Rodeo Life

Author: Siri Stevens

  • Rance and Josey Butler

    Rance and Josey Butler

    Josey Butler, husband, Rance, and three year old daughter, Harper are making a name for themselves in the rodeo world. “She goes a lot with me,” said Josey about Harper. “She’s a trooper. My husband rodeos, so from the moment I started riding, she was going. She falls asleep to the sound of a diesel truck so it’s pretty easy.” Josey was born and raised in southwest Missouri. She grew up on the back of a horse thanks to her mom, Patty Batchelor.
    Born and raised in southwest Missouri, Josey rode anything from a pony to her mom’s barrel horses. She also rode various horses for individuals including one who went on the be the 2006 Buckskin World Junior Barrel Racing Champion. Josey competed in junior rodeo and jackpots. She went on to college rodeo at Northeastern Oklahoma. A & M and went back to Ft. Scott Community College for another year. She took Ag communications and she uses it for her graphic design and illustrations. Josey also does abstract horse watercolor art. “I’ve been drawing since I could hold a pencil. I was that little kid that was out in the country and if I wasn’t riding a horse I was drawing it. My grandparents had cattle, and we lived on their property. My mom runs barrels and still does. She’s 65 going on 25.”
    In 2006 she went to work for an AQHA facility in Sperry Oklahoma. Here she was exposed to the methods of both the Cow Horse Industry and the English world. Taking something from everyone she’s worked with Josey continues to use these foundations in her program today.

    web_20170218_172505
    One of Josey’s watercolors

    Josey met her husband while working in Oklahoma. He was roping with her boss and they met at Judd Little’s sale and they ended up on a date. “After that we were inseparable,” she said. “We feed off each other very well – he starts a lot of horses and does it the way I like it done.” The couple has been married for ten years. Rance is a firefighter/paramedic for the city of Longview Texas . His schedule of one 24 hour duty and off duty 48 hours makes it great for starting colts. “It gives them one day to defragment and then gets on for two days in a row. I’m very fortunate; my husband is a great father. He’ll ride his colts in the morning, and I’ll stay with Harper. From the day she was born, we can go back and forth getting our stuff done.”
    The couple has six outside horses; Rance takes four two year olds at a time, keeping them for 60 days. “He does everything slow and easy. He follows how the old cow horse was started – real simple and basic.”
    They were able to start and ride Frosted Fling, bred and raised by Paris Wixon. “We rode his mom (Sun Frosted Moon) and maternal grandmother Zan to the Moon, so we knew how talented he should be, but we knew pretty quick we had something awesome. He belongs to Paris and we get to train him and ride him. She won the AQHA on his grand sire Zan Par Deck.” The owner and the jockey split everything after the entry fees are paid back. “He’s already qualified for the World Show in November.”
    Josey took Frosted Fling to the Semi Finals of the AMERICAN. “He’s only five, and he ran a little bit green in the Semi Finals, but we will try again this year. I’ve been pretty fortunate to ride him at some rodeos and will go on and derby him these next couple of months.” She was impressed with the AMERCAN and the Semi Finals. “Running at the Semi Finals was the biggest stage I’ve been on – I was proud of my colt, it was so professionally run. Same with the Patriiot – they are trying to do something for those of us that can’t travel up and down the road all the time.”
    Josey plans to fill her permit with one of the three horses she can run and after she does that she will set her next goal. The March born 37 year old has dreams to raise a happy, healthy little girl. “Everything else is a bonus.”

  • On The Trail with Burch Rodeo

    On The Trail with Burch Rodeo

    Burch022_WEB
    Matt Burch at the 1995 College National Finals Rodeo, Bozeman, MT – JJJ Photography

    Max and George Ann Burch come from a long line of ranchers. The couple, who are in their 70s, met back in the 1950s in high school. “My folks had a ranch north of Moorcroft and her dad bought a ranch adjoining the ranch that my dad had,” said Max. They got married in 1965. The couple eventually settled back on the family ranch, living in her grandmother’s (Hazel Pickrel) original homestead, built in 1929 and added on to throughout the years. The ranch is 15 miles southeast of Rozet, Wyoming, which has a post office, school, and café/bar.

