[ The offering at the 2018 Fulton Family Performance Horse & Production Sale will feature some extremely special prospects that represent the best bloodlines in the industry ]
Preparations for the 2018 Fulton Family Performance Horse & Production Sale are underway for Friday, August 17, 2018 at the Cherry County Fairgrounds in Valentine, Nebraska! This year’s offering will feature some extremely special prospects that represent the best bloodlines in the industry, including these two-year old features that are sired by the +$3.5 million dollar sire, A Streak of Fling crossed on mares out of the #1 maternal sire, Dash Ta Fame. Progeny from the A Steak of Fling x Dash Ta Fame cross have earned almost $1 million in progeny earnings and are considered a “Magic Cross” according to Equi-Stat.
Fling A Penny (A Streak of Fling x Short Penny, Dash Ta Fame) — A 2016 sorrel mare that is a full sibling to the infamous, Fame Fling N Bling aka ‘Bling,’ ridden by Sarah Rose McDonald to over +$765,000 in life-time earnings!
Said McDonald in an article in WPRN (Jan. ’17), “It was so thrilling to be on her back! She got down low, kept a low head set, and left the barrel hard. When she went in the arena, she wanted to win and she hustled hard.”
Out of the dam, Short Penny (DTF), Fame Fling N Bling was sold on the Fulton sale by Western 37 Barrel Horses as a yearling and the rest is history! Fling A Penny will be the last full sibling to ‘Bling’ offered at the Fulton sale.
Ryann Pedone – Springer
Fame Fling N Bling – Springer
Streakin Kingfatima (A Streak of Fling x Queen Fa Tima, Dash Ta Fame) — This 2016 bay roan stallion is a full brother to proven performers, Streakin Queenie (LTE +$65,000 – owned by Shoppa Ranch) and Streakin Ta Corona (LTE $40,000 – owned by Corny & Maria Wiebe). This has been a top selling bloodline at the Fulton sale, and a full brother, Streakin Fame Boy, garnered $46,000 at the 2016 Triangle Horse Sale.
Ryann Pedone, trainer and rider of Streakin Queenie, says, “I love how she is her own little being at all times. She maybe weighs maybe 1000 lbs soaking wet and gives me 110% every time we head down the alley. She is one of my favorite equine athletes that I have rode to date!”
Corny and Maria Wiebe own Streakin Ta Corona and Queen Flingtima (a full sibling sold on the 2017 Fulton sale). “We like the way they are built and how athletic they are. Streakin Ta Corona is really great minded and really hugs the barrel in her turns. This cross is perfect for an amazing barrel horse.”
Streakin Silk Panties (A Streak of Fling x Famous Silk Panties, Dash Ta Fame) — A 2016 bay roan mare that is out of Famous Silk Panties, the winningest futurity mare of all time (LTE +$237,000). Famous Silk Panties is the dam of several stallions at stud, including The Kandyman (owned by Lee & Hallie Hanssen) and This Fame Is On Fire (owned by Heath Boucher).
Lisa Fulton commented, “We are extremely excited for this mare and this cross. In the right hands, she will make an excellent barrel prospect and broodmare down the road.”
These proven performance crosses and more will be an asset to anyone’s program. Visit fultonranch.com for the most up-to-date information on the upcoming sale!
In the last four and a half years, rodeo judge Randy Ternan has worked 135 rodeos in six associations. He’s currently the GCPRA Judging Director and a director in the AHSRA, while working the 2017 NLBRA finals marked the 30th finals rodeo he’s judged.
Before the 57-year-old from Phoenix, Arizona, became a rodeo judge, he competed on both ends of the arena, starting with 4 years of steer riding, followed by 12 years of bull riding and 14 years of steer wrestling. He grew up in Alberta, Canada, in a town of 800 people, where rodeo was the entertainment. “A kid said I should enter the cow riding, and I had no spurs, no hat, and no glove, but some bareback riders cut their spur straps down so I had spurs and someone put a hat on my head,” Randy recalls. “That was in 1970, and I shouldn’t have rode the first one, because I’ve had the fever ever since.” He later switched to steer wrestling, and Randy college rodeoed for a year and even competed in Australia for three months. He worked full time at a fertilizer plant and rodeoed on weekends. While he was jumping a steer in 2000, the steer’s horn went through the side of his mouth and into the bottom of his eye socket. He was in a coma for a week and needed two brain surgeries. “But if you take the good out of the bad, because of that accident, they also found out I had a double brain aneurism,” says Randy. He made a full recovery and backed into the box for several more years until he broke his leg. Three plates and 22 screws later, Randy felt it was time to retire, but he wanted to stay involved through judging.
“The first time I judged, I was just supposed to do steer wrestling and barrel racing, and just before the rodeo, the judge decided I should flag the team roping in an 80-by-140-foot indoor arena,” says Randy. “Because I’d been on both ends of the arena, I was a watcher, even when I wasn’t competing. The first year I judged in Alberta, I got voted to do a finals, and it just progressed from there. I started judging the Grand Canyon rodeos 10 years ago. The association is great — everything is volunteer and they work at promoting their association, and they’ve done a real good job at the finals. I judged their finals the last nine years.” Randy also judges youth, high school, college, PRCA, and Indian rodeos and enjoys the opportunity to travel. “After judging all over the country, I think Arizona is quite lucky to have the core of judges they do. The judges we have here are very good and everybody is conscientious. You have to have thick skin as a judge and know the rule book — and have fun doing it. When contestants thank you for coming, that’s your payback. You don’t need to be a policeman, you just need to know the rules and treat people fairly.”
Randy also used to work for a toy company, and he built the prototypes for the first rodeo action figures to come onto the market, called Rodeo Champions. Randy had a licensed agreement to do action figures for all the events, and he completed a bull rider and a barrel racer before funding for the project was canceled. Today, he judges part time and manages several rental properties, while his wife, Laurie, works for an engineering company, flying 150,000 miles a year for work. She shows halter and English, and they raise several barrel horses a year. “We have a PC Frenchmans Hayday mare bred to Slick By Design, so that should be an interesting baby next year,” says Randy. He’s taken up team roping as a header in the last year and turned 50 steers so far. “I have a horse like a golden retriever — he’ll take care of me, and I want to keep my fingers! Even though you flag it for 17 years, there’s things you don’t watch for as a line judge. There’s lots to learn,” Randy finishes, “and I think I will enjoy it.”
It was while riding his dad’s milk cows that Ken Stanton got the inspiration to be a rodeo cowboy. The Weiser, Idaho man spent over two decades in pro rodeo, competing in both the bareback riding and the bull riding, and qualifying nine consecutive years for the National Finals Rodeo, six of those years in both of his events.
He was born in 1941, the youngest of four children of Roy W. and Lillian (Pattee) Stanton in The Dalles, Ore. The family moved to Cloverdale, Oregon, five miles from Sisters, and the kids attended Redmond High School. Ken was an outstanding wrestler, winning the state championship two years and finishing one year as runner-up. As a freshman, he wrestled at 98 lbs. and four years later, at 115 lbs.
