Rodeo Life

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  • On The Trail with Bob Tallman

    On The Trail with Bob Tallman

    9 Time PRCA Announcer of the Year
    [ The best part of life is still to come:
    “I haven’t gotten there yet.” ]

    The rich, baritone voice is unmistakable. Step inside a rodeo arena, hear the voice, and without glancing at the announcer’s stand, you know who it belongs to.

    Bob Tallman and his warm, personable approach to calling a rodeo has brought the action to millions of people at rodeo arenas across the U.S. and Canada.

    The Nevada native, now living in Poolville, Texas, has been around cattle, ranching and rodeo all his life. He was born the first child of John and Irene Tallman in Orovada, Nevada, in 1947. His sister, Maryanne Tallman Smith is full of the same family try, and they were both raised on the family ranch. He remembers as a little boy, using a stick to sweep a patch of dirt clear, to draw pasture lines in it. His dad owned Tallman Lumber Co. in Winnemucca. Bob attended a one room school, but he’d rather be on horseback, in the middle of a thousand head of cattle, as the Tallmans ran their cattle in common with ten or fifteen other area ranches. Sometimes he and the other kids would fall asleep in the herd, with their stirrups tied together so they wouldn’t get bucked off.

    John and Irene moved their family to town when Bob was ten years old, the first time the family had running water, flush toilets, and television. He thought it was great, Bob remembered, but it wasn’t long till the ranch called again. “I was back working for six dollars a day, as a buckaroo, driving a Farmall C tractor.”

    Bob’s first love wasn’t rodeo. He tried high school football, but it wasn’t for him. At 5’1” and 105 lbs. as a freshman, he lasted for three days of practice. He excelled at golf, and could hit a ball 300 yards. But he loved rodeo cowboys, and he could rope, and that would prove to be a stepping stone towards his lifelong career of announcing. His second grade teacher and her sister, Tillie Boynton Genter and Jayne Boynton Angus, and their husbands, were the ones who got Bob started in rodeo in junior high and high school.

    Another integral part of Bob’s young life was 4-H. He was a 4-H state champion horsemanship winner, on the back of a 900 lb. mustang he and a friend had roped, brought home, and broke. He and John DeLong were buckarooing in the pasture when they ran into a bunch of wild mustangs. Bob roped a “little bald-faced sucker,” loaded him onto the truck, took him home, and the next day put a saddle on him. The mustang became his 4-H horse, on which he won the title.

    In college at Cal Poly State in San Luis Obispo, Calif., he roped collegiately, “but I wasn’t good enough, and I didn’t care,” he said. What he did care about was spending time with the other cowboys: Ned Londo, Bobby Berger, Dennis Reiners, Larry Jordan, Tom Castleberry, and many more. “They were my roommates, my partners, my buddies.”

    He tried to ride bucking horses, too, attending Tuesday night practices where he’d get on eight or ten horses a night. Bob Robinson, the Canadian bull rider, who was helping with the practices, had advice for him. “Bobby, I know you want to be a cowboy, but you’d better find something else.”

    It was at a rodeo in Fallon, Nev., in about 1969 where he was roping calves, when he told the stock contractor, “this announcer is pitiful. Can’t you find anybody else?” The contractor told him, when you’re done roping, tie up your horse and you do it. So he did, getting paid $100 a performance, and “I thought I’d never see another poor day,” he remembers.

     

    That fall, he announced rodeos for Corky Prunty, Diamond A Rodeos in Elko. By that time, he was married to Kristen, and as they drove to the rodeos, they would program their eight-track tapes, with songs by Marty Robbins and Anne Murray, so they were keyed up at the right spot for playing at rodeos. Bob’s pickup had speakers on top of the shell top camper, so he’d drive through town, announcing the rodeo was going on that day.

    He was still working three other jobs: for his dad at the lumberyard, as a brake man on the Western Pacific Railroad, and driving freight truck for the Southern Pacific Railroad.

    Announcing came naturally to Bob. He knew the contestants well; many of them were his friends, so he told stories about them. “I started building a fan base of friends and people,” he said.

    In 1970, he headed to the PRCA convention in Denver, at the Brown Palace Hotel, in a white hat he bought from Cotton Rosser’s clothes store. He brushed elbows with legends in the rodeo business, contract people who were also at the convention to drum up business: Clem McSpadden, Leon and Vickie Adams, Tommy Lucia, Jay Harwood, Mel Lambert, and more.

    But nobody would hire him, and money was in short supply. He and Vick Carmen, another announcer, in the mornings would cross the street to a café where coffee was a dime. At lunch, they’d order hot water and add ketchup and crackers to make soup. And in the evenings, they’d order a dinner and split it.

    It was at the convention that Bob got his first break: Bob Cook, who, with Jack Roddy and Jack Sparrowk owned Rodeo Stock Contractors, Inc., asked Bob to work for them. On February 2, 1972, Bob moved to Clements, Calif., to work for RSC. The first week, his job was to break down truck tires. He helped gather bucking horses, getting on them to try them out. They “peeled the hide off me from the top of my ankles to my cheek bones,” he remembered.

    He drove truck for RSC, got flank straps ready, fed livestock, packed panels, whatever he was asked to do.
    All the while, he was living in his shell camper, showering and eating in the house with Canadian saddle bronc riding champion Enoch Walker and his wife Maggie who also worked for RSC.

    The next year, Bob announced all of the RSC rodeos plus a few for Flying U Rodeo and Cotton Rosser, feeding livestock after the rodeo in his suitcoat. He worked the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City for livestock superintendent Buster Ivory, from 5 am to midnight every day, for $15 day.

    At the time, Kristen stayed in Winnemucca. She had a good job, and they weren’t certain where they would land after Bob’s time with RSC. When she did go on the road with Bob, “we sold everything and bought a truck,” Kristen said, “with a twenty-one foot travel trailer, and that’s what we spent the first five years in, living on the road.”

    It wasn’t easy at the beginning. Kristen believed in her husband’s dream of being a rodeo announcer, but no one else did, including his parents. The only person besides his wife who urged him on was her dad.

    In 1976, he was asked to announce the NFR with Jay Harwood, and “away we went,” Bob said of his career.

    After that, his announcing career blossomed. Mike Cervi searched him out, asking him to announce the Phoenix Jaycees Rodeo, Denver, Houston, Albuquerque, Greeley, and more. He met announcing legend Hadley Barrett, and they worked several rodeos together, which “was the most magical match in the world,” Bob said. “I spent a few thousand days with Hadley Barrett, behind me, in front of me, beside me. He was about the first guy I worked with, side by side, he in the announcer’s stand, I a-horseback.”

    At one point in his career, Bob worked every major rodeo in North America, from Florida to Alberta, California to the Northeast, from Houston to Calgary. In 1983, Bob worked 313 performances, keeping up the pace for years.

    He had a twin engine 414 Cessna, and when he put sheets, towels and a pillow in the airplane, “that was the day it got worse,” he said. “Instead of going home more often, I went harder.”

    When he wasn’t announcing rodeos, he was doing radio and television. Bob broadcast the NFR in Oklahoma City for many years; he was on John Blair Television, CBS Sports Canada, ABC’s Wide World of Sports, FOX Sports, the Great American Cowboy, the Wrangler Network online, and hundreds of television specials, videos, and voice overs.

    He and Kristen had a daughter, Nicole, in 1974. Bob was at a rodeo in Spokane, Wash., when she was born, and he celebrated with Larry Mahan and his friends in Spokane. Gary Gist bought champagne, and Cindy Dodge wrote “it’s a girl” on Winston cigarettes. “We gave away cigarettes, and we drank the whole case of champagne,” Bob said.

    Five days later, he and Mahan flew to Reno to see the baby. Mahan bought a dozen roses, and when they walked into the hospital, he told Bob, “you stay in the hall.” He handed Kristen the roses, and told Bob, “Ok, you can come in now.”

    Throughout his career, he has announced the National Finals Rodeo twenty-three times, nine of them consecutively, more than any other announcer, and was voted the PRCA Announcer of the Year nine times (1982, 87, 97, 99-01, 04, 06, 17). He’s appeared in several films as a rodeo announcer, was the voice of the Wrangler Network online, and is a 2004 inductee into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame.