    Their sons, Matt and Chad, were born in 1976. Chad is older by two minutes. George Ann found out she was having twins less than two weeks before they were born. Both boys grew up ranching and rodeoing, competing in junior rodeos through junior rodeos, high school and on to college. George Ann admits that she couldn’t take her eyes off them for more than five minutes at a time. “We got new knives one time,” recalled Matt. “So we went to the barn where the saddles were and shortened all the saddle strings as well as the cinches. One of the hands thought it was mice, but dad knew better. Our punishment for that was to stay home from cattle work that day – we didn’t mind – it was 30 below.” Matt competed in bareback riding, winning the Wyoming High School Rodeo Finals three years in a row and went to Nationals, placing in the top ten each year. He went on to PRCA and made the circuit finals, won it a few times, filled his permit. He quit competing when the family got busy in the rodeo stuff and he had a daughter. Chad competed in saddle bronc riding and bull dogging; both boys team roped.

    Max started in the rodeo business in 1981. “Burch Rodeo Company started as a side line we got in on and we’ve gotten bigger in it than we ever planned to be,” said Max. “It’s what the boys want to do.” The business started when Pat Byrne from Mill Iron, Montana, came looking for pasture. “He was raising bucking horses and we made a deal to run 25 mares on shares. In the fall, when we pulled the colts off, he got the studs and we got the fillies. We had a stud we used in partnership.”

    In 1985 it got really dry and things were getting slow with the drought and Pat decided to sell out. Max bought the mares that were on the place. “We continued on with that stud until 1987. They called him Last Stand. In 1987, right after we turned him out with the mares, he was injured and I called Ernie Toot in Montana and asked if he had a stud I could buy. He had some young studs so we drove up there.”
    The plan was to pick up a gray stud, but Max eyed a different one – a three year old bay. “I walked through them horses looking at them and what impressed me about that horse – those horses would be chewing on each other, but that horse never quit looking at you as long as you were there and moving around.” The horse ended up siring many NFR broncs for Burch Rodeo. “Everything just worked,” said Max, who bought Tooke for $800. His offspring were big horses, one of them being the most recently retired Lunatic Fringe, out of an own daughter of Tooke.

     

    DSC_8811_WEB
    Jesse Bail riding Lunatic Fringe at the 2016 Buck ‘n Ball in Gillette, Wyoming. This was Lunatic Fringe’s last ride before he was retired. – Rodeo News

    Even though Burch horses and bulls make appearances at the WNFR, Max and George Ann have only been to Vegas once. “I don’t like flying or crowds,” admitted Max. Instead they send Matt, Chad, and most recently, Matt’s daughter, Bailey, who has moved back home to help on the ranch.
    Bailey lived on the ranch all her life, and left for three years to go to college on a rodeo scholarship in Ranger, Texas. The 21 year old came back this year in May of 2016. “I wanted to start helping with the ranch and rodeo company. I want to see it progress and it’s a family tradition,” she said. “I really loved the coach (Llew Rust) and I liked the environment and I’m going to finish my degree in Ag Business online. I missed home.” She lives seven miles from the ranch and travels with her dad and uncle to the rodeos where she flanks the bulls and will eventually flank the horses too.

     

    IMG_7242-(2)_WEB
    Max and George Ann Burch – Jackie Jensen

    The ranch, which encompasses 170,000 acres of owned, deeded, and leased land, is home to 750 bucking horses, 140 bucking bulls, and 2,000 Red Angus mother cows. Ten people work on the ranch and the winter chores include feeding hay to the rodeo stock that will be competing throughout the winter months. “The only hay we feed is 200 head that we are bucking. The rest are all running out on grass.” The majority of the bucking horses are kept in an 11,000 acre pasture. The yearlings up to the coming four year olds all run together and are gathered once a year to sort off the older ones and add the weanlings to the bunch.

    One of Chad’s favorite parts of ranch life comes in September when he brings in the horses. “It takes 10 days to halter break, brand and castrate the yearlings,” he explained. “They we turn them loose until they are coming 5.” They have a big barn by Moorcroft that is set up with bucking chutes, and that’s where Chad spends many days, putting dummies on the horses, bucking them out four or five times, and making sure they behave in the chutes. Foaling starts the beginning of May and by then the horses are sorted into pastures with a stud, where they will stay until September.