Even though he had wrestling scholarships from Oregon and Oregon State, he chose to go to work, cowboying on a cattle ranch in eastern Oregon. It was winter time and one of the coldest winters, when he was on the wagon, throwing bales, while another worker was driving the tractor. One day, Ken told him, “it’s your turn to throw bales,” and the guy said no. Ken replied, “You are today, because I’m leaving.”
He took off for Odessa, Texas. He and his older brother Bill had competed in a half-dozen amateur rodeos (there was no high school rodeo then), and together, they headed south. He didn’t win money in Odessa, but a week later, in San Antonio, won $1800, more money than he’d ever seen before. He wasn’t greedy: “I sent most of it home to the folks because I didn’t need it.”
Ken stayed in the south, rodeoing at Rodeo Cowboys Association rodeos. He got his RCA card in 1960 and was a full time cowboy for the next decade. Bull riding was his favorite, but he was pretty even in his talent at both.
Mural of Ken on #18 Steiner, Fort Worth, Texas; photo by Ferrell; Mural is made up of 1 inch tile that is 31 feet tall and 9 feet wide. It is located on the Will Rogers Memorial Arena parking garage in Fort Worth, Texas – Matt Brockman, Forth Worth Stock Show & Rodeo
“Old Man” Stanton, Stanton School – Wright Photo
Ken on #10, he scored a 63 point ride in Albuquerque, 1965 – Allen Photo
He was a natural at bareback and bull riding. He was small: only 5’4” and 145 lbs., but wiry and strong. In high school, he had jumped on the school’s trampoline, strengthening his core and improving his balance while entertaining fans during basketball halftimes. And he’d worked hard on his family’s ranch, throwing bales that weighed as much as he did.
From 1960 to1970, he rodeoed in the south during the winter and headed to the Northwest for the summer. He competed at about fifty rodeos a year, when other cowboys were going to 100 or more.
And he did well, financially. He estimates he averaged $22,000 a year as income over the ten year period, with his best year earning $28,500. “That was a good income for us,” he said. “It was a lot of money then.”
He competed at the National Finals Rodeo every year from 1962 through 1970, in the bareback riding eight times and the bull riding seven times. His highest finish was fourth place in the bull riding in 1964. In 1970, he was ahead of Gary Leffew in the bull riding, both having covered eight bulls, till Ken got bucked off his ninth bull and Gary beat him by only 35 points on nine head. “If I’d have rode (the ninth bull), nobody could have touched me.” He finished that year second in the average.
When he was on the road, his family went with him. He married Ginger Tarter in 1965 and they had three children: daughter Tracy and sons Scott and James. The kids loved being on the road. “They were like rodeo orphans,” Ken said. “The kids loved (being at rodeos) and people loved them.” Some of Ken’s fondest memories were at the Pendleton Round-Up. His parents and Ginger’s parents attended the Round-Up, and they’d take a big box of tomatoes grown by friends of his parents’. The cowboys loved it. “They couldn’t wait for us to get there, and they’d sit there and eat tomatoes,” Ken recalled. “It was like a family reunion.”
The year 1970 was his last year of full time competition. He spent the next three years working as a general contractor in Colorado Springs, building homes. Then he became a deputy sheriff for Washington County, Idaho, his home county. He worked that job for ten years, handling the civil lawsuit work and some of the jailer duties. He competed in a few rodeos, but not many.
After ten years of deputy sheriff duties, Ken went to work for a gold mine in Battle Mountain, Nevada, driving a 350 ton haul truck and working there till 2000.
It was an injury that started on the eastern Oregon ranch and culminated while he was a deputy sheriff that bothered him the rest of his life. On the ranch, he had gotten frostbitten feet while feeding cattle. A few years later, while traveling on slick roads on a cold snowy day with his wife and daughter, the car went into the ditch. Ken ran for help, running eleven miles in two and a half hours and getting frostbite again. The final straw was as deputy sheriff. He was working an accident that started with one car in the ditch on icy roads, and seven hours later, was a seventeen-car pileup. His feet were frozen, and gangrene set in. Doctors amputated two toes in 1974, then a few years later, his feet at mid-arch. In 2004, his left leg was amputated four inches above the knee. His leg’s veins had collapsed.
Ken Stanton – Courtesy of the family
Ken on “Sorrel Top,” Houston, 1965 – Allen Photo
The toughest bull Ken saw while rodeoing was Snowman, owned by the Christensen Brothers. The bull had been unridden for five or six years when Ken drew him at Pendleton. He got bucked off at the whistle and remembers seeing Jim Shoulders and Harry Tompkins kneeling in the arena, watching the ride. He also remembers their comment: “that bull can’t be that bad, that kid almost rode him.” It was several more years before someone made a qualified ride on Snowman.
Ken was part of a unique brotherhood. At the 1967 and 1968 National Finals Rodeos, five contestants: Ken, his brother Bill, Jim Ivory, his brother John Ivory, and Larry Mahan were all graduates of Redmond High School and all members of the wrestling team.
After his leg was amputated, Ken moved back to Weiser, where he lives with his brother Bill, who also competed at the National Finals Rodeo. Ken and Ginger divorced in 1981. His daughter Tracy, who has five children, lives a few miles away. His sons, Scott and James, live in Boise. Ken has three great-grandchildren.
He served as bareback riding director for two years, but it wasn’t for him. And he was asked to judge rodeos, but by then, his feet were bothering him and it was difficult to stand for long periods of time.
His brother Bill, who was a year and a half older than him, had a plane and a pilot’s license and they would sometimes fly to rodeos. Ken remembers one time when they left St. Paul, Oregon, headed south of San Francisco. As soon as Bill got the plane off the ground, he asked Ken to take the wheel for a minute. “Then Bill jumped into the back and said, ‘wake me when we get to Bakersfield,’” Ken laughed. They were cruising at 12,000 feet, and Ken knew Mt. Shasta was 13,000 feet, so he pulled the plane up to 14,000, following the freeway to their destination.
His dad always knew when his boys had been riding the milk cows. “One of us would get on, and the other would turn her loose,” Ken remembered. “The hard part was ducking under the door.” The next day, those cows wouldn’t give milk, and it would be a dead give-away for the boys’ antics. His dad would ask, “have you boys been riding them cows?”
Ken is an inductee into the Ellensburg (Wash.) Rodeo and Pendleton Round-Up Halls of Fame. At Ellensburg, he won the bareback riding, bull riding, and the all-around several times. Lewiston, Idaho was also a rodeo he won multiple times.
Ken loved having his family with him as he rodeoed, and he loved rodeoing. “I wouldn’t trade it for nothing now,” he said. He never won a world title but he stayed in the top fifteen, competing at half as many rodeos as the others. “It’s in your blood or you just don’t do it,” he said. “It’s not easy but it’s a good way to make a living.”
Coco van den Bergh saw her first pair of Wrangler jeans and a Western saddle when she came to the United States as a college exchange student from Holland. Today, the 51-year-old is a breakaway roper in the RMPRA, making her home near Ferron, Utah, at the base of the La Sal Mountains, happily ensconced in the rodeo and Western lifestyle.
