Trula receiving her buckle at the 2014 WNFR – Greg Westfall
Trula Churchill and Worm just won $3,900 at the Bonus Race Finals in Lincoln, Nebraska. “I’m not usually home in June, so this just happened to work out. I won third out of 1,200 runs.” Worm is 12, and was raised by the Churchill’s. Born late at night, Worm was long, skinny, wrinkly and dirt brown. Streak of Fling is his dad, his mom is NFR Qualifying Steer Wrestling horse Jetta Rita. “When my husband, Linn, wasn’t using her, we decided to raise some colts out of her. It was a fate deal when we took her over to the Clinic and Brian and Lisa’s horse happened to be out there and we bred her to him. He was the first colt crop that Streak of Fling produced.”
Trula admits that he’s a character, but quick to add that he loves his job. “He’s one of those kind that wants to please and do what you ask of him. He’s very willing. He’s still winning, so as long as he is, we’ll keep going. He doesn’t owe me anything – he has a home for life.” Worm has taken Trula to the WNFR three times, the Canadian Finals three times (once as the champion), the RAM Circuit Finals twice and made three or four trips to the California Circuit Finals. He’s known as the streak of blue as he makes his way around the cloverleaf.
“To me, the highest compliment a horse owner can get is to have everybody from the pickup men to the team ropers complimenting your horse. The announcer will call his name – and that’s pretty cool to me that they always call his name – here comes Worm.”
This summer finds Trula staying close to her home in Valentine, Nebraska. She made the WNFR in 2014 and decided after the winter that she was going to stick closer to home this year. “I have some young horses that need to be ridden,” she said. “Linn and I will hit the closer rodeos and some of the amateur ones around home. The three years I made the finals I was home maybe 40 days, and not consecutively, so this will be a nice change.”
She has no intention of quitting the rodeo road. “I’m going to keep rodeoing and do what I enjoy and stay active in the horse industry. Worm was the first colt we raised and we’ve raised one or two every year. I’ve got a full sister to Worm and she’s now having some colts. The riding age colts they have are by Fulton Ranches other stallion CS Flashlight, and others such as Jesse James JR, Slick By Design, and Prime Talent.”Linn is still riding horses and training a few and helps on his folks’ ranch.
Dale can go “90 on anything that pitches,” even a unicorn!
“Of course I’ll talk to ya, I’m so honest you can shoot dice with me over the phone!” Dale Brisby is not afraid to wear his name on his hat. “I am the best there is, was, or ever will be! I’ve been to the winning circle so many times, it’d make a normal man dizzy!” boasts the Texas bull rider. His rodeo career began early. “Rodeo has been my life, I’ve been goin 90 since before the war!” He started riding sheep, then graduated to steers and bulls, and went on to college rodeo. Where he obtained an undergraduate and a graduate degree in – ag leadership and education. “I done been 90 in the rodeo arena and the classroom ol’ son!”
His dad was a hand at all things cowboy. Watching as his father shoes a horse. – Courtesy of the family
“I have a really good time rodeoing and I like to live that life through social media. I am grateful every day that anyone might find what I do entertaining enough to give me a second look. I thank God everyday that He blessed me with a path to salvation through His son, with living in this country, for making me a cowboy, and for making me the most humble bull riding legend ever to walk the earth. If there’s a better life, I don’t know it.”
“Whenever I get together with my camara man, Randy Quartieri, and Leroy Gibbons, we’re like a bunch of little kids giggling and building a tree house. It’s just fun. And that’s how life should be! Especially if you’re a cowboy, and especially if you’re a Christian. I want to live my life through social media in a way that people see that.”
“The Lord put me on this earth to spend time in the rodeo arena. I’ve competed and mastered all three rough stock events professionally and I have also fought bulls professionally. It was shortly after college rodeo that I decided to pursue one event and only enter the bull riding. As many goals as I have set and accomplished, it’s getting a bit mundane. So I am always looking for new horizons!”
Dale Brisby shows up to Justin Sports Medicine Fashion Show ready to handle a little ‘Risky Business’ – Rodeo News
He has mastered social media – his videos have been seen by millions. “I was always considered the class clown, but I think that was only because I was different than everyone else. I didn’t conform my personality to the status quo then, and I still don’t today. How many other people do you see walk into Cowboy Christmas in Las Vegas with mud boots, holes in their jeans, only a vest on, and their only concern is that everyone know it is ‘Rodeo Time’.”
Getting ready to ride – Randy Quartieri
He has brought his concept not only to social media, but to the retail market and motivational speaking engagements. He lives his ministry through focusing on his faith. “My business plan is prayer. I have some goals, but mainly, I want to please the Lord. That comes first. If that remains my priority then I will be at peace with whatever the outcome is.”
“I believe social media is merely a tool. A very powerful one that can be used for good or bad. For me, it is where I can hopefully give someone a break in their stressful day and make them laugh. Everyone of my videos may not quote scripture, but hopefully they can see Christ’s love through the way I live my life. Thank you to anyone who follows or subscribes to my shenanigans, you are why I do what I do. Hit me up in the DM’s!”
He partnered up with Fallon Taylor to create a series of videos poking fun at the barrel racing world. “We give barrel racers an inside look at bull riders and she gives bull riders and inside look at barrel racing. We do Snapchat takeovers where we run each others’ Snapchat.”
He has produced more than 100 videos and his goals for the future include more retail adventures. “I’d love to be the one spot people go for all things rodeo and obviously continue to rodeo.”
Pat Litton was born in Lincoln, Nebraska. Her dad was an ex-farmer that worked for the state and had a garbage route. “He later went into construction with his dump trucks and helped build airports during the war,” explained the 88-year-old from Gillette, Wyo. “We traveled all over. I went to 17 high schools. I got to know a lot of people and do a lot of things.” She had one brother and one sister – they both passed from cancer.
She went to college at Black Hills Teachers College for two summers and became a teacher. “I started teaching at 17, right out of high school. Teachers were hard to find. I taught in the Inya Cara school on the HK Divide, above Moorcroft.” She had 10 students in all 8 grades, including one that was the same age as she was. “I can remember when I went out to teach – it was quite a walk up the hill to school and I never went to town because I didn’t drive.” The opportunity developed her love for teaching and kids. “We had a great time together, we could use our imaginations.”
She has gone to the WNFR every year since 1974, when it was still in Oklahoma City. “I would go down with the high school association and secretary the rules committee meetings.”
