Rodeo Life

Category: On The Trail

  • Lari Dee Guy

    Lari Dee Guy

    Lari Dee Guy strives to be a role model in competing, training, and clinics. “I want to be an inspiration that helps that little girl start roping or that lady that’s 50 that thinks they want to do that. I had all kinds of opportunities – I was left handed. Everything I was taught, my dad made them teach me left handed.”

    Her multiple talents in the roping world include her latest $18,000 win at the Wildfire in February. “I won it heading and heeling,” said the 42-year-old from Abilene, Texas. “I don’t think anyone has ever done that before.” In the equine training arena she has an extensive list of references that includes Trevor Brazile. “We own three colts together – we train them together. I’ll train them and get them going and he takes them from there – he’s like my little brother.”

    As a clinician, Lari Dee has shared her knowledge of horsemanship and ropers to several world champions. Passing on her knowledge of horsemanship and roping to others began 25 years ago while she was still in college. Her abilities with a rope started when she was a little girl.

    “My dad (Larry) is the reason I’m a perfectionist and kind of became a machine as a roper. With him it was his way or no way. He taught me the right way. There was no in-between. He didn’t settle. I was to catch everything that I ran no matter what. I both respected and feared him.” Her first challenge with roping came from being left handed. Her dad knew how difficult it would be to rope left handed and refused to allow her to rope left handed.

    Even though her mom (Mary) was a barrel racer, Lari Dee had a passion for roping because of her brother (Tommy). “He was a roper and I thought anything he could do I could do better. He went to the NFR in 93 in the calf roping.” She’s run barrels all her life, but once she got into high school, “I chose the rope.”

    She was also a bit of a daredevil. Raised on a 10,000 acre ranch outside of Abilene, she managed to total five vehicles before she was 16 – the first one when she was five. “My brother and I would play hide and seek and even though there was a ten foot drop between the hay loft and the floor, I would bail out the door hit and roll. I wasn’t scared of anything when I was a kid. My brother wasn’t the daredevil, I was.”

    She perfected her roping skills on the ranch during the many cattle drives. More than once her catches resulted in the necessity of the cowboys to get her rope back. She entered her first rodeo at 8, after her dad was sure she could rope well enough. She won that first breakaway roping. Her success continued into college where she won the breakaway roping three times in the Southwest Region and the national title in 1991 and again in 1993. She went to college at Vernon Regional Junior College and graduated from Texas Tech University. Lari Dee double majored in exercise sport science and recreational therapy. “I was going to be a trainer or own a gym. Obviously I pursued roping instead. I took motor learning and kinesiology and those classes really helped me understand a lot of things in our sport.”

    She came home and worked on the ranch and roped. “I was fortunate enough to have the ranch and my family that supported me and gave the freedom to do that.” Her roping has earned her titles in several associations. She divides her time between competing, training horses, and putting on clinics. “I want to be instrumental in making our female athletes better. I’m also putting on some big ropings, one I had last year paid $6,100 to win the average.”

    She started putting on schools when she was still in college. “I love having schools – I feel you learn from everyone you have. If you would say what would I break it down to now – the thing that people have trouble is- It’s all horsemanship. I watch people rope the dummy and every one can catch and I put them on the horse and they can’t. What makes me so successful roping is that I ride my horse good every time and I give myself a high percentage chance of catching.” She does about ten schools a year and travels all over the world doing them. “I’ve been to Sweden, Australia, Hawaii, and all over the US – you name it.”

    Lari Dee has also had to overcome two back surgeries. “I struggle with back pain everyday and one of the things that helps is going to the gym – I go at least five days a week. I run and do core exercises.” She had her first surgery in 1993 and the second one in 2000. She is hoping medical research will improve enough over the next several years to help her with the scar tissue and bone spurs. “Until then, it’s mind over matter – I’m pretty tough.”

    Lari Dee is the first to admit she is living the life she loves. “I don’t feel you can ever quit learning or be your best. I strive to be better every single day. I feel I rope, teach, and ride better every day. When I feel I can’t, that’s when I’ll do something else. I’m real competitive and I like to be good. If someone’s doing something better than me, I will work harder.I’m real disciplined. If I’m going to do something, I will get it done.”