     

    Burch019_WEB
    Chad Burch, 1994 – Hubbell

    While Chad is busy breaking the horses, Matt is busy with the hunting operation. “The lodge is 35 miles from here, between Moorcroft and Upton. We have hunters from September 1 until November 30. Hunters come from the East Coast to the West Coast, Canada and as far as Germany to the ranch to hunt antelope, deer, and elk. The family runs the ranch like a well-oiled machine. Chad and Matt both agree the secret is being able to compromise. “If we’re sorting, I have the list memorized in my head and we go through it,” said Chad. “It’s a give and take.” Most recently, the crew sorted 66 head to go to Rapid City. “We’ll come back for another 32 later in the week.” After Rapid City, they will have a rodeo every week all year long.

    “I think the future of the bucking horses is going to get big,” said Matt. “The bucking bulls got big because of the PBR, and the ABBI has helped with that. You could prove the genetics. Bucking horses are the same way, and BHBA, Steve Stone and Kenny Andrews, and ABBI – It’s moving forward and there are more futurities for horses. If you go to a sale now, you can prove what your horse is. We love doing it …”

    “We’ve got a lot of land, and could run a lot of cows if we got rid of the horses, but they mean as much as the cattle to us, ranch or bucking, it’s what we’ve always done. We’re going to keep raising them and hopefully Bailey will keep running with it. Mom and Dad provided us this lifestyle and it took a lot of years to get where we are with our card, and now we’re going to big rodeos that we want to go to … everything is set and ready to go.”

  • ProFile: Jeremy Sparks

    ProFile: Jeremy Sparks

    Jeremy Sparks was a familiar face in the rodeo world for more than a decade. The bullfighter from Arkansas retired in 2010 and took a corporate job back in Arkansas where he lives with his wife, Jamie, and their six year old twin boys, Jett and Jude. Elevate Publishing has recently debuted a book about his life entitled Go West, 10 Principles That Guided My Cowboy Journey. “I kept a journal since I was little bitty and did that too as a bull fighter. Leveraging the journals and news clippings that I collected helped me put this together,” said the 39 year old, who is the only pro bullfighter ever endorsed by the Pentagon. Jeremy fought bulls while being part of the Air Force active duty and is still a part of the National Guard.
    “When I first had the idea about this book and got serious writing it, I wanted to share a few principles, like faith, courage, and integrity. I thought about telling stories to the principles but when I asked God to help me, it just started flowing.” Go West has been number one on the Amazon best seller list. “It had a really good showing out of the gate.” His original idea of telling stories became intertwined with how God used him throughout his career. His honesty with sharing his failures and triumphs makes Go West a must read. He tells about his divorce and subsequent move of his ex-wife and their son, Jas, to Hungary. “I wanted to leave my sons something to remember my life by, and this book was a great way to do that.”
    Jeremy has a Go West Study Guide that is in production now and he envisions cowboys on the road reading the book and doing the study guide together. “Resources geared towards the western lifestyle and rodeo athletes are few. My desire is to provide a unique offering that helps cowboys and cowgirls pursue their calling. Each section is interactive and full of practical life application.”
    His next goals include getting out and speaking. “Jamie and I want to share our story and offer inspiration to all the people. I’m living proof that if God can use me, He can use anyone.”

  • Premier Timed Event

    Premier Timed Event

    Casey Mahoney; Founder of the Premier Timed Events website, an Online Roping Jackpot

