Category: On The Trail

Ali Armstrong has a long list of credentials for a 17-year–old. Among her credentials, she is the only one to win six straight go-rounds at the International Finals Youth Rodeo in Shawnee, Okla., and she is hoping to keep the streak alive.

The cowgirl from Lexington, Okla., has been riding horses since she was 6-years-old and competing in barrel racing since she was 8-years-old. She got her first horse, from Audra Masterson. “I took riding lessons with Audra on her good horse, Fuel, and she found my barrel horse U-turn,” she said. U-turn got his name from Ali when Audra had to make a U-turn to go ask if the horse was for sale.

He gets the credit for helping Ali learn to ride and run barrels. “He was a lefty and so is the horse I run now. I ‘m more confident on a horse that goes to the left and more partial to them too,” Ali said.

Ali Armstrong and MattsFreckledCowboy, better known as Panama, are living a dream in and outside the rodeo arena but it was not always smooth sailing. She came across Panama when she went to a barrel race with her good friend Debbie Caywood. “Debbie wanted me to exhibition a 4-year-old who hadn’t been hauled much, so of course I said yes,” said Ali. They clicked right away and the rest is history.

“He was running to the right when we got him and we didn’t have much confidence together so I switched him to the left,” said Ali. “We started winning and he was more consistent.”

Ali is breaking records at the IFYR with hopes of keeping them going. “I’m not nervous, I know what I want to do and will try my hardest to accomplish my goals,” she said. The young superstar is thankful for what she has already done but is excited for what the future holds. “Panama likes the atmosphere at Shawnee and he likes Monty, the announcer,” she added. Monty announces many of the rodeos that Ali and Panama compete at.

In addition to the IFYR the two won the 2015 National High School Finals, qualified for the 2014-2015 American semi-finals, won the 2014 NBHA Teen 1D World Championship, and 2015 high school Texas rodeo state average champion. She attributes her success to the small group of friends and family that stand behind her. “I have the most amazing support group. My friends and family have stood behind me and they continue to believe in me.” she said.

Ali is homeschooled through Extension Taught Classes of south Norman and will be a senior this coming school year. After graduation she plans on going to college on a rodeo scholarship and wants to get her WPRA card when she turns 18 and start hauling in October to pro rodeos for a few years and then try her hand at futurity horses.

“I have the best traveling partner, his name is John Wayne and he is a 7-week-old Jack Russell,” she said. Ali travels with her stepdad Clifford and mother Andrea. “The furthest I’ve been for a rodeo was Rock Springs, Wyo., for the National High School Finals and I’m looking forward to making that trip again, God willing.”

At every barrel race and rodeo you can find Clifford in the alleyway. “He’s always there to walk me in, not just on Panama but every horse I’m on,” she said. Her mom is in the stands filming her runs and little brother Case comes to support when he isn’t roping. “It takes a village.”

She is riding with Mary Ellen Hickman, owner of Future Fortunes, and has gained new knowledge for young horses and how each horse is different. “Mary Ellen not only has helped me as a rider but as a person,” said Ali. She rides four to five horses a day and goes to weekly night jackpots and on the weekend she finds rodeos and barrel races to enter.

Her freshman year at the IFYR she had a goal set to make it back to the short-go, she never thought it would turn into six straight go-rounds. Before she runs she makes sure she has on her lucky beaded earrings and warms-up the same way. “I saddle him, put his boots on then I put my running bit on him. I lope him about 5-10 circles each way and do reverse arches to make sure he is listening to me.”
Last year the duo drew up on dry ground in the first-go, however in the second-go it had rained and they ran in deep mud. She had never run Panama in mud and had brought a backup horse just in case something happened. Ali knew Panama would take care of her in the mud and that he did. “I wasn’t sure what to do but as the day went on I knew he would do his job and I decided to run him and I’m glad I did.”

Ali would like to thank her sponsors; Dr. LeRoy Howell, Kevin Sherman, Lonice Tucker, Dustin Lucas, Sheresa Jackson and Michelle French, with Animal Element, Darla Schneider with Schneider Saddle Pads, Heritage Horse Feeds, Diamond V, Iconoclast, Justin Thomason with Resistol Hats, Marcum, Jill Beaty with Competitive Edge Chiropractic, Laney Fowler with LF Beadwork, Tonda Collins and Vickie James with Equi-Resp, Bobbi Jo with Hidez Compression Suits, Donna Wooten with Acculife and Jo Hurta with JoJo Jewels.
For a 17-year-old Ali has her priories straight. She knows what she wants and works for it everyday. She continues to ride even in less than perfect riding conditions.

“Be a blessing because you are blessed,” said 18-year-old rodeo announcer Garrison Panzer before switching off the microphone, closing the 2016 Kansas Junior High School State Finals Rodeo. Such are the values of the entire Panzer family, who instilled the importance of serving others in the cowboy from Lakin, Kan., at a young age. A family of rodeo competitors, judges, announcers, timers, and secretary assistants, the Panzers have helped in nearly every aspect of the National Little Britches Rodeo Association in their 30 years with the association.

“We absolutely love the National Little Britches Rodeo Association and everything it does for our kids,” says Garrett Panzer, himself a Little Britches alumni and now a rodeo judge and former member of the NLBRA board of directors. “We’ve gotten everything out of rodeo that we could ever want. We haven’t so much rodeoed with the world championships and buckles and saddles in mind, but instead used it as an avenue to help raise our kids and teach them the strong values of competing, being responsible, and respecting the western lifestyle.”

Garrett and his sister, Dia Panzer-Biddle, grew up in Little Britches, while their dad, Dwayne Panzer, served as a rodeo judge for the association, and continues to do so today. Even from a young age, Garrett knew the rodeo lifestyle and values were what he wanted to instill in his future family. “I played college football two years for Dodge City Community College and then two years at Hastings College. After my playing days were done and I found my wife of 20 years, Kim, we knew rodeo was the avenue we wanted to take with our family,” says Garrett. “I think God really blessed us with two great boys to raise,” Kim adds. “When I was pregnant with Garrison, we attended the baptism of a friend, who was born about five months before Garrison. In part of the sermon, they quoted Proverbs 22:6, ‘Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.’ The importance of starting early with a solid, Christian foundation really stuck with me.”