Coco started riding English as a child, first learning to ride bareback on a pony. “In Holland, kids usually go to a stable and ride ponies, and a fun thing they do is give you coins or money, and if you’re able to keep that money between your bum and your horse, you can spend it at their candy store,” she says. Her mother and grandmother both rode horses, and though Coco didn’t have her own horse until she moved to the U.S., she rode horses for friends, including a black Arabian stallion. “I did dressage and jumping, but the most wonderful thing is I lived at the coast, and you can ride your horse through the forest to the beach and go swimming with your horse.”
All of the disciplines Coco rode gave her a horsemanship foundation that made it easy to start riding Western, and the rodeo community was quick to show her the ropes. “The people are so friendly, and they treat you like you’re a part of their family. It’s so pleasant to go, and it’s fun and educational,” says Coco. “I love to watch human and equine athletes perform. I’ve been an athlete my whole life — I used to fence and figure skate, but horses are my whole life. That’s what I live for.”
Brad Richman, Coco’s partner – Courtesy of the family
Coco van den Bergh sitting on Kjeragbolten in Norway. – Courtesy of the family
Coco breakaway roping at Draper Town Days Rodeo, July 7, 2017 – John Golom
A love of learning brought Coco to Utah, where she did her research for one of her two master’s degrees in geology, but she stayed for the Western lifestyle. She earned a welding degree taking evening classes, and she’s also tried her hand — and feet — at ballet, field hockey, surfing, sailing, and skiing. Coco was even on the college fencing team at her university in Holland and University of Wisconsin-Madison, competing with other schools much like any other college sport. Coco finished her second master’s degree in geology at University of Wisconsin-Madison at the request of ExxonMobil, where she worked for a year. “It means so much more when you see the landscape and understand the carbonate rocks, or fluvial or volcanic. I just love it (geology) because I love nature. I’ve found Indian arrowheads and pottery, and I love the wildlife you see out in the middle of nowhere by yourself. After that (ExxonMobil) I started my own business as a geologist doing research for oil companies, but the income was too inconsistent, so I got the job I have now so I could live the Western lifestyle.”
Coco purchased her very first horse in 1996 after moving to Utah, and once she’d run a few chutes for friends, she wanted to back into the box herself. She learned to team rope first before switching to breakaway roping. The first rodeo she entered was in Salina, Utah, and Coco even went to a Stran Smith roping clinic. She has four quarter horses, several of which are bred by Mary Journigan of the K Cross Ranch in Lamoille, Nevada. “My partner, Brad Richman, is a cowboy, and he takes my horses for five months and does nothing but cowboy on them and get them broke for two summers. After that, I take them over and cowboy on them myself because I help the local ranchers.” Coco met Brad in the mountains where he was herding cows and she was helping the local ranchers, and they cemented their friendship looking for several horses that got loose. Coco also welds on the ranches when needed and takes much of her vacation time to work cattle with local ranchers. “I cowboy on my horses for two years before I rope on them. It takes a lot of years to make a good horse, and I get nothing but compliments about them.” She’s especially excited about her 3-year-old gelding, Charlie, whom she started breakaway roping off of in the last few months. “I went to two Clinton Anderson clinics and put that foundation on him, and Todd Fitch put three months on him. My goal is to make it to the RM (RMPRA finals) by basically training this horse all by myself.” Steve Young has also trained a few of Coco’s horses and helped her with the team roping. Brady Ramone works with her in the breakaway, while Coco says the Mascaros, Clowards, Webers, and Foxes have become like family. Her own family, who live in Holland, love that she rodeos, and her mom comes to visit for a month every summer.
On the set of Disney’s John Carter, a sci-fi movie that she worked on in Moab, Utah – Courtesy of the family
Coco was on the fencing team at at her university in Holland and University of Wisconsin-Madison – Courtesy of the family
Coco sailing in Norway.- Courtesy of the family
In 2012, Coco’s horse training earned her a spot in the credits of Disney’s John Carter, a sci-fi movie that she worked on in Moab, Utah. “I worked for three weeks training the horses and then training the actors how to ride. There were five horses from Hollywood, and then a whole herd of horses from Washington.” One of the horses Coco trained — the backup horse to the lead horse from Hollywood — starred in the movie, and she also trained them to accept riders jumping on and off their backs at a lope. “It was so cool, and I got such nice friends out of it too.”
Along with her horses, Coco runs a small herd of Corriente cattle, which she raises for roping. “It takes time for them to grow horns, so in the meantime, I breakaway on them, and when they’re ready to team rope, they’re already broke in and they run nice and straight. It’s so much easier on the head horse.” She ropes at least four times a week at friends’ arenas, or the indoor arena in town. She’s now the branch manager of a laboratory that analyzes coal and water, and Coco uses her breaks to rope the dummy in the bed of her truck. “I have that Jackie Crawford DVD Elevate, and that’s made a huge difference. I met her at a clinic in Utah one day, and last year I went to her house for a week to rope. Jackie Crawford and Jake Barnes are my heroes and role models.
“My whole life is horses and roping and rodeo,” says Coco, who’s entering her third season in the RMPRA. “This year, my goal is to make it to the RM finals, and then go to the Rehab Productions open breakaway roping during the NFR in Las Vegas. Another goal is to show people that it doesn’t matter how old you are. Live life to the fullest and make your dreams come true by setting goals, creating a plan, and working hard. Believe in yourself and go for it.”
There are a few professions, besides rodeo, that require driving many miles and spending time away from home. One of those occupations is a sales rep, which is what Scott Stickley has chosen to do for the last twenty-six years. Scott, who makes his home in Whitesboro, Texas, is a sales rep for Professional’s Choice, Dutton Bits, Fast Back Ropes, Weaver Leather, and Eight Away Breakaway. Covering Texas and New Mexico keeps him on the road four days a week and puts 65,000 miles a year on his truck.
“Being a sales rep isn’t rocket science,” says Scott. “You get in your truck and call on accounts. Ninety-five percent of the people in our industry are good people and fun to deal with. It’s not like having a real job. I get to go see people and visit.”
“My favorite thing about this job is the relationships I’ve built over the years. It’s more of a friendship than a business relationship at this point.”
Stickley grew up in Iowa roping calves and qualified for the National High School Finals Rodeo three times. He was crowned state champion calf roper during his sophomore and senior years.
“When I was 18, I moved to Texas. The weather was more favorable for roping and I knew I could rope more often against some great ropers. Shortly after moving I realized the calf roping was very competitive – more so than I had anticipated. Later I met Shaun Burchett, a world champion steer roper, and started roping with him. I grew to love the sport, mostly due to the horsemanship involved. In 1990 I was the PRCA Rookie Steer Roper of the year.”
Stickley’s first job in Texas was working in a warehouse for a company that sold pneumatic tools. In the early 90’s he went to work for Jimmy Smith, of Smith Brothers, in Denton, Texas, putting on team ropings. He also helped manage the 1,800 head of steers Smith owned and leased.
Scott soon found himself working “road shows” for Smith Brothers such as Congress and the NFR and eventually went to work in the store full time. There he met visiting sales reps and decided it was a pretty cool profession.