Five generations of Isenbergers, taken in 2003 a the Wyoming High School Alumni Reunion. The family has grown now to 11 great grand sons and two great grand daughters. – Rodeo News
She met her husband, Bob Isenberger, at the corner drug store in Gillette where she was working. “He worked for the Moore family, and came in and there was a glow around his head,” she remembers. “It just hit me like a ton of bricks.” He was at a dance she was at and they danced. “The school I taught was a skip and jump from the ranch he was working on and we started going together.” They were married within four months. The couple settled at Nine Mile Ranch and lived in that sheep wagon that first year. She and her husband lambed 3,000 ewes and Pat loved it. “The guys couldn’t get me out of the lambing pen.” Bob rode saddle broncs and bareback horses and competed in bull riding. “They used to say about him that none of the neighbors’ calves were safe – he was either riding or roping them.” The couple took a summer off and rodeoed. Pat had every intention to start barrel racing and team roping. “I would get so nervous that my feet would shake out of the stirrups, but I was pretty fleet footed and I entered the cow milking race because I could run. I was an ok ranch horse back rider, but not a rodeo horse back rider. I love horses and love to ride.”
After the summer, Bob took a ranching job and Pat continued to time local rodeos. Mike was born in 1954 and, Lee, was born in 1956. Mike was killed in a trucking accident on his 20th birthday, August 2, 1974. “Lee and I had just taken off to secretary a steer roping in Thermopolis.” She had checked into her hotel room and got the phone call.
Pat got involved through Bob with the Wyoming High School Rodeo Association; he was serving on the Board. Pat was recording times and word got out. Bob was roping calves and team roping and they spent every weekend rodeoing; the boys started with the high school rodeo. Pat ended up getting involved with the Fair Board in Gillette and ended up timing through that as well. Both boys were involved in 4H and Pat was a 50 year 4H leader. “I just liked working with kids. They are the most honest individuals.”
The couple also produced the Little Cowpokes rodeo at their house, an event for kids age four through junior high. “We did that for 13 years, and quit doing that after Bob was killed.” Bob went to Douglas to get a part for a water pump in January of 1974. He waited for the bus to come in with the part and he was 12 miles out of Douglas and in a white out. He was off the road and over corrected and rolled the pickup and was killed. “The boys were terrified; they were both in high school. If it hadn’t been for rodeo, I don’t know how I would have survived. There was always something I had to do – it was my salvation. I have a love affair with rodeo and the people involved with it.”
Pat Litton served as secretary of the Wyoming Steer Roping association for more than 25 years. – Ferrell
Pat became the National Director for Wyoming High School rodeo in 1975 and was instrumental in developing the point system. “Before the point system, you had to win the state finals in order to get to the Nationals. Some kids didn’t do good at the Finals and so couldn’t make it to Nationals. Scott Redington and I worked on it – the system was set up so that it was consistent too. When I think about how many hours it took us to put it together. There had been others that had tried to come up with something, but we had to come up with something that was consistent and fair to every state. That was the hardest thing. We made the presentation to the National Board.”
Pat met Gene Litton, who was serving as the secretary/treasurer for the National High School Rodeo Association. “I wouldn’t let myself get serious about him,” she remembers, but the couple ended up getting married on February 15, 1980 and had 30 years together before he passed away.
“We were responsible for the first computerized rodeo,” said Pat. “Gene was secretary treasurer for the National High School and we had started computerizing, and he came to Wyoming to visit us when we had our state finals because of the good reports on our team. We built the National High School office at our ranch in 1980,” she said.
Pat was the first member of the National High School Rodeo Association Foundation – her number is #1. “The Foundation gives scholarships every year and our goal was to have every senior that applies for a scholarship gets one and I think they did that last year.”
Pat’s 1997 retirement party. Pictured with Kent Sturman, secretary/treasurer of NHSRA. – Courtesy of the family
She has moved to a retirement home in Gillette. “I hope that I have accomplished everything that God wanted me to accomplish and that in some small way have touched a lot of lives. I guess I had so much help throughout my life from so many people and I hope that I never said anything that was harmful about anybody. All that I’ve wanted in my life was respect – and being liked.” The Governor dedicated one day a year as Pat Litton Day. “I think about all the things I was able to do and am glad to have been able to do it.”
Pat claims her biggest accomplishment is being a wife and mother. “I hope I’ve been a good role model to all the kids that I worked with and that I have instilled some spark in the lives of the youth of America.”
This is a terrific, all-purpose pound cake recipe. Notice the added flour because the 18.25 – ounce cake mixes are now 16.5 ounces. If you want to turn this into a lemon pound cake, substitute 1 tablespoon grated fresh lemon zest (from one large lemon) for the almond extract use the juice from the lemon for some of the water.
INGREDIENTS:
Vegetable oil spray for misting the pan
Flour for dusting the pan
1 package (16.5 ounces) plain butter
recipe golden cake mix (Duncan Hines)
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
(1.75 ounces)
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese,
at room temperature
4 large eggs
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pure almond extract
DIRECTIONS:
1. Place a rack in the center of the oven, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly mist a 10-inch tube pan with vegetable oil spray, then dust with flour. Shake out the excess four. Set pan aside.
2. Place the cake mix and flour in a large mixing bowl and stir to combine. Add the cream cheese, eggs, water, sugar, oil, vanilla, and almond extract. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. Stop the machine and scrape the down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat 1 1/2 to 2 minutes more, scraping the sides down again if needed. The batter should look well blended. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it out with the rubber spatula. Place the pan in the oven.
3. Bake the cake until it is golden brown and springs back when lightly pressed with your finger, 40 to 47 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. Run a long, sharp knife around the edge of the cake, invert it into a rack, then invert it onto a serving platter that it is right side up. Slice and serve.
“No matter where you go or what you’re doing, it’s not going to be easy to win first place,” says Myles Neighbors. The 18-year-old from Benton, Arkansas, has won numerous titles, including 2016 NLBRA World Champion Steer Wrestler, but he also knows the feeling of leaving empty-handed. Yet Myles’ approach to his favorite sport is always the same. “Whenever I’m not going to a rodeo, I’m at home practicing. I think about rodeo all the time. Whether it’s calf roping or steer wrestling or team roping, I’m thinking about a way I can make that run better.”
While Myles has gold buckle dreams now, he didn’t used to be so passionate about rodeo. “Myles was four or five when he started in the Southern Junior Rodeo Association. When he started, I didn’t think he’d have a competitive bone in his body,” says his mom, Sheila Neighbors. “I had to chase him down and throw him on his horse to do his events – he’d be under the bleachers playing or in someone’s trailer. I don’t remember when he turned competitive, but one year we were rodeoing and it just clicked.”
Rodeo started in the Neighbors family with Myles’ grandpa and great-uncle, James and Philip Neighbors. His grandpa James competed in tie-down roping and steer wrestling and his uncle, Philip, competed in steer wrestling. Both qualified for the IFR. His grandfather, James, served as president of the IPRA and worked as a stock contractor, producing ARA, CRRA, IPRA and PRCA rodeos. James passed away several years ago, but not before seeing his grandson compete. Myles’ dad, Howard Neighbors, carried on the tradition of steer wrestling. He runs his own plumbing business, and currently competes in team roping, entering ARA rodeos with Myles, who was the youngest contestant ever to win the all-around title in the ARA at age 16. He’s also won ARA rookie of the year titles in heading, steer wrestling, and tie-down roping, and currently competes in the ARA, ACA, CRRA, AHSRA, and NLBRA.