    Casey Mahoney is not a computer guy, but owns an online company that is built on a custom-program platform. “I don’t talk the computer coding language, but I tell my developer what I need the website to do and he converts it all and we go from there,” said the 29-year-old from College Station, Texas. His company, Premier Timed Events, started with an idea from his college days. After graduating with an Ag Leadership, Education, and Development degree from Texas A&M in 2009, Casey rodeoed full time for a little over five years. “When I was on the road, I eventually got tired of the traveling. And if I wasn’t at a rodeo, I wasn’t making money.” He figured there had to be a way to make money without traveling.
    “Basically during the week while you are practicing and preparing for whatever the next event you maybe heading to, no matter at what level, you can now get paid for all the hard work you are putting in by winning money while you practice.”
    The way it works is simple. As the roper is practicing, they video their runs. Each week there’s a new jackpot (Books open every Sunday at 12:01 am and close the following Saturday at 11:59 pm) and each week the contestant(s) uploads three runs. All the videos are timed by Premier Timed Events as they are received and the money is paid out based on the time from a 3 head average. As soon as the week closes (Saturdays at 11:59pm), they use Sunday as the time to verify the results and times, then on Monday the winning videos, the ropers, and their times are posted to social media as well as the website. There are no membership fees, and no hidden fees. It’s an 80% payout, with all the transaction fees taken by the company.
    “I’m trying to make this as roper friendly and user friendly as possible.” The online team roping jackpot has been live for three months, and breakaway roping and calf roping were added a month ago. “We are in four countries now and set up to accept any credit card, debit card, or PayPal. We pay one money for every ten teams entered.”
    Casey grew up hunting, fishing, surfing and playing basically ever other sport under the sun in Corpus Christi Texas. “I didn’t put a rope in my hand until I was 18,” he said. “One day I just decided to learn to rope and a good friend agreed to help me learn how to ride and rope. I was blessed to meet and learn from some great pros in the team roping and rodeo world along the way as I was learning the “ropes” and ended up roping in college and at the professional level.”
    His biggest thing in regards to his company is customer service. “We answer the phone 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Since we are international, we’ve got to have the phones covered. Nine times out of ten it’s me, but once in a while it’s someone that works for the company.”
    The future is to get into all the rodeo events, and eventually get into other sporting events. “It’s been fun watching it grow, spreading into other countries has been neat. I didn’t realize that team roping was so big in other countries, so watching the videos from other arenas and countries has been real fun.”

     

  • Heith DeMoss, Hunter’s Paradise

    Heith DeMoss, Hunter’s Paradise

    Heith DeMoss has traversed the width and breadth of the United States, setting eyes on some of the most beautiful scenery the country offers. But at the end of a summer run, the saddle bronc rider can scarcely wait to return to Louisiana, the place he says feels and tastes like home thanks to the people, the landscape, and a hunter’s paradise.
    The Bayou State offers diverse hunting opportunities, and Heith has experienced many of them, such as deer, squirrel, duck, dove, hog, rabbit, frog, and gator hunting. One of his latest trips took him to South Texas for white tail bow hunting, where a hunter recently tagged a buck nearing 200 inches. “Being in a spot like that is thanks to Record Rack, which is what they feed there,” says Heith. “I’ve never killed a big buck – I’ve always wanted to – and being out there gives me a good shot.”
    Before the eight-time WNFR qualifier started rodeoing professionally, he was an avid hunter and belonged to several hunting clubs. “Rodeo is more on my radar screen now, but my friends invite me and I go whenever I can,” he says. “I really like being out in nature, completely camouflaged so nothing knows you’re there. You get to see things happen that you wouldn’t normally just walking in the woods. Squirrels come up close and birds land on the branch next to you. It’s more of a plus just for me to be out there in the quiet and the moment of what God created.”
    Less peaceful but highly entertaining is Heith’s penchant for squirrel hunting. “It’s a big deal down here – people train dogs for it. You take your dog and horse, grab your shotgun, and go ride. It’s quite a task to shoot a running squirrel, let alone doing it from a running horse. It’s a challenge and great fun. You can eat squirrel, but there’s a special way to cook it,” Heith adds with a laugh. “For the average person to shoot a squirrel and cook it, they’d probably lose a few teeth. You can put squirrel in gumbo or a mulligan or whatever you want, but there’s a right and a wrong way to cook it.”
    Heith’s 16-year-old son, Gavin, follows close in his dad’s bootprints when it comes to hunting. His current interest is bow hunting, and father and son make a trip at least once a year to a hunting club in South Texas. They also went gator hunting last year and came home with a total of eight. “Most gator hunting is down south. We live by the Red River, and there’s gators in pretty much any river in Louisiana,” Heith explains. Gavin also competes in high school rodeo, team roping as a header. With the spring high school rodeo season on the horizon, Heith and his wife, Hallie, are always on the move to practices or team ropings with their kids.  “Our daughter, Dixie, is five, and she has a good time at whatever she’s doing. She’s a high-spirited young lady!” says Heith.