Garrison, the NLBRA youth board president and a ribbon and team roper, was one of the competitors to qualify for the 2003 NLBFR in the newly minted Little Wrangler division. His 15-year-old brother, Hadley, rodeoed for several years before pursuing other sports, but continues to help behind the scenes at Little Britches rodeos and run sound while Garrison announces. The 2016 NLBFR is Garrison’s last as a competitor, but his days with the association are far from over. “I’m in the process of getting my NLBRA judge’s and announcer’s card, and I plan to apply for one of the announcer positions for the finals next year,” he explains. “It’s always been my goal and dream to judge a rodeo with my dad and grandpa, and after this finals, I’ll have a chance to do that.” While he’s qualified for the finals in both his events, Garrison is also announcing the grand entry and portions of the queen contest, along with helping Doug Wade on the production side – and finishing out his third term as the youth board president. “It’s a bittersweet year. I wouldn’t trade any of the ups and downs of the past 13 years for the world. People might say the competition isn’t as tough as others, but if you look at the times and scores turned in, it’s just as tough as many other rodeo associations. And the friendships you build and the rodeo family you have is second to none.”

Beyond Little Britches, Garrison announces rodeos for the NSRA, KPRA, KJHSRA, mini bull ridings, and even the 2016 Oklahoma vs. Kansas Border Bash Rodeo in Guthrie, Okla. “Monty Stueve and I were the two announcers for the weekend, then I turned around and announced the high school rodeo in Lakin,” says Garrison. “I also announced a high school rodeo in McCook, Nebraska, so within a month, I announced a rodeo in three different states. Then I decided to skip a weekend so I could graduate high school, but I have a rodeo to announce every weekend except for three this summer. At first I was worried about being repetitive, but with each rodeo, I’ve gotten more relaxed. I’ve come to realize as long as the contestants are having fun and the crowd is enjoying it, that’s what I need to keep doing!” With the help of his Sports Sound Pro and pointers from several people, including NLBRA producer Janet Honeycutt, he has more than 5,000 songs and sound clips at his fingertips. Garrison announces most of his rodeos from the stand, but he’s debuting his horseback announcing during the NLBFR. “I’ve watched Boyd Polhamus do it a few times, and I can definitely see where you can build a connection with the crowd. I’d like to add that to the performances.”
During the KPRA rodeo in Springfield, Colo., last summer, Garrison announced, while Hadley ran sound, Garrett judged, and Kim was a timer. Garrett’s goal is to judge both the NLBFR and the NHSFR in the same year, while Kim has helped the Little Britches secretaries with their local rodeos the past five years. She plans to continue after Garrison ages out. “I didn’t grow up rodeoing, but my family always had horses,” she says. “My mother was a paraprofessional in Garrett’s first classroom he taught, and she told me I should meet him when I came home from college for Christmas break. We hit it off, and the rest is history! Since I came to be part of the rodeo family, I see so much kindness and generosity. Everyone is more than willing to bend over backwards to help, and I want to pay it forward.” Kim is also the coordinator of the federal programs for her school district, helping migrant and ESL families, as well as coordinating buildings during testing season. Garrett teaches STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) to seventh and eighth grade students at Lakin Middle School, while teaching driver’s ed. in the summer, refereeing basketball, and umpiring softball. He has coached football for more than 20 years at both the high school and middle school levels, and became a wrestling coach nine years ago.

 

An avid athlete, Hadley is attending several wrestling and football camps this summer, and playing baseball on a recreation ball team. “Football is my favorite – I enjoy being around my teammates. I play defensive end, and on offence I play center,” he says. “It’s me and my mom going to games most of the time since Dad is with Garrison at rodeos, and we have some good bonding time.” Hadley will be a freshman at Lakin High School this fall, which Garrison graduated from this spring at the top of his class with Honors. Like Garrison, Hadley will represent his class as the Class of 2020 Vice-President and serve on the Student Council. “We’re very pleased with the young man Hadley’s become,” says Garrett. “He graduated junior high lettering in four sports. Both our boys have learned from sports to compete at the best of their abilities and compromise without compromising their values.”

Throughout high school, Garrison was involved in Student Council (STUCO), band, vocal, golf, and refereeing basketball, while he played lead roles in two high school plays, including King Arthur in Camelot. His cowboy boots even travelled internationally in January when he went on a weeklong mission trip in Guatemala, which included building stoves for the people of Panajachel. A month later, he travelled to England for a week. A recipient of the OSU McKnight Scholarship and President’s Distinguished Scholarship, he’ll be studying Ag. Business at Oklahoma State University this fall and is considering law school in the future. Prior to that, he’s running sound for Jared Slagle at several PRCA rodeos this summer, and plans to keep up his roping through jackpots and helping the college rodeo team.

“It will hit me in August that Garrison’s not going to be able to walk through the door and give me a hug,” says Garrett. “But we’ll be there for him whenever we can. My mom and dad drove four hours to listen to him announce the KJHSRA finals – that’s how our family is. We meet ourselves coming and going sometimes and wonder why we do this crazy life, and I think the result is in the character of our kids. If between Kim and I our boys grow up to be fine gentlemen, then I think we’ve done our job.”

Clayton Van Aken is a California transplant. Born and raised in Descanso, California, a little town 40 miles southeast of San Diego, he grew up playing baseball and football and roping. He high school rodeoed, making the finals his senior year. Everywhere he roped to compete, he drove at least 300 miles to Phoenix or Oakdale up north to do so. The only child of John and Maggie, Clayton is the first one in his family to compete. “My dad has always roped – he shoes horses – and he’s always telling me he doesn’t know anything about how to enter and how to get the traveling done.”

