Category: 5 Star Champion

Jessica Routier hit a momentous $1 million in career earnings in the summer of 2023. But the barrel racer from Buffalo, South Dakota, was paying much closer attention to the career earnings of her gritty palomino mare, Missy, who has carried Jessica to many of her pro rodeo checks. “My goal the last couple of summers has been to get Missy to a million dollars because I feel like there’s a lot of people who have hit a million, but not a lot of horses.” Missy secured her $1 million halfway through the 2023 WNFR. She and Jessica placed in six rounds and sixth in the average. The duo’s 2023 season highlights also included winning the NFR Open and the year-end title in the Badlands Circuit.

Additionally, Missy was voted 2023 WPRA Horse With the Most Heart and took third in Purina’s Horse of the Year barrel racing category. “She’s really gritty,” Jessica says of the 13-year-old mare, owned by Gary Westergren of Lincoln, Nebraska. “She’s always been one that, the more impossible the situation may seem, the harder she’ll try. She’s really good in all different types of ground and patterns and really adaptable no matter the situation. She’s lived at my house since she was two, and I futuritied her as a five-year-old. She started her rodeo career as a six-year-old and won the Badlands Circuit that year, which propelled us into our first NFR in 2018. She’s taken me back there ever since.”

All of Missy’s barrel runs are made with a 5 Star Equine saddle pad on her back, which has been a longtime staple in Jessica’s tack room. “I used 5 Star pads for a long time before I became a sponsored rider in 2018. I love how they fit, and they keep my horses’ backs feeling really good. And I love that they last forever.” Jessica also uses 5 Star’s cinches and sport boots. “A lot of boots, to me, are too cumbersome and bulky on the horse’s leg, but I like that these conform to the horse’s leg and protect really well without that bulk.”

Jessica, her husband, Riley, and their five children run 300 head of cattle on their ranch, along with rodeoing and school sports. The two oldest, Braden (18) and Payton (15), compete in high school rodeo, while twins Rayna and Rose (8) and Charlie (7) compete in local youth rodeos. “There’s a lot of days where we’re all out in the barn practicing,” says Jessica, who’s had temperatures of 60 below zero to contend with this winter. “I bet we ride 20 horses a day. Five or six of them are young ones that don’t have a job yet, and the rest are ones that I or the kids compete on.” Jessica continues to ride several young horses for Gary Westergren, whom she started working for in 2011. She also has a full sister to Missy, who is excelling in breakaway roping with Jessica’s daughter Payton and several sons and daughters of Missy.
 

Jessica and Missy’s 2024 season kicked off with Denver, with Fort Worth to follow. “I don’t go to a lot of rodeos in the winter, but I try to hit the big ones and still be home if I can. These winter rodeos, not everybody gets to go to them, so if I get the opportunity to go to them, I go. You don’t know if you’ll get the opportunity again.” Her three youngest daughters travel with her most of the season, taking their school on the road. “They have awesome teachers who are really good about sending work with them. My oldest two don’t get to go as much, but at the NFR, they were all there most of the time. We’re definitely not a traditional family in that we do as much as we can together, but most of what we do is going in different directions. We have lots of extended family and friends and the community on the rodeo trail that help make it all work.

“I don’t really set a lot of goals, as crazy as that is. Every year, the goal is to make our circuit finals and the NFR, even though that’s not a do-or-die situation for us. I take things one rodeo and one week at a time. If we’re doing good, we keep going. One of my life goals is to get my kids mounted on good horses,” Jessica adds. “I’ve had so many opportunities in my life because of good horses, and that’s my goal. It’s for each one of my kids to have those same opportunities if they want them. I believe good horses can create great opportunities.”

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.”