    Heith competing at the 2016 WNFR – Hubbell

    His own rodeo season starts with the RNCFR in Kissimmee, Florida, on April 7 after qualifying on the Southeastern Circuit. Only weeks after his qualification, Heith had surgery on his ACL, which he had torn in Calgary, Alberta, in 2015. “I got it fixed two days after going to the NFR, and it’s been sheer hard work since then. On top of physical therapy, I’ve been trying to get my body in shape, and at thirty-one years old, it’s time for a fellow to step up not just mentally, but physically.”
    Heith and Hallie are relocating their Louisiana roots a quarter mile down the road where they’re building a new house this year. Heith also teaches several rodeo schools a year and helps with his father-in-law’s youth camp, Redeemed Ranch. His ultimate goal is clinching a gold buckle at the WNFR, along with winning Cheyenne Frontier Days, Calgary Stampede, and Pendleton Round-Up. “I’d love to win The American as well, so those are the goals I have set thus far. I believe they’re in reach, but a fellow has to do his part!”

  • Volunteers Needed for the Red Bluff Round-Up

    Volunteers Needed for the Red Bluff Round-Up

    by Ruth Nicolaus

    The Red Bluff Round-Up needs YOU!

    The Round-Up is searching for volunteers who would like to be involved in the biggest event in Northern California, who want to make a difference in the community, meet new people, and have fun!

    In its 96th year, the Round-Up is one of the largest rodeos in the nation and volunteers are needed to help produce the three-day event. Help is needed with ticket sales, merchandise sales, the fan fair area, autograph sessions, hospitality, first aid booth, livestock, grounds maintenance, and the first aid booth.

    Anyone can volunteer, said James Miller, general manager for the Round-Up. “You don’t have to be a cattle rancher or a cowboy or cowgirl.” Volunteers also don’t have to live in Red Bluff; the Round-Up has volunteers from all over, including some from Idaho who spend the week in town.

    Interested people can apply online at RedBluffRoundup.com at the “get involved/become a volunteer” link.

    The Round-Up is fun for volunteers, as well as its fans. “One thing is, during Round-Up, everybody has a good time.”

    This year’s Round-Up is April 21-23, with Eleven Days of Round-Up activities beginning on April 13. For more information, visit the website or call 530.527.1000.

     

  • Hastings, Nebraska Pro Rodeo, High School Rodeo, Recognize Volunteers and Committee Members

    by Ruth Nicolaus

    Four people have been recognized for their work with rodeos in Hastings.

    For the Nebraska High School Finals Rodeo, which is held each June at the Adams Co. Fairgrounds in Hastings, Neb., the annual Volunteer of the Year award went to Matt Wallin and Committee Member of the Year award was given to Patrick Niles.

    Committee Member of the Year Nate Allen

    Volunteer of the Year Matt WallinFor the Oregon Trail Rodeo, the PRCA event held each August at the Fairgrounds, Volunteer of the Year award went to Bobby Rust and Committee Member of the Year was awarded to Nate Allen.

     

    Wallin, the high school rodeo volunteer of the year, has been helping with the rodeo for the past four years. He got involved through his girlfriend, Grace Woodward, another volunteer. Wallin helps with sorting livestock, setting up panels and banners, and tearing down after the event.

    He enjoys the camaraderie among the rodeo workers and their common goal: produce a rodeo. “There’s something about coming together, getting the job done, and putting on a good performance. You make some good friends.”

    Allen, a resident of Juniata, Neb., has volunteered with both the pro rodeo and the high school rodeo the past eight years and has been a member of the Adams Co. Agricultural Society for the last four and a half years.

    Like Wallin, he enjoys producing an event, “with the quality of contestants we bring to Hastings, providing family entertainment that’s good, clean fun, and having a positive economic impact on the community.”

    He competed as a steer wrestler for a year while in college at Northwest Missouri State University (Maryville), and served as chairman for the pro rodeo this year.

    Allen is the dean of instruction for skilled and technical science programs at Central Community College in Hastings.

    The 2017 Nebraska High School Finals Rodeo is tentatively set for June 15-17; the Oregon Trail Rodeo will be held August 25-26-27.

