Category: On The Trail

It’s a rare occurrence in the sports world when someone comes into the game and has the potential to change the entire history of a discipline. For one in this position, one would almost expect the worst from the champion because they have the constant pressure of excelling in their event, while having others gunning for them. In just two short years, Sage Steele Kimzey, 21, has broken numerous records and is on the path to rewriting the history of bull riding. Ironically, for someone that is always in the spotlight, no one really knows him.

When most people speak about Kimzey, the words “standoffish,” “fierce,” and “focused,” are often thrown around. Yet that is only describing him as a person, not his ability. Some believe that the Strong City, Oklahoma native was an overnight success because during his rookie year in the PRCA he managed to clinch the CBR World Champion title, the Ram Top Gun Award and he became the PRCA World Champion Bull Rider.

In a sport that seems so demanding and complicated to most, Kimzey makes it look effortless. Everyone was created to excel in something, but Sage Kimzey has managed to create more bull riding fans with each ride and exceeds even his own expectations. Yet, as stated before, no one knows anything about him. We all know about his powers inside the arena, but so many fail to recognize him as a person when he takes off his Wrangler shirt and jeans and is simply, Sage. So, who is Sage Kimzey?

Sage Kimzey is best described as a methodical person, who comes off as proud individual that is striving for perfection, even though he knows it’s unattainable. “People always see me as a fierce competitor that wants the sport of rodeo to grow, anytime there is a problem or some area is lacking, I definitely speak my mind and a lot of times it comes off as uncensored and pretty harsh,” says Kimzey when talking about reactions from his competitors. The nature of his competitiveness is nothing new; in high school as a senior point guard for the Cheyenne Bears he led his team to win the State Championship in basketball. Shortly thereafter, Kimzey was involved in a car accident that resulted in a broken hand. Fast-forward to college, where Kimzey finished fourth in the nation as a freshman representing Southwestern Oklahoma State University. So he had success in high school and in college, but could he hold up in the pro ranks?

In 2014 the legacy of Sage Kimzey begins with wins at San Antonio, Tulsa, Rapid City, Spokane and many more. Then it comes time for the National Finals Rodeo and everyone was curious to see the 20-year-old wonder boy compete in the Thomas and Mack in front of thousands of people. He was put in the position that every real champion wants to be in, would he rise to the occasion or choke? Well $175, 466 in 10 rounds, tied him with the most rounds ever won at the NFR with four, to secure the average title and make him the second rookie in history to win a gold buckle.With such a prosperous first season coming to a wrap, everyone assumed that Kimzey was on top of the world. However, the newly crowned World Champion didn’t appear to be a kid that had just reserved his spot in history.“I felt like I had left a few things on the table, I wanted to ride all ten rounds of the NFR and after I bucked off the first round, I definitely felt defeated. I was happy to accomplish a life long dream, but it didn’t sit right, especially after I bucked off in the tenth round,” says Kimzey. When asked about his hard outer shell he portrays to the world, he said he is a competitor from the time he enters the arena, until he leaves. Anyone that wants to achieve greatness understands this quality. To some though, they don’t know why he is not like the other guys. For those that do not know him, have you ever considered the fact that the qualities that make him great are in fact what set him apart? For instance, he has been in several high pressure situations whether it’s facing JB Mauney in Calgary for the title or coming in the number one man in the standings as a rookie…Most of those situations are not ideal, yet he never looks nervous.

Emotions, the downfall of many athletes or individuals; once you allow yourself to feel the emotions that are normal of high-pressure situations, you lose focus. Sage Kimzey has trained himself to shut out the emotions and treat bull riding like an art. For eight seconds, he is in a parallel universe where the world is not apparent and he is focused on conquering a beast that always comes in fighting condition. To be the best bull rider in the world, you have to negate any feelings of uncertainty and take care of the task at hand. “I expected to be at the place I’m in, just not this fast,” said Kimzey jokingly.

Last year after he won the world title, they asked him, “What’s next?” and Kimzey responded, “You can only go up from here.” The success and fame from the gold that graced his belt did not faze him; instead it made him eager for the new season.

With the 2015 season, Sage Kimzey managed to exceed even his first season with wins at Rodeo Houston, the Calgary Stampede, the Ellensburg Rodeo, the Pendleton Round-Up, the Xtreme Bulls Tour Finale, the Wrangler Champions Challenge Finale, Spanish Fork Fiesta Days Rodeo, Lawton and several more. Out of the major rodeos, the only ones that he was not able to win was the Salinas Rodeo and Cheyenne Frontier Days. As one can see, he has a lot to brag about when it comes to this season, coming into the National Finals Rodeo in the number one spot and with a title to defend, Sage Kimzey remains calm and focused. Every time someone is at the top of his or her game, people are going to talk and whether its good or bad…History remembers the rides, not the rumors. If Kimzey continues on the same path, every industry professional will agree that he is destined for the greatest of things.

If you are a fan of rodeo and of bull riding, its a great time for you to get to witness this man on a path to break every record since bull riding began, at this point he is being compared to the greatest of all time. As they say, “the finest steel has to go through the hottest fire.”