After high school, he went to the University of Wyoming where he obtained an undergraduate degree in farm and ranch management with a minor in finance. He has been to the CNFR all four years – one time heading, twice heeling, and three times tie down roping – and will make it this year too in the tie down roping.  “I roped a lot of calves – I went to six of the pro rodeos and made the amateur rodeos – but I’ve never had a horse that I could go on – I’ve always sold them early on.”  He has concentrated on team roping admitting, he can’t tie fast enough to beat the pros going down the road. “I’m more of an 8.2, not a 7,” said the 24-year-old that is currently working on his Masters Degree at Chadron State College in Nebraska. He is taking his classes online and will finish with his Masters in Organizational Management with an emphasis in sports. “My main deal is to look at sports from a business perspective like an agent would do. Put numbers to values and values to talent. That’s how they do it in the big industry – baseball and football – I want to help the program inside and outside the arena.”

His goal is to become a college rodeo coach and integrate that with his growing roping cattle business. Three years ago, Jerry Palm from Centennial, Wyo., approached Clayton with a partnership idea. “I was thinking about going home,” said Clayton. “Jerry brought it up and it’s developed into something pretty cool. We’ve got 130 head of jackpot steers that Jerry buys and I run. This is the third year for this partnership.”  The cattle come from Gem, Wyo., get broke in, then get leased or hauled depending on what the customer wants. “We’ve got a lot of two year olds that are good to rope and they are leased out. I’ve got fresh ones coming in.” Clayton puts on a jackpot series in Laramie, Wyo., every Thursday night May through June. He hauls them to other local jackpots and producers, and by the end of June all the cattle are leased or sold for the summer. “I get the jackpots done seven weeks in a row and we end after the college finals, and then I head out after I lease them out for the rest of the summer.”

Then it’s Clayton’s turn to hit the pro rodeo road for the summer, a dream he has had since he was 15. “When I won the Lucky 7 #15 in Laughlin in 2009 with Wade Hooker, I realized I might be good enough to do this.” He got his Rookie card when he turned 18 so he could go to Cheyenne and the close rodeos and the bigger ones. “Those are the ones in our circuit that I could get to while I was in college.” He started his PRCA career heeling for Paul Beckett and made they made the circuit finals twice. “I went down to Texas and started riding this really nice head horse, so I switched and it’s working out – I can’t complain.”

Going down the road with Paul helped Clayton learn the ropes of the road. “He’s been around and knows where to go. He’d always have a plan and be good where we needed to be good.” Now Clayton is heading for Cole Cooper, from Sheridan, Wyo. “We just decided to rope together the other day – I roped with him in Colorado and we finally are going to make it work. The plan is to hit the road this summer and go. Our first one is Guymon and we’ve got our schedule set through the first of July.” Cole’s  wife is going to have a baby around July 1, so the plan is to be rodeoing around home then so Cole can be with her. “The way I’ve got it mapped out, we’ll be everywhere. This year if we go hard and give it a good lick we might have a shot at the NFR. But the real goal is to get into the big rodeos like San Antonio, Denver, and Ft. Worth next year. It helps to get the ball rolling.”

For now, Laramie, Wyo., is home. “There’s nothing like this where I come from in southern California. I can rope, rodeo, run cows, and ride horses. What more could I want?”

 

 

Cade Svoboda doesn’t do anything half-heartedly.   When the Nebraska High School Rodeo Association member decides to do it, he’s all in.

Not only does he ride barebacks, steer wrestle and team rope, he also plays football, wrestles, runs track, is a member of FFA, Science Olympiad, Swing Singers, shows cattle, and is on his school’s straight A honor roll.

The eighteen-year-old cowboy from Ord, Nebraska comes from a long line of cowboys, starting with his grandpa, Jim Svoboda, who competed in four events for years and has been a rodeo photographer for the last half-century.

And his dad, Von, was also a rodeo athlete, riding barebacks, bulls, steer wrestling and team roping.

Of his three rodeo events, bareback riding is his favorite, and his strength. He came into that event in a unique way. Cade started out riding bulls, winning the Nebraska State Junior High Finals and making the short go at the National Little Britches Rodeo Finals. But after he and his older brother Cole, had broken bones and a hospital stay, the bull riding was over. Cade ruptured a spleen and broke ribs, then Cole followed with a leg broken in two places, and later, an arm broken in three places, all while riding bulls. Their mom Angie said it was enough. “That was it,” Von said. “Three strikes, you’re out. No more signing releases for the bull riding,” which included both boys. So Cade went out and bought a bareback riggin’, and the first bareback horse he got on, at a high school rodeo, he placed, and that was that.

Cade excels at school academically as well as athletically. He is the student in physics and calculus class who everybody asks for help when they’re confused. “I get it pretty quick,” he said about the work. “I usually get it right away and then I can help them.” He had a tough schedule this year, with physics and calculus classes back to back, one and a half hours each, “but it’s worth it.” He also took College English.

His track coach and former wrestling coach, Coach Trampe (who is also his favor

ite teacher) gave him the nickname “Wick”, short for Wikipedia. “If I ever have a question that deals with sports in Nebraska, I can ask him, and he’ll know the names of the athletes, where they’re from, everything. He’s a student of all sports. He knows the stats on everybody.”

Of all his sports, wrestling is his favorite. He is a three-time state qualifier, and last year, placed second in Class C in the 170 lb. division. This year, he placed fourth in the 182 lb. division.

Wrestling is where his athletic future lies. He has been asked to walk on to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s wrestling program, and with other scholarships, including some academic ones, his tuition is paid. Cade has attended Husker wrestling camps for three summers, and the coaches were impressed with what they saw. Coach Manning, the Husker

head coach, said he stood out. Ord High School is one of the smaller schools in the state, and yet the Huskers pursued Cade, alongside kids from Omaha and Lincoln schools. “Obviously, they like the country kids that have work ethics and physical toughness,” Von said.

The coaches were also aware of another incident with Cade. Last summer, prior to the Husker wrestling camp, he broke his hand while riding a bareback horse at a Mid-States Rodeo Association rodeo. He assumed it was broken but didn’t get it x-rayed, knowing if it was, he wouldn’t be allowed to wrestle. He spent four days at the camp, wrestling one handed, with no grip, and held his own. That Friday, he went to the National High School Finals and rode bareback horses with a broken hand, his riding hand no less. His physical toughness contributed to his getting to walk on the wrestling team.  The Huskers plan to add twenty pounds to his frame, bringing him to the 197 lb. class and redshirting him.