    Bob credits the people he’s been around for his success, those who helped him get to where he is today, the committees and contract people he works with, the contestants, and the rodeo audiences as well. “It took me a long time to figure that part out,” he said. “It’s people God puts in your life, and you’re either manipulated by them, or you learn how to deal and get along with them.”

    He paints pictures for the fans with his announcing, and he knows how to handle an audience. “You gotta take them right to the edge, but don’t push them over,” he said. “And when they’re just about full, don’t give them anymore. They’ll come back for more tomorrow.”

    He says rodeo is a lifestyle, not a sport, and when people buy a ticket to a sporting event like football or baseball, they already know something about it because they have played it. With rodeo, most of the fans have not done it, “so you have to let them taste it through your eyes, and you have to let them feel it by your inflection,” he said. “It isn’t always about winning, but having a better horse in the roping, understanding what an inside spur is in the barrel racing, understanding dedication and preparation.”

     

    He also treats everyone, from the lowliest to the highest, the same. “The guy in the shoe shine stand, and the man who cleans the toilets, they are important.” He follows the example of his Lord in the dignity he gives people. “Jesus treated them the same.” He also helps anyone who asks. “His phone never stops ringing,” Kristen said. “He goes out of his way, no matter where he is, no matter who it is. He’ll answer and talk to a marketing person, for heaven’s sake. He’ll say, ‘what are you selling me today?’”

    He’s never worked less than four jobs at a time, and he’s diversified beyond rodeo. He and Kristen run a cow/calf herd, the 3T Angus Cattle Ranch, which sells pasture-to-plate beef. He founded a surveillance company, Pro View Digital Surveillance, with thirty employees and offices around the nation. He also cuts radio ads, serving as the voice for Boot Barn, Kubota tractors in north Texas, Coors, and Dodge. “I never remember not working,” he said.

    And he doesn’t plan on retiring, which “drives a lot of young announcers to drink,” he joked. “I ain’t weakening.”
    He loves to work, he said, “and I don’t hang around people who don’t like work.” He’s optimistic about his businesses. “I do something every day, in the rodeo business, to make somebody smile and look good. I do something every day, in the surveillance business, that protects people, their families and assets. I do something every day, with the ranch raised black Angus beef, that’s lean and healthy to feed somebody’s family.”
    People ask Kristen, is he like this all the time? “What you see at a rodeo is what I wake up to every morning,” she said. “What you see is what you get with Bob.”

    She’s not surprised at Bob’s accomplishments. “When Bob does something, he gives 200,000 percent. There’s no halfway with Bob. When he decided this was what he was going to do, there was no doubt in my mind he would do it and be successful at it. And he didn’t have any breaks on the way. He did it all on his own.”

    He and Kristen live 250 yards from their daughter and her husband, Daniel Pennell, and their twin grandkids, a boy, Canyon, and a girl, Cashly, who are ten years old. Daniel, an accomplished team roper, builds barns and fences. Nicole sells livestock insurance, and together they follow their kids through their activities: the boy as a roper, and the girl with her volleyball. Kristen often cooks dinner for the family, and they eat together two or three nights a week, and every Sunday night. “We never miss a Sunday night together,” Kristen said. “We’re a very close family.”

    Bob and Kristen have been married 49 years, and Bob calls her “the toughest woman on the planet to put up with me.” He has supported her in whatever she has wanted to do, Kristen said. She used to travel with him, but doesn’t anymore, and he understands that. “He’s a very good man,” Kristen said.

    Arachnoiditis has hampered Bob’s mobility in the last eight years, but like everything else in his life, he’s met it head on. It is an inflammation of the arachnoid lining in the brain and spinal cord, which causes intense pain and significant disability. Bob was told when he was diagnosed that he would be in a wheelchair in two years, but he isn’t. He has learned to compensate where needed, being careful with steps. He doesn’t let the disease bring him down. “If you dwell on your moments of negativity, that dwell will swell, and clog the view of your future. And if you’re looking for sympathy, buy a dictionary. It’s in there.”

    In 2000, he established the Bob Tallman Charities. He raises funds through an annual golf tournament, called the Pasture Pool Classic, for the M.D. Anderson Cancer Children’s Cancer Hospital in Houston. He also hosts the Bob Tallman Wrangler National Finals Rodeo Charity Bowling Tournament, which is held each year during the National Finals. Funds raised from the bowling tournament go to benefit the Speedway Children’s Charities in southern Nevada and the Justin Cowboy Crisis Fund.

    He is a past member of the Texas 4-H Foundation, and is involved with the Weatherford (Texas) Christian School, where his grandchildren attend. And he’s optimistic. The best part of life is still to come: “I haven’t gotten there yet.”

     

  • Stuffed Cabbage Rolls & The Best Sugar Cookie You Ever Tasted

    Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

    By: Spikers Rodeo Club

    Ingredients:
    1 large savory cabbage
    1 medium onion
    1/2 lb. ground beef
    1/2 c. grated cheese
    1 tbls. tomato sauce on each roll
    1/2 c. parsley
    2 cloves garlic
    2 eggs
    2 slices French bread (soak in milk)

     

    Directions:
    Separate leaves of cabbage and par boil. Use heart of cabbage in filling. Grind inside leaves, garlic, onion, and bread. Brown the ground beef and add the above mixture. Add the eggs, cheese, salt and pepper. Place a small amount of mixture in center of leaf and roll up. Place in a baking dish and sprinkle a little oil over the top. Add the tomato sauce and bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes. Pour sauce over cabbage rolls.

    Sauce ingredients:
    1 can tomato soup
    2 tbls. brown sugar
    1tbls. lemon juice

     

    The Best Sugar Cookie You Ever Tasted

    By: Robbie Osborn – SUC Rodeo Team

    Ingredients:
    1 c. butter
    1 c. oil
    5 c. flour
    2 c. sugar
    Pinch of salt
    2 tsp. baking soda
    2 eggs
    1 tsp. vanilla
    2 tsp. cream of tartar

    Directions:
    Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, oil, salt and vanilla. Mix together dry ingredients (you can sift them together if you want) and then mix with ingredients. Roll into balls about the size of a golf ball. Roll ball in sugar and then flatten with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar. Bake 350 degrees on ungreased cookie sheet for 10 minutes (or lightly brown on edges).

  • Back When They Bucked with Audrey Griffin

    Back When They Bucked with Audrey Griffin

    Audrey Griffin grew up in the silver-screened atmosphere of Santa Monica, California, but she was destined for the dusty and daring show business of the arena. Her father, Ray O’Brien, was the head of the property department for MGM Studios, and her mother, Hazel O’Brien, was a hairdresser to the stars. Her older brother, Douglas O’Brien, became a firefighter and later worked for MGM Studios as well, and though their parents never encouraged Audrey to enter the movie industry, her head was already turned to the equine world. “When Mother would take my father to work in the car, I would go along with her as a youngster,” Audrey recalls. “There was a little pony ride on Venice Boulevard, and I’d jump up and down and say I wanted to ride the ponies. I think I was born with the passion of horses, and I still have that passion.”
    When she was 11, Audrey went riding with her father at Sunset Ranch in nearby Culver City. A girl near her age, Sis Smith, guided them on the trail ride, then invited Audrey to come back and spend the following day with her. “If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be where I am today. She taught me how to Roman ride and drive wagons and tie a bolen. We’re still best friends.” Her first time to ever ride Roman — standing with one foot on the back of each horse — Audrey loped and jumped the team with ease. “It was not hard at all. Either you’re a natural and you can do it and you have the will to do it, or you can’t do it at all. You have to be gutsy to jump those big jumps.”