 

story by Siri Stevens

 

Tyrel Larsen obtained his undergraduate degree at Panhandle State University in Business Management and rode saddle broncs under the direction of rodeo coach, Craig Latham; he took it a few steps further, marrying his daughter, Chaney, October 17.  “Somebody was trying to talk me into buying her flowers one day for Valentine’s day and it went from there,” said the Canadian from Inglis, Manitoba. Tyrel has had a busy summer, preparing for his wedding and punching his ticket to his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in December. He took the 15th spot by $573 over Chad Ferley. “I was 16th two years ago so I know how it feels,” he said. “It was a little bit déjà vu from a few years ago. It all worked out. There were at least seven of us that last weekend that could have probably made it. Whoever drew good really and got lucky is what it came down to. There’s no hard feelings, but it’s tough. I’ve been there and you’re not ever mad at anybody but yourself.” Tyrel blew his knee out last year. “I got hurt when I was having the best year I’ve ever had.” He spent eight months recovering and working in Canada to put the money together to hit the rodeo road once he was cleared. “Chaney and I bought a house instead and so I had to scrape it together to go, but it worked out.” He will be riding broncs at the Thomas and Mack and his younger brother, Orin, will be there as well, riding barebacks, competing for the first time and making it in the 10th spot.

Tyrel has been in the United States now for almost eight years, and during that time, he made five trips to the College National Finals Rodeo and won it his fifth year, 2012. The distance from Manitoba and his home in Weatherford, Okla., is 25 hours. “It was 21 hours from home to Guymon,” he said. “And we’d drive that straight through.” Driving is nothing new to Tyrel or his family. “We rode steers in the amateur association. Being in Manitoba we had to drive further I’d say an average of six hours to a rodeo a weekend to a CCA rodeo – so it didn’t seem like that big a deal to go to school so far away.” Tyrel’s dad, Kevin, who ranches, amateur rodeoed as a bull rider, and got the family interested.  His mom, Wanda, runs a hair salon, Wanda’s Barber Shop in nearby Roblin, Manitoba. In addition to his younger brother, Orin, Tyrel has an older sister, Cassie, and a younger brother, Kane, who is just finishing college.

“Manitoba’s winters are really tough. Once we came down and had a full year, me and my two brothers, and could practice in February and March and the guys back home were feeding cows from the trucks, it was pretty awesome.” He has known his wife, Chaney, since his freshman year of college in 2008. The couple is expecting their first child in April.  He has been rodeoing in the PRCA since 2010, balancing his education with his rodeo career. After obtaining his Business Management degree, he went on to his Masters, completing his MBA in Business Administration in 2013 through Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford, Oklahoma. “My first year on my Masters was a reality check,” he said. “The work was piled on to make sure I was taking it serious. I was rodeoing full time and college rodeoing, so I’d stop at different colleges and write papers for a few hours and send stuff off, it was a little bit of dedication but I’m sure glad I did it.”

He chose the business degrees for a variety of reasons. “Everything is a business whether it’s running your place, getting a job, or anything – it’s all business related in one way or another.” He is not sure what he’s going to do with his degree. “My biggest idea was to come down and go to school and get that paid for with rodeo.” He went on to get his masters to help him make some investment decisions and get as much education in the business world and financial world to make good decisions so he’s sitting better financially when he’s done. “I have to pay taxes on both sides of the border, so that takes a chunk out of my earnings,” he said. He’s investing in buying a place, putting on a wedding, and now that they have a place, he’s working on paying it off. “We’d like to buy a little bit of land and add on to the house and add value to the place so hopefully it’s worth more in the end.”

Since Tyrel is Canadian, he can’t have a full time job in the United States. “I was fortunate enough to have a decent winter and go all year and keep a fire at the place, rodeo, and put a wedding on.” Tyrel and Chaney got married at their place in Weatherford and had the reception in Guymon. They took a short honeymoon in Florida and are focused on the finals. He’s planning to start on his green card now that he’s married. “Since I’ve been on two different student visas and a sport visa, it should be pretty easy. It can take some time, though. It depends on your paperwork – sometimes it takes a couple years to get. You never know.” Once he gets his card, he will continue to rodeo and be able to get some cows or do day work. “It would open up a lot more doors for me.” ”

 

 

story by Siri Stevens

Ben Clements grew up with a rope in his hand. “I drug a rope with me everywhere I could go, even to school,” said the 39-year-old from Odessa, Texas. Born in Amarillo, his family moved to Odessa to run the cattle portion of the K-Bar Ranch, which encompasses 70 sections in the desert. “My sister (Brandi) and I drove seven miles of dirt road to catch the bus for school – I was driving in the fourth grade.”

Ben ropes both ends, starting out as a heeler. “I entered my first team roping in 1986, when I was ten.” He competed in the AJRA and high school rodeo, making the Texas High School Finals three years and making one trip to the National High School Finals. He started college at Howard College, in Big Spring, Texas, and continued his education at the University of Texas. He made it to the CNFR all four years, three times as a heeler and once as a header.

Ben decided in the sixth grade that he wanted to be a dentist and oral surgeon. He graduated high school as valedictorian, and went to college majoring in biology with a chemistry minor. After obtaining that degree, he chose a different path and got a second degree in mass communications. “I came home from college one weekend and my mom and dad were putting on a high school rodeo in Crane and they needed an announcer. It took off from there,” he said. He partnered with his sister, Brandi, who runs the sound board,  and formed X-Treme Entertainment. “We are now announcing 40 to 45 events a year. Brandi runs sound for the rodeos, but not necessarily the team ropings.”

After he graduated with his second degree, Ben was in limbo for a while, working for his dad and announcing. The door opened for him to work at the USTRC handling event insurance, the affiliate program, and the scheduling. “I still do that today, but since then, I’ve added the job as editor of the Super Looper (2004).” He also started the Final Spin, a TV show that began in 2011 as a UTube show, and has graduated to a show on RFDTV. “We just finished our second season and the third season starts in January.” The show, which focuses on team roping, with an emphasis on the USTRC, can been seen on RFDTV, Wednesdays at 7:30 Central Time.

