have our horse better seasoned for the rodeos,” says Tami.
Her 15-year-old daughter, Madison, traveled with her most of the summer, and enjoys riding and other sports, while Tami’s 16-year-old son, Myles, plays football. Aaron, Tami’s husband, rode bulls for 18 years and qualified for the WNFR 7 times, while he’s also one of the founders of the PBR. “He’s doing some fixer-upper homes down here and ropes, and when you have a family and kids at this age, it’s definitely a busy time. What we’re doing is just trying to train good horses, build a good saddle, and let the horses tell us where we’ll be going.”

Cole Edge of Durant, Oklahoma, is sitting second in the PRCA standings in steer wrestling, an event he originally took up in high school for the all-around points. The 33-year-old cowboy comes from a family of ropers and focused primarily on team roping and tie-down roping through high school, but he found his niche in steer wrestling. “I’m just steer wrestling now. I can rope when I retire,” he jokes. “I went down to Southeastern Oklahoma State in Durant for school where Sarah Burkes was the coach. Her husband, Jake, talked me into keeping up steer wrestling and it just took off from there. I like the physicality of it, and you have your hazer, but it’s more of an individual sport—everything depends on you. I like the competition and making good runs, and when you get to the big rodeos, I like the pressure in those situations.”
Cole finished third in the CNFR world steer wrestling standings in 2007, and the pressure at Rodeo Austin in March this year spurred him on to a first-place win. He was also invited to the Calgary Stampede for the first time this summer. Cole is traveling with Cameron Morman, Chason Floyd, and Tanner Brunner this season, and the four steer wrestlers are competing on the same three horses this season, all by Pride Farms’ stallion Lions Share of Fame. “We’re all in the top 20 right now, and I think that says a lot for those horses,” says Cole. “We ride all the same saddles and just adjust the stirrups. I’m primarily riding a horse of Sean Mulligan’s, Miss Kitty, and another mare named Holly, and our gelding Slick is our haze horse. Miss Kitty was pretty young when I qualified for The American on her in 2014, but this year and last year I’ve been riding her every day.
“The great thing about steer wrestling is that it’s kind of a big family. Everybody helps each other out,” Cole adds. “Sean Mulligan has helped me my whole career, and Jacob Burkes made sure I kept going with it. I’m pretty fortunate to be around people like that all the time.” Sean also hazes for Cole throughout the season. “You’re pretty much putting your life in your hazer’s hands. It’s a very crucial job. I started rodeoing with Sean and he’s one of the best in the business. Cameron hazes outstanding, and Chason hazed for me at the short round in Reno, and I haze for everybody else. We can’t win what we do without a good hazer.”
Another crucial component in Cole’s steer wrestling career is his tack, including the 5 Star saddle pads and cinches that he uses. He’s been using their products the last 10 years and joined the 5 Star Champion team in 2014, the first year he qualified for the WNFR. “I like things basic, and their pads are 100 percent natural. The wool absorbs the impact just as well, and I like the 100 percent wool cinches they have. They work for me, and they are a great company with great people.” Cole also appreciates the variety of sizes 5 Star pads are offered in, and has a tack room full of them to prove it. “I can have one saddle and switch it to different horses and make it fit that much better. My wife is a barrel racer, and she has a whole bunch of their pads too.”
Cole and his wife, Torrie, met at Southeastern Oklahoma State University where they were both on the rodeo team, and they were married in 2012. Torrie runs barrels on the WPRA Prairie Circuit, though she’s taking the season off since she and Cole are expecting the birth of their twins in November. The husband and wife also enjoy raising and training horses together, and taking them to barrel futurities. “If not barrels, then we try to rope on them and just turn them into good horses,” says Cole, who also likes welding.
“Winning Austin was probably my biggest highlight, and my horses are working good. I get my confidence from what I’m riding—if they keep working good, I’m pretty proud of them. My goal is pretty much to win as much as I can and save up for those babies. I want to keep placing at the rodeos and everything will take care of itself after that.”