  • Scout Yochum

    Scout Yochum

    Scout lives in Clarkston, Wash., in the southeastern part of the state and close to Idaho. The 13-year-old competes in breakaway roping, goat tying, and barrel racing. She got her rodeo start through her family. “My mom (Jami) and aunt, Tracy, grew up rodeoing so I was born into it. My dad (Trever) rode bulls all through high school and into his 20s.” She is an only child. “I love it. I’m the center of my parent’s world and it’s great. Sometimes I wish I had a sibling to have company, but I like it for the most part.”
    She was on a horse when she was three days old and started competing in lead line events when she was four. She started with a horse that her mom grew up on, Cowboy, who turned 31 this year. “I love this way of life. It’s great to be involved in and I’m glad that I’ve picked this. The people in it are awesome.” She plays basketball and last year did track, but rodeo is what she loves the most.

    There is only one other girl in Lincoln Middle School (430 students) that competes in rodeo. She just happens to be one of Scout’s best friends, Julia Reeves. Scout likes school, claiming science as her favorite subject. “I like hands on,” said the eighth grader. This will be her last year in both middle school and the junior high division of National High School rodeo. It has been a great ride so far.

    At the National Junior High Finals last year in Gallup, NM, Scout roped all three of her calves in three seconds or less each and ended up fifth in the nation overall. Her horse, Yellow (registered name Continental Sun Dust), also won the 2012 National Girls AQHA Horse of the Year for points they earned while in Gallup, competing just in the breakaway roping. They bought the Palomino three years ago as an 18-year-old. Scout has made two trips to the National Jr. High Finals, traveling the 23 hours to get to Gallup with her Aunt Tracy and Uncle Jason Hammond, as well as her mom and dad. “They have a really nice living quarter trailer and they love taking me,” she said. Scout loves going too. “It’s the people and the environment – there are so many people and the competition is so tough, but I love it.” The little getaway takes three days of travel, making stops at fairgrounds along the way. “One of the places we stay is where Mom competed during her state high school finals – the state fairgrounds in Filer, Idaho.”

    She is currently tied for first in the breakaway roping with her friend, Julie, and fifth in barrel racing after the fall rodeos for the state of Washington. She will have three rodeos in the spring to try to make her third trip to Gallup. She is also planning on doing the rifle shooting at the Junior High Finals this year.
    She and her dad, Trever, spend October and November hunting and she has shot four deer and although she keeps trying, has not yet gotten her first elk. Once hunting season is over, she and her dad switch to snowmobiling. She rides less in the winter, opting for indoor barns and arenas that are well drained. When March comes, it’s time to get back to the riding and practice. Scout rides every day in the summer.

    Scout is grateful for everyone that has supported her with the expenses of getting to rodeos and especially to her Aunt Tracy and Uncle Jason for taking her to the National Finals. “The state of Washington doesn’t have districts so we travel all over the state to rodeo. Our first rodeo is close to the coast, 7 hours away. I’m blessed to be in this way of life – everyone has each other’s backs and it’s amazing what we can accomplish together.”
    About the photographer:

    Roni Holder Diefenbach is Omak, Washington, is a mom and the director of an economic development association for their county. She is also a small business owner with her husband, Kevin and the mother of two children (Cayle, 18, Cayden, 14) who are active in sports. “I took it up as a hobby,” she said. “I do all my kid’s sports; my son wrestled and my daughter plays basketball, so I shoot that too. My son graduated last year and my daughter is a freshman, so I have three more years. I take pictures of different events at my work too.” She shoots a Canon SD and has about five different lenses.

  • Zach Curran

    Zach Curran

    Miracles happen every day and Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) bareback rider, Zach Curran is absolute proof of it. Only four short years ago, Zach was told that he would never get on a bucking horse again. After undergoing neck surgery at Swedish Medical in 2010 for the fusion of the Cervical six and seven (C6 and C7) vertebrae and removing a bone spur causing a long contusion on his spinal cord, Zach’s injuries were diagnosed as a concern that he should not be walking. “We were right in the middle of all of this during our wedding. We had been to a few neurologists and there was a 50/50 chance that he had MS (Multiple Sclerosis). It was a scary time. I was at the end of my graduate program and working an internship at Swedish. I asked for a good neurosurgeion and Dr. Elliott was the one that came up. We were thrilled with him. The event brought us closer and we had to lean on each other. We were uncertain of our future, but everything worked out,” said Zach’s wife, Lindsay.