Kim Thomas has been a horse trainer most of her life. Her business savvy and horsemanship skills have carried her to compete in the Barrel Futurities of America World Championship, the Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo, serve on the WPRA board, and teach clinics in the United States and abroad.
While she now calls Noble, Oklahoma her home, Kim, 65, grew up in the rural Florida town of Wauchula. “There were a lot of day-working cowboys there that rodeoed. My parents were not horse people, but they got me and my sister a horse and we went to gymkhanas when we were little. Then we high school rodeoed. Nobody college rodeoed back then,” says Kim. “I trained my own horses.”
Kim purchased her WPRA card in 1980 and went to her first Southeastern Circuit Finals that year. She rodeoed hard through the 1980s and ‘90s, qualifying for the Southeastern Circuit Finals a total of 10 times, along with three Prairie Circuit Finals and two trips to what was the Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo at the time. “I’m kind of glad I rodeoed back when I did,” says Kim. “Everybody had one horse, and they trained their own horses.”
The training skills Kim developed turned into a career. While rodeoing, Kim also competed in barrel futurities on her horses and sold them. At the BFA World Championships, where many of Kim’s horses won, she met renowned horse breeder Jud Little, who invited Kim to come train his horses at his ranch in Oklahoma.
Not long after joining the WPRA, Kim also began serving on the board of directors and was instrumental in forming the Florida Chapter of the WPRA in the mid-1980s. They produced futurities including the Florida Sunshine Classic, and put on the Wauchula Rodeo in 1987. In all, Kim served around 10 years on the board in many different capacities, most recently as the Prairie Circuit Director.
During her rodeo and futurity days, Kim was also raising her son and daughter, Matt and Marsee Ferguson. Matt preferred playing other sports to rodeo, but Marsee followed in her mom’s bootprints. Despite being born with a heart defect and having her first open heart surgery when she was eight days old, with four more surgeries to follow, Marsee excelled in the arena. “When she was about 10 years old, Marsee won the NBHA state championship in both the youth and the open on two different horses, and she won the Speed Horse derby when she was 11, which is a very professional event,” says Kim. “She’s very competitive and won a lot. She high school rodeoed and went to the national high school finals.” Marsee got married and she and her husband Hunter McCown have a 10-year-old son, Kellen. Unfortunately, she suffered a massive stroke due to birth control several years ago, but she recently started riding her horse again. “It’s brought her a lot of joy to have this horse,” says Kim, who lives just 30 minutes from Marsee and sees her often.
Kim continues to be very involved in the horse world, though in new and unique ways. She went back to training horses on her own in 2003, and that eventually morphed into teaching barrel racing clinics. She’s been all over the Southeast with her two-day clinics and even taught in Brazil and Bolivia. “I teach all ages, and I’m a big foundation and horsemanship person. We usually spend the first half of the day working on getting control of the horse and learning where the rider’s body needs to be, and then we do slow work. The second day I usually work with the riders one on one. I truly enjoy it.”
Kim’s clinics are sponsored by 5 Star Equine, who provide her shirts and hats, which she awards to the most improved horse and most improved rider at each clinic. She teamed up with 5 Star when she began riding horses for owner Terry Moore in the early 2000s, and coached his daughter Rachel Moore-Lowrey, who high school rodeoed at the time. “I bought their pads and helped them market along the way,” says Kim. “I’ve always believed that the best thing for a horse’s back is 100 percent wool, and theirs are, so those have always been my pad of choice.” Kim used all of their products, though the pads and mohair cinches are her favorites. “The horses never get any kind of girth itch or rash with them, they’re easy to clean, and the horses don’t seem to sweat as much in them. All of their products are very high quality, and they are good family people.” 5 Star even sent a new saddle pad to Marsee for her birthday.
Kim is recently engaged to Chip Bennett, a former PRCA steer wrestler. “I’ve known him for 40 years and we’re best friends,” says Kim. Along with teaching 8-10 clinics a year, she travels for her work as a sales rep for SUCCEED equine products. Her work will take her to the upcoming WNFR for 12 days, where they are running the hospitality tent for two days and cheering on their sponsored riders in the Finals.