 

He has qualified for state high school finals rodeo all three years and is currently leading the state rankings in the bareback riding, having maxed out in points. His goal is the all-around title and the Fort Western Whitaker Award, an award similar to the Linderman Award and given to the Nebraska high school rodeo athlete who excels in three events, including a roughstock and timed event.

His dad says what makes Cade tick is his competitiveness. “He’s always been a real competitor,” Von said. It might be due to having an older brother to compete against, but maybe it’s genetic. Angie was a standout high school athlete who won a state track championship and who excelled academically. But the stakes are also high at the Svoboda household. “Even around home, we play a game of cards and it gets competitive. It’s kind of how our family is wired.”

At the University of Nebraska, he will major in food science technology, which includes biochemistry, organic chemistry, and investigation of the chemistry and biology of foods. “It’s the only major on East Campus (the agricultural campus of UNL) that gives you all the prerequisites for medical school,” Von said. “He’s covering his bases to go to med school.” Cole is a junior at UNL in the same major, and he enjoys it. “It’s a damn tough degree,” Von said, but Cade is up to it. His uncle, Von’s brother J.B., who is a medical doctor, suggested that Cade stay with his food science degree instead of the medical field, as a very good job is nearly guaranteed any student who graduates with that degree. The food industry: ConAgra, Cargill, Hershey’s, and others, are the main businesses that hire food science graduates.

Cade will graduate as valedictorian of the 2016 Ord High School class. His principal and former football coach, Mr. Hagge, speaks highly of him. “He’s a young man of character,” he said. “He’s got an incredible work ethic, and he’s a bridge builder, a leader. He’s willing to cross boundaries with students and develop relationships with everybody in school.” Cade has grown and matured throughout his last four years. “When he was a little younger,” Hagge said, “he didn’t quite have the perspective and there were times he got upset with himself or others. But what I’ve seen in the last few years is his leadership to a point where he gets it. He elevates the games of those around him, with his level of performance.”

Coach Trampe said the same. “He’s a good leader. He expects a lot out of himself, and out of every other kid, too. Kids like him make kids around them better. It forces them to go to another level that maybe they didn’t want to go to, and that makes it better all around.”

In addition to his athletics and academics, he loved playing baseball in the summer, but forgave that sport due to time constraints. He was also part of his school’s choir, 18th Street Singers, and band (where he played the tuba and drums). He is on the Quiz Bowl team.

His unusual last name is Bohemian and is pronounced “Sa-BOH-da”. He has a younger sister, Cora, who is a junior in Ord High School. Cora is also a very personable, very involved, all sports, all A honor student, who ovbiously is following in her family footsteps of not doing anything half-heartedly.

 

For Timber Allenbrand, the sport of rodeo has been ideal preparation for a successful future.

She has been competing in the sport, and leading with several association service positions, in the Kansas High School Rodeo Association in her young, yet accomplished life so far.

Timber’s mother Trisha barrel raced some in her thirties, but Timber quickly picked up the sport of rodeo as the first person in her family to pursue it as a career.

Trisha had bought a barrel horse when she wanted to try her hand at the sport and still had the horse by the time Timber could climb into the saddle.

“She just took to it. Since she was little tiny I had her on the back of a horse, and by the time she was 3 she was doing the lead class out there she and I, and that’s really how we got started,” Trisha describes of her daughter’s beginnings into rodeo.

“I was fortunate enough to get involved with close friends who were involved in rodeo, so I was exposed more to what rodeo was really about, and those people have been very influential in our lives and have been so gracious to include Timber and teach her things,” Trisha says. From the lead line class, Timber took the reins herself with help from her mother and her rodeo family.

The KHSRA cowgirl went through the ranks of the Kansas Junior High School Association, all the way to nationals in Gallup, N.M. every year, was a Reserve World Champion her 7th grade year and won a National Championship in 8th grade.

Through the years she’s also served as an event director, held offices like that of Secretary in the KHSRA last year. Now Timber is the student president of KHSRA.

 

“It’s really built my network for my future, and you don’t find the people that you do in rodeo anywhere else. The family circle is amazing,” Timber says and adds of the responsibilities of her role as president. “I love setting up community service activities for the contestants of Kansas High School Rodeo. It’s been a lot of fun to do that.”

One of Timber’s fondest memories was seeing the kids from a nonprofit initiative called Real Men, Real Leaders benefit. The kids were given contestant jackets and cowboy hats and were able to come watch one of the KHSRA rodeos.

“It just makes my heart happy to see everybody that doesn’t get the opportunity to do what we do be able to watch and have the joy through another perspective,” Timber explains.

In the arena, Timber’s competitive focus is on the All-Around. She competes in five events, barrels, goat tying, breakaway roping, pole bending and cutting.

“I just have learned from many people along the way, and [I’m] very blessed to have everybody that’s came along to help me get where I am,” Timber says.

She especially credits her mother for her endless support.

“My mom is a big impact in my life. She travels with me and works long hours. We have a team. She is the one out there working chutes late at night and holding the goat and being my coach, best friend and everything you do to be a single mom, but we have many people that help us out, so that’s awesome,” Timber says, adding that her Aunt Vicki is a big help as well, by caring for their home and animals when she’s out chasing her rodeo dreams.

Trisha too has benefitted from sharing this rodeo experience with her daughter on the road.

“I don’t know of many other things that let you go down the road with your kids and spend that much time together most weekends of the year, and live life and overcome obstacles, work through things and have the typical mother-daughter ups and downs as well, but at the same time not trade it for the world,” Trisha credits.

Trisha has two businesses, and she and Timber have developed a system to work together to accomplish the tasks that need done as the mother and daughter travel for Timber to pursue her goals.
“We just work together, a team, whether it’s feeding the horses or exercising [horses], cleaning the barn, doing the laundry, cleaning the house, or taking care of school work, it is just, from the minute we get up to the minute we go to bed, a team effort, because we knew that, and we knew what she wanted to be,” Trisha describes.
Trisha’s career allows her flexibility when it comes to helping Timber with horses or practice. Timber may be roping and tying goats at 7 a.m., or doing school obligations after hours in the evenings, but the aspiring cowgirl makes it work.
Outside of the arena, Trisha’s career in business has inspired Timber too. Timber plans to go on to college rodeo and major in marketing and business.
“Business, I’m very interested in, and marketing as technology grows is very important,” she says.