    Sunset Ranch became her second home, and Audrey and Sis provided the specialty act for the Sunday rodeos the ranch put on. “I Roman rode the team I drove hay wagons with — they were big and slow — and Sis had two quarter horses, so she always won the race.” Audrey also started working at the stables, giving riding lessons and driving hay wagons for birthday parties. “I think I got paid 25 cents an hour, and I got a dollar for harnessing the team and a dollar for driving the hay wagons, so some days I could make seven dollars.” She even drove a route from Culver City to UCLA when she was 16. “I would stop at the frat houses, and the guys and girls would get off and new kids would get on. I drove right down the thick of Wilshire Boulevard and up Veteran, right to UCLA. It was 1952, and I would get home at about midnight, but everything was so safe then.”
    Audrey’s world rapidly expanded beyond California when she was invited to perform with The Flying Valkyries, a troupe of three girls and six white horses who traveled throughout the United States and Canada performing in rodeos and horse shows. “One of the girls broke her ankle, and I was the only other young lady at 19 that knew how to Roman ride and jump, so they invited me to go with them. We were chaperoned by Sidney Hall’s mom, Lois. After talking about integrity and morals and church on Sunday, and the things you talk to parents about, my mother finally let me go. My parents were the most fabulous parents ever.”
    Their first rodeo just two weeks away in Lake Charles, Louisiana, The Flying Valkyries practiced twice a day. “When I traveled with the Valkyries and we jumped two horses, the jumps were four feet two inches, and the other jumps with three or five horses abreast were about three feet. I would sleep, eat, and dream the perfect jump, and when you get that perfect jump, it’s totally euphoric. We were very unique,” Audrey adds. “Cotton Rosser said we were the best act going down the road at the time. We worked a lot for him, Harry Knight, the Steiners, and many other stock contractors.”
    Seven horses, a dog, and the girls’ suitcases traveled in a red semi announcing The Flying Valkyries in white lettering across its trailer. They traveled nearly nine months out of the year, and the girls were responsible for all of the horse care. “It was something we all loved to do,” says Audrey, whose Roman team consisted of Lady, a white Arabian, and Sunbeam, a white quarter horse. After jumping Lady and Sunbeam, another horse was added to Audrey’s team, then two more, until she was jumping five abreast. During the second act, she came out driving six horses, standing on the two at the back, called wheeler horses, and jumping obstacles on both sides of the arena. “I had six lines, three in each hand. The reins for the horses I was standing on were like roping reins, and the other four were lines I would just take a tight hold of, and I could pretty much guide them wherever I wanted to go. They told me what to do if I had a runaway, but that’s something you never practice, so I had to remember. In Billings, Montana, they put up sawhorses for the arena, and after the first jump, my team saw a space that two horses could go through and they took off. I was thinking, ‘My parents are spending their 25th wedding anniversary here, and they’re seeing their daughter running off into the sunset!’ I’d been told to drop the four lines and pull up my wheeler horses so they’d sit back on their heels, never knowing if that would happen, but it works. I stopped the horses and gathered the reins up, and I drove back into a standing ovation.”

    Audrey performed with The Flying Valkyries for two years, 1956–1957, then went to work at Campbell’s Clothing Store briefly. The following year, she and the other Flying Valkyries were invited to perform in the Wild West Show and Rodeo starring Casey Tibbs in Brussels, Belgium. “I was there for two months performing, and it was a wonderful time. All the horses and cattle they flew over in stock planes, and then the cowboys and cowgirls flew from LAX to Denver to Brussels.” The Wild West Show and Rodeo featured today’s standard professional rodeo events, along with pole bending, square dancing on horseback, and performances by the trick riders and a number of Native Americans. In addition to performing daily at their arena, formerly a bombed-out gas shelter, Audrey and the other trick riders helped in a variety of ways, from caring for the horses, to entertaining visitors, including American actor, dancer, and politician, George Murphy, and his family. “You had to be really cordial, and it was important that you got along with everybody, because we were kind of a close-knit family,” Audrey recalls. “We stayed in little boarding houses for a while, and then moved closer to the rodeo grounds in a big apartment building. We had drivers to drive us to the rodeo grounds, and we did a lot of sightseeing too.”
    Audrey returned to work at Campbell’s Clothing Stores once she was back in Santa Monica, and married Dick Campbell in 1960. They had six children, though sadly, their young son passed away. “I was a full-time mom, and I would take my kids riding. I didn’t have my own horse until I was 50. I would take my youngest with me, and I would put a pillow in front of me and they’d sit on the pillow. When they got older, they’d sit behind me. I rode one or two days a week, and I had friends that wanted me to exercise their horses for them, which worked out really nice.”
    Audrey remarried, and she and her second husband, Gary Griffin, who had seven children of his own, moved to the Santa Ynez Valley in 1991 and were married for 12 years. In 1986, Audrey bought her very first horse, a Thoroughbred off the track, and she was given a quarter horse that she started team penning, roping, and sorting on. “I kept my first horse out at Glen Randall’s place in Newhall, and he and his wife, Lynn, were fabulous people. They trained all the Triggers and Black Beauties — any horse that sat in a car was trained by Glen. He taught me how to do a chest letdown with my horse, which is like a bow. I eventually bought a reining cow horse, and I did that for 10 to 12 years. It was really fun, and reining cow horse really puts the icing on the cake as far as your riding goes. Now I do a lot of team roping, and I go to a lot of brandings in the spring and rope at those.”
    At 81, Audrey has three horses and loves riding on her friends’ ranches and working with cattle. She heels in the team roping, and enters the Fiesta Rodeo in Santa Barbara every year. Come summertime, she ropes once a week for the guests at the Alisal Guest Ranch & Resort in Santa Barbara. All 12 of her grandchildren and her two great-grandchildren have learned to ride with Audrey, just like her five daughters did growing up. “My life is really fun,” says Audrey. “I know a lot of knowledgeable cowboys and cowgirls, and I’m still learning from each and every one of them. Glen Randall told me, ‘Audrey, if you keep your eyes and ears open, you will learn a lot out of this ranch.’” And with a smile on her face, she did just that.

  • On The Trail with Amy Wilson

    On The Trail with Amy Wilson

    The western lifestyle is not only her business, but the true roots under her feet, and the passion that fills her heart. Amy Wilson was born and raised in rural Colby, Kansas as the second-oldest of 6 children, with 4 sisters, 1 brother, and her parents, Lonnie and Lori Wilson. Family, horses, and cattle, were all instrumental parts of her childhood as she worked alongside her dad and uncles in their family livestock sale yards. Fond memories of the days riding sale barn horses, as she completed necessary tasks; and working on the family ranch, where they had a start-to-finish cattle operation raising Angus-crosses, built a strong work ethic in Amy, and an intense love for what it meant to be a cowgirl. Her love for cattle was apparent, as any money she made as a child, was generally spent purchasing cattle for her own herd. Amy’s dreams for her future bring her back to her roots, as she hopes to have her own cattle ranch one day, to share with another generation.

    Amy jokes that she has a serious horse addiction, and loves talking about horses she owns, as well as unforgettable horses of her past. Flo-yo was a special horse from Amy’s childhood, that she rode in 4-H, used to move cattle, and taught her so much about riding and communicating with horses. When Amy was a junior in high school, she bought her first rodeo horse at a performance horse sale. Missile was an extraordinary 17-year-old gelding that propelled Amy into the rodeo world, as she competed on him in barrel racing and pole bending in the Kansas High School Rodeo Association. “He was such a great horse, they called him Missile because that’s what it felt like you were on, when he took off!” Missile continued to take care of Amy as she left high school and went on to Colby Community College on a rodeo scholarship. Grateful for the years and experience he gave her, Amy gifted Missile back to his previous owner to enjoy his well-deserved retirement. One of Amy’s mentors, Kelly Conrado, found her a phenomenal mare, Miss Piggy, that went all over the country with her, from college in New Mexico, to living in Colorado and Oklahoma for short times, to her move in Tennessee, and she was always competitive.

     

    Amy had a background in princess pageants, as she had started competing in them from the time she was 11-years-old, and she combined that experience with her love of all things western, to become Miss Rodeo Kansas in 2007. The next year she set her sights even higher, and took over the most coveted crown of all, as she became Miss Rodeo America, 2008. Her reign as Miss Rodeo America presented Amy with many amazing opportunities, placing remarkable people and incredible experiences in her path. In 2011, Amy finished her degree at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico, earning a bachelor’s degree in Media Arts; specializing in digital and graphic design, film and photography. While Amy was Miss Rodeo Kansas, she had many occasions to work with a Pam Minick, who became a special friend and mentor, and that relationship became instrumental in her path to RFD-TV, as Pam encouraged her to contact Rural Media Group’s CEO, Randy Bernard. After meeting with him, Amy was given a chance to show her abilities, covering the Miss Rodeo America contest at the NFR, for RFD-TV in 2012. Amy headed east in 2013, relocating for her new position, and has now worked for RFD-TV, based out of Nashville, Tennessee, for the past 5 years. Amy currently hosts RFD’s Western Sports Roundup, as well as Rural Radio on Sirius XM, Cowboy Minute on the Cowboy Channel, and the Road to the American. Amy travels to many major western and rodeo events across the country to interview rodeo athletes and feature important western icons. What she loves most about the job isn’t the spotlight that is on her during her hosting engagements; but is about being able to put that spotlight on others. “I’m passionate about western sports and the western way of life, and I am so grateful to have the opportunity to meet and share stories about people that possibly wouldn’t be shared otherwise.”