He met his wife, Jodi Cornia,  through the USTRC. Her dad (Bill Cornia) is a producer in Utah and she was announcing, timing, and secretarying and they visited by phone, dating on and off for several years.  Jodi took a marketing job for Outlaw Conversions in Stephenville and the rest is history. They got married in May of 2008 and had their daughter in 2011. “TyAnn fits perfectly into everything we’re doing, she loves horse and likes to ride and run barrels. She is starting to rope too.” Jodi is mainly a barrel racer, but she also heads. They have leased ground next to their house that they run commercial Angus cattle, as well as Corrientes. “We also raise a little hay. We ride quite a bit but we don’t practice as much as we used to. Most of the time we are getting home and putting up hay or doing something with cows.” Jodi still secretaries, announces, and times ropings throughout the region.

As if the plate wasn’t full enough, Jodi and Ben are now producing three ropings a year. “I grew up juggling a lot of balls and multi tasking. There’s a lot going on, but I’m pretty good at prioritizing and keeping in the right direction. I’ve got a great family and support system so we knuckle down and get everything done.” They started with Jingle Bell Classic in November 2011. “I always wanted to do a fund raiser and give money back to kids over Christmas and we incorporated a food drive and toys with the event. Last year we gave a very sizable donation to Tarleton State University as well as two pick up beds full of toys to the foster home and a full pick up bed of food to the Soup Kitchen. It was hugely successful and has grown into something we are very proud of.” In 2015 they added the Big Break in March as well as the Summer Blast over July 4. “I don’t know if time will allow for anymore, but we are open to that.” Producing fits right into their lifestyle with both of them being heavily involved in the production of it.
Ben enjoys what he is doing with the sport of team roping. “I enjoy the people and the uniqueness of the team roping community, and our goal is to continue to produce events.” The most important role he’s playing now is dad. “We want to raise our daughter in a good home with a solid foundation and allow her to follow her dreams. Right now she loves music and loves to dance. We dance a lot together.”

“He can do anything in the roping world from A to Z,” said Philip Murrah. “He’s behind the mic more than he ropes.”

“You many not know what God has in store for you, but if you follow his plan and guidance, you will be pleasantly surprised with the outcome. From the time I was in the sixth grade, I knew I wanted to be an oral surgeon. My path changed and here we are today and I’m extremely happy with everything we’re doing …”

story by Ruth Nicolaus

Rodeo fans across the nation are familiar with Hadley’s voice, and those who were on dance floors across Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado from the 1950s through the mid-80s, listened to Hadley Barrett and the Westerners as he played guitar and sang.

The Kersey, Colo. resident was born and raised in the North Platte, Neb. area, the sixth of seven children of C.J. and Estella (better known to friends and neighbors as “Mom” Barrett.) The family lived on the ranch ten miles north of town, and Hadley grew up knowing how to work. He was “working out” –working for neighboring farmers and ranchers –by the time he was fifteen. Hadley remembers the generosity of his parents. There was always a few extra plates around the dinner table. “Periodically we would have a less privileged kid who would hang out at our place.”

He attended country school, and when he went to high school in North Platte, he boarded with his sister, who had a job and an apartment in town. It was not to his liking. “I was a country kid, and had not been exposed to that kind of life,” he said. “I wasn’t accustomed to the city kids, I didn’t like being away from home, and I didn’t like the school.” At the end of his freshman year, he announced to his parents that he wasn’t going back. “I’m going to work,” he said, and he did.

When Hadley was eight, his parents signed him and his brothers Mike and Bob up for music lessons. Lessons were fifty cents per student, per week, “which was quite a lot then,” Hadley said. “We were living basically on a cream can check for groceries.” Even though Hadley doesn’t remember his parents being musically talented, he and his brothers showed promise. “We learned real quick.” The teacher had recitals at rural schools, taking his best students to perform at them. He began to feature the Barrett boys, because of their skill and ability to play together.

Hadley’s first public music performances after the recitals were intermissions between the Saturday matinees at the local theater in North Platte, where he and his brothers played instruments. At age ten, he was playing the ukulele and the banjo ukulele. The boys were paid a quarter each, plus free movies, and they were delighted. “We could watch the movie and buy popcorn and a pop.”

Then he began to learn to play the guitar. His older sister had one that he used, and between his older brother and a neighbor who knew how, and experience, he learned. “I learned mostly sitting in my room at night with a coal oil lamp and picking,” he recalled.

By this time, Hadley was riding bareback horses and bulls and doing more ranch work.  He never planned on being in a band. But a man he knew through the rodeo business, a good singer, decided to put a band together, and called Hadley to play. Hadley played the guitar and sang while his brother Mike played the electric guitar.

When the man married, his new wife objected to the band lifestyle. He quit, and Hadley and his brothers took over.

It was the mid 1940s, and the band, called Hadley Barrett and the Westerners, played at dances, county fairs and grandstand shows across Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado. In those days, “those little towns had dance halls, and that was typically the only entertainment those small towns had.” He can’t list all the towns he’s played in. “It would be easier to tell you the little towns we didn’t play,” he laughed.

In the ‘60s and ‘70s, as Grand Ol’ Opry stars played across the region, it became customary that their bands did not travel with them; they found a local band, and Hadley’s band was often called. They played for Jim Reeves, George Morgan, Little Jimmy Dickens, Don Gibson, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Roger Miller, and more.

The band was huge, Hadley recalled, “a lot bigger than we realized at the time.” It was also cutting edge in some of its practices. Band members wore matching outfits, they had a public announcement system, and they would talk between songs, announcing that their next song would be a waltz, for example, or announcing a birthday or anniversary. Hadley also bought a bus with which the band traveled.