Mike and Hannah White have known each other since freshman year of college. And through their 24 years of marriage thus far, whether it’s raising their two sons, training horses, starting a business, or coming out of the roping box after a steer at the Bob Feist Invitational, the couple from DeKalb, Texas, knows how to work as a team.
Both Mike and Hannah come from rodeo families, and feel very fortunate that they had to train their own horses to compete on. “We were extremely blessed that we got to rodeo and our parents worked hard so we could rodeo. But on the other hand, our family didn’t have money to throw away,” says Mike, who is one of five children. He bought and trained colts, and even took a horse that wouldn’t buck out of his brother Pat’s bucking string and trained it to rope.
Likewise, Hannah has four siblings, and their parents couldn’t afford to buy them all finished rodeo horses. Their grandfather, Jack, who had been a stock contractor on the East Coast and raised quarter horses, along with helping found the Southern Rodeo Association, gave them all the opportunity to train some of his colts. “If we truly made something out of them, he’d sign the papers over to us,” says Hannah. “At the time I hated it because I didn’t understand why my mom and dad couldn’t buy me a finished horse, but now I realize how great that was.”
Mike and Hannah both went on to college rodeo, though neither one considered team roping more than a fun pastime initially. Hannah competed primarily in breakaway and goat tying while pursuing her nursing degree, and Mike rode bulls and went pro. He won PRCA Rookie of the Year in 1997 and competed in the NFR 1997-1999, winning the average and world title in ’99. Mike also competed in his first PBR Finals in 1999, and qualified for 10 more Finals before deciding he’d had enough serious injuries, and retiring in 2010. He was inducted into the PBR Ring of Honor in 2012.
Mike’s career change brought the opportunity for the husband and wife to team rope together more than as a hobby. With Hannah heading and Mike heeling, they began entering World Series ropings and the Bob Feist Invitational. They won the #12.5 Oil Field Showdown at the Wrangler BFI, held in Guthrie, Oklahoma, in both 2020 and 2021, taking home over $100,000 both years.
Team roping also gave them an avenue to give back to their community. They hosted Mike White’s Annual Pasture Roping and Benefit for 13 years, donating the proceeds to Ropin Dreams, an organization that benefits children with serious illnesses or injuries. They’ve been unable to host the benefit since 2021 when the land they used for the pasture roping was sold, but hope to bring the event back. “We’ve helped a lot of people through rough times.”
Mike’s main heel horse went to college with their oldest son, Logan (19), who is rodeoing at Howard College, but Mike has a 4-year-old that he’s excited to put more miles on. Hannah won both years at the BFI on her gelding Theodore, and rides another gelding named Charlie, who is also becoming a solid head horse. Their youngest son, Morgan (12), won’t be taking over any horses since he is a football and baseball athlete. “We’re great with that and we support him. But I told him if he’s ever interested in roping to let me know, and I’ll have the horses saddled,” says Mike.
Additionally, there will be three foals on the ground next spring out of Mike and Hannah’s mares. They are starting over after downsizing their breeding program around 2010, when the horse market in Texas hit rock bottom. Their focus these days is the AQHA Riata Buckle stallion incentive program. “I don’t have specific bloodlines, because if a horse rides good, I keep it. And if I don’t like it, I don’t keep it—you can’t ride the papers,” says Mike. He takes in a few outside horses to ride, but is primarily focused on training his own horses, which Hannah rides as well once they are started.
Whichever horses the couple saddle each day, they have a 5 Star Equine pad on their back. Mike and Hannah joined the 5 Star sponsor team this year, and are excited to be part of a line of products they’ve used for years. The company also sponsored their pasture roping. “What I really like about their pads is that they sit square underneath my saddle and contour to the back, so the saddle isn’t rolling all over the place or cutting my horse in two,” says Hannah. Mike adds that his horses aren’t sore when using 5 Star pads, even when they take some impact when he’s heeling.
The roping duo’s plans are to continue caring for their family, roping in the World Series and jackpots, and further developing their horse training program, MW Performance Horses. Mike, who is also an auctioneer, is building his customer base in the spray foam industry. “I know if I can get that going, I can free up time to ride those young horses more.”

Pro barrel racer Shelley Morgan is no stranger to the ebbs and flows of life on the rodeo trail. The 50-year-old from Eustace, Texas, who’s won more than a million in career earnings, has experienced the exhilaration of winning The American in 2022, and knows the sting of losing her beloved horse Short Go in 2010. The 2023 season lands somewhere in the middle of those valleys and peaks, and Shelley and her sorrel mare Kiss are doggedly working their way through it.

At the time of writing, they are sitting 21^st in the world standings with $61,709.87. “We’re having a good season. Maybe not great, but good,” says Shelley. “Kiss always tries hard. Our goals are always the NFR, but as long as she’s healthy and sound at the end of the season, I’ll be happy.” Shelley planned to compete on both Kiss and another mare, Phoebe, this year, but with Phoebe working through a lameness issue, the bulk of the competition has landed on Kiss. Shelley and Kiss have been competing together for more than five years, beginning with futurities when Kiss was three. The mare, who won WPRA Horse With The Most Heart in 2020, excels in big outdoor arenas and is clocking steadily faster in indoor arenas now too.