    In a remarkable turn of events, Zach was fully recovered in three months other then the contusion on the spinal cord. “The recovery wasn’t too bad, it was a month of not doing a whole lot but walk and not really lifting anything,” he said.

    Zach had injured his neck three years prior to his incident after jumping off of a horse in the middle of his ride, landing on his head at the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver, Colo., which is the speculation point of the beginning of his problems. For the next three years, Zach says that he had problems in his neck and began getting stringers in his riding arm that progressively got worse. Continuing to ride, Zach qualified for the Mountain States Circuit Finals in 2009. “I came out on my horse and he must of whipped my head back. My legs went completely paralyzed in the middle of my ride. When I came off my horse, I landed on my knees and was unable to move my legs or walk out of the arena. After about ten minutes, the feeling returned and I was able to walk, but I was carried out,” he remembered of his first horse.

    Originally, Zach’s doctor did not think the contusion would ever completely heal, but after a check up two-and-a-half years later, found that it was nowhere to be seen. “I missed riding, and I kept praying the whole time for God to give me a new neck. I didn’t think I would be able to ride again,” he said. In the spring of the same year, Lindsay got in touch with Dr. Tandy Freeman, who required the examination of all of Zach’s MRIs. Dr. Freeman then set Zach up with Denver Bronco neurosurgeons, who immediately cleared Zach to ride again. “I couldn’t believe it. We were actually just checking, but never thought that it would happen,” said Zach of his excitement.

    As soon as Zach learned the news of his release, he went home and got on some practice horses at JD Hamaker’s (H&H Rodeo Company). “I had figured that I wasn’t going to be able to ride, but after getting on the practice horses, I bought my [PRCA] card the next day,” he said. He went on to entering the PRCA Thermopolis rodeo, at the end of June, for his first one back and won it. He then went to Laramie and hit Estes Park for his third show, which he also won. He had gotten himself on a roll and went on to winning the Wyoming State Fair and Rodeo in Douglas, Sterling, Colo., and Afton. “Last summer was great. I started off really well. This year has been slower, but I have to get stuff rolling again,” he said. His continuous hard work allowed him to go into the 2012 Mountain States Circuit Finals and finish second behind year-end and finals champion, Casey Colletti. Currently returning home from his second Ram National Circuit Finals in Oklahoma City, Okla., Zach was able to tie with George Gillespie IV, Jessy Davis and Wes Stevenson for sixth place with a 81-point ride, but missed his horse out in the second round. “I kept praying about it and figured if that was what I was supposed to be doing. I never though about quitting after I started last summer,” he said.

    Zach is a self-made cowboy. Growing up in Aurora, Colo., where his parents never competed or got involved in the sport of rodeo. His dad (Pat) works in insurance and his mom (Joanie) is a speech pathologist. Zach’s younger brother (Nick, 26), also has nothing to do with rodeo and is currently finishing up graduate school for teaching. “I’m the black sheep of the family as far as rodeo goes, but my family is and always has been very supportive,” he said. Zach got his start in the sport from a neighbor, a stock contractor (Bob West) who lived down the road. “I got to going out there and hanging out. It soon caught my eye and I decided to get on,” Zach said. “They [West] haven’t bucked anything since I was in middle school.” At the time, he was only nine years old. Living on the west side of town, where there are plenty of people with horses, Zach grew up riding horses just for fun. After only one year, he began competing in the bull riding in the National Little Britches Rodeo Association (NLBRA) and stayed with the event until his freshman year of college. By the age of 12, Zach decided to pick up another event, so bought a riggin’ and got on his first bareback horse. “It ended up being better then bull riding – I caught on to it faster and even began winning more, so I decided to drop bulls and focus on the one event,” he said of his reasons.

    Zach clicked immediately with his new event and by 1998, was able to win his first World Championship title in the junior division of the NLBRA. He then went on to winning his second World title in 2002, in the senior division, and the National High School Rodeo Association championship the same year from Farmington, N.M. With numerous titles under his belt, Zach bought his PRCA permit at the age of 18 and filled it the same summer; buying his card in the spring of 2003.