“My drive is to prove to myself that I still rope good enough to make the NFR and compete with the best in my event,” says Timber Moore. “It is more of a job, but I think there’s probably a lot worse jobs in life than traveling around with family and friends!” Timber, 32, comes from Aubrey, Texas, and the 6-time WNFR qualifier is no stranger to the arena of the Thomas & Mack Center. He’s competed at the finals consecutively the last five years and finished tenth in the world standings last season.
Born into a rich heritage that included rodeo athletes and outdoorsmen, Timber’s parents, Gordie and Dianne Moore, roped and ran barrels, and Timber’s grandfather William Holloway was a stock contractor. Many of Timber’s family roots on his dad’s side lead back to Canada, where Gordie worked as a bush pilot and hunting guide, but rodeo was the tradition that Timber chose to continue. He grew up with a rope in hand and started out team roping, later adding tie-down in high school. He competed in both events through his college rodeo career with Tarleton State University in Weatherford, Texas, and when he turned pro in 2007, Timber decided to pool his resources and enter solely in the tie-down roping. “I love everything about it. It’s one of those sports that takes an athlete. There’s lot of hand-eye coordination, timing, and horsemanship. Without a good horse, you don’t have much of a shot of winning at all. The horse has to do so much on their own, and there’s a lot going on in making a good run.”
Timber found his horses felt their best using 5 Star Equine’s saddle pads, which he learned about four years ago from a 5 Star Equine Products representative that lived nearby. “Their pads are unbelievable. I’m pretty sure I’m riding the same pad on my horse since I started with them four years ago,” says Timber. “They’re super durable and made with the best quality of wool—they’re just outstanding.” The past few years, Timber has signed autographs at 5 Star’s booth during Cowboy Christmas and the WNFR, while his social media posts are sure to have a shout-out to his favorite saddle pad company.
Colonel, Timber’s rope horse, has been one of the top three finalists of the AQHA/PRCA Tie-Down Roping Horse of the Year the past three years. Timber bought the 13-year-old sorrel gelding in 2012, the same year Timber was recovering from knee surgery. “I’ve pretty much ridden him ever since. I don’t have any others that I would actually take and feel confident about riding. Buying horses that I can take and have a chance to win money on is the best way for me to do it.”
Colonel travels in the bumper-pull trailer Timber tows behind his bus, which makes it easy for his wife, Valerie, and their 6-year-old daughter, Vaughn, to join him on the road. Tie-down roper Tyler Milligan is also traveling with Timber this season. “We’ve been to Disneyland and Disney World, and we stop and do some things to break it up so we’re not always driving. Vaughn is more into soccer and gymnastics and things like that.” Timber and Valerie met through their siblings, who went to high school together, and they were married in 2007. When they’re home in Aubrey, the husband and wife often work with Valerie’s parents, who run several businesses, including baling hay and selling flatbed and horse trailers.
Timber and his family and friends have also put on the Gordie Moore Bubblegum Roping the past ten years to honor his dad, who passed away when Timber was 19. In the past, it’s taken place in early May, but since the location it’s normally held at is closing down, Timber hopes to hold the memorial roping this fall instead. Gordie was one of Timber’s greatest supporters in his rodeo career, and he also looks up to Raymond Hollabaugh, a 7-time WNFR qualifier and a Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame inductee. “I stayed with him a lot when I was in high school, and he taught me a lot about roping and rodeo,” says Timber. “We stay in touch and talk all the time.”
While Timber has competed extensively in Canada in the past, he rodeos primarily in the U.S. now, though the Calgary Stampede is a much-anticipated rodeo in the Moore household. “The Fourth of July is over and you’ve been driving a couple weeks on end, but in Calgary you get to sit still and be there for a week. It’s super neat to go up there and see all your friends,” explains Timber, whose main goal is a seventh qualification to the WNFR this December. “I like the summer in general because you get to rope and run a calf just about every day. You can get on a roll and have some good timing, and have things start going your way.”