With such a demanding season for the duo, Shelley is grateful for good tools that protect Kiss and keep her sound. She rides in a 5 Star barrel racer saddle pad, and boots up in their sport boots. “I consider them pretty versatile. I use just about the same kind of pad on all my barrel horses. I have a swaybacked horse, then there’s Kiss who has high withers, and I have a young horse with no withers, and it doesn’t matter what horse I put them on,” says Shelley, who has been on the 5 Star team for three years. “I never feel like I have to girth my horse in two trying to get it tight enough. They fill in the imperfections in a horse’s back and they’re not nearly as sweaty under those pads. They never have sore backs when we go to the vet or chiropractor. The boots keep the dirt out well and have really good Velcro, plus they are so bright and pretty. All of those are positives when we’re asking our horses to give their best. Anything I can do for them to keep them feeling good is a positive.”

Shelley travels with her husband of 31 years, Rex, along with their German Shepherd and two Yorkies. They also have two grown sons, Zach and Tanner. She’s entered more than 40 rodeos this season, a highlight among them competing in the Calgary Stampede for the first time in her career. “This was my fourth invite, but the first time I actually got to attend. The first time, I lost my horse, Short Go, right before Calgary and I didn’t have another horse to take. The last two years there were COVID limitations, so this year it was pretty cool to actually get to go.”

As the 2023 season draws to a close, Shelley is anxious to return home to Texas and pick up working with several young horses she has started. “I think I do better if I ride my own horses that I’ve trained.” Much of her focus will be on the full brother to Kiss, a three-year-old named Smooch. “He’s become very sentimental to me. Not only because he’s Kiss’s brother, but we lost my dad (Bobby Bridwell) in May, and I had half interest in him with my dad. He’s the last horse I owned with my dad.” Shelley also has a four-year-old by Streak of Fling and out of Fames Fiery Kiss (Kiss’s dam). “I’ve been really slow with him to let him develop, and I’m excited to add the speed and get him to where he can help Kiss next year.

“My next goal if I don’t make the NFR is to stay in the top 20 or 30 to enter the big winter rodeos. As long as Kiss stays feeling good, I’d like to make it to Sioux Falls (Cinch Playoffs) and continue making it to those final rodeos. I’m just taking it week by week right now.  Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger!”

Team ropers Rylie Smith and Hope Thompson walked out of AT&T Stadium in 2020 as the first female team roping champions in the WCRA. They each pocketed $90,000. The team repeated, winning the Challenger in 2022. “I bought a couple horses with the money,” said the 21-year-old from South Texas. “We live where my mom (Misty) grew up – between San Antonio and Corpus Christi on 37.”
She started roping when she was 13, heading for her dad, Ricky. “He wouldn’t let me dally,” she remembers. “I actually started competing in barrel and goats and poles when I was younger, and started roping when I got older.” She switched to roping calves when she was 14. “My dad told me I had to rope calves good before I could go back to team roping.” The 5’3”, 100 lb. the 21-year-old year old tie-down ropes in the WPRA, using all the finesse she has learned from Justin Mass, 8x NFR Qualifier. “I breakaway rope more now, but I still look for a small horse if I can find one.” She has been watching the rapid progression of breakaway roping. “It’s competitive and the girls are mounted,” she said. “If a horse doesn’t fit you, you are going to struggle out there.” Rylie knows first hand about that. “I have a horse that’s good, but I’m not 100% clicking with her. I do enter breakaway, but I’m not hitting the rodeo trail right now.”
Instead, she is focused on training, roping in the All Girl Ropings, and competing at the UPRA and CPRA rodeos. “From where I live, it’s a drive, but it’s worth it. I want to stay in the horse industry – I don’t want to make a living as a rodeo cowgirl – I enjoy the aspect of training the young horses.” Once they are broke, Rylie likes to take them from there. “Going from the dummy to steers and taking them to their first outing – a few backyard jackpots – that’s fulfilling to me.”
The #6 heeler and #4+ header is a huge fan of 5 Star Equine Products. “I love them. I’m not one for flashy stuff; I’m into it for the protection of my horses. In my opinion it’s the best I can do for my horses – they are giving me everything, so I want to keep them protected as well.” She has a lot invested in her horses, riding two mares that she purchased from LA Quarter Horses (Madison Outhier’s grandparents). She is beginning to see the babies of the stud, BetHesa Cat, he’s out of a Spot Tot mare, his name is Rhyme Tight, she purchased as a two-year-old colt from the Ruby Buckle Sale. “I didn’t plan to keep him a stud, but I never cut him. He’s a pain, but his personality and the way he moves, and the grit – that’s what I want in my horses.” She has six performance horse mares and her stud. She has two babies on the ground and one on the way. VeHesa Cat, Ryme tight.
Rylie would rather stay close to home and jackpot, she spends most of her time training young horses. “If you’re in the seller’s market, this is a great time.”