“At one of the road shows I met Monty Crist, Professional’s Choice, who convinced me to step out of retail and try my hand at being a sales rep,” explains Stickley. “My first lines were Professional’s Choice and Dutton Bits. At the time PC only had about five products so sales were nothing like they are today.”
Now, years later, Scott has seen a lot of changes in the western industry.
“Sadly, the smaller ‘mom and pop’ stores are dwindling. The Internet has a lot to do with it, and the larger companies keep expanding. The changes I find exciting is the development of new materials used in sport boots, and rope making. High tech is making its way to the western industry.”
When not traveling, Scott enjoys spending time with his wife, Regale, and two daughters, Jaci, 19, and Jesi, 14. He also ropes steers and team ropes.
“I still enjoy this hobby very much. I enjoy roping and like keeping current with the needs, ideas, and changes in products. Staying in the loop helps me service and relate to my customers’ needs.
COWBOY Q&A Do you make your own horses? Yes. Who have been your roping heroes? Roy Cooper, Phil Lyne. Who do you respect most in the world? Greg Dutton. Who has been the biggest influence in your life? My dad. What’s the last thing you read? A book called, Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters. How would you describe yourself in three words? Humble, self-motivated, good friend. What makes you happy? Family. If you were given one million dollars, how would you spend it? I would help our church, put enough away for college for my girls, and save rest away for retirement. What is your worst quality – your best? My best quality is honesty. My worst is being disorganized. Where do you see yourself in ten years? Hopefully in ten years, I will be retired and roping in Arizona during the winter.
With warmer weather comes barrel racer Stevi Hillman’s favorite time of year. Outdoor rodeos are her and her horses’ forte, and while the two-time WNFR qualifier from Weatherford, Texas, pulled a check in Houston, she won the first two outdoor rodeos of the year at Los Fresnos and Goliad, Texas. “The horses are really ready to be outside,” says Stevi. “I like Cheyenne, it’s a big outdoor rodeo, but I just like the summer run. We get to go from one outdoor rodeo to the next. Some people don’t like it because the weather can change from one run to the next, but I like the challenge, and the travel is fun.”
Stevi took her horses Truck and Layla with her for the California run in April, and she’ll load up Sharpie, the newest addition to her barn, for the summer run. Whether at work or at play, Stevi always saddles up with a 5 Star Equine pad, which she started using even before her rodeo career took off in 2016. “I’m a firm believer in the pads—they last a long time. I really like the quality of the pads. There are some other good pads out there, but with hundredths of seconds’ difference between you and your competitors, going from a good pad to a great pad makes all the difference. I like to represent companies that stand for a good cause and are good people.” Since using the pads, Stevi also noticed her horses needed fewer chiropractic adjustments. “I feel like the pressure of a saddle and the pressure of a pad over time is a huge impact on the horse’s body condition.”
Her latest venture, which Stevi embarked on with her husband, Ty, is raising their own colts and training them. She’s been training horses since childhood, learning from her step-dad, Dave Salzbrenner. They got an embryo out of Martini, the mare that helped Stevi get to her first WNFR in 2016, and bred to Dash Ta Fame, which gave them Pendleton, now a yearling stud prospect. “We flushed our Dash Ta Fame mare this last year to Slick By Design, which gave us our baby this year. We’re not really wanting to get into the breeding business, but our goal is to have a great mare to sell embryos from. I went from training full time with 17 head of horses around here, including our own, to having our own colts, and I have one of the Dunn’s 3-year-olds here in training.”
Horse training led Stevi to the rodeo world when she trained an off-track quarter horse Im A Royal Design “Hammer” and ran him her rookie year in the PRCA, winning Reserve Barrel Racing Rookie of the Year in 2012. He went on to the WNFR with Carlee Pierce and Jana Bean, while Stevi’s mare she trained, Perfectos Dually “J-Lo” took her to Houston, and later, J-Lo ran with Christina Richman at the 2012 WNFR. “A huge part of my rodeo career was getting into Houston for the first time, and I’m very thankful to be able to train such an amazing animal to do so well,” says Stevi.
She grew up with a strong work ethic that included animals’ needs coming first, but Stevi says setting aside time to take care of herself is also important. “It’s (rodeo) a 24/7 job. I talked to someone recently about being out at 11 at night flexing my horse or giving a massage. It really comes down to your passion. At times, you get mentally or physically tired from going 24/7. It’s all about the horses all the time, which is important, but so is taking time for yourself to refresh.” Hot yoga is her favorite way to shift her focus for a few minutes, along with jogging with her husband. “My motivation lately has been that I’m truly blessed to be doing what I love, and how many people get to be in that position? I not only get to do what I love, but I help other people do what they love, and that’s the dream life in my opinion.”
Stevi’s husband feels similarly. Ty, formerly a professional roper, started his business Prepare To Win in 2016. A success coach, he helps clients reach their peak performance in life and in the arena, and his work allows him to travel all year with Stevi. “We listen to all kinds of motivational books, and that definitely sparks conversation around that, and it helps me,” says Stevi. “We’re both very competitive. He’s been my motivation through my competitive years, and my step-dad is a huge inspiration to me and put that fire in me at a young age. Being able to watch people like Lisa Lockhart and Sherry Cervi growing up and being able to talk to them whenever I want has helped, and Jana Bean has been a great help to me.
“My future goals are always to become better, physically and mentally. Competition wise, I always want to win. I know that’s always in God’s timing in what you win and where you’ll go, and I hope for more doors to open this year for me to help more people.”
Red Top Ranch Trick Riding school celebrated its 30th years at the Vold Ranch in Avondale, Colorado, this past March. Taught by Karen Vold and Linda Scholtz, a total of 28 students attended one of the four schools. Students traveled from Alaska, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and New York and several other states to attend the three day school.
Karen learned how to trick ride when she was young, “I learned from a lady that worked for us at the riding stables. I trick rode for a living from 14 to 27, when I went to work for Harry,” said Karen. “When I started going on the road, I didn’t have time to do it, so I started teaching.”
Linda came to work for Karen when Karen and Harry’s daughter, Kirsten, was 5. She and her husband, Paul, did the church services and Linda taught Sunday school. She learned to trick ride from Karen in 1978. “I was watching Karen teach Kirsten and I’d never seen it before. I wondered what it was.” Karen told her that she would teach them both. That went on for a year before Linda decided to ride professionally and she got her card in 1980. She and Paul took off for 27 years, part of the All American Trick Riders (Vickie Tyer and Lori Orman). “I fell in love with it,” said Linda. She and Paul continued their ministry at rodeos all over the country.
Warming up. – Rodeo News
Rubie Sturgeon has been preparing for the school since the middle of February. “I worked out every night. Pullup planks, push ups, and sit ups.” She can do 32 situps in less than a minute and she does yoga too. The 11-year-old from Pittsburg, Penn., believes she is the only one that does trick riding in her area. She is also involved in Equestrian vaulting – Perfect Impulse – they meet every Sunday. “We go to competitions in Virginia and Tennessee.” She likes trick riding because there’s more freedom in it. – Rodeo News
Cory Young ponies Ashtyn Walter from Loveland, Texas. – Rodeo News
Linda rode with the All American Trick Riders for 14 years, and during that time someone wanted a lesson. “We started with one lesson in 1987. After that it started rolling along. It started with one weekend,” said Linda. “When we became an official school, we did them for a week. We coordinated it with the local spring break. We advertised a little and it snowballed from there.”