“I love the people in Little Britches,” says Myles, who won the 2014 NLBRA Rookie of the Year. “They are one of the nicest families in the rodeo world, and you don’t meet people like that everywhere you go. They always want to help you with something, and if there’s not one, there’s twenty people anytime you need something.” Sheila adds, “I loved every bit of the finals at the Lazy E. We stay at a friend’s house for the Little Britches finals and turn our horses out since Little Britches and the IFYR and NHSFR put us on the road for three weeks. We’re going into those three rodeos with a bit of a handicap this year – Myles’ good rope horse blinded himself in one eye a few weeks ago and his steer wrestling horse has been under the weather. He competed on friends’ horses at high school state finals and went in with the possibility to win four titles. He came out with one of those, the All Around, and that’s OK. God has a plan.”
As for the setbacks with his horses, the rodeo family readily came to his aid, and Myles was still able to qualify for the NHSFR in all three of his events. He’s been riding Jason Thomas’ steer wrestling horse, and his family’s horse trainer and close friend, Weldon Moore, sent Myles to state finals on his calf horse. “They were generous enough to let me borrow their horses so I could get it done. When I got to know Weldon, I stayed with him and worked on my roping, and now he and his wife are like my grandparents. Jason Thomas letting me ride his bull dogging horse was a big step for me, and his parents, Jim and Leann Thomas, do a lot for me. I go over and use their arena all the time. My mom and dad do a whole lot for me – they pay for everything and they never miss a high school or Little Britches rodeo. I would also like to thank Keith and Diane Everett for all they have done for me through the years. I travel a lot with two of my best friends, Austin Wake and Benjamin Cox. We’ve grown up together and they’re really good at keeping me going. We all help and support each other.”
Last winter, Myles moved his horses, calves, and steers to Benjamin’s house and stayed there a couple of months to practice in his indoor arena. “My good calf horse, Cadillac, is one of the ones that got hurt,” says Myles. “I just went to catch him one day to go to a rodeo and his eye was solid white. His retina is partially detached, so he might have to have his eye taken out. My mom will probably run barrels on him, and I’ll get another horse. Frosty is Jason Thomas’s horse that I’ve been riding lately, and I’ve been bouncing around on heel horses.”
2 years old holding his dad’s heading horse “Spot” at the ARA Finals in Benton, AR
9 years old at the Breakaway and Goat Tying Clinic held at the Circle T Ranch in Benton, AR owned by Leann and Jim Thomas
Third grade football team
the “Razorbacks”
Senior picture taken at Circle T Ranch with his bull dogging horse “Juice”
Taken at the 2017 Jr. Ironman Championship tie down roping on June, owned by Nila and
Weldon Moore- RodeoBum.com
Myles was still able to qualify for the NHSFR in all three of his events, including the team roping with header Jacob Scroggins. They have roped together in both Little Britches and high school rodeos since Myles’ junior year when he switched from heading to heeling. “Myles is a natural born header,” says Sheila, who grew up showing horses and took up barrel racing in rodeos after marrying Howard. “Myles got his first rope horse when he was seven, and the second time he roped off that horse, he caught his steer.” But ultimately, steer wrestling is Myles’ favorite event. “I like everything about it – I like the speed and I like when I get off and the steer hits flat on his side.” He’d love to spend a day dogging steers with Luke Branquinho, and roping with Clay O’Brien Cooper. His latest branch on the rodeo trail starts this fall competing on the Northeast Texas Community College rodeo team. “I’m going on a full-ride rodeo scholarship, and I like the coach there a lot,” says Myles. “I’m going for an Ag. business degree, and I’m hoping I can better myself at the college rodeo level and keep my grades up.” He had plenty of practice studying on the road since he was homeschooled all four years of high school. The flexibility allowed him more opportunities to rodeo, including competing in the first ever Jr. Ironman Championship at the Lazy E Arena this March. Selected from the top five of the world standings in team roping, steer wrestling, and tie-down roping, Myles won the first round of the Jr. Ironman Championship. “ It sure was competitive, and I didn’t go out of there with an empty pocket!”
Myles occasionally trades his rope for a fishing pole and goes to one of the numerous lakes near his home, but rodeo always takes priority. He likes that his hometown of Benton, Arkansas, is centrally located to a number of rodeos, and plans to buy his PRCA permit and start pro rodeoing this year. “I’m always wanting to better myself, whether it’s with my horses or my rope,” he finishes. “Some kids like football and basketball, and I like rodeo. My whole life, I’ve always wanted a gold buckle with my name on it.”
Logan Adams was inducted into the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2011. He is pictured with his family l to r: Jimmy Adams, Merrill Ellis, Logan, Mabel Adams, and John Adams. – Courtesy of the family
Logan Adams grew up in a rural Texas community. Actually, he was born on his grandparent’s Carpenter Ranch which is nestled outside of the Texas Hill Country town of Medina. His other grandparent’s ranch on the Adams side of the family was just down the road. The Texas raised cowboy had a passion for riding, roping, and the western way of life. He attributes this to his numerous uncles who taught him these skills while tending to the ranches. Even though he learned these abilities at a very young age, he never participated in a rodeo during his youth.
He was always a competitive athlete. While in high school he enjoyed participating in every sport offered. He even was a Texas state qualifier in discus, an all district football player and captain of his football team.
“The entire community followed us to our football games. The joke was the last one out of Medina should turn out the lights,” Logan stated with a smile.
Football was his passion. After being recruited by the Sul Ross State University Lobo Football team he continued to excel in sports. One of his friends at SRSU was the famed, Dan Blocker, who enjoyed an illustrious career on the TV show, Bonanza.
After a year of football at Sul Ross, the football coach decided to take a job at Southwest Texas College in San Marcos. He asked Logan to be a part of that football team and he did. While at Southwest Texas College, he began to dabble in the sport of rodeo.
“The coach told me I had to quit football or quit rodeo due to eligibility reasons. So, I decided to pursue rodeo,” stated Logan.
In a matter of fact, while on his first date with his late wife, Mabel, he won the steer wrestling at a rodeo in San Marcos. He had met her through his first cousin, Betty Ann Carpenter. She and Mabel were suite mates at Baylor University.
“Yep, Betty Ann grabbed my winnings and took it upon herself to make sure we all had a good time that night,” Logan stated with a smirk.
The rodeo world has a unique way of luring young men and women into its sport. And it did just that to Logan.
Being raised in Bandera County he had numerous Rodeo Cowboy Association (RCA) World Champions to idolize and ask questions about their roping expertise.
The late Ray Wharton, 1956 RCA World Champion Calf Roper, was Logan’s selected mentor.
“He got me started by encouraging me to rope and really practice with determination. He thought I had some potential and he pushed me to go ahead,” stated Logan.
Logan Adams is roping at the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo. He took the lead in the calf roping go round the night this photo was taken. – Allen Photo
He continued, “He allowed me to practice on his horses which was a great benefit for a young roper.”