    Eager to continue her rodeo endeavors while in Nashville, Amy was excited to find many options in the east for competing, and has competed in Southeastern Pro Rodeo Association rodeos, as well as other amateur and pro rodeos, and jackpots across the southeast. She competes in breakaway roping and barrel racing, and is blessed to have some special horses to enter on. It was love at first sight, when she first laid eyes on KN No Moe Siss, affectionately called Flapper, at a barrel race a few years ago; and although she didn’t purchase him then, he was a horse that didn’t leave her mind. Destined to be hers, she was able to track down the owners of the 9-year-old, sorrel gelding and purchase him in December, 2016. Since riding him, he has been everything her heart knew he would be, and she has gained so many experiences, to include winning 4th place in Garden City, Kansas, and winning 1st place at an American barrel racing qualifier this past summer. It was a similar gut-instinct that led her to purchasing a 5-year-old roan mare named Bailey, after seeing her Facebook sales ad, and they recently had the 6th fastest time out of 1200 runs at the No Bull barrel race in Florida this past January. Brandi, is Amy’s 14-year-old breakaway horse that she has competed on since college, and she is so appreciative that she can pull her out at any time, and the mare gives her a great run, whether there’s been much time for practice or not. Amy credits Total Equine Feed for keeping her special horses, at their best.

     

    Not only did Amy find competition in the East, but this journey she has been on has also connected her with great people. Pro rodeo athletes that she’s interviewed or spent time with that have made lasting impressions on her, as she has gleaned from their attitudes or experiences, have left her with quotes that drive her forward in life. She writes some of the statements down in a journal to reflect on later, “There are so many that have influenced me and my mindset, it’s hard to mention them all. Trevor Brazille, the King of the Cowboys, he is drenched in winning, everything he says is important. Casey Tibbs, saying ‘Never leave home for Second,’ that works to remind me that once you’ve worked as hard as you have and invested all that you have, when you go to a rodeo your whole focus should be on winning.” Amy also has respect for cowgirls like Jackie Crawford, who has such a great mentality for making rodeo, and winning at them, fun. Sherri Cervi, who has the ability to stay so level, has helped Amy realize how important it is through the highs and lows of life or rodeo, to stay emotionally balanced. In addition to pros, there have been some great traveling partners Amy has been blessed to find, like Misty Orr, that traveled with her, always cheering her on and giving her advice on her riding; and Callie Correll has been a great friend, roping motivator, and become such a big part of the journey Amy has been on. The pair have traveled many roads together to rodeos and jackpots, and both qualified for the SPRA 2017 finals in February, where Amy and Flapper placed 2nd in barrel racing in both rounds and 2nd in the average, missing 1st place by only .002 of a second; and Callie won the average in breakaway roping. Amy was grateful to go and enjoy the finals with Callie as their journey took them separate directions when they were over. After the finals, Amy moved to Texas, and Callie headed further west to start her future with her fiancé.

    The East has been good to Amy, and she treasures her time there, but Amy is excited about her new ventures in Texas, where she will be pursuing new opportunities with RFD-TV. RFD will be opening a new recording studio in Texas, and being in the heart of it all puts her in close proximity to cover many more live events for RFD; plus…being closer to family in Kansas is a huge bonus. Amy is already making plans for pro rodeos to be a big part of her future, as she plans to take a more substantial step into the big leagues this year, and she’s looking forward to balancing work and rodeo as she travels down the road. She believes that God has put significant people and animals in her life so far, at the right times and the right places. Amy lives with the faith that despite the harsh realities life may bring, she just needs to stay grounded in her faith and constantly follow the paths, and pursue the passions that God has given her.

     

    Amy has worked for RFD-TV for five years, currently hosting RFD’s Western Sports Roundup – Courtesy of RFD-TV
  • Roper Review: Brock Middleton

    Roper Review: Brock Middleton

    Sometimes fate steps in and totally changes our life…
    “Back in the mid-90’s, one Sunday afternoon, my dad and I were driving around, drinking beer, “says Brock. “We took a wrong turn down a dirt road and stumbled upon Grady Harper’s arena where they were team roping. We had no clue what they were doing but it looked like fun.”
    Not long after, the Middleton’s bought three horses out of a pasture that had never been ridden. They sent them to local trainer, Ray Scott, who broke them. Then they bought a couple of steers to put in his calf-roping pen and started roping them. After a while they got a little better.
    At that time, the Middleton’s couldn’t afford to build the arena they wanted. So every night, after work, Brock and his dad would saddle the horses and haul them two hours to practice. They would get home about 1 a.m. and be ready to work the next morning at 5:30. They did this for four years while growing their construction company.
    “My dad wanted to wait until we could afford to build a nice pen,” explains Middleton. “Once we did, everyone within forty miles would come to our place rope three nights a week.”
    “My dad got sick a few years ago and had to quit roping for a while. Now I practice on the Heel-O-Matic a few times a week. I have a new six-year old horse named Coon, and roping the Heel-O-Matic is really better for him than roping live cattle. We’re still getting to know each other.”
    Brock grew up playing softball and football in high school before attending Valdosta State College with a degree in business.
    A few years ago Brock and his brother, Keith, bought the commercial construction business from his dad. CGM Construction Group projects include hospitals, schools, and churches. They work all over the country and as far away as Jamaica and Puerto Rico.
    “We bought the company and have grown it fairly quickly. While my brother stays in the office most of the time, I’m usually in the field. My secretary is my aunt, and my dad still works part time. We employ about 20 people, most of whom have been with us for quite some time.”
    The Middleton’s are a close family and on any given Sunday you can usually find them grilling out, entertaining, and spending time together. Brock and his wife, Dana, have three children between them: Caleb Howard, 18, Caroline, 16, and Rose, 14. The family enjoys the beach and traveling.

    COWBOY Q&A
    How much do you practice?
    I rope the Heel-O-Matic several times a week. I rope the heading dummy almost every evening with my dad, while we drink wine.
    Do you make your own horses?
    No, I buy them.
    Who have been your roping heroes?
    When I started roping, I looked up to Brad Culpepper. He’s from my hometown. I admire Kaleb Driggers and what he’s accomplished.
    Who do you respect most in the world?
    My father.
    Who has been the biggest influence in your life?
    My family.
    If you had a day off what would you like to do?
    Go to the beach with my wife. Take a 12-pack of beer, stick our toes in the water, and relax.
    Favorite movie?
    The Man from Snowy River
    How would you describe yourself in three words?
    Outgoing, loud, big hearted.
    What makes you happy?
    My family. When they’re happy, I’m happy.
    What makes you angry?
    Dishonest people.
    If you were given 1 million dollars, how would you spend it?
    Pay off my house and build a pool for my wife. Then I would like to travel to big ropings and spend time with my roping friends.
    What is your best quality?
    I’m pretty generous.

  • Olin Hannum

    Olin Hannum

    Olin Hannum wasted very little time beginning his rodeo career. He was just three when he started chasing calves astride his dad’s pony, then roped and steer wrestled his way through high school rodeo. The 40-year-old, originally from Ogden, Utah, won his first state titles in 1995 in tie-down roping and steer wrestling, followed by a stint of college football on University of North Carolina’s team. His rodeo roots ever tugging, he joined the PRCA in 2003 and qualified for his first WNFR in 2011. “Rodeo has been a part of my family for as long as I can remember,” says Olin, whose dad, Jack Hannum, was a 5-time WNFR qualifier, and mom, Lynn Hannum, worked the WNFR twice as a timer. Olin returned to the floor of the Thomas & Mack Center in December of 2017 in the steer wrestling and finished 9th in the world standings. “I felt like I should have done better — I had high expectations — but I’ve been around long enough to know that you can sit and dwell on it, or you can go and fix some of the things you made mistakes on.” He finished the season with $145,630 and invitations to The American and the Calgary Stampede. “I’m really excited to make it back to those rodeos. They do a good job of putting you up, and I’ve done good at Houston, so I’m really excited about getting back there.”