Many of the staff were former students; one from Scotland, who came as a student, is still coming over once a year to rekindle friendships and teach the next generation. Lorna Campbell, from Trinty Gask in Scotland, came ten years ago. “I used to do vaulting and I was too old, and I’d seen it and it looked fun. I ended up getting a couple horses at home and continued.” She shows her talents at Agricultrual shows and Highland games. Unfortunately rodeo is illegal in Scotland, so she isn’t able to trick ride at those events.” Now the clinical trial monitor takes almost a month off to come over and visit and help train the next generation of trick riders. One of her trick riding friends, Mellissa Pfaff, from Broomfield, Colorado, started coming to the class when she was 15.
Mellissa has a BA, four Masters degrees and is midway through her PhD in Education. She teaches high school science and takes time out of her schedule to come every weekend and help. After learning the art, Mellissa went and trick rode all over the country and ended up working for Cavalia for a year and a half. “We worked all over the Us and Canada. “I keep coming back because I love teaching and Linda and Karen changed my life – I’m a better person – trick riding has led me to everywhere I’ve been in my life. It’s a part of my identity.”
Karen Vold and Linda Scholtz with the cake that was brought to celebrate the occasion.
Cory Young, from Belton, Missouri, Lorna Campbell, from Trinty Gask in Scotland, and Aaron and Isaac Johnson – brothers. Cory Young has been a pony person for five years, but has worked with Linda for 18 years. He and Aaron and Isaac went to the trick riding competition in 2016 in Las Vegas. “Isaac and I competed in the individual performances,” said Aaron, who placed third and Isaac placed fourth. “Everything I know about horses I learned from Linda and Karen.” Cory went along for support, much like the rodeo minister does at the schools. – Rodeo News
Wyollah Moses, from Keenesburg, Colorado, came to this school for the second time. “I came here last year and had a lot of fun and wanted to come back and learn more – once I get better, I want to perform professionally. My dad is working on a horse for me right now.” The 14 year old has a whole workout routine on her mirror. She hopes to start colts and trick ride when she grows up. “I work at a riding stable in Brighton – cleaning pens, helping the kids, cleaning the tack.” She works so she could buy a trick riding saddle. – Rodeo News
The school is open to anyone seven years old and up and any level of experience. “We’ve had students as old 0as 48,” said Linda. “In the past, we’ve had several mothers who gave it a try.”
“It’s harder than it looks,” said Karen. “But by the end of every school, everyone has mastered at least one trick. “We have people from Wisconsin who say this is the best vacation we had as a family.”
Bob Brenner, from Pikes Peak Saddlery, comes one day during the school to help with straps and whatever the students need for the saddles, which belong to Karen and Linda. Linda brought all the horses.
The staff consists of Aaron and Isaac Johnson – brothers. Mellissa and her sister, Mimi, and Lorna, Cory Young, Aaron and Isaac’s mother, Debbie, is one of the cooks, along with Karen’s lifelong friends, Bobbie Fritz. Gail Shivelry also helps in the kitchen along with Cindy Robinson.
“We started this in the first place so the art wouldn’t die, and we’re still doing it,” said Karen. “We have really and truly a fabulous staff and they come back every year. I don’t know why they keep coming. Cory finds ways to share the Word through the avenue of trick riding. “We always have a church service at the last day of the school – It’s shocking when you see students that you had and they introduce you to their kids. It’s hard to imagine it’s been that many years.”
Each day, Wendy Suhn, works to keep her roles as wife, mother, and barrel racer in balance. When she does get time to herself, you’ll find Wendy Suhn working with her horses and preparing for the next race. Sometimes just getting to the races is a victory. She is married to Todd Suhn and they have 2 children, Slate (10) and Zoey (7). They split their time between their residences in Weatherford, TX and Hermosa, SD. She raises, trains, and runs her own horses for barrel racing competition at the futurities, jackpots and rodeos.
Wendy – courtesy of Fulton Family Performance Horses
Currently she is running two horses by A Streak of Fling and has an estimated $50k in earnings between them. “She B Astreakin aka ‘Sheba’ (A Streak of Fling x Wild Fast Bar Girl ) is out of a mare that I used to run barrels on. When we decided to breed her, I was still running her so we wanted to do an embryo transfer. We tried to flush an embryo but when it was implanted in the ‘recip’, we were told that it didn’t take. I continued to run my mare until around March and I took her to the vet because I wanted to rebreed her to A Streak of Fling in the spring and I jokingly remarked about the fact that she looked bred already. It turns out, she was bred and had her baby (She B Astreakin) in May! ‘Sheba’ was my ‘mistake’ baby and it turns out she was the only foal we got out of that mare, so she will probably never leave the place. She has a lot of grit and try like all the ‘Streakers’ have. ‘Sheba’ has her own opinions and strong personality and when you ride her outside, it’s one hand on the horn with her because every now and then she’ll jump in the air and spin around. She is all of 14.2 and I joke that she is as wide as she is tall but she’s a catty little thing and loves to run on harder ground. Right now, at twelve years old, she is running as good as ever!”
“We bought HLH Streakin A Fling aka ‘Redbeer’ (A Streak of Fling x Tinys Gay Jet) as a yearling and he is 9 years old now. He has had to overcome some injuries including most recently, a medial collateral tear on a front leg but since he is so tough, his injury wasn’t easy to determine initially. He runs best in deeper ground and is a bigger, powerful type horse. He has a stiffer style of turning and doesn’t like his face pulled on. We also own his full brother who I am excited to start running.”
“I think the ‘Streakers’ have heart, grit and try and they have the ability to do anything. I’m thinking about getting my WPRA card again this year and hauling both of my horses.”
Rollie Gibbs has played several different roles in the sport he loves. He was a bull rider and bulldogger, competing for thirty-plus years, served as chairman of the Helldorado Days Rodeo in Las Vegas, president of the Wilderness Circuit, president and advisor for the Nevada High School Rodeo Association, and chairman of the Old Timers Reunion.
It all started in 1935, when he was born in Las Vegas, the younger son of Bert and Cecilia Gibbs, on the old Miller Ranch, which is now Sunset Park on Eastern and Sunset Roads, back when Fremont Street was gravel.
He was a year old when he was in the Helldorado Days Parade, in the back of a little cart while his older brother Delbert drove the cart with a pair of goats. When he was a kid, he and his brother would ride their horses to Bonanza and Second Streets, where they would watch the rodeo and the horse races.
In high school, he rodeoed, riding bulls. One Monday morning, he was up in slack and had to cut school to ride. His parents did not approve of his rodeo; they didn’t want him to get hurt and they did not know that he competed. That evening, he was working with his dad in the front yard, when his dad said, “I hear you can ride bulls.” Father Kenny, from the local parish, had seen Rollie ride and reported it to his dad. The cat was out of the bag.