Beyond rodeo, Timber likes to work with young horses and develop their athleticism. “I love to train on young horses and work with them and grow them, their mind and try to find their best abilities,” she says.

Trisha agrees this work suits her daughter. “We tease her about being a horse whisperer, because she truly has a relationship with [the horses]. She loves working with them and finding out what makes them work and bringing out the best in them, and that’s her sincere passion. She’s fundamentally learned so many things that I believe that’s part of why she’s successful in the competitive [arena].”

Trisha goes on to credit rodeo with helping allow Timber to grow into the young woman she has become. “Rodeo has given her the ability to see the world from many different lifestyles, perspectives, attitudes, beliefs, and it’s let her realize it takes a lot of hard work, but it takes a lot of people relationships to make your world complete,” Trisha explains and adds that Timber has become able to see people for who they are, and that she tries to pay it forward with all of the help she’s been given from the rodeo community. “I think [rodeo] has just given her this whole way to see life and appreciate it and be part of something bigger, and it’s taken lots of miles and lots of wonderful people that have allowed her, and us, to have this kind of life together.”

Timber likes to have a plan when it comes to big steps in life, but overall, prefers to go with the flow day to day, and these days, she’s soaking up all that her last year in the KHSRA has to offer. “Senior year has been great to me. I’ve had a blast, and I’m excited for the future.”

Trisha is confident in her daughter’s ability to succeed.

“She’s a very insightful person, and I have full faith that she has great things ahead of her, a lot to experience and a lot to give back for what she has been able to experience so far in her life as well. She will continue living God’s plan for her purpose.”

Timber has signed on with the rodeo team Tarleton State University in Texas. She has been accepted into the Tarleton Honors College program as well.

And it’s clear no matter where that road takes her, Timber will go prepared because of her involvement in rodeo and the Kansas High School Rodeo Association.

After 15 years of fighting bulls at the Turquoise Circuit Finals, 47-year-old Cliff Maxwell from Taylor, Ariz., is making the 1,968 mile trip to Kissimmee, Florida to join Australian bullfighter Darrell Diefenbach as the bullfighters for the RAM National Circuit Finals Rodeo (RNCFR) April 5-10. “It’s Darrell’s last rodeo, and it will be an honor to work with him,” said Cliff, who is a full time firefighter paramedic as well as the owner of a custom cabinet shop, along with his wife and son.

The bullfighters are selected to work the RNCFR from the pool of 24 bullfighters from the 12 circuits in the nation. The bull riders select the bullfighters that work the circuits, and a committee selects the ones that will go to the RNCFR.

Cliff started his rodeo career after high school. As the oldest of six siblings, he spent his childhood playing softball. “My parents (Clifford and Gayle) supported me in everything I wanted to do,” he said. “With a big family, we always went on one big trip each year and went camping a lot.” After high school, Cliff went down to the valley (Taylor is located in the White Mountains, five and a half hours north of Flagstaff) for a few months and then moved to Texas to live with his uncle for a year.

“I came back to go back to school. I got set up and started, but then I got married and started a family.” He married his high school sweetheart, Kim, when he was 20 and she was 19. Their first child (Kasey) was born a year later. “I worked at a cabinet shop in town and rode bulls.” In 1994, he got hung up and hurt. “The bull stepped on me and punctured a lung, broke some ribs, and one of them cut my spleen in half so they took it out. My daughter was four and asked me not to ride anymore. So I started fighting. I accomplished way more as a bullfighter than I ever would have as a bull rider.”

He started his bullfighting career by going to a school taught by Mike Matt and Lloyd Ketchum. “That gave me the basis,” he said. “I recommend to anyone that wants to get into this to go to school.” After that it was trial and error. His family traveled with him to the rodeos around his region. “I started out working 35 rodeos a year, and now have settled into around 20 or more a year.” He works some high school, amateur, and PRCA rodeos, including several that he has worked for years. “It’s a family sport to us. I take pride that I’ve done rodeos for years – Scottsdale, ten years, Vernal 15 years. In being 47 years old and getting a chance to go to the RAM Finals – it’s incredible.”

 

He bought the cabinet shop – Maxwells Custom Cabinets – that he worked at and added his firefighting career five years ago. “I got my paramedic last year after nine months of intense schooling. I still did my firefighter job, my bullfighting, and the cabinet job. I had 52 credit hours when I got done with the paramedic training. I enjoyed the medical side of the firefighting thing and thought why not learn more so I can do more.”

His EMT training has come in handy in the arena. “Right after I got my EMT, we were at a rodeo in California. A bull rider got bucked off and the bull stepped on his leg, breaking his femur. I cut off his chaps and exposed the break. The femur was a compound fracture that hit an artery and he was bleeding out. We saved his life due to the training that I had. The medical side has helped me with a few accidents like that.”
Cliff has added running to his schedule in preparing for the RNCFR. “My captain is a younger captain and he really pushes staying in shape,” he said. “He sent out an email three or four months ago to put a team together for a Tough Mudder in Mesa. I signed up and joined the team and then realized that the course was 10-12 miles with 30 obstacles.” In addition to training for that, he credits the cabinet shop for helping to keep him in shape. The shop is run by his 22-year-old son, Trevon, and Cliff works there at least 40 hours a week. “The cabinet shop is very physical. We order everything in sheets and we have to move it and cut it.” He and his wife, Kim, also chase after two grandchildren, a 6 year old granddaughter and 2 year old grandson.

When Cliff first found out about being selected to work the RNCFR, he planned the entire family to go along, but that isn’t going to work, so he and Kim will make the drive to the Sunshine State. Cliff has been there before, helping with the hurricane damage a few years ago, but it will be Kim’s first trip to Florida. They are looking forward to the drive and taking in the sights along the way.