During all this, he was still ranching at home. Having been the last of the Barrett kids to marry, at age 22, he was running the home place with his dad’s help, working for other farmers and ranchers, playing with the band, and rodeoing. He’d begun to make contacts in the rodeo world, which would lead to his next career.

He was friends with Joe Cavanaugh, a rodeo announcer and bull rider, who always found a fill-in  while he rode his bull at rodeos he announced. Joe knew Hadley had experience in front of a microphone, so at the Arnold, Neb. rodeo, he called on Hadley to help. The second performance, Joe had the flu and couldn’t talk. The committee asked Hadley to fill in, and “that was the first full-fledged rodeo performance I announced,” he said.
As a result, rodeos contacted him, asking him to work. He was in the same predicament as Cavanaugh: find someone to announce while he got on his bareback horse or bull. But that didn’t stop committees from hiring him. He announced almost every amateur rodeo he could get to: from Nebraska to Kansas to the edge of Colorado.

At this time, Harry Waltemuth, committee member with the Buffalo Bill Rodeo in North Platte, told Hadley he wanted to hire him. Hadley didn’t have a Rodeo Cowboys Association card; Harry didn’t care. When the RCA informed Harry that Hadley would not be announcing their rodeo, as he was not a card holder, Harry told them that if Hadley didn’t announce North Platte, North Platte would not be an RCA rodeo. “That got everybody off dead center,” Hadley quipped. He still has the letter from the RCA, giving him permission to announce the rodeo without a membership.

Hadley did become an RCA member the next year, in 1965, but it was a worry. At that time, RCA members could only work RCA events, and all of Hadley’s rodeos were amateur. “I had to give up pretty good contracts,” he recalled. “You had to wonder if you’d make a living.”

By this time, the band activities were beginning to decrease. Hadley booked rodeos so far in advance it was difficult to know when a dance would be scheduled on top of a rodeo. And it didn’t work well if the front man, lead singer and guitar player couldn’t show up. The band dissolved in the mid 1980’s.
It didn’t take long for his rodeo career to grow. “The first year was really skinny,” he recalls, but that changed quickly. In his fifty years of pro rodeo (now the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association), he’s announced nearly every big rodeo in the country: from Sidney, Iowa, to  Greeley, Colo., Cheyenne Frontier Days, and the Buffalo Bill Rodeo in North Platte since 1965. He’s been the PRCA’s Announcer of the Year four times, and has announced the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo four times and the National Steer Roping Finals as well. He was the television announcer for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo from 1980 through 1990, and from 1994 through 2004, and he’s called the action at the Canadian Finals Rodeo seven times.

In 1993, he left North Platte and moved to Kersey, Colo. His rodeo career had grown to where he needed to be near a big airport. For a while, Hadley’s son Trent took care of his cow herd, but eventually he sold it. “I always considered my rodeo career as a part time job. I was basically a rancher who had this sideline of announcing rodeos. It took a long time to come to my senses that the ranching was my sideline, and the rodeo was my banker for the ranch.”
“Now I’ve gone to the dogs,” he jokes. He and his wife, Lee, raise white Golden retrievers, and he laughs that he is her “most affordable maintenance man.”
Hadley and his first wife Clarice have three children: Trent, who lives on the Barrett place north of North Platte, Michelle Corley, married to rodeo announcer Randy Corley, and Kimberly Jurgens. Lee’s children are Travas Brenner and Katie Brenner; Hadley and Lee have an adopted daughter, Taleah Barrett.

And he’s still going strong. He continues to announce rodeos and enjoy friends in both rodeo and the music world. “Rarely does a week go by that someone doesn’t say, ‘we used to dance to your music,’ or ‘you played at my mom and dad’s prom.’”

And the legend hasn’t quit. He keeps up a busy rodeo schedule and loves the friendships he’s made. “The friends, that’s where the real value is.”

 

Wade and Sabrina Kreutzer have been roping together for 24 years.  They have been part of the CPRA rodeo family since 1989; Wade served on the board for ten years as a team roping director in the late 1990s. “I always wanted to make a run at the NFR, but family came first,” said the 46-year-old # 7 header and 8+ heeler. “I’ve been able to rope with a lot of guys and I’ve met so many good friends through my roping. Back in the day, there was no point system, so it was open ropings. That’s all they had for a long time. We learned to reach; we didn’t rope close. We had to rope against all the toughs all the time. That made us better later on.”

Wade belongs to the PRCA, a card holder since 1989, as well as the USTRC and the World Series. Wade and Sabrina live on a ranch that his grandpa owned, 15 miles west of where he was born in Walsenburg, Colo. He put a rope in his hand when he was 11. “My mom and dad ran a gas station in LaVeta for 25 years. When I was 11, we moved out to a ranch and that’s when I started riding and roping with my cousins. That’s all I wanted to do.” He started out tie down roping. Wade’s dad showed him how to rope a bale of hay and he learned on his own, trial and error. When he was a sophomore in high school, he added team roping, entering the high school rodeos with partners he drew. He made it to the high school finals twice.

He went to college at LCCC in Cheyenne, rodeoing under Pinky Russel Walters for two years. “Tim Bath was our Timed Event coach and he taught a class in it.” He transferred to CSU Pueblo, where Sabrina was going to school, for two years. “College was outstanding for me. It was enter twice. I made the College National Finals my junior and senior year, and won third my last year, 1991, with Brian Espencheid.” That was the same year he married Sabrina. “We got married in March, and I went to the finals three months later.”

He settled into married life, raising two sons with Sabrina, training horses, coaching for the basketball and football teams, for the next 17 years, rodeoing in the circuit and at the CPRA rodeos. He was the Dodge National Circuit Champion in 2004 with Ryan Zurcher and again in 2006 with Mark Kersting. He qualified for them 5 or 6 times.