    Olin Hannum – Hubbell

    Also on the radar is the 3rd Annual Olin Hannum Open Jackpot, taking place in Tremonton, Utah, on May 5. Olin says he was talked into hosting the first jackpot by a good friend, and the event took hold and now counts as a Junior NFR qualifier. 5 Star Equine sponsored the jackpot last year, and Olin joined their team of riders that fall. “I ride Burns Saddlery’s saddles, and they sell a lot of 5 Star pads, so we got a relationship going,” says Olin, who’s used their pads a number of years. “When they sponsored my jackpot, they gave a couple of their pads away. It was something good for these younger guys to realize that having a good pad and a good saddle will help your horse’s longevity, and that some of these investments will pay dividends in the long run. I like the fact that I don’t have to use multiple pads, and they fit your horse after a couple of rides.”
    His horses, Turtle and Maverick, are his main mounts again this year, while Olin recently started jumping practice steers again since he’s on the mend from a shoulder injury sustained during the WNFR. “The hardest part about where I live is finding a place to practice indoors and having availability,” Olin explains. He and his wife, Natalie, moved to Malad, Idaho, several years ago, looking for a rural community to raise their children, Cheznie (5), Kennedy (3), and Jackson (1). “My wife is a second-grade teacher, so she stays home most of the time, but my daughters traveled with me a lot last year and we had a lot of fun. I have a little pony for them, and they kind of take over on my horses.”
    Olin also operates a custom cabinet business, Arrowhead Cabinets, which he originally started in Ogden before moving his shop to Malad. “I mostly do kitchen cabinets, but we’ve done some furniture, so it’s a little bit of everything. I used to hunt and fish, but with the cabinet shop and rodeoing, I don’t do it as much as I used to. My wife and kids and I love to go camping, especially in the summer.”
    Rodeoing on the Wilderness Circuit keeps Olin closer to home, while he’s qualified for the RNCFR three times and finished third in the average at the Wilderness Circuit Finals last year. “There are so many good rodeos on this circuit, and I enter a few in the calf roping, but I’m a long way from calling myself a calf roper,” Olin says with a laugh. His younger brother, Jake Hannum, is the tie-down roper of the family, qualifying for the WNFR in 2007. “I think passion is one of the biggest things (that motivates). It’s something you love to do, and you get up and do it every day. I think the people that really love it have a hard time knowing when the end is, and I think I’ll be one of those guys down the road who might slow down, but I still see myself going down the road and circuit rodeoing.
    “I try to take things one day at a time. All of us have the big goals in mind as far as making the National Final Rodeo and doing well there, but I just want to be prepared and ready to go to these winter rodeos. I want to bulldog to the very best of my ability, and if I can do a better job at that, the winning will take care of itself.”

  • On The Trail With Tuker Carricato

    On The Trail With Tuker Carricato

    Tuker Carricato has spent his whole life in Saratoga, Wyoming; until last year. This sixth grader’s quest for a championship in the mini bareback riding at the Junior National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas led his family all over the country – he got on 32 horses last year and won 22 of the events he entered. He and his parents (Trisha and Tony) traveled to eight states to get the job done.

    His career as a mini bareback rider began by watching a video. His dad, Tony, was a bareback rider from Gunnison, Colorado, who competed in high school, National Little Britches, and college rodeoed in Cheyenne, Wyoming. “I didn’t mind it because of the size of the horses, and the difference between me and Tuker is he’s in shape and I learned the hard way.” Tony bought Tuker his first riggin’ and he started riding with his dad’s advice. He got on his first mini bareback in Rock Springs, Wyoming, riding in the Winter Series put on by Casey Riggs, R and R Rodeo. His first ride was spent trying to think of everything his dad taught him. “I taught him how to hold his feet and how to lift – if they can’t get that down, they will go over the front end. We started with the spur board and Tuker is a natural athlete and picked it up. He’s very strong. Athletics and conditioning is a major part of this.”

     

    Tuker is used to athletics – he plays football, basketball, and wrestles. He also is very active in 4-H, showing sheep, goats, and cattle. He has five goats (boars) and still shows them. He ropes on the ranch all the time. “I don’t have the horses to rope or the equipment to practice, but I would compete if I could.” He also co-owner 20 Suffolk/Hampshire cross sheep with his older brother, Chaze, that they breed for show lambs to show and sell.

    His riding career took a huge leap forward when he met Kelly Timberman, World Champion Bareback Rider and 7x NFR qualifier, who now sponsors Tuker. “We pick who we sponsor based on criteria that includes a strong community involvement, grades, personality, and incentive to achieve goals,” said the 2017 Mountain States Circuit Finals Bareback Champion. “When it comes to rodeo, they need to have the incentive to work to purchase their own equipment, travel expenses, etc. Tuker works that off himself – any kid that’s willing to work to get his own equipment shows ambition.” Kelly and his fiancé, Shannon Pearman, have started a program called Champions Go9-oh at their home in Casper, Wyoming. “We are teaching these kids how to be good men – never seeking mediocracy and going for their dreams. We help them go after them, setting up yearly goals and the building blocks of success.” Tuker followed that to a tee – he took time on Sundays to travel to Casper – two and a half hours from his home – to practice. He sent videos to Kelly and asked for advice. “He’s a young man that is very dedicated to his purpose and what he wants.”

    Tuker has learned a lot from Kelly. “He teaches me rodeo and stuff like that. He taught me how to respect people – being yourself and not being rude.” Tuker’s family owns Battle Pass Outfitting and Tuker helps spot and retrieve game with his mother. They hunt deer and elk in the mountain range by the ranch where Tuker will spend time in the mornings and evenings looking through a spotting scope and will call his dad if he sees any. Tuker helps pack the archery elk hunters to the wilderness camp by horse back where he helps load pack horses and takes his own string of horses in and out of camp. He can’t wait until he is 18 so he can get a guides license and guide with his dad and oldest brother Chaze. Chaze graduated college from Western Dakota Tech in Rapid City, South Dakota, and Wyatt is a senior at Saratoga high school.

     

    After his first ride in Wyoming, where he missed covering by .25 seconds, he kept getting better and progressing. “My mom researched where the rodeos were and we’d drive there.” He bases his decision on where to go on payouts and entry fees and how far away they. “I have to pay for it – by my winnings.” Tuker has his own checking account and he balances monthly his earnings to his expenses. “I save for entry fees and rodeos. I have two different accounts – one for rodeo and one for fair.” There were lots of long nights and when the family headed to a rodeo and they relied on family to do the chores at home. “My cousin or brother would stay home and take care of my animals.” Tuker shows Maine Angus cross cattle. “They are popular and grow good.” He keeps them in barns where it’s cool and dark.

    As the year progressed, his riding continued to improve. “I had a goal to get there (Junior NFR); when I kept winning them all and doing good I kept going. I just practice – my mind and muscle memory.” When Tuker found out the end of August he had made his way back to Vegas for the JR NFR, he checked his books and did some research where to get the best riding chaps, he had his dad call and make an appointment with Tim Bath to go pick out his colors so he would have brand new ones for Vegas. They match his new riggin that he had bought in June. He enjoyed his trip to Vegas for the Junior NFR. “It’s warmer than here. There were lots of people and crowds and big.” He would do it again and he plans to.

    This year he is old enough to join the National Junior High Rodeo Association, competing in the bareback steer riding. He plans to continue all his sports, but admits that he would give them up for rodeo. “Rodeo makes me money and I like it better than the other sports,” he said. “I want to be a cowboy when I grow up – not much else. Rodeo and be a world champion bareback rider.”