This was the biggest year we’ve had,” said Sam Dixon, past president of the SJRA, Southern Junior Rodeo Association. “It’s given the girls a great start on life in general, and not just rodeo. They learn responsibility by taking care of animals and the life lessons are the best in rodeo.” Hadlie Dixon and Reiny were two and three when they started.
Sam and Heath and two of the other board members, were contestants in the first SJRA finals in 2001. Miss Robin Blankenship had the idea and put a notice in the local paper and a few people showed up and it started. It got big enough to make it a nonprofit. “This year we gave a little over $225,000 worth of prizes – it’s growing,” said Sam.
One thing that sets the association apart from others is all the rodeos are held in the same place – Saline County Fairgrounds in Benton, Arkansas. “We gave them their first buckle this year and it said, ‘home of the SJRA’. We run 7,924 entries in ten weekends,” said Sam. The partnership with 5 Star has lasted for since the beginning. “He was open minded with it and believed in what we were doing. We try to do as much local as we can.” The 5 Star shop is located about an hour from the arena.
Heath Harrison, past board member, serves as the AM arena director. “I work with the 10 and under kids, keeping the arena going.” Heath has two boys, Hudson (11), and Han (9), that are current members, as well as a newborn coming up that will be in the association. “Four-month-old, Hattie, is going to be the next All Around. She was 10 days old when she went to her first SJRA. We wrapped her up and took her with us.” Heath’s oldest boy, Hudson, won the reserve all around. “We all use 5 Star products, from the pads to the boots to the breast collar. We won the All Around because of 5 Star.” Heath was a bull rider and didn’t do a lot of roping, but he knew with all the aches and pains of riding bulls he didn’t want his boys doing that. “When we joined, my oldest boy was five, and had never been on a horse. In this association, they see other kids their age doing things on horses – it gives them the courage to try. It taught them how to ride and rope, and the friends they made helped them chase their goals. It gives them a broader base of friends than our little town.” Both his wife (Summer) and Sam’s wife (Allison) work in the office. “We volunteer and give everything we can to the association to give those kids the same opportunity our kids had.”

A decorated career didn’t make JJ Hampton’s return to the toughest sport on dirt any easier after taking off a year from breakaway roping in the early 2000s. After losing a few good horses, JJ just needed some time at home to regroup. And that she did, because when she started chasing the rodeo trail again, she was as fast as she’d ever been. “Some people don’t understand how important a horse that fits you as a roper is to winning,” said the real estate agent from Stephenville, Texas. “I came back faster than I thought and I started winning in the UPRA and CPRA.” JJ wasn’t competing in the WPRA just yet, but when she came back it would be with a literal and metaphorical fire lit under her rope.
“I had my son [now 13, Kason] in 2009 and I was still winning titles in those associations even while I was pregnant. It took me a few months to get back to feeling good after I had him. Getting back into the groove of going and winning is hard when you’re competing against girls who are going hard every weekend.” While JJ appreciates the increasing interest in her favorite event, it definitely makes her job harder than it’s ever been. “I just had to put in my time knowing I was going to get beat but I had to keep practicing and entering. You have to be willing to grind it out in this sport because it’s hard to beat these girls who are talented and have good horses.”
Along the way, breakaway roping made it’s first appearance at the NFR in 2020. JJ was there alongside 14 other fierce ropers. “Other than barrels, we are the biggest event. We show up and participate. While I appreciate that we can rope at the NFR, I’m not sure how long we can do it for a small fraction of the prize money that the boys go for. We need and deserve to be roping for more.” JJ knows the answer is complex at best, but at the same time she believes that as a group, breakaway ropers have to stick together and stand up for each other in this endeavor. “I think it comes down to needing more sponsors who believe in us, but I don’t have the total answer for that either.” On that same token, it’s the sponsors who have helped keep JJ going when things get tough out on the road. And 5 Star Equine happens to be one of those for her.
“Lari Dee Guy and Hope Thompson both use 5 Star and we rodeo together and so they thought it would be great if I used them too. They both liked how well the pads protected their horses, so I figured why not give them a try.” This was back in 2020 and Lari Dee even called 5 Star on JJ’s behalf about getting her a sponsorship. JJ started out using their fleece pad, but went back to the felt and it’s been a great switch for her horses. “I really love how the pads fit my horse; they do a good job protecting my horses’ back. I use some of their boots too, but they’re pads are my favorite.” Much like her peers, JJ’s never had any issues fitting a saddle to her horses thanks to the 5 Star pads. It doesn’t hurt that they come in favorite color: purple. “It’s the color of royalty and power and it’s been my color for a long time. I really appreciate that this is a family-owned company and they’re great to work with no matter the situation.”