Wade and Sabrina had known each other through National Little Britches and started dating at the end of Wade’s sophomore year in college. She grew up in Penrose, Colo., and started her rodeo career before she was 8, competing in barrels and poles.  “I did Little Britches all through growing up and high school rodeo, competing in barrels, poles, goats, and breakaway. She started team roping in high school, roping with her dad.” She went to college for one year at Pratt College in Kansas, and then transferred to CSU Pueblo and was a member of the rodeo club. “Butch Morgan was our coach and we entered ourselves … it wasn’t a bonafide sport there.” Sabrina made it to the CNFR twice in college. “The first year I competed in the breakaway, barrels, and goats.” She got a degree in physical education because of her love of gymnastics, something she competed in for ten years. Her first job was teaching fifth graders. She taught for a year, and then they moved to LaVeta and she taught PE for kindergarten through fifth grade. She taught for a year, and decided that she needed to stay home with her boys. “Clancey was three and Kyon was one and I was spending all day with someone else’s kids while someone was spending the day with mine.” She subbed on and off until Kyon graduated from high school.  She coached gymnastics for two years in Florence and was assistant coach in Canon City for 1 year. The only thing that stopped Sabrina from roping was her two pregnancies. “I had Kyon in July 1994 but I still went to the CPRA Finals. I remember Wade roped with another girl when I couldn’t ride. But I was roping again in August.”

 

 

Full story available in our September 15, 2015 issue.

 

story by Siri Stevens

 

John Thurston and Tiffany( Miller) Thurston grew up competing in rodeo -John did everything but steer wrestle and ride bulls. “I didn’t have a dogging horse and I entered the bull riding a couple times after my parents signed my release, but they told me never to try that again.” John was the 1981 Nebraska High School All Around Champion. He went on to college rodeo, riding broncs and team roping a little. “I was a broke college kid so I had to choose what events to enter,” he said. John graduated from college with a BA in AgBusiness.

Tiffany graduated from Niobrara County High School, making the national high school finals in the goat tying. She went to college on a rodeo scholarship and graduated with a BS in Elementary Education. She met John while on the rodeo team at Casper College. “He was this really friendly guy that was always smiling,” she recalled. “That hasn’t changed-he’s still smiling.” They started dating in February of 1984 and were married in 1987.

John took a ranching job 38 miles north of Harrison, Neb, and Tiffany had a teaching job with six students. “That community really welcomed us when we moved up there,” said John. “We moved every three years until we bought this place 16 years ago.” The place, 150 miles to the nearest Walmart, and 35 miles for a tank of gas, came from Tiffany’s grandad. The 600 acres was home to all the animals needed to keep all four kids in rodeo. “We figure there was always a sign that needed to be put on the ranch – Rodeo Ranch – it sustained the horses, 12 horses at tops, we hauled six, and goats to practice on,” said John. Shortly after they got the home place, another place came up for sale 8 miles away and they bought that too. That acreage sustains the goats and the various finds that John accumulates being a “scrapper.”

By the time the family moved in, the kids were involved in rodeo.  Jordan, 25, Ace, 22, Colby, 20, and Brady, 18 all competed in rodeos, starting with the Wyoming Junior Rodeo Association. “We started with little rodeos around here,” explained Tiffany. “The first WJRA rodeo, we got one check for $8 and the fees for the weekend were $230. We decided that something had to change. We built the arena.”

John went to Crawford with three dry cows and traded them for panels and made the arena the next day. Every day at 5, no matter what he was doing, John was at the arena, helping saddle horses or getting cattle ready to rope. “We treated it just like a sport. We are here to compete, not socialize,” said Jordan, who competed in barrels, poles, goats, and breakaway in high school. Her dedication to rodeo led her to be a four time Wyoming state goat tying champion and two college National Championships in the goat tying. “We tried to make the practice fun – we’d have four goats staked, Brady would be five steps ahead, Colby three steps, Ace two steps, and Jordan on the line.” They’d all go tie and the one that lost had to run to the roping chute and back. Ace practiced steer riding by John snubbing the team roping steers to the post with a blindfold on. This too was fun, with every one of the kids having a job so Ace would get the best practice possible. “By the time Brady started learning to ride barebacks we had a bucking chute, so it was a little easier,” Tiffany said.

At first it was just Tiffany and Jordan going to the rodeos – John was either home with the other three or off to a junior rodeo. “I kept track of who did what and was always videoing so John could see the runs – it was a great teaching tool.” She remembers taking a cooler of food for the weekend for herself and Jordan, and when the boys joined them, that cooler was empty in two hours. When the whole family started traveling together, they slept in a tent and the trailer. “I remember one time we had all gone to bed but John, and when he came in the only sleeping bag left was Winnie the Pooh, it hit him about the waist.” Breakfast was tortillas, peanut butter, and honey. Family memories were made on the rodeo trail.

Raising goats also started with the rodeo road. “The first year we rodeoed was 2002 and we only had four goats,” said John. “We had to get more. We sold those four goats and lost money. The next spring I bought doe goats, and that fall we put a billy with them and started raising our own. At the peak of it, we’ve had as many as 300-500 kids to feed out and 60-70 nannies to kid out.” John buys goats in the fall to feed over winter and sells them in the spring. The family has supplied goats to several high school rodeos as well as the Wyoming State High School Rodeo Finals for a number of years.