     

    Tuker with 2017 winnings – photo by Trisha Carricato

     

     

  • Roper Review : Craig Branham

    Roper Review : Craig Branham

    Craig Branham, 58, grew up, the eldest of three boys, in Tombstone, Arizona. When he was six, his mom, Sue, married Jack Branham, and the family moved to Oakdale, California. Jack was a roper and Reserve World Champion to Ken Luman, in 1966, before Heading and Heeling were recognized as two events.
    Craig and his brothers, Chris and Daryl, started roping the dummy and the entire family would go rodeos and ropings. The boys would find a kid and pay him .25 to be their “steer” so they would have something to rope.
    “My mom loves to tell the story of finding us at a rodeo eating snow cones with our pockets full of candy,” laughs Branham. “When she asked where we got it, we told her we won it.”
    An avid athlete, Craig was a four event state champion in track and field; and a first team all state basketball player his junior and senior year. Craig received a scholarship and played basketball for Eastern Arizona College before transferring to Pima where he excelled in track.
    In the spring semester he was second in the nation in the Decathlon and fifth in the Triple Jump. The following year Branham won the National Decathlon and set a national record. After graduating from Pima, Craig received a full ride at the University of Arizona.
    There, he met modeling agent, Pam Grissom, who talked him into going to New York City for a modeling convention. After winning the male model competition, Branham found himself in demand by modeling agencies.
    “At the time I was living with my grandparents in Tucson,” recalls Craig. “I went home and told them I was going back to New York to model. They weren’t too happy about that.”
    Branham signed with Legends agency and quickly received a contract in Milan, Italy. Soon after, he was booked for a spread with GQ magazine and also worked with the Italian version of men’s Vogue. A flourishing modeling career found Branham living in Milan, Paris, Manhattan, and Dallas, TX.
    While in Dallas, Craig booked some acting jobs where he realized what he wanted to do with his life. At 25 he bought his first home in Dallas, which he leased the following year before moving to Hollywood.

    Soon after relocating, Craig was enjoying steady work with jobs on shows like “Cheers,” and “Murder She Wrote.” He was able to study with renown acting coaches and started booking national commercials, in addition to his modeling.
    After seeing the television show, American Gladiators, Craig tried out for the second season and ultimately won the 1990-1991 American Gladiators Grand Championship. Craig recalls this as “one of the most fun things I’ve ever done.”
    Shortly after the win, People magazine included Branham in their “50 Most Beautiful People” issue. Branham also got married that year and celebrated the birth of his daughter, Sarah, in July.
    “At some point I started roping again,” says Craig. “I hadn’t roped in a long time and though I was originally a header, I wanted to heel. I worked hard at it and eventually got to where I thought I could rodeo.”
    “In 1998, I got to rope with David Motes and ended up finishing 20th in the world on my permit. In 1999, I bought my card and won the PRCA Heeling Rookie of the Year. I was 40 years old and am still the oldest Heeling Rookie ever.”
    Branham came close to qualifying for the NFR several times with year-end finishes in 20th, 22nd, and 25th place.
    Not long after returning home from rodeo, Craig was contacted by his friend and stunt coordinator, Charlie Croughwell, about a stunt job. Craig got the job to double for Josh Lucas, on the show the “Hulk.” This was the beginning of a successful career as a stunt man.
    “I quickly realized this is what I need to be doing. It’s a fun job that I really enjoy. I’ve gotten to double Robert Redford. In 2005 I got to double Pierce Brosnan for three months on a movie call “Seraphim Falls.”
    “About ten years ago, I met Robert Patrick on a show where I doubled him and I’ve been his stunt double ever since. I’ve been working with him on the show “Scorpion” for four years now. I also got to play the Headless Horseman on “Sleepy Hollow” for four years and that show just ended last January.”
    Branham lives with his wife of three years, Nathalie, in Canyon Country, California. Craig strives for a balance between work and team roping. As a #8, Craig often competes at the World Series ropings and won $26,000 in the #15 with Andy Holcomb at the 2016 WSTR Finals in Las Vegas.

    COWBOY Q&A
    Who were your roping (rodeo) heroes?
    My dad and probably Jake and Clay.
    Who do you respect most in the world?
    My mom.
    Who has been the biggest influence in your life?
    My grandfather, Roscoe Christopher. I still think of so many things he taught me.
    If you had a day off what would you like to do?
    I’d love to work on my place and plan my next build. I’m studying an architectural program now. I really love that.
    How would you describe yourself in three words?
    Friendly and outgoing, compassionate, understanding.
    What makes you happy?
    My wife. I’m a happy person overall. I wake up happy.
    What makes you angry?
    Bad or aggressive drivers.
    If you were given 1 million dollars, how would you spend it?
    I would try and find a cause, probably to do with the heroin epidemic and try and support an organization that could put those kids in the western way of life. I would travel.
    What is your best quality – your worst?
    My best quality is a good heart. My worst is sometimes I feel I may be selfish, by doing what I want when I want.

  • Back When They Bucked with Tom Miller

    Back When They Bucked with Tom Miller

    From competing in college rodeo, to the PRCA, to becoming a judge and a coach, Tom Miller has left his mark on the rodeo world. Excelling in both ends of the arena, Tom led a rodeo team at Black Hills State University that dominated the National Intercollegiate in the 1970s, winning All Around Champion in 1970 and 1971.Tom was also the Badlands Circuit Saddle Bronc Champion in 1979 and 1980. Tom qualified for the NFR six times and shares the record for most saddle bronc average titles.
    Tom was recently inducted into the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum Rodeo Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. His friend and 1974 world champion saddle bronc rider, John McBeth nominated him. “Tom is of the quality of bronc rider that should be in there. He is world championship quality – in fact – one year he lost it by $5.28 – 1981. Everything about Tom is outstanding, from ranching to judging – he has his principles and he holds to them.”
    Born in Rapid City, South Dakota, on December 27, 1948, Tom was raised 100 miles from there on a ranch in between Faith and Red Owl, that his dad (JP Miller – Bub) put together. “I was born before the blizzard of 1949 – it took two weeks for them to get me home,” he said. His dad roped calves, but Tom and his older brother, John, never competed until high school. “We stayed home and worked – when we quit in the evening, we would rope. Nobody competed much in youth rodeos back then – there wasn’t the activities going on for the youth like there is now.” His mother (Patsy) didn’t want him riding broncs or bulls so he rode bareback until his junior year in high school. “My folks had gone to Texas and I snuck off to ride a bronc – it was easy. I didn’t get on a bull until I started college.” He learned from the hired man until he met John McBeth. “I was riding broncs pretty good but I didn’t think I was riding them right. So I called John and went to his school. He put me on 16 head in two days and it turned me around. It got me doing things I didn’t know I could do. John is a great teacher.”
    He went to Black Hills State University where he competed in every event. “My dad let me take one horse, so I had to do all the events on that horse.” He studied education. “My dad gave me a choice when I got out of college – after I won the NIRA All Around for the World – he said – ‘are you going to rodeo or are you going to come home.’ He said if I was going to rodeo, he was going to sell the place. I went home for three years. I felt like I had to go try it.” He made a deal with his dad. “He said: ‘If you don’t go to the Finals, you go home, put the saddle up and we won’t talk about it.’ He also added he wasn’t a sugar daddy – my dad was black and white, right or wrong, that’s the way it was. When I first cracked out I rode all three events. It was looking like it was going to break me, so I stuck with bronc riding.”

    When Tom won the average at the finals the first year, his dad was in the arena and said ‘You can’t quit now can you?’ “I’d spend falls at home and calving in March and April.” He met his wife, Vivian, at a match bronc riding in Texas. He met her again in Fort Worth at a rodeo. “She had a boy’s saddle from South Dakota that she thought he needed it that night. There was only two or three of us there yet – I’d flown in – and she gave me his saddle.” Three years later they were married.
    He continued rodeoing, making the finals three more times after their marriage. He was the Badlands Circuit Saddle Bronc champion from 1977 to 1980. He qualified for the National Finals Rodeos six times, and won the average in 1975, 1979 and 1981, coming up short of winning the world title in 1981 by $5.28. He was able to hit multiple rodeos in one weekend due to his traveling partners, Johnny Morris, a bareback rider, and Bobby Brown, a bronc rider, who also had a plane and flew Tom to many rodeos.
    Tom broke his leg one fall riding a good horse – doctoring yearlings. “He rolled over me and broke my leg in 1982. I didn’t get on one after that. I was in a cast for quite a while – all winter actually. The screws in my leg made it hard to ride again.” Johnny Holloway, who he worked with for years putting on bronc schools, invited him to a match bronc riding the next year, and one horse laid on his leg in the chute. “I thought the screw heads were going to come through my leg,” Tom said. “I was at the age — I was getting into my upper 30s — where it’s hard to get it back; it took a long time to get over that injury.”
    He focused his attention on his ranch, his family; two boys – Jeff and Ryan – and his judging, which included judging five National Finals Rodeos. “When I started judging, there weren’t any judging schools. They started them shortly after that and it’s a good thing. Really familiarize yourself with the rules.” He served on the Rules committee, requested to do so by Shawn Davis.
    His priorities shifted again the past couple years, and he has stayed close to the ranch. “My great great granddad came over as an immigrant from Germany – he kept a diary every day. He said the best cow country was in South Dakota – Western South Dakota. He put together 168,000 acres in Coleman County in Texas; he built a boulevard, library and built on to the Methodist Church,” explains Tom. “My grand dad took over management of that ranch at 18. When my dad got out of World War II, he went to South Dakota to find that best cow country.
    “I always felt like I had so many big shoes to fill,” said Tom about his family. “My dad flew over the signing of the treaty of WWII – he didn’t tell me that – he flew and was the youngest one in his crew.” He passed away at the age of 85. “The day before, I called him and told him we needed some more cows in Texas. I asked him if he could go and check out some cows for me. He said how about if I sell you my cows. And he knew exactly what they were worth. He died the next day. He was sharp as a tack.”
    Tom has carried on that legacy, priding himself in raising good cows and horses. He has been inducted in the Black Hills State University Rodeo Hall of Fame and the Casey Tibbs Foundation. He wants to be remembered as kind and considerate; a good horseman, and a good cowman. “The rodeo part of the deal –I’m getting honored for something I was going to do anyway. My roots are in the cow business and I’d hope to be remembered as one of the better cowboys in our country.”