Cliff would love to be considered for the WNFR, but admits that he doesn’t work enough rodeos for that. “I’ve got my career, my cabinet shop, and my family comes first,” he said, but adds that he plans to continue fighting bulls. “I’m an adrenaline junkie – I enjoy it – I enjoy rodeo.”

Jackie Ganter grew up in Texas, born and raised in College Station. Unlike most people from Texas, Jackie chose the English discipline when she started riding at the age of six. “I’d been around horses through my mom (Angela), who ran barrels,” said Jackie. The family moved to Abilene, Texas, and at the age of 8, Jackie lost her father to a heart attack and complications from diabetes. “He owned nine bars and restaurants in College Station; one of them is the Dixie Chicken.” After he passed away, Jackie focused on her riding, entering shows and winning.

“I rode English until I was 12.” Dixie was her English horse and when she got hurt, Jackie couldn’t find another fit. “I’d won every show I went to on Dixie and my mom still ran barrels, and so I decided to do what my mom did.” Riding English gave Jackie the foundation for running barrels.  “The judging (in English) involves watching body posture and it takes a lot more strength and body position to keep it correct. My English teacher used to make me jump the whole course without stirrups.”

Switching to barrel racing involved years of trying to get it right. “I was slow at first,” she remembers. “I had an instructor, Jan Burns, who started me out slowly. I ran 18s and 20s. My mom had the best eye for horses and she kept me on the best horse every step of the way. I’ve gone through so many horses, getting a little faster each time. I learned from every horse she put me on.” Jackie worked her way up a few tenths at a time; a horse at a time; to get where she is now.

 

When she got Frenchmans Jester, previously having been to the NFR with Jordon Briggs, she learned how to win. “That horse and Bobbie Gene drove my passion into what it is now and something I will do for the rest of my life. My goal had been to win the Resistol Rookie when I was 18 and I did it.” Jester passed away after a lengthy illness. Jester wrote Jackie’s ticket in the junior world.

Jackie and her mother met the Alan and Teri Dufur family three years ago. “From the time my wife and I met them at their place in Abilene, we meshed,” said Alan, whose runs a registered Hereford cattle and Quarter Horse operation in Caddo, Okla. “We have onsite trainers on the Quarter horse side that teach all the rodeo principles.” They partnered with Jackie as a major sponsor and that sponsorship involves not only horses, but assisting with any challenges that may happen on the road, such as last week in Rapid City.  Jackie was stranded in Nebraska in a blizzard and Alan made sure she made it for the rodeo.  “We let them go through our young horses and pick out potential future mounts for her.” Guys French Jet, who she rode in Ft. Worth and the WNFR, is a partnership horse. “No matter what horse you have, you have to have the work ethic. It’s not unusual for her to ride and exercise her string at two in the morning. To me she is beyond her years in the way she handles herself.”

The battle for the Resistol Rookie position was a tight race all the way to the end between Jackie, as the youngest competitor at the WNFR and Vickie Carter, the oldest competitor at 60. “I didn’t meet her until she started beating me,” said Jackie. “It was late winter and we’d never heard of her. She won several rodeos. It was crazy – towards the end, the last two months of the season, every single week we would trade off on the lead. It was literally week by week we would switch back and forth. I don’t think either one of us would have made the NFR without the other. We were fighting each other for the top spot. We are very good friends now.”

The 19-year-old spent last year making the run for the WNFR. “I graduated high school in the middle of my senior year. I went to public school and graduated in December of my senior year, doubling up on classes so I could travel.” She could only make a few of the fall rodeos because of where her birthday fell, but after December, she hit the road. “I went back home between the California and Canada run to walk the stage with my graduating class.”

She travels with her mom, who has been battling breast cancer since late 2010. “They diagnosed it after she had found a knot under her armpit. It came back Stage 3 breast cancer even after a clear mammogram a month prior. She had 28 lymph nodes removed, and went through chemo and radiation and nine surgeries. She is still on a chemo pill daily, so she is still not in remission.” Sometime in 2016, Angela has her last appointment. The cancer treatment has affected Angela’s balance, so she has not run barrels since then. Instead, she has focused on helping her daughter achieve her goals.

“There are not a lot of people that can say they spent a year on the road with their 18-year-old daughter with only one argument,” said Angela. “Driving all the time was a major change for us all – but we experienced things that we would have never done if we weren’t chasing this dream. We spent a lot of time doing other things than just rodeo – we took a helicopter ride in the Canadian Rockies, we saw Mt. Rushmore. My dream of making the NFR was gone when I got sick, and Jackie started riding my horses and I never got them back.”

They run down the road in a trailer from Stephenville Trailers. “It’s a 53’ Hart trailer, with a two bedroom living quarters. We put the bathroom in between the living room and the bed in the nose. You can shut both doors and have two bedrooms. I’m on the couch and we have two different satellites so we can both watch TV. The horse part has automatic waterers and a huge tack in the back.” They pull it with a Freightliner equipped with a 500 engine. “I could drive it up and down the mountains without a problem.” They haul four or five horses along with two dogs. “We get along great – in fact, the only time we had a fight was when I was in the middle of my slump.”

The slump hit during the July Cowboy Christmas run. “When everyone is supposed to win big and make the NFR, I did not win one dollar. It was horrible and the worst slump I’ve ever been through in my career. I was having horrible runs and couldn’t pull it together. I watched myself go from the top 15 to the top 30. My main horse, Baby J, is only six, and Cartel is only 7. My older horse is 12, but I’d sent him home because he got tired on the road and wasn’t working his best. My young horses fell apart so it was a shock all the way around. I saw that it looked impossible to make the NFR, and I got discouraged because I had this goal to make the NFR and Rookie when I was 18. It looked like that was going up in flames and I kept telling myself how horrible it was and that’s what I told myself. I knew my attitude was affecting my runs.”

Realizing the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, Jackie changed everything from how she worked her horses to how she thought. “I watched videos from past NFRs and told myself how I wanted to be there. I told myself that over and over and it finally worked. After July, I finally placed somewhere in the bottom hole and won a check and then things started turning around.” She got on a pretty good roll the last two months and that landed her a spot at the WNFR. Jackie placed in four go rounds and won second in the average after Callie Dupier, who won the world and the average. “We were the only two that had all ten runs clean.” Jackie won more money than any other Resistol Rookie had won as a barrel racer. The race lasted all the way through the WNFR.