Everyone pitches in when the goats go to the rodeos. “I remember being in Gillette with goats and John had stayed home because of calving,” said Tiffany. “A nasty spring blizzard came through and I was by myself trying to help Brady (who was super sick with the flu) saddle horses, warm horses up, film and just keep us warm.” Jordan and her husband, Chancy (Miller), came and helped the whole weekend. “We had to build protection along the arena with a tarp because of how hard it was snowing and the wind was blowing. I was trying to keep the goats from freezing after they were in the mud snow and rain. They (Jordan & Chancy) helped warm up horses, feed, get Brady’s saddle on his bronc etc. Whatever I needed help with. We could not have done it without them that weekend. Everyone of the kids has always jumped in and helped and for that we are proud of them all and grateful,” said Tiffany.

 

Full story available in our September 1, 2015 issue.

 

Kaytlyn Miller has been in National Little Britches Rodeo Association “NLBRA” since she was 7, when she won her first world title in the goat tail pull. That record held as the world record until last year. “I have been roping since I could remember,” said the 15-year-old freshman from Dammeron Valley, Utah. “When I was young, I’d ride anything – strap me on and I’d go for it – sheep, calves, roping steers.” Her ranch upbringing and her love of horses gained her the All Around Title at the National High School Finals Rodeo, as well as the Rookie All Around Title. She is the 2015 NHSFR Breakaway Champion and she just captured the World All Around Champion as well as Goat Tying World Champion at the 2015 NLBFR.

A tomboy at heart, Kaytlyn, known as Kayt, grew up on a ranch on the Arizona strip in Utah. “We pushed cows all the time and I wanted to  rodeo competitively. We set barrels up in our back yard like we were going to the NFR,” she said. Roping is her favorite, doesn’t matter what event. “I love having a rope in my hand and to be able to compete with one is awesome.”

She has three younger brothers, 8-year-old Mitchell, and 4-year-old twin brothers Wyatt and Weston, and an older brother, CJ, 19, who is on a mission trip in Boston. Kayt has always been competitive with CJ. “We would bet on everything from roping the dummy to who could be the fastest at taking their boots off or even eating dinner. Whoever lost had to do ten pushups.” As they began winning, they included who could win the most buckles to the list. CJ is the first Miller to serve a mission.

The family is making a major move to a ranch in central Nevada, and Kat will be homeschooled beginning this fall. “It’s right in the middle of nowhere and ten minutes further,” said Heath, her dad, who has been commuting from the ranch to Utah each week for the past three years. The ranch is 86 miles long and 15 miles wide; 600,000 acres, running 1,400 mother cows. They also have roping steers they raise to sell to producers.

The nearest school is 40 miles away and Kayt does not want to take time away from practice to make the daily trip to school. “I wouldn’t get the things done I need to get done,” said the high honor roll student, who enjoys studying government and geography. “I like to learn about other places and the troubles they have.” Her help will be needed at the ranch as well, as the ranch is run by her family and her grandpa. “There are five of us that ride.”  She will still travel to Utah to rodeo. “They rodeo on Sunday in Nevada, and we don’t do that. And I want to compete with the people that I’ve started with.”
Heath tries to keep her grounded. “She has to put the time in,” he said. “There’s only one thing that matters and that’s the next one. That’s helped her along the way. She doesn’t get hung up on a bad run. She’s in seven events and that’s the best thing I could have taught her.”

 

Full story available in our August 15, 2015 issue.

 

Rodeo is really fun,” states nine-year-old Pecos Tatum. “The harder you practice and the more you do, the more it pays off!” The young cowboy from Llano, Texas, competes in the NLBRA and AJRA. He made the short round in three events in 2013 at the NLBFR. He won three world championships in the AJRA in 2014 in the 8 & Under calf riding, breakaway roping, and all-around cowboy, with a reserve championship in goat tying. Pecos also competes in ribbon roping, double mugging, tie-down roping, and steer riding now that he is older, but roping is where his true devotion lies. He will be back competing at the NLBRA next year in the junior boys. “This boy lives and breathes roping calves,” said Brett. “That’s what he works at every day. We’ve been up at 6 every morning to saddle and rope calves.”

Though an only child, Pecos enjoys the friendship of countless other rodeo kids, several of which live with the Tatums in the summer. “We were always going to have more kids, but as Pecos got older, it seemed like God was always placing at least one other kid in our lives,” says Brett. “We have a bunkhouse and RV hookups, and this summer we have a girl staying with us from Durango (Colo.).  Her brother also stayed and rodeoed with us in the past.” The family is going to head back to Durango this summer to Durango Fiesta Days, and Pecos is entered in two junior rodeos that Keylie grew up with. It will be the first year in 8 years that they have been back to her roots.

Pecos never lacks for someone to rope with, whether it’s one of his family’s summer guests, or his parents. Pecos and his dad, Brett, rope in Ultimate Calf Roping Championships together, while mom, Keylie Tatum, was the WPRA World Champion Header in 2008. Up until he was four, Pecos and his parents travelled the U.S. doing equine dentistry while Brett rode bulls and worked as a rodeo judge. Brett lived on a ranch in Oregon until he was ten, and when the family moved to Arizona, he started riding steers in the Arizona Junior Rodeo Association. He continued roping and riding bulls, focusing on riding bulls for 13 years. He met Keylie at the NFR, and two years later they met again and started dating and married in May of 2003. They became partners in 2008 of Tres Rios and took over management three years ago. He and Keylie design and draw buckles all day, take orders, and manage the day -to-day operations.

 

Full story available in our August 15, 2015 issue. Available online!

 

 

Zane Thompson has grown up in the arena. From junior high rodeos to the WHSRA, the 17 year old from Cheyenne, Wyo., believes that home is in the saddle, including working Cheyenne Frontier Days with his dad, Frank Thompson, who is the arena director for the Daddy of ‘em All. Not only do Zane and Frank work the arena during performances, but Zane’s 12-year-old sister, Madison, does her share of work during slack, while their mom, Dawn Thompson is the Malt Beverage Manager and volunteer coordinator for Cheyenne Frontier Days.