    A cowboy of Zach’s caliber quickly caught the eye of numerous colleges. He spent his freshman year at Frank Phillips College in Borger, Tex., and then transferred to Central Wyoming College (CWC) in Riverton, Wyo., where he got an Associates Degree in general studies. “All my basic classes are done, if I ever wanted to go on,” he said. Here, Zach met his future wife, Lindsay (Bierma), who competed in the barrel racing and goat tying. “We actually didn’t get along that good when we first met, but we came around,” he admitted. Under the watchful eye of Lindsay’s uncle and head coach Rick Smith, Zach spent two years at CWC. “I really liked it up here. Rick was a great coach,” said Zach. He was able to qualify for the CNFR two separate times, finishing fourth the first year. The following year, he was unable to attend due to torn stomach muscles, which put him out of competition for six months. In 2008, Zach qualified for his first DNCFR, but was unable to make the trip to Pocatello, Idaho, but worked his way in-and-out of the top 15 in the PRCA World Standings in 2009. “I was right on the bubble, so I figure that I better give it one more chance,” he said of one of the reasons for returning to rodeo.

    Zach and Lindsay reside in Pavillion, Wyo., about 25 miles northwest of Riverton. The couple were married in 2009 at the Haythorn Ranch in Ogallala, Nebr., a connection through Lindsay’s high school rodeo days with Sage and Court.

    Lindsay grew up in Stapleton, Nebr. Her grandparents had some land and they raised a few horses. “We mostly just had our rodeo horses,” said Lindsay. Her parents have recently moved to Arkansas, but when in Stapleton, her dad drove a truck and her mom worked at the Wal-Mart Distribution Center in North Platte. “I grew up rodeoing. I always loved horses and always have,” she said. After finishing up her two years at CWC, Lindsay attended the University of Wyoming to finish up her bachelors and masters in Speech Pathology. “I knew since eighth grade that I wanted to be a speech pathologist, because I knew how hard it was. I chose a field that is very dynamic – the whole medical side is something I had no idea I would be interested in. I see patients at the hospital here in Riverton and Lander, because there is such a shortage of speech pathologists. I really love my job.”

    Zach works as a cowboy for a local ranch, when he’s home. The cattle are run in Dubois and for the past two summers, he has spent his time running the cattle in the high country. He also does a little bit of leather work, mostly just for close friends as a hobby and would like to start getting a few cows to start a herd. “I’ve also got some horses that I trained to keep going,” he said. Lindsay is a speech pathologist for an elementary school on the Wind River Reservation and had quit rodeoing when attending graduate school. “One of the biggest benefits of working in the school is having the summers off, going with Zach and staying home and getting some of my younger horses going,” she said. Lindsay is starting to get back into it and is currently working with a new barrel horse. “I don’t know what my time frame is in the next three years. Buying them young, it takes a lot of time,” she said. “She plans on starting out small and hitting some local jackpots to get him going. From there, I think she would like to move on to bigger and better associations. She’ll be done with work in a couple weeks, so hopefully if she can get her horses going we can go together to the regional rodeos” added a hopeful Zach. Lindsay is at a cross roads in her life and is throwing around the idea of going back to school to get her PhD. “It’s a life turning decision between that and rodeo. It looks like rodeo is going to win,” she testified.

    Zach’s original goal for this season was to make the Wrangler National Finals. “This year has not been as good as last year. I got in a slump early and I’m working my way out of it. I figure that I’ll just get my qualifications built back up and go at it hard next year. I want to be able to get into everything,” said Zach. He is well on his way to doing that as he placed in the first round of the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo at the beginning of 2013 and made it back to the short-go. He will hit the road with Seth Hardwick and Casey Colletti for the rest of the season. Zach is up in Eagle Mountain City, Utah, next and has recently returned from the California rodeos. “I’ll work on the ranch for a while and my wife’s family has a horse sale [Bill and Carole Smith, Wyoming Quarter Horse Sale] coming up next weekend, which we’ll help with,” he said. “I worked for Bill the first summer I was hurt and spent the whole summer riding.”

  • Justin Rumford

    Justin Rumford

    Justin Rumford is the same guy in the arena as he is out of the arena. “I’m just dressed different,” said the 32-year-old rodeo clown from Ponca City, Okla. After only three years as a rodeo clown, Rump won the prestigious 2012 Clown of the Year Award from the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. “I never thought I’d get into this part of it – I steer wrestled pretty hard in 2004 and blew my knee out in Reno and that set me back pretty good – that’s why I went to work for Bennie Beutler driving trucks – I could have a job and still steer wrestle.”