After graduating from Las Vegas High School in 1954, Rollie went pro. For a while, he didn’t have to buy his Rodeo Cowboys Association card; Chuck Shepard, a judge, would waive the fee for him at the rodeos Chuck was at. One time, in Salt Lake City, June Ivory cornered Rollie, telling him Shepard wouldn’t be there, so he’d have to buy his card.
Rollie steer wrestling at the Silver Bird Hotel in 1980 with Jerry Jones hazing. It was a 5.5 second run. – courtesy of the family
Rollie’s older brother Delbert drives the wagon with Rollie in the back, 1940 – courtesy of the family
In his high school days, Gibbs rode bulls. It wasn’t till ’55 that he started steer wrestling, and he won the first rodeo he entered. Wide World of Sports was televising that event, and “I was twenty feet tall and bullet proof,” Rollie laughed. He competed at rodeos from Cheyenne, Wyo., to Denver, Salt Lake City, Ogden, Spanish Forks, Prescott, Phoenix, Scottsdale, and more. And when steer wrestling greats like Willard and Benny Combs hazed for him, he was on top of the world. “I thought, man, I was King Kong.”
He competed, on and off, for 36 years, and won his hometown rodeo, Helldorado Days, in 1977. A year later, he was asked to be the chairman for the rodeo. Rollie also served three years as chairman of the Helldorado Rodeo Queen pageant. During his year at the helm of Helldorado Days, he had a midnight performance for the workers on the graveyard shift.
Gibbs served as president of the Wilderness Circuit from 1979 to 1982, and helped with the Nevada High School Rodeo Association as an advisor and as president. He worked to bring the high school state finals to Las Vegas. The first time, it was hosted at the Star Dust arena. But when the arena was turned into an RV park, there was no other outdoor facility in Vegas to host it. Rollie went to the county commissioners and worked with them to build Horseman’s Park. Gibbs, in his ingenuity, used local supplies: drill stem pipe from the Nevada Test Site (now the Nevada National Security Site) for posts, leftover lights from the airport, and more. The high school finals was televised for several years by the PBS station, and Rollie secured a Las Vegas High School alumnus; Pam Martin Minick, to serve as commentator. Supporting youth was a big part of his life, whether it was in rodeo or through high school scholarships.
During this time, Rollie had been working for a crane company, with an understanding boss who allowed him to rodeo. When the company passed to the son, he decided to form his own company: the Rollie Gibbs Crane Service. After 26 years with the first company, he took many of his customers with him. He worked on many familiar buildings in town: Caesar’s Palace, the Mirage, the Riviera, the Stardust, at the Nevada Test Site, and more. His skills and dependability were in high demand; when Rollie did a job, it got done quickly and it got done well. “I was working seven days a week, around the clock,” he said.
An example of his hard work was the Landmark Tower. The tallest structure in Las Vegas when it was begun, he and his crew built 26 concrete floors in eleven days, pouring a foot an hour.
Rollie Gibbs (left) and Liz Kesler (far right) on behalf of the Cowboy Reunion present a check to Cindy Schonholtz (center) and the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund – courtesy of the family
(l to r) Co-Chairman Gail Gibson, Chairman Rollie Gibbs, John Taylor and Co-Chairman Don Helm. The 1987 Elk’s Helldorado Rodeo in Las Vegas, Nevada – courtesy of the family
Rollie and Naomi – courtesy of the family
As owner of Rollie Gibbs Crane Service, he donated much of his time to charities, helping build the Ronald McDonald House, a Salvation Army warehouse, and more. He’s volunteered his time with Habitat for Humanity, and served as Cub Scout leader, receiving the Meritorious Service Award.
Rollie worked as a pickup man for Cotton Rosser and Flying U Rodeo, and served as a judge as well, judging rodeos from the 1960s into the ‘80s. He was on the board of the Miss Rodeo Nevada organization, produced a Little Britches Rodeo in Overton, Nev., and a high school rodeo in Pahrump, Nev.
Since 2008, he’s been president of the Las Vegas High School Alumni Association, and with his guidance, the association has paid out nearly $100,000 in scholarships for high school youth.
Rollie is currently on the board of directors for the Original Cowboy Reunion, begun by Buster and June Ivory and Liz Kessler. The group meets every year in Las Vegas during the National Finals Rodeo.
He built his own home in the early 1980s in a prestigious part of town, Section 10. He and his wife host parties and events at their home, weddings, memorials, Rollie’s high school reunion, church gatherings, and, each year, their rodeo friends when they are in town for the Cowboy Reunion.
A few years ago, he ran into a classmate from high school. Naomi Lytle had been a Helldorado Rodeo Queen, but after marriage, had moved out of town. Her husband died, and when she visited Las Vegas, they reacquainted and got married five years ago. “She dearly loves the same things I do,” Rollie said. Together, they’re spending their retirement days traveling the world, visiting Ireland, Scotland and England; Alaska, the Caribbean, Montreal, and more.
Rollie has had tickets to the NFR since it moved to Vegas in 1985. Four seats in the fourth row belong to him, and he goes to all ten performances. He also loves to visit the Gold Card Room, where the PRCA’s gold card members visit.
Looking back on his life, he recalls the good days. “I can’t say I’ve had a bad part of my life,” he said. “I’ve lived in the best of times.” And at the age of 82, he’s not done. “I’m not dead yet. I’ve got plenty of other things to do.”
“I’ve always wanted to rope since I could walk and be around horses, and it’s what I’ve always done,” says Caleb Smidt. “I watched the NFR on TV and it’s what I’ve always wanted to do.” The four-time WNFR qualifier and 2015 World Champion Tie-Down Roper is the first of his family to travel the professional rodeo trail. But the horse training and roping he learned growing up, particularly from his dad, Randy Smidt, gave him the foundation of skills that took him from Bellville, Texas, to the arena floor of the Thomas and Mack Center.
Caleb, the All-Around and Tie-Down Roping Rookie of the Year in 2013, competed at the WNFR for the third consecutive year in December and won $60,000. Although the 2017 season didn’t have gold buckle returns, he finished fifth in the world standings and split first place in Round 8 with his high school friend Cory Solomon. “I had a really good year all last year leading up to the finals, and then got to the finals and just didn’t do very good,” he says. “It’s been really wet here all winter, so hopefully it dries up and we can be roping and practicing and back into the swing of things. Justin Maass has a covered arena and I’ll go over there. He tunes me up and keeps me in line and always has good advice for me. We rodeoed together in 2013 and he’s been my coach through the whole thing.”
Caleb credits riding good horses just as much with his success as his motivation. “A good horse is a big part of my success, and being able to have my family up here with me rodeoing and joining in. I don’t like the driving part, but when you have a good horse and family with you, it’s a lot easier. It’s been successful for me the last four or five years.” He continues to ride Pockets, the horse that carried him to the WNFR and the world title in 2015. The pair won $130,000 last year, and Caleb also rode Walter Johnson’s horse Iron. The latest member of his equine team is Bart Hutton’s horse El Gato, who carried Caleb through his winning run at the Dixie National Rodeo in Jackson, Mississippi, in February. “He’s a smaller horse, and he’s got a lot of try and a big heart. He gives it everything every time you ride him, and he can run and handle big cattle. He’s still a touch green at the bigger and louder rodeos, but he’s getting better,” says Caleb, who set the horse on his biggest stage yet at The American in February.