    Tom with his family at the 2017 National Cowboy Hall of Fame – Rodeo News
  • ProFile: Bridger Anderson

    ProFile: Bridger Anderson

    Bridger Anderson is getting a good start on his career rodeo resume.
    The Carrington, N.D. cowboy won the steer wrestling at Ote Berry’s Junior Steer Wrestling World Championship, held at the Junior National Finals Rodeo (NFR) in Las Vegas in mid-December.
    He’s a North Dakota High School Rodeo champ, and he’s secured two entries in the semifinals for the RFD-TV’s The American.
    Anderson, the son of Glenn and Robin Anderson, grew up riding. His dad trained horses and roped, his mom was a breakaway and team roper, and by the time he was six, he was tying goats and roping at youth rodeos.
    His career progressed to junior high, then high school rodeo, winning the state steer wrestling title twice and the short go at the National High School Finals Rodeo in 2016. He also won the International Finals Youth Rodeo in Shawnee, Okla. in 2015.
    Bridger graduated from Carrington (N.D.) High School in 2017 and is a freshman at Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva, under the guidance of rodeo coach Stockton Graves. Graves, a National Finals Rodeo qualifying bulldogger, has improved Bridger’s skills. He’s competed at four college rodeos last fall, placing at two of them, and he plans on being at the six spring rodeos. Alva (population 5,100) may not have a big social scene, but that’s OK, Bridger says. “There’s not a whole lot to do in Alva but steer wrestle so it works out pretty good.” One of Bridger’s classmates is another NFR qualifier, J.D. Struxness, and “it’s good to have J.D. around there.”
    Last December was the first time steer wrestling was part of the Junior NFR, and Bridger qualified for it at two events: the Dupree (S.D.) Cinch Chute-Out last May, and the Melvin-Swanson-Halligan Memorial Steer Wrestling in Sutherland, Neb. in June. Fifty-two steer wrestlers, ages 19 and under, qualified for the Junior NFR, competing in two rounds. The top twenty made it to the short round. Anderson tied for first in the first round with a time of 4.3 seconds (along with Gabe Soileau and Clay Iselt), was 4.9 in the second round, and in the short round, had a time of 4.0 seconds. His average time of 13.2 was two-tenths of a second better than Marc Joiner of Loranger, La.
    His win at the Junior NFR is an automatic qualification to the semi-finals for the American Rodeo, held Feb. 25 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The semi-finals for the American in the steer wrestling (each event is different) is in Alvarado, Texas on February 20; the twenty fastest times from that event go on to compete at Cowtown Coliseum in Ft. Worth, Texas on Feb. 22-24 (along with other event qualifiers). From Cowtown, about five qualifiers in the steer wrestling will compete at the American, along with the invites: the top ten in the PRCA world standings from 2017.
    The American allows steer wrestlers two qualifications, and Bridger earned his second qualification in Rapid City at the qualifier on December 17. Two qualifications double a cowboy’s chance to make it to the American and compete for $1 million. If he should make two qualifying runs, he would be allowed only one berth at the American.
    Bridger credits a strong team in getting him where he is today. His mom and dad taught him horsemanship and roping, and another North Dakota bulldogger, Tyler Schau and his wife Jackie, helped get him going. “I’m kind of their adopted son,” he said. Tyler and Jackie train horses, and every opportunity Bridger had, he was at their place at Almont, N.D., even though it was more than a two hour drive from Carrington to the Schaus.
    The Schaus have known Bridger since he was twelve years old, and they love him. “He’s a good kid, and fun to be around,” Tyler said. As soon as he had his driver’s license, Bridger would load up and spend a weekend, or during the summer, a week, at the Schaus.

    He has what it takes to be a good bulldogger, Tyler said. Bridger wrestled since sixth grade, winning a state championship in 2015, and “that helps with his athletics. He has athletic ability, he’s strong, and he’s not afraid to get hurt. Those are three requirements for being a good steer wrestler.”
    He also knows how to work. “He ain’t afraid to come over when it’s fifteen degrees out and practice. There’s not a lot of people willing to do that.” The Schaus, who have an eleven year old daughter, help out other steer wrestlers. “If they call and want to practice, I do everything I can to make sure we’re available.”
    Bridger is riding a horse purchased from the Schaus. Whiskers, a nine-year-old gelding, was raised and trained by Diamond S Performance Horses, the Schau’s business. He’s a bigger built horse, taller than most steer wrestling horses, which fits Bridger’s style. “He’s got a lot of power, and he’s long strided. It looks like he’s running slow, but he’s covering more ground,” Bridger said.
    Whiskers “can power out of there,” he said. “Some guys feel out of time with him and they think he’s too tall. He runs hard, and I don’t mind crawling off a few extra inches.”
    Whiskers, a former race horse, shouldn’t be warmed up on a race track. “If you let him run and try to loosen him out, you might not get him stopped,” Bridger said. “I’ve had to run him into a corner to get him to slow down. If somebody else is warming him up, I don’t let them open him on the track.”
    Whiskers is also independent-minded. “He likes to do his own thing. He likes to irritate you. He’ll step on your foot when he’s cinched up or run into you.” But Bridger can live with his quirks, because he’s good. “I think he knows that (he’s a winner) and he uses it to his advantage.”
    When he was three years old, as he watched the NFR on television with his parents, Bridger announced to his mom that he wanted to be a steer wrestler when he grew up. Advancing from high school, to college, the amateurs, and now professional rodeo is a big step. Bridger has had his PRCA card since the fall of 2016. “College rodeo is glorified high school (rodeo.) But pro rodeo is another level,” he said. “You can go to college rodeos, make a few mistakes, and get by. At pro rodeos, they don’t pay any money if you make a mistake. It’s another level.” In Livingston, Montana last July, Bridger made a 4.3 second run, “and they threw rocks at me,” he joked. “You had to be 3.9 there to place.”
    His ultimate goal is to make the NFR, and he’s realistic about what it takes. “You have to sacrifice everything to focus on one task at hand, and that’s rodeoing and winning enough to make the NFR.”
    Part of pro rodeo is learning how and what rodeos to enter. Bridger rodeos with Tyler and Jackie, who have helped him sharpen his mental game and stay healthy. He’s also relied on world champion Luke Branquinho and his rodeo coach Graves. Being confident is a big part of rodeo. “It’s huge to move from high school to amateur to pro rodeo and not let that intimidate you. It’s intimidating to bulldog against guys who have rodeoed for twenty years and have been to the NFR. But you have to surround yourself with those guys to get better.”
    He also has Plan B. He’ll graduate in 2021 with a degree in ag business, and as of now, he plans on getting his college degree. “If I don’t, I won’t go back and get it. I think going to school is something I should do. You never know what will happen in this sport. Hopefully I won’t need a backup plan, but if I do, it’ll be good to have one.”
    Bridger has two younger sisters: Cedar, a senior in high school and a high school rodeo athlete, and Dawsyn, an eighth grade student.