    Longtime family friend, Mike Greenleaf, got him started clowning. “We steer wrestled together and he told me I’d be good. He asked me to clown the Kansas Pro Rodeo membership rodeo for him. I had a weekend open and I borrowed a barrel and an outfit. My second time was Pretty Prairie at the bull riding and it was fun and I got a check – that’s one thing that’s great about clowning – it pays.”

    Rump grew up on the rodeo road. “That’s the only thing I can remember is rodeoing.” His family has been in the stock contracting business since the 1950s and Justin, along with his sister Haley and brother Ty grew up in the trailer. All three have continued their careers in rodeo. Haley is married to Jerome Schneeberger and has won PRCA Secretary of the year for six years straight. Ty is a pick up man at Ft. Hays State University. He’s been picking up for the Worlds Toughest Rodeo for ??? years.

    He competed in saddle bronc and steer wrestling and fought bulls in high school, making the high school finals three out of four years. He went on to college at Northwestern Oklahoma State where he made the College Finals in both events three years (2001-2004), and one year in the bulldogging. He graduated with an Ag Business degree and kept on rodeoing.
    Rump met his wife, Ashley, Wife, 2005 Miss Rodeo Oklahoma, through mutual friends and after two years of dating, they married in 2007. She has put her profession as a registered nurse on hold and is an integral part of Rump’s success. “She’s on board, she’s great – she goes with me full time and does a lot of the work. A lot of people don’t understand the clown business; the easiest part is in the arena. It’s the travel – I fly in and out and we have to do our own taxes, plus expense out everything we do. Ashley does all the business part of it, all the contracts.” The couple rodeoed hard last summer, spending about 10 months straight on the road in their Road Warrior Toy Hauler. “There’s no possible way I could do this without her. She’s loved rodeoing as long as I have. She times at a lot of the rodeos that I do and we talk about it all the time about how happy we are to do this. Every rodeo we go to, I have to be my best and it’s hard to do that and do all the driving too, so she does most of the driving and the cooking too.”

    Rump considers himself to be a normal guy. “You can’t make yourself be funny – you just have to let it come. I don’t hardly do jokes at all. I think people don’t want to hear them. They want to laugh and it’s better to make them laugh at themselves.” One of his current acts involves a spectator’s cell phone. He takes it and actually reads the text messages. “I’m actually reading the texts that they are sending. People would rather laugh at the crowd than at me, so I’m the middle man.”

    Rump spends a lot of time talking to people off the mic while the events are going on. “You get to know your crowd and you can gauge what you’re going to do. Rodeo comedy is not a one size fits all, everything has to be tailored.”

    He is continually changing his acts. One of his acts, Spiderman, was the result of watching the Spiderman 3 movie. “During the perf the announcer asked me what I did that day – and I told him I went to Spiderman, and then showed him what I learned. It worked the first time and not the next ten, but I’ve got it down and it’s a crowd pleaser.”

    “You can’t have a canned product. It would be so easy to find something that works, like the cell phone, but you have to keep finding the next thing. I find them from current events. There’s so many kids here- everybody knows Jersey Shore and Duck Dynasty. You have to keep in the know of what’s going on. Fist bump to the music – those kids know how to do it and I’m part of what connects them to the rodeo.” Rump stays up with pop culture and what’s going on in the world. “You can find so many things to laugh at in our world – 50 shades of grey, driving a Prius…” He also spends time laughing at himself and his weight. “I grew up watching Chris Farley, the fat guy on Saturday Night Live.” Even though he’s slightly overweight, Rump is in great shape. “I do about 130 perfs a year and I run over every inch of the arena during each perf. By the end, I’m worn out.”

    He is very careful not to do anything that would hurt anyone or offend them. “With the age of technology you have to be very careful.” The challenge for him is to perform good every time. “There’s a big difference between being a contestant, which I’ve been, and being a clown. If a contestant has an off day, he can go run another one. If a clown has a bad perf, people remember.”
    For now, Rump and Ashley are very content going down the road. When they start a family, no doubt their kids will do the same thing he did when he was growing up. “We all grew up rodeoing and playing together and most of those people are still my friends. So when we have kids, they’ll be just like us, get in the truck and go down the road.”