[ I’ve been using 5 Star pads forever; I’ve tried them all and I love the way they fit.” Sissy has a horse that’s 16.2 hands and she doesn’t have to cinch her saddle up to prevent it from rolling. “I’ve got one horse that’s 16 2, and my saddle doesn’t roll, it has to do with my pad. I don’t have to cinch up so tight.” ]

“Making it to Vegas still brings tears to my eyes,” said 25-year old Sissy Winn. “I put in the hard work and it happened. Looking back, I thought it was going to be easier than it is. What we sacrifice to keep going to the next one is worth it, but we give up a lot. This summer, my dad (Tom) will take one trailer and my mom (Melissa) will take another one and I will fly back and forth.” She is quick to give her parents the credit for her success. She entered her first NFR ranked 7th in the world and finished ranked 13th with $149,156 after winning $47,308.
Sissy, who was named after an aunt that passed away, had her future as a lawyer planned out. She graduated Texas A&M University at College Station Magna cum laude with an ag leadership and development degree. “I was studying for the LSAT, and trying to go down the road,” she said. “I wasn’t doing either one very well, I had the horses to go.” She grew up competing in every event in rodeo offered to young girls in southern Texas. She is a 7x National High School qualifier and won the coveted Texas High School Rodeo Association All Around Cowgirl in 2013.
She and her older sister, Amy, shared horses growing up. “We had the same horse for every event,” said Sissy, who spent a few years getting the horsepower she needed to make her first NFR last year. She has two horses that are NFR capable – Chewy and his newest partner, Scoop. “Chewy is scared of men, he won’t let a man catch him.” Chewy got his name from his habit of chewing things. She was looking for a good second horse and found Scoop. “I’m going to love Houston because I have a horse that will love Houston – Scoop. I got him from Danielle Campbell who trained and futuritied on him and we made the NFR last year.” She travels with one of her parents, two horses, and two “support” ponies. It is a drive to get anywhere from her home in Chapman Ranch, in southern Texas. “I drag them everywhere with me; I don’t go by myself. My mom and I did Jackson this week – 13 hours one way.” Chapman Ranch is a small community that used to be part of the King Ranch. It is 15 miles from Corpus Christi and the Gulf of Mexico; a few hundred miles from the Mexico border. “Anytime we see a horse trailer, I’m so excited and then I wonder who it is.” She didn’t spend much time at the beach as a kid. “I appreciate it more now than I did back then.”
She won the 2022 Jerry Ann Taylor Best Dressed Award at the Fort Worth (TX) Stock Show and Rodeo, presented by National Cowgirl of Fame. “I pursued the queen title in junior high because not very many girls competed in rodeo as well as represented the rodeo as a queen; I love to dress up and talk about rodeo.” She was able to do that as she was a former Miss Rodeo Texas Princess (2011) and Miss Rodeo Texas Teen (2015). She and her mom enjoy picking out the outfits. “I want some nice pictures, so it comes easy to dress up.” All her shirts and pants are Rock and Roll and Panhandle. “I love the season I’m in, but I want to have a family and enjoy that in the future.” “Keep going …. It might be better than you ever imagined.”