In 1956, Adams was issued a permit by the RCA. He decided that he was ready to compete against the “big boys” of the organization and he entered his first pro rodeo in Kerrville, Texas.
He stated, “One of the biggest moments of my roping career was winning the first RCA rodeo I went to in Kerrville. It was just down the road from my hometown and I had a lot of family and friends there to watch.”
It was not until 1960 after a successful ranching career that he decided to pursue his dream of rodeo.
“I quickly filled my permit at Independence, Missouri. I choose rodeos where I could participate and manage my ranching operation.”
Logan won or placed at almost every major RCA rodeo in the United States roping calves.
In the 60’s, he and his wife, Mabel were featured in the Fort Worth Star Telegram as a unique rodeo couple. Mabel, a city raised girl, was participating in the ranch rodeo barrel race and Logan was roping calves. The two were also showcased in the Houston Post during the Houston Fat Stock Show and Rodeo. This was Mabel’s hometown.
Logan was a skilled match roper. He won 10 out of 12 matches. In 1966, he was recruited by Elizabeth Hopson, to ride her stallion, Montes Joker in the Appaloosa Sweepstakes 10 head calf roping. He won the competition two years in a row.
In 1970, he purchased John Clay Cattle Company, a major livestock marketing firm in the United States. He has made a life long commitment to the cattle industry. Weekly he gave the market report to Perry Kallison’s farm and ranch radio show in San Antonio. Kallison was one of the founders of the San Antonio Livestock Show and Rodeo. Logan also maintained his childhood roots in Medina, Texas where he engaged in an active ranching lifestyle.
He has been involved with the Rodeo World in various capacities most of life. He has judged Miss Rodeo Texas, served on the Bell County PRCA Rodeo Committee, produced the Texas Circuit PRCA Steer Roping Finals and produced the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA) Southern Region Finals.
There have been many good calf roping horses purchased throughout the years from Logan that have helped other ropers excel. He always had a knack for taking a horse to the next level in the competitive calf roping arena.
“I quit roping off of a horse at the age of 80. I just decided it was time,” he stated. “This was very difficult time for me because it is something that I have enjoyed doing most of my life.”
Logan and his wife, Mabel were married 60 years before she passed away in June of 2016. As a former deacon of a First Baptist Church, he now spends his Sundays worshiping at 3C Cowboy Fellowship in Salado, Texas.
“I have always been a prayerful man. I know that with God we will get through the storms and he will give us strength,” explained Adams.
One of his greatest passions during his career has been teaching numerous cowboys and cowgirls to rope. This also carried through to his own three children, Merrill A. Ellis, John Logan and Jimmy, who each had roping careers of their own.
Some of those cowboys he helped included the following: Richard Thompson (deceased)-Texas High School Rodeo Association Champion and National High School Rodeo Champion, Johnny Kirk Edmondson-American Junior Rodeo Association Champion, College National Finals Champion. two times PRCA Texas Circuit Champion, Billy Albin, College National Finals Rodeo Champion, and Roy Angermiller-NIRA Southwest Region Steer Wrestling Champion, PRCA Texas Circuit Steer Roping Champion and Calf Roping Qualifier, and eight times NFR Steer Roping Qualifier.
Logan Adams is pleased to be a Gold Card holder in the PRCA. In 2011, he was inducted into the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame. During his induction speech he stated, “All I ever wanted to be was a cowboy and I am proud to say I am.”
Logan, his wife Mabel and daughter, Merrill in the late 50’s. – Courtesy of Houston Post
Merrill A. Ellis is the daughter of Logan Adams. She is a graduate of Eastern New Mexico University where she earned a master’s degree in communications and education.She currently serves on the board of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association Alumni.
In 1990 Jeff Todd graduated from high school in northwest Kansas. “I was second in my class, but that didn’t make the top ten percent since there were only 10 of us that graduated.”He went to Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva, Oklahoma on an academic and rodeo scholarship, roping calves and team roping. He fell in with a group of rodeo kids from Wyoming, including Jhett and Justin Johnson. “All I wanted to do was rope – that was my goal. My plan as a college kid was to get a teaching degree so I could have my summers off and rodeo. My fall back plan was to go home and ranch on the family ranch.” He met Nancy Hainzinger on the rodeo team and they got married in 1992, Jeff was just 20, right after his sophomore year. The next summer his dad offered to let them run the ranch in eastern Colorado. It was a great opportunity for the young couple as they got to work together with few distractions those 90 days for there were no neighbors in sight. “We checked cattle or farmed every day, but also made it to 30 rodeos. One weekend they went to 5 rodeos in 3 days stretching from Nebraska to Texas. “We started out in Benkleman, Nebraska and roped in the Friday night slack. We left at midnight and had to be in Dalhart, Texas for the 7:30am slack. We barely made it and both made the short round at the XIT rodeo (amateur at the time). We were up at Elkhart, Kansas that night and Springfield, Colorado the next day before driving back to Dalhart.” It was great fun and for me, that was my opportunity to really rodeo.” Jeff was a history major, and was heading towards being a teacher, but decided after that summer that he wanted more. Spending hours on the tractor, Jeff made plans for the future. It didn’t involve the Colorado farm and ranch but did include kids, horses and rodeo. “I knew I was smart enough, and I started preparing myself to go to law school.” He set his goals so that he could make a living for his family, Nancy could stay home and work with horses and they could take their kids to rodeos. “I still wanted the lifestyle, but didn’t think running down the road was for me.”
After a couple more years of college rodeo, Jeff and Nancy graduated from Northwestern in 1994, and got ready for Jeff to start law school that fall. “We lived with Nancy’s mom and dad in Ponca City, Oklahoma and I shod horses. They were saving money for the transition and entry fees were not in the budget. But, Jeff’s mom loaned him $250 to enter the local open rodeos. “Actually, that was the best summer I ever had. I was just so happy to be able to enter and knew things were getting ready to change soon with law school that I didn’t worry about anything. I rodeoed on that $250 all summer and had money left over in August when I pulled up and sold my good calf horse. “The pull of the rodeo deal was tough to turn from; it was a whole different life where they were headed.”
They moved into an apartment in Norman, across from OU law school. Nancy taught school while Jeff went to law school. “I treated law school like a job, when she went to work, I would start studying. If they’d have told me how much I had to read, I would have never done it.” After that first tough year of law school they eased back into horses. “We would go home on the weekends and ride. Riding today is still how I get rid of stress.” He graduated 9th in his class out of 220 in 1997 and got a job at McAfee & Taft a large law firm in downtown Oklahoma City. “I’ve been here for 20 years.”
Right after he took the bar exam, they signed a contract on 15 acres and a contract to build a house. “We didn’t even know if I’d passed the bar,” he recalls. “The place was perfect – 26 miles from downtown, the best of both worlds for us.” They moved in with their two-year-old son, Haines, and started building their place. “I worked all day at the office and rushed home so Nancy and I could build fence and Haines helped.”