“We set out to have a goal that nobody’s done, and about July I told her it was the stupidest thing we’ve ever done,” admitted Angela. “We were used to winning at the barrel races and I wanted to go home. She bawled and cried and I told her to find another driver. She made me give her until the end of July. And she did it. This life is like being in a carnival circus – I remember at the end drawing up as bad as could be and driving two full days and nights to get into four rodeos.” In the end, walking down the alley with her daughter at the Thomas & Mack was this mother’s best dream. And it’s not over.

Jackie’s goal for this year is making the WNFR again, and getting the gold buckle. “Making the NFR is the most incredible thing I’ve ever done,” she said. “My horses are great and I’m going to go as long as I can.” She is also attending college online.

The 2015 PRCA Resistol Rookie All Around, Jace Melvin, was born and raised in Fort Pierre, SD. He moved to Texas for college, and now claims the road as his home. “I rope calves, team rope, and steer wrestle, but not everywhere because of scheduling conflicts; getting up in three events is tough.”

The 23-year-old has been involved in rodeo his entire life, with three generations on his mom’s side, four on his dad’s before him. “I have two older sisters, Jessica (12 years older) and Jenny (10 years older); they were rodeoing a lot in the youth rodeos, National Little Britches and high school, so I went everywhere with them. They taught me most of what I know.”

His parents, Mark and Diana, rodeoed and now they run stocker yearlings and raise quarter horses. “Some of the horses that I compete on are some that we have raised and with my brother-in-law’s (Brent Belkham) help, I’m hauling them.” Another brother-in-law, Cody Moore, won Rookie of the Year Steer Wrestling, riding the family horse, Talk, in 2010. That horse, Talk, was critical to Jace’s success as well. “I was blessed with a phenomenal horse in high school and college – horse power has such a huge part in rodeo.” Cowboys Talk helped Jace make it to the National High School Finals all four years (2008-2011) in the steer wrestling and the college finals the past two years in the steer wrestling. Jace also qualifed for the college finals in calf roping in 2015. “Talk is old now – 19, but I had him as I was growing up. He’s got an awesome personality – he’s a character … he’s always talking.”

His dad, Mark, raised the horse on the race track, and Mark’s sister, Lorita Crowford, picked him and futuritied him as a barrel horse. “He was a great barrel horse, and my sister took him and raced barrels at the college rodeos. You can tie down, team rope, and it came time I started chute dogging and needed a bull dogging horse and he was as broke as it gets and was amazingly fast. Se we tried him as a steer wrestling horse. For as awesome as a barrel horse he was for my aunt and my sister, he was an extremely phenomenal bulldogging horse. He truly loved the steer wrestling.” Jace enjoys calf roping the best, but admits his strength lies in steer wrestling. “I really dedicate at all three events, but I see my most success in the steer wrestling. At a younger age I focused on it more.” His hard work and ingrained family competitive nature paid off when Jace won All Around at the National Junior High Finals in Gallup, NM, in 2007, as well as ended up third in the nation in steer wrestling his junior year and reserve his senior year of high school. “The nature of our family is extremely competitive,” he explains. “We could turn fixing fence into a competition. That goes for all of my family. Through that nature, I won the National Junior High All Around as an eighth grader. I went there to win first in every single event. Everything we do, we go with the intention of winning first and being successful. Being competitors, we know that losing is part of winning. If you don’t win something you learn something. I’ve learned that, and through God’s hand in it, things have fallen into place.”

After high school, Jace went to college at Vernon for two years and spent the last two years completing his Bachelors in Ag Business at Tarleton, rodeoing with the team that won the Men’s National Championship last year. His degree is coming in handy as he builds his business supplying timed event cattle for several youth and amateur rodeos around his hometown in South Dakota. Melvin Timed Event Cattle happened quite by accident.

 

“I had bought 30 head of roping calves when I was a junior in high school. I had planned to train horses on those calves, but I blew my knee wrestling for the high school team, so I couldn’t. A stock contracting company called me and had heard I had these calves and they needed timed event cattle for a Little Britches rodeo and I said yes and hauled those calves to that rodeo.” Growing up in rodeo, Jace knew how important it was for kids starting out and making their goals of the finals to have the best quality stock possible. “My junior and senior year I supplied the timed event cattle at our high school finals,” he said. “I haven’t done a perfect job, but I have a vested interest and sincerely care about the stock these kids get. I know that there is always going to be a bad draw, but to the best of my ability I’m trying to make sure the cattle are even.” The addition of the business is good for the ranch too. “Turning roping calves into feeder calves has been a perfect addition to the ranch.” He admits the business is expensive, hard work, but he plans to continue with it as well as his own career in rodeo. “This past summer I was gone rodeoing and my mom and dad helped me manage the contracts. I was setting up truck drivers and coordinating the events. I can sit and watch the entire slack and pay attention to the details because I’ve trained myself to do that. We mostly put together cattle in the spring, keep over our light end, and keep over team roping and bulldogging steers to reuse at the early rodeos wherever they will fit.”

Winning the All Around Resistol Rookie award was a goal Jace had set for himself. “It is an unbelievable accomplishment to get there – the trials and tribulations of trying to win this award and then when I won it, it really meant something. I had a really good year in the steer wrestling, but not so good in the team roping and calf roping. I won money, but scheduling and traveling and keeping horses in the trailer was difficult, but in the end it all worked out.” Jace hauls four or five horses at all times. “I travel with my two brother-in-laws and we have to have horses for team roping, hazing, steer wrestling, and calf roping. We’ll share horses and the horses will do more than one thing.”

Resistol has sponsored the Resistol Rookie awards since the late 70’s and for the first time, they added an awards banquet, along with other prizes, to the event. “I am unbelievably grateful for everything they did for us and how we were treated. Resistol offered us all a sponsorship package that was awesome,” said Jace. “For a lot of us going down the road, our biggest sponsors are our mom and dad and knowing that a company that sponsors the best in the world would sponsor us was amazing. Joining their team is an unbelievable opportunity – everything they did was great.” The 2015 Resistol Rookie recipients received two all-expense paid trips to the WNFR, Cactus saddles, coats, shirts and hats for the year.