While Rylie Smith is the definition of self-made, she’s quick to credit her parents – Ricky and Misty Smith – and everyone else who’s had a hand in her roping career so far. Perhaps one of the most important people on that list is Hope Thompson. “I believe my best year of all is still ahead of me, but my biggest accomplishment so far was when Hope and I won the Inaugural Women’s Rodeo World Championship in 2020,” said the roper from Whitsett, Texas. “We’ve been roping together for the last 5 years. We may not always be the best team, but we certainly rope well together, and we’re blessed to win when we have the opportunity.” Typically, Rylie is throwing for two heels but she’s as versatile as the Quarter Horses she rides. The 21-year-old can throw a solid head loop for both a calf and steer.
“Jane [Halleluiajah Wild Card] is my number one for heeling and sometimes when we enter backwards, Hope will ride Jane on the heel side.” When Rylie bought 7-year-old Jane, she came as a pair with her half-sister, Hail Mary Wild Card. When Hope heels off Jane, Rylie uses Mary on the head side. “The girls were born in the same pasture and every time they got moved around, they always went together. And then I bought them together, so they have some separation anxiety for sure.” Anyone would be hard pressed to find Jane without Mary any time Rylie’s out chasing white lines. Where Jane is eager and willing, Mary is hard-headed and full of sass. “No matter what, both of them will give anyone riding them 110%. I never have to worry about them trying to take something from me when I back in the box for a lot of money. I was very fortunate to get those girls.”
With equine partners like Jane and Mary, Rylie’s always protected them with the best. She found that in 5 Star pads and sport boots back in 2018. She became a sponsored athlete in 2020 after cashing a $90,000 check with Hope. “My horses do everything they can for me, so I try to take care of them the best I can. I think 5 Star pads and boots are the best products I can give them to keep them comfortable and sound.” It was a little bit of trial and error for Rylie when it came to finding equipment she liked. “I had ridden quite a few different brands; some that I won and some that I bought. I rotated through them and found the best fit for my horses in 5 Star.” Comfort and protection are Rylie’s top priorities when it comes to her equipment and 5 Star delivers on both.
As both a professional athlete in the WPRA and a rope horse trainer, it wasn’t all that long ago that Rylie and her parents were diving headfirst into the horse world. “Neither of my parents grew up in [rodeo], but when my dad was in his early 20s, he started team roping. When I was little, I always wanted a horse of my own so I could rodeo.” At 9 years old, Rylie got her first horse. And the rest, as they say, is history. “I started in the speed events which helped with my horsemanship. I think that’s the best thing to help with riding a horse. As I got older, I always wanted to rope. I hounded my dad and finally I got a rope in my hand.”
As Rylie puts it, things just snowballed from there. “My parents took me anywhere and everywhere so I could get help and be the best possible, I’m very fortunate to have had that.” Even before Rylie got her first horse, she was always finding a reason to be outside. She’s the same way today, but now she has plenty of four-legged reasons to keep her busy. “I never want to be sitting at a desk somewhere all day long. I like to be hands on and outside. I have some outside horses and some younger ones of my own. I do horse teeth, braid custom halters and tie downs, and everything else relating to horses.

They used to call me Turbo when I was little because if I wasn’t going 100 miles an hour, I would drop and take a nap,” said Stetson Jorgensen. “When my older brother and sisters started roping and getting into it [rodeo], my parents sold all the dirt bikes and four wheelers to get us through rodeo.” This Blackfoot, Idaho, cowboy grew up to be tall and lanky when he got into high school rodeo. He never dreamed bull doggin’ would be the event he’d eventually take to the WNFR. “I started mutton busting when I was 2 and I always thought I would be a bull rider. I worked both ends of the arena for a long time and even won a couple all-around saddles.”
Injury eventually gave Stetson a way out of steer wrestling, and he took that opportunity to focus on riding bulls and roping. “I was a sophomore in high school when I broke my femur and then my wrist while taking down a steer. I sat the season out and then came back and broke my wrist again.” Ironically, Stetson quit steer wrestling because bull riding proved to be the safer event for him. His time at Central Wyoming College with his buddy, Colton Hill, was pivotal to his career in the PRCA.
“I was still roping calves and all that, but I didn’t really like running chutes, so I started throwing steers during practice. Things were clicking pretty well for me, so I jumped on Colt’s horse and entered the last five rodeos of the spring.” Clearly, Stetson had a natural ability because he won four out of those five rodeos and then took home the year-end regional title. “I had a good horse and I really learned that goes a long way in this event. I think I just needed my body to mature and to learn about steer wrestling at a collegiate level. It blows my mind that I ever thought I would be little when I got older.”
After Stetson’s freshman year, he bought his permit and traveled the circuit on and off for a few years before his professional career took off. So, to speak. “I met Garrett Henry at a circuit rodeo, and I ended up working for him at one point. Garrett started Mabel in the steer wrestling the year before I got there. That was in 2018, and the rest is history.” Making his first WNFR in 2019, Stetson won round seven and it’s still a bone chilling memory for him. He finished the finals in third that year and now at his fourth consecutive WNFR, Stetson came in holding the coveted number one spot. “I wasn’t trying to be number one, but it feels amazing. I never look at who’s behind me, just ahead. I look at the finals as just 10 more rodeos to go.”
Under the bright lights of Vegas, Stetson’s 5 Star pad and boots will be working just about as hard as the athletes they protect. “Two years ago, I was looking for a boot sponsor, something that would benefit my horse. My fiancé, Kellie Collier, heard good things about 5 Star pads and boots, so I approached them.” Beyond the superior quality, Stetson appreciates that the products are made in America. Before the sponsorship, he hadn’t tried anything 5 Star made. Stetson’s confident he’ll be a forever customer now that he’s spent some time their pads and boots. “I’ve had my pads for two years, and I still don’t need new ones. If you take care of them, you can end up with a 10-year-old pad and it won’t even be worn yet.” The proof is in the even sweat marks on his horses and the complete lack of rub marks. “I like how the pads mold to the horse the more I use it. I have plenty of buddies who cowboy in the mountains all day and they like the pads too.”
When Stetson got his first set of boots, he had no idea how to put them on. While the additional straps can be confusing at first, the added support is worth the learning curve. “I like how the two straps in the back can cross for extra support. That’s an extra barrier for overreach protection. But I also like that you can’t get them too tight.” The back boots reach a bit higher than the fronts, to give more support for the harder working ligaments. “I use back boots on the front to give my horse a little more protection. They’re a very universal boot.”