McAfee & Taft is now the largest law firm in the state, and a perfect fit for Todd. One of his first cases involved a patent owned by horse trailer manufacturer. “My main job was to be the interpreter between the owners and the complicated legal process. Early on I figured out that ag clients liked working with me because I could talk their language. McAfee was a full service business firm so I figured why not develop a full service agriculture practice. I got hired by Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association and pretty soon other ag-based clients started calling.” Today, he spends most days working on agriculture and equine cases and even rodeo matters. He represents many businesses and people that he rodeoed with. “I went to Little Britches rodeos with KC Jones, and now I represent ProFantasy Rodeo and Rodeo Vegas. Another college buddy owns a feed mill and trucking company.”
He still had to put in his 10,000 hours, and let rodeo go for awhile. “I didn’t have time and family came first. We messed with a couple colts, and my son went with me once a week to a little calf roping jackpot. One summer that was the only place I entered, but that was just fine. Our goal was to get our kids around it and our dream was to take our kids to junior rodeos and we did that.” They have three children, and they all grew up in the arena. That is until six years ago. “On April 16, 2011 we found out my wife had a golfball size tumor on her brain. Life stopped for us. By that time, I was a shareholder in the firm and we were doing junior rodeos.” Nancy had major surgery May 9 and by the grace of God, she was back riding horses for her kids less than a month later. Everyone in the family had a life change from that experience. Haines quit rodeo all together, deciding to focus on his schooling, and the 21-year-old junior at Oklahoma State University is majoring in Electrical Engineering, carrying a 3.98 GPA.
Kathryn (17) coped by practicing more and that dedication paid off. She went to the NJHSFR in Gallup, N.M. a couple summers later and came back to Oklahoma as the 2013 National Champion pole bender as well as the National Champion All Around Cowgirl. Gretchen, who was five at the time, is now 11 and rodeos right along with her sister. Jeff credits Nancy for his kids’ rodeo success. “My girls are blessed that their mom is pretty handy with horses and takes the time to make, finish and fine tune their rodeo horses.”
Jeff and Gretchen Todd – courtesy of the family
Coming full circle, Jeff has been able to keep his identity as a cowboy and farm kid. “I told my wife I never wanted to have soft hands. I still shoe horses and I have cattle with my brother in law.” They ride and practice a lot on that same 15 acre place they built. Most evenings someone is coming over to rope. He is the president of the Oklahoma High School Rodeo Associationj. “I’m a product of Kansas High School rodeo, and everything I do relates back to that. For me, we made the decision to try something different – but we still wanted our kids to have what we had.”
After Nancy’s life-threatening operation, he decided to slow down a bit and pick the rope up more often. “Life is unexpected and it refocused things. I was 40 and figured I’d use these young horses. We rope a lot at home, but I didn’t go much.” Practice paid off, and in 2014 he left Vegas and the World Series Finale splitting $180,000 with his partner, David Mize. “That was unexpected but a lot of fun. Nancy told me I should quit while I was ahead but I told her I would probably just keep roping till it was all gone.”
A teacher at heart, Jeff likes to mentor along his rodeo kids. He tells them “Whatever you do, make sure you’re passionate about it and be the very best you can be at it. When you’re 20, and you think all you want to do is rodeo, it’s ok to take a break and come back to it later – It doesn’t matter what you do, what the world lacks are people putting in the hard work to be the best they can be at it.”
“We go pretty hard and get spread a little thin sometimes, but life is too fun to let it slide by. We are blessed and been put in the right situation when we didn’t know what the heck we were doing. God’s guided all this, we don’t take credit for any of it.”
Today’s cowgirls don’t know the debt they owe Betty Sims Solt. The New Mexico cowgirl was on the front lines, working to make opportunities for girls and women in rodeo.
The 1953 New Mexico State High School Rodeo Champions. Betty (second from left) was the Santa Rosa girls breakaway calf roping champion. – Cathey
At a college rodeo, Solt won the girls’ all-around title, and received a ten dollar watch for her efforts, while the boys’ all-around won a saddle and a scholarship. “I was disappointed when things like that happened,” she said.
She spent much of her high school and college days, and the years afterwards, working for equal opportunities for the young women in rodeo.
Betty was born in 1935, the youngest of six children and the only daughter of George E. and Wahlecia Dell Blackwell Sims. George was a bronc rider who put his kids to work on the ranch south of Santa Rosa, New Mexico, and whose kids loved to rodeo.
Betty was riding by the time she was five, and in high school, competed in the barrel racing, breakaway roping, and the cutting. At the time, breakaway was not a standard high school rodeo event. She competed in amateur rodeos across the state as well, causing the principal to question if she was interested in school. One day, in high school, she was summoned to his office. He had stern words for her: Did she intend to rodeo, or graduate from high school? Her answer: “Sir, I am going to try and do both.” And she did, graduating as class valedictorian. But that wasn’t the end of it. She talked him into buying calves, so during the last class period of the day, which was for athletics, the students could practice roping at the arena on the outskirts of town.
In college at New Mexico A&M (now New Mexico State), she did the barrel racing, goat tying, and flag race, and again, occasionally, the breakaway; it wasn’t a standard event for women yet.
Betty running barrels on ‘Sonny’ in 1956 with the NIRA at Hardin Simmons College, Abilene, TX. She was Barrel Racing and All Around Cowgirl
In high school, she also competed in a girls’ event that no longer exists today: the boot and cigar race. The girls put their boots in a big pile in the arena. They went to the far end then, on a signal, ran to the pile, dug out their boots, put them on, and ran back to their horses, tied up in the arena. After mounting, they rode to the other end, where they were to light a cigar and keep it lit as they rode back to the starting point. In 1951, she won the Santa Rosa boot and cigar race and her first buckle.
She got help and advice from her brothers and dad for the 1951 race. As he drove her to school each day, she’d practice lighting her dad’s cigar, even though “I hated that cigar,” she said. After struggling to light it during races, her brother Tom had an idea: he taped together four matches, and “when he struck those matches, I got that cigar lit in a hurry.” She also had a strategy for the pile of boots: she stood back and as the girls threw the boots back, she’d see hers coming and grab them as they flew by.
She and her brothers, all rodeo contestants, were instrumental in starting the first Santa Rosa High School rodeo, with the inaugural event in 1951. One of the prizes for competitors that first year was yearling calves donated by local ranchers.
Betty set records in high school rodeo, winning the breakaway roping at the 1953 New Mexico High School State Rodeo, and setting a state record in the event the next year, which held for several years.
Betty breakaway roping on ‘Red Babe’ in Santa Rosa, NM where she broke the existing record at a New Mexico State High School Rodeo, 1952 – Courtesy of the family
In college, she went on to excel, winning two world barrel racing championships in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (1957 and 1958) and fourteen barrel racing titles. She served on the board of directors for girls events in the NIRA, served as a delegate to the NIRA convention in Colorado Springs, and was tapped to serve as vice-president of the American Junior Rodeo Association (1953-1955), which was put together by Al Davis. She also competed in the Southwest Rodeo Association, which included competitions in New Mexico, Colorado and Texas, winning a barrel racing title in 1958.