 

Now it’s time to look ahead to 2016, and Jace’s number one goal this year is to make it to the WNFR in the steer wrestling. “My next goal would be to qualify for the circuit Finals in the steer wrestling and calf roping. It’s hard to get the rodeo count in that many events. If you were just circuit rodeoing, it would be a little less difficult, but when you’re trying to get to the bigger and better rodeos, it’s hard to schedule it.” He is spending part of January practicing in Texas, then he’s up in Odessa in the calf roping and steer wrestling, heads to Louisiana, back to Denver in the steer wrestling and team roping, then to Rapid City for all three events. “The month of February – I look at the Sports News every day for a few hours to figure out my schedule – that month is really busy.” Coming off last year, Jace is confident about his skills. “I really feel good going into spring and every chance I get, I’m going to get in the practice pen and keep my confidence level up and go for first and see where it all shakes out. I’m looking forward and I’m ready to get started.”

This season’s All-Around title race in the International Professional Rodeo Association is just about as close as it can get. It’s as international as it can get too, with the top-three contenders hailing from Canada, America and Australia respectively.

But if you look closer than the standings, you’ll find three friends who aren’t just trying to reach their own goals, they’re helping each other as well.

“These guys have helped me a lot since I’ve been here this year,” explains Ty Parkinson of fellow All-Around contestants, Justin Thigpen and Cody Mousseau.

Ty is from New South Wales, Australia and competes in just about every event he can, from bull riding to tie-down roping.
Ty joined the IPRA for his rookie year this summer after he met Canadian Cody Mousseau, the 2014 World Champion Team Roping Header and Steer Wrestler. Cody had come to Australia to rope at the beginning of 2015. “I met him over there. He came in about June,” Cody says of convincing Ty to come rodeo in North America. “It’s all on me. You can blame me or congratulate me,” he jokes.

By “blame” he probably means that Ty quickly shot to the top of the standings in several events, putting pressure on cowboys across the board.

Beyond Cody, soon Ty could also call veteran IPRA competitor and 2014 World Champion Tie-Down Roper, Justin Thigpen from Georgia, a good friend as well.  “They’ve both helped me out in roping and tying. They both pull my bull rope every weekend. Good buddies [who are] no. 1 and no. 2 in the world, it’s a great feeling,” Ty says of his two allies.

Rodeo is common in Ty’s part of Australia. He grew up with the aim of becoming a jack-of-all-trades in rodeo events like his father, a multiple event champion. Now Ty is seeing that dream to fruition across oceans.

Like Ty, for Cody and Justin, rodeo was just something they were born into. And they’ve done it well. Each has multiple titles and IFR qualifications to his name.

“My mom ran barrels, and my dad rode bulls, so I was running around in diapers, boots and cowboy hat. I’ve been at it my whole life. It’s about the only way of life I do now,” Justin explains of growing up in Waycross, Ga., with a rodeo family.
At first Justin thought he was going to be a bull rider like his dad. “When I got on them I wasn’t good enough so I had to find another occupation,” he laughs. “I started roping and never looked back. I’ve been very fortunate. I’ve been blessed with a rope.”

In addition to his successful rodeo career, Justin has also begun his own business as a stock contractor with T-T Rodeo Company. “I enjoy rodeo. It’s been great to me. It’s blessed me with a good life, and I want to give back to it. I hope to put on rodeos for many years to come,” he says and adds that there’s also a deeper meaning to what he does now that he’s a father.
Justin and wife Laura have a 2-year-old son named Slade and a newborn, Trent. “It’s more about enjoying it with them now. Things that used to worry me, I used to think about, I don’t now,” Justin explains.

Slade is always with him, behind the roping box cheering his dad on.

“He’s pretty into the rodeo. He hollers throughout the week, ‘daddy, are we going to the rodeo?’ I’m like, ‘it’s not the weekend yet son,’ but he’s all about it,” Justin smiles.

“It means more to me, because he comes out. Win, lose or draw, you’re still his hero, so that makes it a lot better. It makes you put life into perspective.”

Justin has also enjoyed being able to travel with Cody and Ty a lot this year.

“We support each other. We rope with each other, help Ty with the bull riding. We have a lot of fun, and that’s what it’s about. It used to be ‘have to win, have to win,’ now it’s ‘have fun, enjoy what you’re doing, enjoy your life,” he says.
Despite this, or because of it, the wins have come just the same.

Justin is leading the season standings in the All-Around race going into the International Finals Rodeo, held in Oklahoma City.
Cody is not far behind him. “I like it more. I’ve been to a couple finals where I only did one event. I don’t like it as much. I like doing everything at one time,” Cody says of competing in tie-down roping, steer wrestling and team roping.

Cody’s parents rodeoed, and he followed suit around the age of 10 or 11.

Being from Canada, Cody explains that rodeos in the summer go on full-steam ahead and then slow down, or end altogether in the winter. That’s why going south to rodeo in the states, and even going to Australia like Cody did, is more common for Canadians.

This summer Cody, Justin and Ty saw a lot of each other in Canada and the United States.  “We all traveled together a bunch this summer. We went for a couple of weeks, and two other Australians went with us, and Riley Williams went with us. One rodeo I do remember we went to in Pennsylvania, and every single one of us placed that day in every event, so it was good,” Cody recalls.

There are not rivalries when it comes to rodeo competitors who happen to be traveling partners like this trio, Cody assures. “It’s a lot easier. Everybody helps each other out.”

For Ty being so far away from home, the group has become a second family.

He stays with Cody’s parents a lot while in Canada. They have a traveling support system. Ty has been able to borrow good horses. They push each other’s calves and rope together too, he says.

The bond between the three guys no doubt contributes to their success.

“It’s pretty awesome how three different countries can come together and work as a team,” Ty says. And that is no doubt one of the best parts about the International Professional Rodeo Association and rodeo as a whole.