  • Garrett Tonozzi

    Garrett Tonozzi

    Garrett Tonozzi won the George Strait with Dugan Kelly and now he’s “shooting to make the Finals, and the gold buckle for sure. I changed my style up last fall; I worked with my Uncle Bret (9x NRF team roping heeling qualifier; 2x NFR champion) last year; I’m trying to get better every day.” The 28-year-old from Fruita, Colo., has made two trips to the NFR (2006 and 2008) and finished 20th last year. “I didn’t have the right horse and everything didn’t click.” He ended up going home and going to work in the oil field. “Going home is a horrible feeling. You have to learn from it – I learned how to get better and that’s what I’ve been trying to do. I fell back into some old habits in my roping style and riding.”

    One of the ways Garrett has gotten better is by watching the best headers. “Their body posture was a lot different than mine. I was watching myself roping and I notice my body posture wasn’t like the other headers I was watching – like Trevor. I was leaning a little too much.” Another thing Garrett has changed is his commitment to practice. “I’m staying on my grind every day. It was below 0 a lot when I was out riding. When I couldn’t get anyone to rope with me, I roped by myself. In the practice pen you have to concentrate on something every day. When it’s that cold, the rope is horrible, but if you concentrate on how your horse is doing and how you’re riding, it will make a difference in the end.”

    The horse he won the George Strait on is a gelding he bought from Nic Sarchae (spelling). “He was 6 when I bought him and the last three years I’ve been preparing him for rodeos and riding him a lot. I’ve been riding him all winter long and he’s done great for me.” The $25,000 investment has paid off. I was at Nic’s house hanging out – he’s one of my best friends. Jake cooper tried him and told me I should try him. I took him. $25,000.

    Garrett has been roping since he was nine and rodeoing for the past eight years. He was the Colorado State High School team roping header champion for three years and he is also one of the youngest team roping directors the PRCA has ever had. “My Uncle Bret has been on the board for 15 years now and we talked about it for a long time before I decided to do it. With his help, it was an easy transition. You just have to roll with the punches and remember the positive things you’re doing and make sure you’re doing the best job you can. If you do that, then it’s easy to get along with the negative stuff.”

    He has seen a lot of change in the team roping during his 20 years of competing. “I attribute that to the jackpots. You start growing up and roping at so much money that pressure is not an issue. The USTRC and World Series have so much money, the kids can be aggressive because there’s another one next weekend.” Garrett comes from a rodeo background. His granddad (Tony Tonozzi) was an Old Timers World Champ in the team roping, starting in his mid 30s after a career in the race horse industry. “My personal idol is my Uncle Bret. Growing up he was my uncle, my friend, my brother, my dad, but he was my major influence.” He was raised by a single mom, Michelle, who was a barrel racer and “the greatest in the world. It was easy.”
    Michelle is a practice for a doctor’s office. “Garrett is a wonderful son. He’s my best friend. Bret was rodeoing when Garrett was little so my mom and dad hauled him a lot. It was a family affair – everybody helped us a lot. We’re a pretty tight family. Now he’s living his dream.”

    He won $183,000 at the George Strait and a new rig. “Wen I heard the payoff, I was in awe. It’s amazing what George has done with that roping.” The George Strait started 31 years ago as a little roping and a concert. This year, there were 680 teams at $500 a man. Garrett and Duggan were second high call last year and Duggan roped a leg and Clay Tryan and Patrick Smtih won it. “We reversed it this year,” said Garrett, who will take his earnings and put a down payment on a place in Fruita. The win will also take some of the pressure off being on the road. “This one solidifies that I’m going to be out here all year and I can concentrate on my job a little more.”

    Garrett spends the whole month of May at home in Fruita, hanging out with his granddad and family. He helps his Uncle Bret get steers ready for summer. “We have steers at three weekly rodeos so we get them ready and I prepare myself for the summer.” For Garrett, going down the road is a dream come true. “We all grow up wanting to be a pro rodeo cowboy. Everybody has those roots and now we are that.” His goal is to retire after he is done rodeoing.

    Garretttonozzi@yahoo.com
    970-260-0798

  • Ilene Choal

    Ilene Choal

    “I’m nervous and excited and glad I get to go,” said 24-year-old Ilene Choal, talking about her first trip to the Ram Circuit Finals in Oklahoma City, Okla. “It’s a lot to get my mind around.” Ilene is in her first year of dental school at the University of Nebraska. “The stars are lining up for me. April is the worst month of our curriculum with exams and finals. It just happens to be the only week for the next month that I don’t have an exam.”