Through her high school and college years, she was one of the people who fought to make breakaway roping a standard event, and to even out prize money. It didn’t bother her to voice her opinion. “When I saw what was happening, I knew I was going to work (to make it right.) Some of the others kept quiet and went along, but I didn’t want to do that.” She acknowledges that she wasn’t the only person working to make girls’ rodeo better. “I wasn’t the only one, but I was the most outspoken one,” she chuckled. In 1953, the National High School Rodeo Association crowned its first champion; the NIRA had their first champion sixteen years later.
After graduating in 1958 with a degree in animal husbandry, she hoped to go back to the Sims ranch. But drought had forced her parents to sell it. She was offered a job in agriculture research back East, but she didn’t want to leave the West. So she returned to college to become a school teacher.
One of her best and most favorite horses was a sorrel stallion named Sonny. He belonged to a friend of her father’s, and was used by the friend’s son for the barrel racing. When the son advanced past barrel racing, the father told Betty she could borrow the horse, on one condition: “if you can win, you can take this horse. If you can’t win, you can’t have him.” She won on him, never knocking down a barrel at college rodeos. He was also a dream horse for the flag race, too. If she missed a flag, he would circle again so she could get it. Another exceptional horse she rode was Spooks, her sister-in-law’s horse. Spooks was an all-around horse and she won on him in many events, including barrels, goats, and the cutting.
Betty taught for 33 years, most of them in Roswell, and many of them as a reading teacher. She always tried to work rodeo and the western way of life into her subject matter. “I included ranch life and the history of rodeo in school,” she said. For speeches and demonstrations, she would have students show how to saddle a horse or milk a cow, and sometimes they came to school dressed up like cowboys or cowgirls. She enjoyed her students. “We had a lot of fun.”
Betty continued to rodeo till 1960. Her last rodeo was in the barrel racing at the Smoky Bear Stampede in Capitan, N.M., which she won.
In her adult life, she got involved in cowboy poetry, publishing two poetry books with her brother, and starting the movement in Roswell, chairing the Roswell event for several years. She recited her poetry at gatherings across the nation.
She volunteered as a 4-H leader, was a member of the International Reading Association, and is a charter member of the Berrendo Cattlewomen of Roswell. She was inducted into the Cowgirl Hall of Fame in Ft. Worth, Texas in 1990.
Betty Sims Solt – Courtesy of National Cowboy Symposium & Celebration
She, along with Evelyn Bruce Kingsbery and Sylvia Mahoney, founded the NIRA Alumni in 1992, to help rodeo alumni reconnect and not lose touch with each other.
Betty has retired from teaching and many of her volunteer roles. Her daughter Georgia Solt Perry, lives with her, and Betty enjoys her grandchildren: Georgia’s son Ethan and daughter Genna.
She looks back fondly on her rodeo life. Some of the best parts of her life were being with family, on the ranch and in rodeo, meeting new people and competing. “I just loved the excitement of rodeo.”
Justin Briggs and Streakin Disco were champion headers in the #15 at the World Series of Team Roping at the Circle T Arena in Hamilton, Texas, in March. He is headed to the Finale in Las Vegas in December thanks to the mare from Fulton Family Performance Horses. “Streakin Disco has been my main horse since January – she’s all I’ve got – and it’s been good. She’s got a lot of speed and it makes things easy for me,” said the farrier and horse trainer from Chilton, Texas, 20 minutes south of Waco.
Justin grew up in Florida, roping his way through the junior rodeo rank. He continued roping in Texas and went to college at Clarendon for two years, and Tarleton for 2 years. He met and married his wife thanks to college rodeo. Jordan Peterson, daughter of 4x WNFR barrel racer, Kristie Peterson, married Justin in 2010 and the couple spends every day, all day together.
Streakin Disco started out as a barrel racing futurity mare, and came to the Briggs place and switched jobs. “I ranched on her for a while and then started heeling on her and then went to heading on her, and started hauling her and I’ve won some great money on her. She has a full sister that the McClouds are running – there are only two of them.”
Jordan and Justin spend their days riding any one of their 15 horses. Justin switched from shoeing horses for the public to shoeing their horses and training. “We raise about three colts a year, and have three or four of every age up to five years old. Everything is ours.”
Streakin Disco is seven, and the oldest one on the place. The couple’s routine is simple – they get up, feed, ride, and ride some more. “We switch off jobs for the horses – they all need something else to do, so I rope on the barrel horses and she barrel races on the rope horses.”
“We sell the futurity horses; the four and five year olds. After they are five, we market them and most of the people that buy them are for junior girls. They like our horses because we do more than one thing on them.”Jordan was a 2009 WNFR qualifier and that experience helped shape the program they have today. “I was the support for her run for Vegas; I hung out and supported what she was doing. I traveled with her that year. It was the last year I was in college and when we left the college finals, we left for the summer rodeos and never went home. I went with her and helped her. I’d never gone to a lot of those places in the northwest and that was my first time in Vegas,” said Justin of the year. “I am looking forward to going back this year and roping on Streakin Disco.”
“To rodeo is not just one or two people committing – it’s the whole family,” says Mike Winchell. He and his wife, Shawna, committed wholeheartedly the day their daughters, Shelby and Libby, now ages 25 and 18, stepped onto the rodeo trail. Since then, the sisters have won several state and national titles apiece. Shelby is the assistant rodeo coach at Sheridan College in Wyoming and Libby, who won the 2016 Champions Challenge in Omaha, Nebraska, will be a freshman this fall at Eastern Wyoming College. Yet all the roots lead back to home in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, and the foundation of hard work that Shelby and Libby built their careers on.
The rodeo tradition comes from both sides of the family, and Shawna’s dad, a steer wrestler named Dick Phillips, helped start the Chadron State College rodeo team in the 1960. Shawna also rodeoed on the college team after competing in Little Britches and high school rodeo, while Mike’s background is in ranching. They wanted their daughters to experience several different sports, including basketball and volleyball, but the rodeo spark is what took off.
Libby Winchell goat tying at the 2015 National High School Finals Rodeo – JenningsRodeoPhotography.com
Shelby started rodeoing when she was nine, and Libby occupied herself with stick horse barrel racing and pole bending, and helping carry goats to the arena for goat tying, until she was old enough to compete. Both she and Shelby showed in 4-H, where Shawna was a leader, and FFA. They also competed in the WJRA, NLBRA, and Nebraska junior high and high school. They entered the barrel racing, pole bending, goat tying, and breakaway roping, but they’ve especially excelled in goat tying. Their mom, Shawna, was also a goat tyer. “It’s an event that’s not all about the horse – you get out of it what you put into it,” she explains. “It also requires athletic ability for getting off a horse that’s going thirty miles an hour. We call competitiveness the family sickness, but we’re fortunate the girls are willing to work hard at being their best. Mike and I have always been involved, going to clinics and learning new techniques right alongside them so when we’re in the practice arena, we know how to help them.”