“I come back to help at Frontier Days every year because of how much a person can learn,” says Zane, who competes in the WHSRA in steer wrestling, team roping, reined cowhorse, and his favorite, tie-down roping. “If I’m going to be in that arena for ten days, I try to learn something from every run. Not a lot of kids have that opportunity, and I figure I’d better take advantage of it!” Zane qualified for the 2014 NHSFR in team roping and qualified again for 2015, this time in reined cowhorse. “I’ve always had some interest in showing horses, and Brent Lewis, the guy I set as my idol, has shown quite a few horses and always says it made him a better roper. You learn how to ride your horse better and read a cow.”

Zane’s goal was to qualify for Nationals in his roping events, but missing his steer and breaking the barrier in the team roping at state finals decided otherwise. “Not making it in my other events this year is a wakeup call for me, and I’ll stay more focused,” says Zane, who plans to buy his PRCA permit when he turns 18. He did, however, compete at the IFYR with his roping partner, Riley Curuchet, before returning home to help with Cheyenne Frontier Days.

Zane, has been helping in the arena since he was seven, and is now in charge of hooking and picking up flank straps, as well as helping with the wild horse race. He and his dad spend more time in the saddle than on their feet. “It gets kind of grueling, but it does for everyone,” says Frank, who has been the arena director for Cheyenne Frontier Days since 2012. The PRCA World Champion Steer Wrestler in 2000, Frank grew up rodeoing in South Dakota and later, the NIRA Central Rocky Mountain Region, which he won in the steer wrestling in 1988. He met Dawn several years later at the National Western Stock Show and they were married soon after. Frank started volunteering at Cheyenne Frontier Days in the mid ‘90s, while Dawn had been working for the rodeo since 1988. “I was rodeoing all the time, but after I quit rodeoing for a living in 2005, I became more and more involved in Frontier Days,” says Frank. “I was ready to be home with my family. Zane was almost ten and I’d had my time rodeoing. I was ready to be home. I was scared to death of regretting my decision – when rodeo is such a huge part of your life, it’s scary to quit all of a sudden, but working for Cheyenne has helped. When you’re involved in the Daddy of ‘em All, you get your rodeo fix in different ways.”

 

Full story available in our July 15, 2015 issue. Available online!

 

The Peterson family is the embodiment of the motto “One for all, all for one.” From the school auditorium to the sports bleachers and rodeo sidelines, the Petersons stand together and cheer in tandem. The bond of the family was forged largely in rodeo, the sport that Ross and Chrissy both competed in through high school and college, and wished to pass down to their children. “Ross and I feel that kids don’t come with manuals when they’re born,” says Chrissy with a laugh. “We decided the best way to raise our kids was to keep them super busy and keep them with each other. Every weekend, they’re with us! We know their buddies, and we have expectations for them.”

Raised on these expectations, the girls have grown up training horses and selling them to pay their entry fees. Kaitlin and Karlee also competed in several rodeo royalty contests before they were ten, holding titles with local rodeo organizations. “The girls had to learn to speak eloquently in front of adults and crowds, introduce themselves, and learn horsemanship skills,” says Chrissy. “Today, when they have a high school or college presentation and have to speak in front of others, it’s not even an issue.”

Rodeo practice at the Petersons is serious fun. Their arena, referred to as the Peterson Playpen, is almost more of a home to them than their log house, which pins down a portion of the swelling Black Hills. Karlee and Sidney practice together daily, and their parents join them after work. Ross is the shift supervisor at a saw mill in Spearfish, S.D., and Chrissy is the Special Education Director for the Meade School District. “Practice is kind of mass chaos,” says Ross. “Chrissy is the chute helper, I’ll be riding some young horses, and then we’ll have someone lining calves and holding goats, loping horses, and saddling and unsaddling.” Karlee adds, “Grandpa will help us, and some kids come over too, but you won’t get to come and watch. When friends come over to the Peterson house, Mom puts them to work – and they love it!”

Kaitlin, a junior this fall at University of Wyoming (UW) in Laramie, Wyo., is competing in breakaway roping and goat tying. An NJHFR, NHSFR, IFYR, and NLBFR qualifier, she finished the college rodeo season sitting high in the breakaway roping for the Central Plains Region, which she competed in for Oklahoma Panhandle State University (OPSU) in Goodwell, Okla. She is also majoring in secondary math education, with plans to graduate in the next two years with a 3.5 or higher GPA. Her other passion is riding colts and turning them into barrel or roping horses, and she’s doing just that this summer as she rodeos with her family and does ranch work for the Haugen family. Last winter, she bought two broodmares, one of which foaled in early June. Kaitlin is smitten with her new bay filly.

Karlee graduated from Sturgis Brown High School on May 17. With 12 college credits already under her belt from dual enrollment, her flair for time management has also allowed her to be this year’s student body president for her school, work 20 hours a week at The Buckle, volunteer in the South Dakota Teen Court System, and compete in the SDHSRA, SDRA, NLBRA, and 4-H rodeo. “Time management is something I learned from a young age, and its shown me how much I care about rodeo,” says Karlee. Family is her other secret to success. “It absolutely wouldn’t be possible to rodeo if not for such a team effort. Since I have so many horses to get in shape, Sidney helps me with exercising them every single day.”