    Right up until she leaves for Oklahoma, Ilene will be studying and preparing for the last stretch of her first year at the University of Nebraska. “We’re going in as a dental student, that’s my full time job,” she said. Taking 21 credits, her classes include Pathology, Immunology, Microbiology, Physiology, Anatomy, Occlusion, Operative, and Histology. “It’s a set up program, so everybody takes the same course load. It’s a really rigorous year because we take our boards after the first year, not the second like most schools. I’ve been told it quiets down after this.”

    From Laramie, Wyo., Ilene and her younger sister, Joann, learned how to ride at their grandparents ranch near Sheridan. “My cousins were entered in a little rodeo and I wanted to enter. My grandparents said if I could learn the pattern, I could compete. My cousin stayed up all night long showing me how to make the barrel pattern. I showed my grandparents the next morning that I knew the pattern and they entered me. That was when I was 11.” Her parents, Ross and Cheryl Hilman, never competed in rodeo, so it was a learning curve for the entire family. “My dad works for the state archaeologist and mom works in the engineering department and runs the computer lab at the University of Wyoming. My dad grew upon on a ranch and got away from horses and through his kids he ended up right back in them.”

    Ross and Cheryl hauled Ilene to all the Wyoming high school rodeos and weekly 4-H practices. Joann went another direction, competing in shot put and recently completing a year abroad in South Korea as a foreign exchange student. During Ilene’s senior year in high school, she bought a horse named Zip. The pair rodeoed for the University of Wyoming while Ilene completed a degree in archeology and they made the College Finals during her junior year in 2010. “It’s taken both of us learning each other and getting comfortable. I’ve learned a lot as a rider and he’s come a long ways.”

    Although she liked her career options in archeology, Ilene realized that she wanted a career that would allow her to rodeo. “I really like working with my hands – and I wanted a hands-on career. As a dentist, I can work with my hands, help people, and have the flexibility I need to rodeo.”

    She also wants to make the NFR, and started the process by getting her permit this past year. “I was planning on filling my permit this summer – that was my goal. I ended up filling it a lot quicker than I expected. I learned about the Mountain States Circuit Finals, and had a little less than a month and a half to qualify before I went to school. My husband (Tyler) and I sat down and made a plan. We qualified and then we came to Lincoln and I hoped that I had enough money made to go. That’s how I got there.”

    Tyler and Ilene have been together for eight years. They started dating in high school and got married four years ago. “He’s been my rock and best friend through everything. He’s not a horse person, but he helps me in the arena and will feed and helps me exercise Zip. He helped me to figure out how to make rodeo possible in the summer so we could make the Circuit Finals. Ilene and Zip made the trip to Rock Springs and won the average. “Now we’re off to Oklahoma.” Ilene and Christi Loflin represented the Mountain States Circuit in Oklahoma City.” She was the first person that said hi to me at a pro rodeo. She’s been great about making sure I felt welcome and congratulating me on chasing my dreams.”

    Part of chasing those dreams for Ilene included overcoming Dyslexia. “At the end of my third grade year I was almost completely illiterate,” she said. “The teacher told my parents that I would never learn to read.” Thanks to family support, and Ilene’s determination, she is now a student in one of the best dental programs in the nation. “I think a person’s success has to do with how dedicated a person is to their dreams and how much work they are willing to put into achieving those dreams. I dreamed about being a dentist and someday competing at the NFR and I am working towards reaching those goals. Being dyslexic has made me have to work harder but has not stopped me from achieving what I set out to do.”

  • Shawn Minor

    Shawn Minor

    Shawn Minor has claimed the All Around title for the International Pro Rodeo Association for seven years and will make 2012 his eighth. “Sheer determination,” the 37-year-old said of his success. “I really don’t ever set out to win the All Around – I make my living with rodeo and wherever that leads me at the end of the year is where my goal ends. Every time I ride I try to do the best I can and if I do my job, then I win titles.” He loves getting on good horses. “I figure as long as I can do it and still win, and love doing it, why quit?”

    Shawn competes in bareback and saddle bronc riding. He rode bulls when he was young and could never get off right. “I always lit on my head or got stomped or hooked and I figured they looked a lot better on my plate.” He team roped and tripped, and never roped calves because he was left handed. “I’m going to start adding that to my entries as soon as I find a good little horse. I’ve got some colts that I raised that have the potential, so when they’re ready, I’ll start.”