    All four honorees will receive Montana Silversmith buckles and were recognized during the Adams County Leaders-Volunteers Banquet on November 6.

     

     

     

  • Cowboy Downhill

    Cowboy Downhill

    Courtesy PRCA

    For the second year in a row, Grant Denny, the older brother of WNFR bareback rider Wyatt Denny, was the winner of the slalom competition at the 43rd annual Cowboy Downhill in Steamboat Springs, Colo., Jan. 16. Denny clocked a 27.75-second time to edge fellow bareback rider Joel Schlegel (28.46). Saddle bronc rider Jesse James Kirby of Dodge City, Kan., won the Stampede for the second-consecutive year. Best crash of the day went to 2017 Miss Rodeo Canada Ali Mullin. There were 92 cowboys and cowgirls participating in the event. The Cowboy Downhill is held in conjunction with the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver, and began in 1975. The Downhill has become a fundraiser for the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund, which provides financial assistance to injured PRCA cowboys. JCCF President & CEO Cindy Schonholtz attended the Downhill, and said that more than $6,000 was raised through a silent auction and merchandise sales.

  • Bulls and Broncs in their Blood

    Bulls and Broncs in their Blood

    St. Paul, Ore. (June 6, 2016) – Get the Smith family from St. Paul together, and you’ve got a whole lot of history.

    And it’s not just the history of the family who settled down, farmed, and still lives in the small community thirty miles south of Portland, but also a history of the St. Paul Rodeo.

    Three Smith brothers: Morris, Bill and Carl, were charter members of the St. Paul Rodeo in 1936, when it began, and later, a fourth brother, Claude, became a director alongside his brothers.

    The sons of J.E. Smith, the boys “borrowed” their dad’s cows and calves for the St. Paul Rodeo, returning them after the big event every Fourth of July. J.E., also known as Jim, a county commissioner and head of the Oregon Works Project Administration, wasn’t very happy about his cows being ridden and roped at the rodeo. Claude was able to smooth things out with his dad, and the boys kept using their dad’s cattle.

    Claude’s son Sam got his start with the rodeo at a young age. He rode his Shetland as a youngster, helping his parents with rodeo duties. In 1959, he married Claudia Ernst, another St. Paul resident, who had grown up going to the rodeo and whose dad ran Ernst Hardware. The couple’s involvement with the event continued.

    Sam’s main job at the rodeo when he was younger was to run the livestock out of the arena on horseback. Claudia sold tickets, working the will call window. “Sam was a cowboy and a natural,” she says of her husband. And so the Smiths were always around the rodeo, always in the background helping in whatever way was needed.

    Rodeo queens also run in the Smith family. Their oldest daughter Jennifer was queen in 1981, and her daughter, Jackie Crosby, was queen in 2012. Claudia’s aunt Virginia Ernst was the very first St. Paul Rodeo queen, in 1936, and again in 1937, mostly because the rodeo didn’t have enough money to buy a second outfit for the next year’s queen.

    The rodeo, which attracts 50,000 people over its five day run, is produced by nearly all volunteers, mostly townspeople from St. Paul, population 400. It takes every person in town to put on a show for that many people, and everybody has a role: from the barbecue chicken cooked by the St. Paul Catholic Church, to parking cars, serving beer, taking tickets, ushering, and all the myriad duties that come with hosting a celebration of that size. The Smiths were right there with everyone else. “When we grew up, everyone worked for the rodeo, your mother and dad, everyone put in hours and hours of labor because they believed,” Claudia says.

    “They bought the rodeo story,” Claudia said. “Everyone worked, but it was a big family reunion because everyone was there. Everybody was on every committee, and we had fun. We hired babysitters and went to work on those committees. It’s a wonderful story. It’s an intimate story about St. Paul.”

    Claudia remembers, in her youth, working to save money for her rodeo outfit, new jeans and a shirt to wear to the rodeo. “You had to pick a lot of strawberries to get them,” she said, “and beans, and we worked on the hop picker.”