Through one such clinic, Shelby met goat tyer and Cochise College rodeo coach, Lynn Smith. “In high school, I had the opportunity to travel with Lynn Smith and help with goat tying clinics. It instilled that desire to teach – I’ve always wanted to be a rodeo coach so I could share that knowledge. Not many people can say they are twenty-five years old and living their dream job!”
Before Shelby started rodeoing, she’d already overcome incredible odds, having been born 16 weeks early and going through extensive physical therapy as she grew up, making her drive to rodeo and compete twice as strong. She qualified for the NJHFR in 2006 and the NHSFR from 2008 – 2010, and after graduating from Scottsbluff High School, she attended Eastern Wyoming College. Shelby later transferred to Chadron State College and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in education. She qualified for the CNFR in goat tying in 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2016, also competing in breakaway in 2013 after winning reserve all-around in the Central Rocky Mountain Region. She won the region in goat tying last year before clinching the national title at the CNFR. That same day, Libby won the goat tying at the Nebraska state finals, and she and Shawna watched the live feed of Shelby competing in the CNFR on their way home.
Shelby Winchell goat tying at the 2016 CNFR – Hubbell
“It’s interesting, because I’m known more for my goat tying success, but I also trained barrel and breakaway horses and seasoned them at college rodeos and sold them,” says Shelby, who is also finishing her master’s degree in K-12 school counseling through CSC. She enters jackpots, and will compete in the NRCA this summer. She plans to start seasoning a four-year-old in the breakaway roping and goat tying this summer, while she’s also riding Ace, whom she purchased from CSC rodeo coach Dustin Luper. “I’m able to keep my horses at the school and work them every day, which is a special thing for me, because I can observe the students and their different methods of training. I’ve also taken in several outside horses.”
Many of Shelby’s winning goat runs have been off Hadley, a 20-year-old gelding she’s shared with Libby. He returned to Scottsbluff last fall in time for fall high school rodeos. “Hadley used to be a steer wrestling horse, and he has a good personality,” says Libby. “Blaze is my barrel horse, but he got turned into a goat horse two weeks before Nationals my sophomore year when Hadley got hurt.” Blaze, whom they purchased from Wanda Brown, was trained by professional barrel racer RaNelle O’Keeffe from North Dakota, and Libby’s rope horse, Chase, came from PRCA tie-down roper Chase Williams. “Our good friends Troy and Riley Pruitt helped us find Chase. We rope at the Pruitt’s house, and they’ve been great. I can’t thank the people who have helped me and my family out enough: our vet and chiropractor, the Pruitts, and Lari Dee Guy and Hope Thompson. And without my mom and dad, I wouldn’t be here for sure.”
Libby has qualified for the NHSFR the past three years, winning Reserve National Goat Tying Champion in 2015 and 2016, along with the state reserve all-around title last year. She competed in the NJHFR twice, and is a two-time Nebraska state goat tying champion. For her senior year, she decided to rodeo with the WHSRA, and she’s currently leading the goat tying, seventh in the breakaway roping, 17th in barrels and third in All Around. “I like all my events equally,” Libby says. “Shelby has had a lot of success in the goat tying, and we’ve had lots of people help with that. We work hard at it – we’re in the arena every night like everyone else, roping after school and riding horses.”
Libby frequently sports a 100X Helmet when she steps into the saddle, a decision she made after taking a tumble at a rodeo her seventh grade year, causing her optic nerve to swell. “If I take another fall, I could permanently lose my vision, so I’m going to wear a helmet so I can do what I love.” In sixth grade, Libby spent two weeks in a children’s hospital with a perforated ulcer and optic neuritis. She’d had pain in her left side for three months before it was diagnosed, and her vision, which was 20/400 near and far at that time, has since improved. “I wear glasses to read and drive, and I still have headaches, but I’m learning to manage them,” says Libby.
“When Libby was at a Mayo clinic, her doctor was helping her with exercises for her headaches, and he suggested those same things for athletes in breathing and visualization,” says Mike, who played high school sports. Shawna adds, “Mike’s dad was an excellent basketball coach, and looking into rodeo from the outside perspective, Mike has instilled in the girls the usefulness of reading books and that mental game.” Mind Gym by Gary Mack was a favorite of Shelby’s, while Libby has found inspiration in books by golfers discussing the mental aspects of the game. “I have a saying that a champion is a champion that acts like one,” says Mike. “The girls do the work and have the work ethic, but it’s not a one-time deal. They’ve both barely missed national championships, and that just makes them want to come back. I think a lot of their success has come from learning about where we’re going before we get there. They’ll YouTube the arenas or use Google Earth so there are no big surprises. When they don’t have to worry about the little things, the bigger things come faster. Part of the reason Libby wanted to stay in the Central Rocky Mountain Region is because she’s competed in a lot of those same college arenas in the WHSRA, and that will help her collegiate career as a freshman.”
Along with helping their own two athletes, Shawna and Mike are passionate about bringing the best goats possible to junior high, high school, and college rodeos. They also contract goats for jackpots, and state and county fairs. “Our girls were running through so many goats at practice that we’ve always had an influx of practice stock,” says Mike. “There’s nothing I hate more than an animal making the winning decision in a rodeo and not the athlete. We work hard at providing the best stock possible.” Last year, the Winchells had more than 90 goats, and they do much of the hauling themselves for high school and college rodeos.
Shelby comes home periodically to trade out goats for her rodeo team, and she loves the camaraderie of her team. “At roughstock practice, we have the timed event athletes sorting stock and opening chutes, and the same with the roughies at timed event practice,” she says. “We have a fairly young team this year, but we had some phenomenal girls return to rodeo with us. It’s spectacular to see that improvement of self, and to see the student athletes improve not only in the rodeo arena, but in life.
“I’d love to continue being a rodeo coach, and continue training horses as long as I’m able. I have the lifelong goal to make it to the WNFR, and I’d like to start roping in the WPRA and train a horse that’s up to par for that avenue.”
Following graduation from Scottsbluff High School, Libby’s goal is to win state in goat tying and also go to Nationals in breakaway roping. “I’d love to win Nationals – I know what it’s like to get there, but I just need that extra step. I plan on getting a degree in sports medicine and college rodeoing all four years, and hopefully get my master’s and rodeoing a fifth year before going pro.”
Libby, Mike, Shelby and Shawna – Courtesy of the family
“There’s not a sibling rivalry, but Shelby and Libby each want to walk their own road,” Shawna and Mike conclude. “We’ve met a lot of good people all over the United States. Kids that Libby and Shelby high school and Little Britches rodeoed with are competing together on the collegiate level, and so many people have helped us and we’ve enjoyed helping others. We don’t think there’s another sport in the world that has that.”