Between every one of Caleb’s horses and his saddle is a 5 Star Equine pad, which he started using in 2015 and rode at the WNFR. He officially joined the 5 Star team in 2016 when time and hard use proved that the pads should be a staple in his tack room. “I like them. They last a really long time and seem to fit my horses good, so I’ve ridden them ever since 2015,” says Caleb. Along with spreading the word about their products through his social media, he also signs autographs at the WNFR. They’re also put to use for everyday jobs like working cattle and riding colts, which Caleb enjoys doing when he’s home. He also enjoys team roping, which he’s done professionally in the past. Caleb tried his hand at steer wrestling, but that set him back almost a year in 2014 when he broke his leg, so tie-down roping remains his primary focus.
“I love hunting,” Caleb adds. “My father-in-law has a few places to hunt, so I do a lot of deer hunting and hunting wild pigs.” Hunting will take a back seat by March and April when the PRCA Texas Circuit rodeos pick up, followed by the summer run. “Dodge City is one of my favorites and I always seem to do good there. Coming out of the head box at Salinas is always pretty exciting, and Deadwood, South Dakota, is another good one. My family has been with me (rodeoing) every year since I got married,” Caleb says of his wife, Brenna, and their son, Cru. “Now that we have a 2-year-old kid, we might start seeing more stuff on the road and doing more things. He likes horses a little bit, but he likes tractors more than anything, and big machinery.
“Since I make a living doing this, I want to make the finals and try to win another gold buckle,” Caleb finishes. “I’ve always kind of had the mindset that it’s what I do for a living, so I have to make a living at it. It’s what I do to support my family, and always my main goal is to be successful and rodeo.”
[ Brazos wins all-around championship at Jr.NFR in Las Vegas ]
Brazos Heck is quite driven and focused.
He knows exactly what he wants in his future to be. He’s a cowboy in every sense of the word, and in rodeo, he competes on the backs of bucking bovines and bucking broncs.
“I want to ranch here in Oklahoma,” he said. “I think I can ride all three (roughstock) events, and it would just be a dream come true to win 10 all-around world titles.”
Driven. Focused. Oh, and he’s only 9 years old.
“I do this because I love to do it, and I think it’s my passion,” said Brazos, the son of Odie Heck and Shasta Yost.
He’s also pretty good at it. In early December, he competed at the Jr.NFR in Las Vegas. He finished several days of competition as the No. 2 man in mini bareback riding, where he won two rounds. He also finished third in the middle saddle bronc riding.
Because of his success, he earned the pee wee division all-around championship. No matter the age group, it is the most cherished prize in the sport.
“This is a once-in-a-lifetime thing,” he said. “I’m hoping to win more.”
He stands a good chance, thanks in large part to his work ethic, his study of the game and having a couple of the best-known cowboys as friends and mentors. His father is a cowboy in Tupelo, Okla., and is close friends with Jet and Cord McCoy, two all-around champs who made their names on CBS-TV’s “The Amazing Race.”
The McCoys have been rodeo champs since they were youngsters, too.
“In a lot of ways, he does remind me of me,” Jet McCoy said. “He’s pretty special. I’ve been pretty impressed with him.”
Brazos’ list of accomplishments is long. He’s been riding since age 5, and he’s progressed fairly rapidly, too
Riding at the Heartland Youth Roughstock Championships – Dale Hirschman
Portrait of Brazos – Janet McCoy
Out West Jr Bull Riding in Erick, OK – Dale Hirschman
“He started out wanting to get on sheep,” Odie Heck said. “He’d been at a rodeo, and they had mutton busting. He was always around Cord and Jet, so he wanted to ride. Then we were at a rodeo, and kids were riding little ponies in bareback riding. He wanted to get a rigging and enter the bareback riding.”
Heck has been around rodeo all his life, but he was a timed-event cowboy. Roping and steer wrestling were good fits for the athletically built, 6-foot cowboy.
“Brazos’ athletic ability is a little different than mine,” he said. “He’s a bucking horse guy.”
In fact, Brazos craves it. When he’s not riding, he’s thinking about it, and he watches a ton of videos to help with those thoughts, from the bronc riding Wright family – brothers Cody, Jesse and Spencer have won world titles, as has Cody’s second-oldest son, the 2017 champ, Ryder – to the McCoys, to bareback riding world champions Kaycee Feild and Bobby Mote and world champion bull riders Cody Custer, J.B. Mauney and Cody Custer.
“They just make me feel like I ride really good,” said Brazos, who is sponsored by the American Hat Co. and Oklahoma Ag Transports. “I watch them over and over again, and I want to ride like them.”
Those are the types of champions he looks up to and wants to emulate. Even at his young age, he understands the need for constructive criticism if he is to improve. That’s why he looks to the McCoys for assistance. Both were five-time International Professional Rodeo Association world champions who competed in all three roughstock events.
“I almost make him ask me for help before I offer any,” said Cord McCoy, a 2005 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier in bull riding and a six-time competitor at the PBR World Finals. “If he wants to come to the house and train in our arena, I step back and let it be his idea. I let him show the desire.
“I think all of us have our own natural style. He’s pretty natural. I know he’s been watching every rodeo in the area and on TV. That’s all he craves.”
He knew Brazos was pretty good but admitted that there may have been some bias because of his relationship to the youngster.
“Then they had the Jr.NFR, which was all the kids who qualify from across the country, and he’s the all-around champion,” Cord McCoy said. “He’s got raw talent. If he keeps the desire he has today, he’s going to be a contender when he gets older.
“It was pretty inspirational to go to the Jr.NFR and see Billy (Etbauer), Ty (Murray) and Larry Mahan there. The superstars of rodeo got to watch the next generation compete.”
Jet McCoy likened the Jr.NFR as the Little League World Series, and that young cowboys and cowgirls who compete at the pinnacle of their sport are taking the steps necessary to excel as teens and adults.
“If you want to compete at the highest level, you’ve got to start early,” he said. “To have the opportunity to go to Vegas and spend three or four days to see what it’s like, it gives them something to visualize and something to shoot for.”
For now, though, those closest to him support and believe in what Brazos Heck is doing because they see his passion for the sport.
“You’ve got to have the want-to, and I don’t think anybody’s forced it on him,” Cord McCoy said. “When you nod your head, you’ve got to have the eye of the tiger.
“He’s got that winning attitude to go along with the talent.”
Horses have been part of Howard Haythorn’s life since he was a kid. Actually, they run through the genes of his family. Haythorn, a National Finals Steer Roping contestant, grew up on the back of them, rode them for rodeo, and raised and trained them.
The Maxwell, Neb. cowboy was born in 1927, the great-grandson of Harry Haythornthwaite, a stow-away on a ship from England to America in 1877. When the captain found the sixteen-year-old boy and discovered the boy was raised on a farm, he was assigned to care for the Hereford cattle on the ship. When he arrived in America, he eventually made his way to Ogallala, Neb., where he shortened his name, married, and began the family tradition.