  • Breeding with Brains

    Breeding with Brains

    [ Race Horse Turns, Roping Horse & More ]

    Brian and Lisa Fulton bought A Streak of Fling (Streaker) in October of 2003. “Brian retired off the (rodeo) road in 2001 when he blew his knee out,” recalls Lisa. “He couldn’t find the type of horse he wanted to rodeo on while he was rodeoing, so his idea was to find a stud that he thought would produce rodeo type horses and raise our own.” Lisa laughs as she admits she figured she would be 100 before he found the stud because Brian was so picky. “We found him in October and we were shipping cattle – so Brian didn’t have a lot of time to go look.” Jerry Sipes had advertised Streaker in the back of the Speed Horse magazine in two lines and no picture. There were a lot of people that called on him but did not buy him.
    Jerry Sipes bought Streaker off the race track from Jack Marley. “I had him for six months and I bought him for three reasons – He’s the only sire I’ve seen that is colored like that – it’s like looking for a movie star – there’s something unique about them – in Streaker’s case, he was from an exceptional race horse named Streakin Six – he was a great big stout 16 H, 1,300 lb. race horse. His mother, a mare named Moon Fling, had a speed index of 102 AAAT. He’s the prettiest bay roan you’ll ever see.” When Streaker was a long yearling, Jerry had an offer to buy him, and he turned it down. Streaker qualified for the Blue Ribbon Futurity, but cracked a tendon bone and was scratched from the Finals. The horse showed great ability, but still made money. Jerry has no regrets selling Streaker to Brian and Lisa. “The horse went where he needed to be and I doubt anyone in the country would have promoted that horse as good as Lisa and Brian did. I’m thrilled they spent the money to promote him and invest in him the way they did. It takes lots of guts.”
    Brian was dragging his feet to head to Oklahoma City to look at a stud right in the middle of fall cattle work. “I bought Brian a one-way ticket to Oklahoma City and had phoned Billy Etbauer and to see if he could pick Brian up and then also called John Rothwell whom was in Texas and headed back to Nebraska and asked him if he could call Brian and if Brian bought the stud could John come through Norman, OK to pick them up.” Brian and Billy looked at the horse, and Brian dickered with Jerry. They then left for coffee and took some time to think it through. “Brian bought him with the condition that he could take him home and ride him before Jerry cashed the check.”
    Brian and Billy were longtime good friends, and for Billy, it was a simple act of kindness. “I was picking a friend up and looking at a horse – it was fun to see Brian and it helped him out. I could never have imagined – but I’m glad it worked out that way – that would be a guy’s dream. Thankfully it all worked out – it was a tough decision for him and a lot of kicking the dirt, but it all worked out.”

    John Rothwell was hauling calves from that area. “I was in the truck south of Oklahoma City when Brian called me – he always knew how to get things done. He said he was trying to buy this horse and I met him in Oklahoma City. We sat there for a couple hours while Brian got the sale done. We threw the horse in the back of the trailer and we drove all the way back to Brian and Lisa’s ranch.” Streaker was loaded in the dark into a canvas topped stock trailer that had the last gate plyboarded off at the end of the trailer; he was sharing the ride home with calves. “He was in the back – he got the cold spot,” said John, who was hauling calves back to Nebraska. They drove straight through and got home and unloaded Streaker. That was the story – Streaker came home in a cattle trailer.
    Brian rode him the next day and called Jerry and told him to cash the check. Brian had Streaker roping in the indoor barn less than 8 weeks after the 700-mile trip from Oklahoma to South Dakota. “To come off the track and transition so easily into roping – he can run and he has a brain,” said Lisa. “Sometimes when they come off the track they are frazzled. Streaker was easy for Brian to train.” The first year Streaker stood in Ainsworth, Nebraska and bred 100 mares at $1,000 a pop. Thirteen years later the fee has gone up to $5,500.
    The first weanlings were sold in Kearney, Nebraska, in 2005. The first riding 2-year-old was the 2007 crop which included 23 Streakers between weanings and 2-year-olds. There were a total of 66 horses on the sale that year. “We were still standing our Frenchmans Bullet stud and sold 7 head out of him,” said Lisa. There was no sale in 2006, which was a good thing. “The weekend that we should have had a sale was the weekend that Brian had his first brain tumor, 9/11/2006. Fortunately we didn’t have a sale.” The sale continued for two more years in Kearney and then moved to Valentine, NE in 2009.
    2010 was the last year Streaker stood in the north country, Ainsworth Vet Clinic with Dr Chris Finney 2004-2010, seven years. “We moved Streaker for Business reasons to Oklahoma where we thought more people could view him. We knew we had to get him in the horse mecca world,” said Lisa. “The James Ranch stood A Streak Of Fling for five years and then the boys & I moved Streaker the year after Brian passed to High Point Performance Horses in Pilot Point, TX in July of 2016.” 2013 A Streak Of Fling booked full for the first time. “We closely monitor the number of mares Streaker breeds each year. He is a very fertile stud and has been a plentiful producer. We will continue to breed him until he tells us it is time to retire.”
    “One day A Streak of Fling will come home to retire with us here at the ranch when he stops producing.”
    For now, he continues to prove his genetics with offspring taking contestants to the past six Wrangler National Finals Rodeos. “Breeding with brains, along with speed is obviously Streaker’s game.” concludes Lisa about Streaker. “I want to thank all the people that believed in us and had faith in us and Streaker when we first started standing him and all the breeders, buyers and trainers that continue to believe in Streaker. “The dream of a cowboy of finding the right type of stud to help bring more rodeo type horses into our part of the world are the reasons for Streaker’s prominence in the Horse World.”

  • Roper Review: Tanner Brown

    Roper Review: Tanner Brown

    If you start roping the sawhorse at nineteen months old, and enter your first junior rodeo at five years old… that’s considered an early start by any standard.
    Mississippi Junior High School Association allows contestants in Kindergarten through 8th grade to compete. However, National contestants must be in 6th, 7th, or 8th grade. Now a freshman, and 14 years old, Tanner has a long and impressive resume.
    “Dad let me enter my first rodeo in breakaway when I was five,” explains Tanner. “But I didn’t start team roping off a horse until I was six or seven.”
    Tanner and his father, Robbie, give much of the credit for his success to their friend and horse trainer, T. D. Ramsey.
    “I wanted to give Tanner the very best opportunity to succeed,” says Robbie. “All of our calf horses have come from T.D. I’ve helped Tanner with his heeling, but overall T. D. has been most instrumental in Tanner’s rodeo career.”
    The early start resulted in early wins for Tanner. By the time he was six, he was placing in the top ten in the Breakaway of the MJHSA. Tanner won the state title in the 4th grade, and again in the 6th, 7th, and 8th grade.
    In addition to winning the Little Britches National Breakaway title in 2014, Tanner also won his division at Rising Stars calf roping.
    In 2016, Tanner won the All Around title for MJHSA. He also qualified for the National Junior High School finals all three years of middle school.
    Tanner is homeschooled. He does school work in the morning, then rides colts at Ramseys’ to improve his horsemanship.
    East Mississippi Community College has already talked to Tanner about joining their rodeo team after high school.
    “I might go there for the first two years of college,” says Tanner. “But ultimately I would like to attend a big college in Texas where the competition would be more challenging.”
    When asked to describe Tanner, his dad says, “He’s a typical teenager. He’s very passionate about what he does and cannot stand to lose. He has a good work ethic and literally lives with a rope in his hand. We spend time in church and Tanner’s very good hearted. In his own way he wants everyone to win.”

    COWBOY Q&A

    How much do you practice?
    Every day. I tie every day and rope steers at least four times a week.
    Do you make your own horses?
    No.
    Who are your roping heroes?
    My dad and Jake Long.
    Who do you respect most in the world?
    The good Lord. I couldn’t accomplish what I have without him.
    Who has been the biggest influence in your life?
    My parents.
    If you had a day off what would you like to do?
    Probably hunt.
    Favorite movie?
    The Gambler.
    What’s the last thing you read?
    An article in the Rodeo News.
    How would you describe yourself in three words?
    Competitive, hardworking, outgoing.
    What makes you happy?
    Winning.
    What makes you angry?
    Missing steers or calves.
    If you were given 1 million dollars, how would you spend it?
    Pay off my parents’ bills. Then buy some land and cattle.
    What is your best quality – your worst?
    My best is my work ethic. My worst is procrastination.