    Even though Claudia and Sam are in their eighties, they still volunteer with the St. Paul Rodeo. They help with the annual Wild West Art Show, setting up the vendor spaces, organizing vendors, musicians and artists, and making sure things run smoothly. “We’re active in the Art Show, and I believe it has a value to the whole rodeo story. I think it’s one of the textures of the St. Paul Rodeo story.”

    Sam and Claudia are not the only Smiths who continue to volunteer with the rodeo.  Morris, Bill and Carl’s children, grandchildren and now great-grandchildren are also involved. It’s not common for a family to stay with one group for that long, and Claudia is proud of her family. “In organizations, the family generations do not always stay committed, but the Smiths have, and we’re proud of it, and we’re good at it.

    “I believe in our rodeo, and I want it to be bigger and better.”

    In addition to Jennifer, the Smiths have three other daughters: Kay, Jeanne, and Stefanie, and son, Monte, who also helps with the rodeo each year.

    This year’s St. Paul Rodeo is June 30-July 4. Performances begin at 7:30 pm each night, with a parade at 10 am on July 4 and a matinee performance on the 4th at 1:30pm. Tickets are on sale online and range in price from $16 to $26. For more information on the rodeo, visit the website at StPaulRodeo.com or call the rodeo office at 800.237.5920.

  • Full Beef Tender

    Full Beef Tender

    courtesy of Karen Vold

    Serves 10-12

    Ingredients:
    Full beef or pork tenderloin
    Worchestershire sauce
    lemon pepper powder
    garlic powder
    butter
    brandy

    DIRECTIONS: A full beef tender trimmed – pour Worcestershire sauce all over. Rub with lemon pepper and garlic powder (lightly). Brown all over on high heat in electric skillet with butter. Put in corningware dish – then pour 1/2-3/4 cup cheap brandy into drippings. Stir around a few minutes and pour over beef tender. Put in oven at 300 degrees covered for about 30 minutes. Then uncover and cook another 30 minutes, depending on how rare you prefer. It is ready to serve, but if you must hold for a while take out of pan you cooked in as it will continue to cook.
    This fabulous recipe comes from a lady in Oklahoma City who invited us to supper while there during the National Finals Rodeo over 30 years ago. Her name was Judy and I’m sorry I don’t remember her last name!  My entire family loves it so much it has been our Christmas Dinner special every Christmas.  Hope you enjoy it as much!

  • Colby Gilbert

    Colby Gilbert

    Colby Gilbert has one more year of school at the University of Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada to become an Registered Nurse. She picked the field because of the flexibility. “You can go anywhere and do anything and there are also so many fields that intrigued me. I really enjoy kids, so I like maternity and pediatrics.”  Although she loves the nursing world,  the 21-year-old loves barrel racing more, and has secured a spot in the Canadian Finals Rodeo coming in November.

    She grew up rodeoing through her mom and dad, competing in the amateur ranks and the semipro association, making the finals five times. “Mom is a futurity trainer, and my dad was a steer wrestler, he pro rodeoed, but it was mostly my mom that got me into it.” Andrea Udal raised Colby as a single parent and to keep things financially together, she carefully picked horses, trained them, and sold them to continue to improve on the bloodlines.

    “I sold all of our horses so we could buy more and reinvest,” said Andrea. “She made the Finals on three different horses and won the amateur Finals on a six year old futurity horse. There’s not a day goes by that I’m not proud of her.” Andrea has since remarried and now has two young sons. ““They are the funniest things ever,” said Colby, of her two little brothers, Parker and Haye. “They keep me entertained.”

    mom-and-sister

    Colby is grateful for her mom’s investments of time and training with the horses. “I fell in love with every single one of them, but my mom has been good for me in that every time we gave one up, we got a better one. It made me more versatile getting on so many. I don’t think I’ve made any Finals on the same horse. I enjoy being successful on different horses – for me that’s a huge accomplishment. She does the great job of training the futurity horses and I’m the jockey that takes them from there. We are great team and hopefully will be for a long time.”