Howard, the son of Harry Jr. and Emaline (Menter) Haythorn, was born in 1927 north of Ogallala. When the Kinglsey Dam was built in 1941, part of the Haythorn ranch was taken for the dam, and Harry Jr. split the cattle with his brother Walter and headed east to Maxwell, Neb., to begin his own ranch. Harry Jr.,’s ranch was the Haythorn Ranch Co. (not to be confused with his brother Walter’s ranch, the Haythorn Land and Cattle Co., north of Ogallala, and now owned by Walter’s grandson Craig Haythorn.)
Before he could drive, Howard was calf roping at rodeos with his Uncle Walter. Uncle Walt, a saddle bronc rider as well as a roper, would load him up and take his nephew with him. There was no high school rodeo in those days, so they competed together at local shows. In addition to calf roping, Howard showed cutting horses and team roped.
He attended high school at St. John’s Military School in Salina, Kan., (“my mother thought I needed more direction,” he quipped), graduating in 1945. He had an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, but his dad died when he was nineteen, and he was needed on the ranch.
Then Uncle Sam called; Howard went to Korea, serving for eighteen months, and “I saw all the action I wanted to see.”
When he came home, his rodeo career was about to change. Waldo, Walter’s son who was also a roper, told him, “You can throw away your calf rope. I found us a new sport. We’re going to start tripping steers.”
Haythorn Ranch Co.,recipient of the AQHA’s 50-Year Legacy Breeders Award,2009, for fifty consecutive years of registering AQHA horses. (left to right): friend and fellow steer roper Buddy Cockrell, his wife Geneva Cockrell, Londa and Harry Haythorn, Howard, and AQHA past president Jim Helzer. – Courtesy of the family
Howard as a child and his mom – Courtesy of the family
The two of them, fast friends, began their rodeo career together. They had the natural talent to rope, and the horse power, but they got some additional help from a world champion. Three-time world champion steer roper Ike Rude spent several summers at the Haythorn Ranch, teaching Waldo and Howard the intricacies of steer roping, while they trained his horses. They rodeoed together, the three of them competing, with Waldo and Howard sharing a horse in the early days.
In those days, nearly every little town had a rodeo, but not all of them had steer ropings. The two of them traveled near and far, hitting the local shows but also going as far as Cheyenne Frontier Days and Pendleton, Oregon.
Howard competed at the National Final Steer Roping in 1959 and 1963, finishing fourth in the average and twelfth in the world in 1963. The prior year, he and Clark McEntire flagged the finals. Waldo qualified for the NFSR four times (1958, 1960-61, and 1963).
The two also competed in a lot of match ropings, which were common back then. Entry fees might range from $300 to $500, usually with no purse, and only ten to twenty competitors. The matches might be four or six head, and they paid on the rounds and the finals.
Howard raised and trained nearly all of his roping horses. The best steer roping horse he ever had was a black horse, Little Pick, who started as a tie-down horse. When he and Waldo started steer roping, he turned Little Pick into a steer roping horse. “You could do everything on him,” Howard said. Howard roped right handed on him, and Craig, Waldo’s son, roped left handed on him. Pick was a kind, gentle horse, and when he got some age on him, Howard gave him to three little neighbor girls to show in 4-H. A few years later, at a jackpot in North Platte, Howard’s horse wasn’t doing so well, so he called the girls’ dad and asked him to bring the horse to town. Howard won the rodeo on Pick, the girls lost their 4-H horse, and Pick got turned out to pasture, never to leave the ranch again.
He loved all the rodeos, but two especially stick out in his mind. Pendleton was a favorite, because of its grass arena and no chutes. But when he was roping calves, the Ak-Sar-Ben rodeo in Omaha, Neb., was the best. They provided each contestant with a twelve-foot box stall, a forty-acre polo field on which to exercise horses, a sack of oats, a bale of hay, and straw.
Howard at AQHA headquarters – Courtesy of the family
Top 6 contestants at the 1963 NFSR: Six contestants at the 1963 NFSR. From left to right, Everett Shaw, Stonewall, Okla.; Joe Snively, Pawhuska, Okla.; Howard Haythorn, Maxwell, Neb.; Don McLaughlin, Ft. Collins, Colo.; Sonny Davis, Kenna, N.M. and Glen Nutter, Thedford, Neb. – Ferrell
Howard bought his Rodeo Cowboys Association card before he went to Korea in 1951, but the ranch and his family were his first priority. He married Sue Ann Cochran the same year, and after competing at the NFSR in in 1963, he slowed down, not rodeoing full time after that. “I never intended to go to the National Finals (Steer Roping). That was not my deal. I had a ranch to run. I just went because I had the chance.”
The Haythorn Ranch was known for its Herefords and its horses. Harry Haythornthwaite, the English stow-away, had gathered 500 head of horses from Burns, Ore. in the late 1800’s and railed them to Nebraska. Howard continued the tradition of raising, training and selling quarter horses on the approximately 20,000 acre ranch in the Nebraska Sandhills. The operation has about 1,500 cows and replacement heifers, and 20 to 30 mares that are bred to four stallions.
Waldo and Howard were best of friends, Howard said, “probably closer than if we’d have been brothers. We never had an argument. I could tell him what I wanted, and he could tell me, and it didn’t bother either of us.” They were cousins, but also brothers-in-law, having married sisters. The two traveled together till Waldo suffered a stroke in 1989. Howard said, “If he can’t go, I quit. I didn’t want to go if he couldn’t go.”
Howard and Sue Ann, who passed away in 2010, had three children: Mary Helen, Margaret, and Harry Byron. Mary Helen passed away in 2015. Margaret is married to Darrell Ruh, and they live in Kenesaw, Neb. Harry Byron and his wife Londa live just a quarter-mile east of where Howard lives. “He comes to the ranch every morning,” Harry said, “to check on us, to make sure we’re out of the bunkhouse and doing our job.” Howard plays cribbage in Brady, a small town near the ranch, and occasionally rides. Last year, he went to ride with his eight-year-old great-grandson, Harry Edward, and Howard asked one of the ranch cowboys to saddle his horse for him. The cowboy didn’t want to, saying he’d get in trouble. Why? Howard demanded. Harry and Londa don’t want you to ride anymore, was the answer. Howard told him, “if you don’t saddle my horse, you’re going to get in trouble with me.”
In 2009, Howard was honored by the AQHA for breeding American Quarter Horses for 50 consecutive years. The ranch won the AQHA’s Remuda Award as well. Howard is an inductee in the Hall of Great Westerners at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, and he was given the 1983 Trail Boss Award from NebraskaLand Days in North Platte. He is a gold card member of the PRCA. He, his father, and his grandfather have all been inducted in the Nebraska Sandhills Cowboy Hall of Fame.
Life has been good: his rodeo friends, school friends, and ranching. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do,” he said. “I’d starve to death, doing anything else. I’ve enjoyed everything. I’ve enjoyed it all.”