    Shawn grew up in Gordon, Neb., ranching. His dad, Steve Dent, still ranches in Mullen, Neb. “He was a great bronc rider and raised two bareback riders – both myself and my brother, Steve, who made his fifth trip to the WNFR.” Steve went into the 2012 WNFR in the second position in Bareback Riding and second in the All Around behind Trevor Brazile.

    He got on his first bareback horses when he was 12 with a mane and tail hold, no riggin. “I held on to the mane with one hand and the tail with the other. I got drilled. I got on with a riggin when I was 13. I’ve been around rodeo my whole life from playing behind the chutes – I was never a bleacher kid. I would ride some pretty bad old broncs on somebody’s bronc saddle in the dirt. After the rodeo if we stuck around, we’d get in the chutes and open the gate and run around and kick like a bucking horse.”

    He high school rodeoed in Nebraska, winning four state championships in the bareback three times and the saddle bronc once. He college rodeoed winning the all around in the Central Plains in 1997. Shawn went to college in Snyder, Texas, for two years and then transferred to Weatherford, Okla., for two years. He lived there and rodeod for six years. Shawn’s professional rodeo career began in 1994. “I bought my PRCA permit in 1995, filled it and bought my card in 1996. I bought my first IPRA card in 2003. We went to the bucking horse sale and I watched Cord McCoy win $7,000 in one night and decided to buy my card and give it a try. It’s been good ever since.”

    He met his wife, Tara, in Huntsville, Ala., in 2004, and they have three children, Tate, 5, Kole, 7, and Trayli, 18. She is a stay-at-home mom and supplements the family income by training barrel racing horses. “She’s my best friend – really. We do everything together – it just works. About five minutes after I met her, I knew she was it. It wasn’t very long – a couple months.”

    Shawn takes his family with him as much as possible, but now that the boys are in school, they don’t go as much. “The boys have been riding steers at every one of the rodeos we go to and it’s a great crowd pleaser. I think about the future of rodeo and I’m proud that they are following in my footsteps.” They have considered home schooling, but feel the boys need the interaction with the kids in school and the structure of a school setting. “If they can’t skin out and go, I’ll drive all night and get back. Their education is more important than me rodeoeing. As far as getting the bills paid, I have to go. Tara’s mom and dad watch them for us when we’re gone for long times – like St. Tite – when we’re gone for 10 days.” Shawn has traveled all over the US and Canada and St. Tite is his favorite rodeo. “As far as an atmosphere, that rodeo is one of the greatest things – the crowd is so wild and loud – it’s just awesome. You can’t understand a word they say, but it’s a lot of fun. The stock contractors bring their best stock and it’s a riding contest with lots of added money.” He puts his runs together about every two weeks. “I’ll look at the schedule and a map and decide where to go. In June, July and August you can go to one every day. I just look and put a run together. I do a lot of it by added money and some of the smaller ones, I’m looking for the stock I want to get on.”

    Shawn added a PRCA card to his list this year. “I won a few checks here and there, but I was going to have to be gone and leave my kids – I don’t want to miss anything with my boys, so I put it aside. I’m back home riding colts during the week and go on the weekend. My priorities have changed a lot. Through the week, we get up, get the boys to school, feed, wait for the horses to get done and go to ride. We pick the boys up and the activities start – we are either riding, hunting, or practicing on the miniature Zebu bucking bull and sometimes we have to have a little rodeo here at the house.” Riding colts and chasing after his boys keeps Shawn in good shape. “We’ve got six horses we’re riding right now. I’ve got some outside customers and we’ve got some of our own that keep me pretty busy.”

    Shawn lives in Camden, Ohio. “This is where my wife was born and raised and her parents live about a mile from us. We’ve lived here for about ten years but we’re hoping to move someday where the boys can rodeo throughout the year. So that probably means Oklahoma.” Shawn makes the most of the colder temperatures with his welding. “I have just about every tool in a welding shop you can imagine so I do some of that. I’ve made everything from Xray welds on gas lines to building lamps out of horse shoes. I always have something to fall back on.” When he is done rodeoing, he is thinking about doing some pick up work and doing some schools. “I would really love to be a rodeo coach,” he concluded.