“5 Star has been part of Mike and Sherrylynn Johnson’s team for 10 years. “The Moore family built their life around rodeo and passing their knowledge on to others,” said Sherrylynn. “What they do for kids everywhere is amazing. Without what they do for the kids we couldn’t do what we do. One of the visions for 5 Star and our event is to see their grandchildren compete in this event. They’ve been with us forever from our clinics to the beginning of the event on. They are a family run business that knows what’s going on … they are from the heart and really understand it.”

Sherrylynn is talking about Vegas Tuffest, which started out fouryears ago with Mike’s vision. “He wanted to give back to the kids from what we’ve accomplished, and we wanted them to run at the most money possible. He created it and I’m part of the package,” she said. “We built it into a million dollar event for the kids .. not including the prizes – two trucks and two trailers, electric bikes, saddles, pads, boots, and a whole bunch of other product.” Mike and his traveling partner, best friend, and wife, Sherrylynn agree that Vegas Tuffest is exactly what they envisioned and more.
“We have put the qualifiers in states like Indiana and North Dakota, and in the states where the kids can get that opportunity to run in this – it makes them grow and gives them a stage to be on that they’ve never been on.”
“I don’t know any other way of life,” said Mike Johnson, who went straight from high school to the rodeo road in 1982. “I’ve never held a job, I just rodeo. I was an event representative in the PRCA for tie down for four years, but that’s as close to a job as I’ve had.” Born and raised in Henryetta, Okla., he started roping when he was 6 and went to his first rodeo at 10. He had his PRCA card at 18. “Rodeo is what I’ve wanted to do – I have no regrets. You meet a lot of people and go a lot of places.”
“I think if there was a male me, it would be Mike,” said his wife. “When you’re in a box as much as we are – truck or horse trailer – you’ve got to be best friends – you’re together constantly.” They shared the same common goal that they had and accomplished – to make the Wrangler National Finals. Along the way, they are giving back through our Vegas Tuffest event.
The couple has built their life around rodeo and passing their knowledge on to others. Mike started doing clinics 30 years ago. “We started helping kids in small groups,” said Sherrylynn. “We don’t have kids, I don’t have patience for young horses, but I do with the kids.” The couple has worked their entire life to do what they are doing now and a large portion of their time is devoted to managing the qualifiers for Vegas Tuffest, held Nov 30-Dec 5, starting with the back number ceremony, at the Expo at World Market Center, Las Vegas.
Part of the Vegas Tuffest program is set up to help kids get to Vegas. “25% of the 850 kids coming this year are part of that program – they are sponsored through Vegas Tuffest Sponsorship Program. This program partners sponsors with contestants. The Sponsor pays for the contestant, allowing them to have five hotel nights, five nights of a stall, and entry fees paid. Some of those kids that are sponsored win, and then the sponsor gets a chance to win money as well.
“For some kids, winning at Vegas Tuffest can be life changing – they could win as much as $30,000 per event – that’s life changing.”