 

Full story available in our July 1, 2015

 

 

This year marks the end of a long era at the College National Finals Rodeo for the Ellerman family. Jay competed in 1979, followed by Tammy in 1982, Taya (McAdow) in 2003, and now Brit is making his shot at the team roping title this year. Tammy remembers going straight from her wedding to Jay’s 1979 college finals in Lake Charles, Louis. Taya will continue making an appearance at the CNFR as one of the rodeo coaches from Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colo. Much has changed in the 36 years, but what hasn’t is the bond that still unites the Ellerman family from Ft. Lupton, Colo. Sand, horses, roping, and the Lord.

The family claims Ft. Lupton as home, even though they have moved more than 14 times during Brit’s 22 years. “We haven’t moved more than 30 miles,” said Jay. “The last house was a mile and a half over the hill.” Tammy’s career in real estate has created this unique situation. Every time they found the “perfect place” to build, someone came along that wanted to buy it and they found the next “best place ever.” The requirements were simple.
“It had to have lots of sand,” said Tammy. “That’s what we rope in and that’s what we wanted.” She is quick to defend the multiple moves. “We lived in one house for eight years and we never had to change schools.” The kids seemed to adapt to the multiple moves. “We built six places for us that we planned to stay at – but we all realize that a house is just a roof over our head.”

Jay was used to moving from his childhood with his father and his long career on the rodeo road. “I went to many different schools before I left for Arizona when I was 15,” said the 5x NFR header. Jay learned how to rope on a ranch as a kid doctoring cattle. “At night, if there was time, we’d rope a few steers or go to a jackpot.” He got his start at the PRCA level through his friendship with Walt Woodard. “He called me and asked if I wanted to head for his nephew, Rickey Green. I went to California and roped with Rickey and Tammy would come out and visit. In the summer, Rickey would come to our house.”  He headed for Bobby Harris the first year he made the Finals in 1984.

Tammy stayed home with Taya, and started building her real estate career as well as roping. Ten years after Taya, Brit came along and the family helped found the Colorado Junior Rodeo Association in 1994 to provide a place for kids to hone their roping and timed event skills.  The family spent hours practicing in the arena of one of their many homes. “We are a super competitive family,” said Taya. “We’d get out our own money and rope for that.” Roping for something helped get the jitters out of the way when the stakes got higher along the way … like last year when Tammy backed into the box at the Perry Diloreto with Tyler Boyd for $200,000.

She traveled out to Reno with Barry Smith and was keeping up with her family (and her real estate) during the roping via her cell phone. “There’s more pressure when I back in the box with my kids than the $100,000. I wasn’t thinking about the money.” She admits that win was the biggest so far in her career, but the family treats every roping the same. “$100,000 was a great day,” she said. “But what I focus on when I ride in the box is to catch the steer I drew and give my partner a chance to do his job.”

“We stress being prepared, to do your job – nothing more or less,” said Jay, who remembers quitting school to rope and what his mother told him about it. “She said that roping was like gambling … but the first time I made the Finals, she was there to watch.” Jay equates the feeling of winning to the movie with Paul Newman, The Color of Money, and the quote: “Money won is twice as sweet as money earned.”

 

Full story available in our June 15, 2015 issue.

 

 

Zack Jongbloed started riding when he was in diapers. His mom, Karen Jongbloed, came from a rodeo family and rodeoed in high school and college. Zack is fortunate to have two uncles, Jeff Corbello and Joey Roberts, that are multiple NRF steer wrestling qualifiers to serve as his coaches. His dad, Mike, didn’t come from a rodeo family, but started roping in high school. “That’s what my parents and my family did, so that’s what I grew up around,” said the 16-year-old quarterback from Iowa, Louis. He also played baseball when he was younger, but finds that football and rodeo keep him plenty busy. He credits his family as being his biggest supporters. “They are always out there tending to my animals while I’m at football practice. My family is always doing something to make it easier for me. I find myself running short of time with all the events that I work, maintaining my school work, and football practice.”

Zack is partial to rodeo, even over football. “I like that its family oriented – we do everything together as a family and I like the people that we are around.”  Zack is a sophomore at Iowa High School, a school of more than 600 students, where he maintains a 4.0 GPA. He heads to school at 7:15, and after school he goes to football practice, where he is the varsity quarterback, until around 6. “Football helps me with rodeo in many different ways – it keeps me in shape and strong,” he said. After football is over, Zack heads to the arena to practice his events. He will usually concentrate on one event each evening. He competes in steer wrestling, tie down roping, team roping, cutting, and the new high school event, reined cow horse. “I’m still learning the reined cow horse, but I like it. It teaches me better horsemanship. In both the cutting and the reined event, the horse has to do a lot of the work.”

His favorite event is bulldogging. “I have two uncles who made the NFR, they are always willing to take the time to come up and help me. I would not be where I am today in this event if it were not for them.  I like how it’s always full blast, there’s no safety up, its just reaction.” When Zack practices that event, he’ll jump 10 or 15 steers a night, while working on a young horse as well as riding his seasoned horse. Tie down roping is a close second favorite event, where he won all four major junior ropings this year and was the Louisiana Rodeo Cowboys Association Rookie of the year. “I am very fortunate to have family friend Jade Conner, an accomplished roper as my tie down coach which contributes to my success.” Then comes team roping, where he is a heeler for Riley Fontenot, his partner for the past two years. He works all his events using his pen of eight horses.  “I have three calf horses, a couple practice horses, a bull dogging horse, a haze horse and a team roping horse.” Zack likes his calf horse the best. I’ve been riding him for quite a few years and we’re starting to fit together. I feel confident on him and feel like he gives me a chance to win. We’ve begun to figure each other out and I’ve learned how to ride him better.”

 

Full story available in our June 1, 2015 issue. Read online!