    This is Colby’s first year competing on the pro level and thanks to her equine partners, she made it to the Finals. She is riding two different horses from Fulton Performance Horses. “They are outstanding. Their natural ability is like nothing I’ve ever experienced.”  She started the year on a 6-year-old mare, Streakin Ta Corona, and finished the year on a stud, French Streaktorodeo.  “When I got him, they had roped on him, and I derbied him as a six year old. He went to his first rodeo last year.  He makes is so easy. He’s so easy minded and easy going. He loves his job and so gritty. I think he’s one in a million.” Both horses are owned by Corny and Maria Wiebe, and Colby’s mom trained the mare and won high point at the Canadian futurity on her. “We’ve become family,” said Colby of the relationship between her and the Wiebes.

    She managed to get to 45 rodeos in spite of her work towards her nursing degree. “It’s been really time consuming, I guess I’m good at prioritizing,” she said. The Canadian Finals Rodeo falls during a week in November that school is out. She will finish her degree in December, work on her practicum until April then she is done. “I’ll come down south with my WPRA card. So look out, here comes Colby and French Streaktorodeo.” She loves nursing and the people that she can help and be around, but her first true love is barrel racing. “I always wanted to be a barrel racer.” And now, thanks to two great horses, she gets to go to her first Canadian Finals Rodeo, as the Resistol Barrel Racing Rookie of the Year.

    Cutline for the family photo

    It was 2014 CCA Finals. I won rookie of the year and the CCA Finals Ladies Barrel Racing championship and my sister Hallie Anderson (half sister) won Junior Girls Season Leader, Horse of the Year as well as the Finals Championship as well! Very exciting and memorable year for all of us!

  • ProFile: Alex Phelps

    ProFile: Alex Phelps

    Alex Phelps steer wrestling at SWOSU - Dale Hirschman
    Alex Phelps steer wrestling at SWOSU – Dale Hirschman

    Alex Phelps – Bravane Shandon Alexander Phelps – is the National Student President of the NIRA. “It is voted on by the board,” said the 22-year-old from Ulysses, Kansas. “I think it’s a good opportunity for me to be part of something larger than me so I can go and promote college rodeo.” Alex recognizes that college rodeo is a stepping stone to the PRCA. “College rodeo has been good to me and I’ve enjoyed my time so far.” His goal as both National President and Central Plains Regional Director is to help educate elementary school kids about rodeo. “One of our jobs as regional directors is to talk to third and fourth graders – it was funded by a grant under Western Heritage Program.” Alex also received the 2016 Walt Garrison Scholarship Award, honoring one student director a year.
    Alex’s mom passed away when he was 8 and he and his brother and sister were raised by his grandparents, Don and Peggy Phelps. “My grandpa farmed and worked in feed yards and he used to rodeo and rope and I’ve roped since I was little. Team roping is what I’ve done the longest, but I started roping calves when I was in junior high, added steer wrestling in high school.” Alex stepped in front of his first bull when he was in seventh grade. “I tried riding a bull, but it didn’t go my way and Wacey Munsell is a close family friend, so he asked me if I wanted to start fighting bulls and I did.” Alex has cattle sense from growing up doing real cowboy work for his neighbors. He also got to attend Rex Dunn’s last school. He watches videos and studies the action and timing. Now he fights bulls at six of the college rodeos and worked 8 pro rodeos last year. None of what he has accomplished would be possible without the help and support of his family. “I wouldn’t be here without them.”
    He competes in all three events at the college rodeos, making time management a priority; especially when he’s up in the short round. “There’s only one event between team roping and bull riding, so it’s hard to get the horse taken care of and hustle around to get changed.” As the Regional Director, he is also responsible for the banners at every rodeo. “I’m the first one there and the last to leave. I’m there to hang the banners and take them down. Time is money – that’s what they say in rodeo production.”
    He spends five hours a day in the practice pen, working on his events. “We rope a lot, and that’s one thing I try to stay sharp on. But we chute dog a lot too.” He works on consistency in all of his events. “I do my best to have a short memory, so if I have a bad day, I work on that the next day, and then I go from there.” He is heading towards a degree in marketing and loves his classes. “My plan is to get my degrees and have that as a backup plan. I want to rodeo, fight bulls, and auctioneer and see if I can make that work. I’ve sold everything from horses to pigs to tack.”
    Alex recently lost his little sister and has put life in perspective. “Life is short, you can’t take anything for granted and you need to tell the ones you love that you love them. Be kind to one another because you don’t know what the other person is going through. Things can change in an instant, so be happy and let others know that you love them.”