Chad Masters can’t remember a time when he didn’t rope. He does recall that he was about five years old when started roping horseback. Chad grew up in Clarksville, Tennessee where his dad, Bobby, a Pepsi executive, trained calf horses and his mom, Debbie, worked at the post office. Chad was a breakaway roper until he was about nine, when Harold Travis moved to the area and introduced them to team roping.
Chad spent much of his youth horseback, roping and helping his dad train colts. Consequently, he excelled in high school rodeo claiming the Tennessee team roping championship from ’96-’99; and tie down championship from ’98-’99. After high school Chad started going to IPRA rodeos. It was at an IPRA rodeo that he met Frankie McCleer and was offered an opportunity to head at pro rodeos.
This partnership was the start of Chad’s professional rodeo career. For the next couple of years Chad roped with several different partners before qualifying for the NFR with Michael Jones when he was 22.
Now, with two gold buckles and over $1.7 million in career earnings, Chad is able to put his success into perspective.
“It’s a privilege to be a world champion, but there are also so many guys going who deserve to win the world,” explains Chad. “At this level, where everyone ropes so well, everything has to line up just right to be successful.”
Chad won his titles in 2006 and 2012. Both championships were won with heelers that were not his partners, which can be a bittersweet victory.
In 2013, at the Timed Event Championships, Masters severely injured his leg during the Bulldogging.
“Basically my left ankle touched my left hip. One ligament and skin were holding my leg on,” says Chad. “That happened in March and I cracked back out at Reno Rodeo in June. Subconsciously I was worried about the barrier catching my leg that year and I just didn’t rope well. It was a tough year.”
Chad has qualified for the NFR ten times, and at 36, hasn’t yet decided how long he plans to rodeo professionally. He owns a 120-acre ranch in Lipan, Texas, and is preparing to build a covered arena.
“I enjoy training horses, sometimes to the detriment of my rodeo career,” says Chad. “When your first priority is your horse, sometimes it’s hard to quit “training” and just go for it. It takes a conscious effort.”
Chad is one of the most well liked team ropers in the PRCA due to his friendly and positive attitude.
COWBOY Q&A
How much do you practice?
When I’m at home and training horses, I usually ride six to eight horses a day and run about 50 steers between them.
Do you make your own horses?
Sometimes. I was lucky at the beginning, the first three or four we had trained. Since then I’ve bought a few and also made some.
Who were your roping heroes growing up?
Speed Williams and Kevin Stewart.
Who do you respect most in the world?
Clay Cooper. I’ve learned a lot from him.
Who has been the biggest influence in your life?
My dad. He’s hard working and always believes in me.
If you had a day off what would you like to do?
Take a vacation, maybe go to the beach.
Favorite movie?
Silverado
How would you describe yourself in three words?
Hard working, easygoing, friendly.
What makes you happy?
Friends, family, and horses.
What makes you angry?
Bad drivers
If you were given 1 million dollars, how would you spend it?
Buy a place in Tennessee.
What is your worst quality – your best?
My worst quality is indecisiveness. My best quality is my work ethic.
Where do you see yourself in ten years?
I would like to be in Tennessee training horses with a family.
Hailey Kinsel’s qualification for RFD-TV’s The American and subsequent win in the barrel racing – and a third of a million dollars – has put the 22 year old from Cotulla, Texas, on the largest stage of her life. “I don’t know if there’s a bigger stage than that besides the WNFR,” she says. “It’s not just the money – the atmosphere there is insane, and pressure wise, I like the excitement and the challenge. The crowd makes you feel happy to be there, and when I’m happy to be there, I compete at my best.”
Competing in the NHSFR, IFYR, PRCA, and CNFR prepared Hailey for the most famous run of her career thus far. But it was the support of her family, a resolute work ethic, and three horses in particular who helped her get there. Her parents, Dan and Leslie Kinsel, both rodeoed in high school and college – Leslie representing the Lone Star State as Miss Rodeo Texas in 1980 – and Hailey was rodeoing by the time she was four. “We ranch and run cattle in South Texas, and my brother and I had to learn to ride so we could work cattle. We don’t have an arena, but when I wanted to work barrel horses starting in junior high, we plowed up an area in the middle of the pasture. We’re really blessed with awesome red dirt – it’s maybe every six months that we have to disc it,” says Hailey. “Both my parents taught me how to work with what I had, and that made me more of a competitor and trainer when I could make the best of every situation. Both my grandmothers were paramount in my early years, being supportive and telling me I could do it.”
Hailey, who was homeschooled starting in seventh grade, rodeoed in THSRA Region 8 in all the girls events, while also showing steers and goats in 4-H and serving as a FFA and 4-H officer at the local and district level. Her older brother, Matt, rodeoed through junior high. “He’s very athletic and he’s had his own website design company since he was thirteen. He does all the IT work for the family business and he’s an entrepreneur in College Station. He’s probably the most supportive business man – he’ll show up at rodeos in a suit to watch me run.” Hailey was the THSRA state president, and won the state barrel racing title in 2011, returning to the NHSFR in 2013 in breakaway. But barrels are a longstanding favorite. “It’s the event I’ve done the longest, and the one my mom and I have most in common. I had good, trustworthy horses that made it fun for me. We weren’t winning, but I was going slow enough to learn to ride well, and I never had a bad experience. In junior high, my mom and I bought my first competitive horse together, Josey. She was a project, and she became my all-time favorite. Having that one good horse made me fall in love with barrel racing, and makes me look for good in other horses.”
DM Sissy Hayday, or Sister, carried Hailey to The American, but it was the mare’s half sister, Baja, who made the win possible. “Baja was running fast everywhere and coming on this year, but during everything with The American, she came up lame, and a week after The American, we lost her to melanoma. She served her purpose, because we wouldn’t have bought Sister without her.” The Kinsels bought Baja on Craiglist as a two-year-old and loved her so much they called the breeder, learning he had just one left – Sister – and was selling the broodmare. “We took a chance on Sister. She was a funny looking two-year-old, but she was pretty solid-minded and a good turner,” says Hailey. “Sister started showing some fire when she was three or four and she bucked for the first time. She was so strong willed that I kept her slow and focused for a long time and entered her in her first futurity the end of her four-year-old year. She broke pattern and ran off, but I worked her and she did awesome in the second round. Since then, she’s been running in the 1D, and when Sister wants to do something, she is going to do it.”
Hailey and Sister’s next national appearance is the CNFR, where Hailey has competed twice before in the barrel racing. Texas A&M University’s women’s team won reserve in the Southern Region, and Hailey graduated in May with a degree in agricultural economics. She’s also two classes away from her real estate license. “Training futurity horses is my ultimate goal, but I’m glad to have my degree as backup. Here at school, we have two Bible study groups that I lead – one for the college girls on the rodeo team, and one with some freshman high school girls before school in the morning,” Hailey adds. “I play the guitar and keyboard a little bit, and I always sang in church growing up. My faith is the reason I do rodeo. I have my relationship with the Lord, and he allows me to rodeo. Rodeo has led me so many places, and I know my purpose is to share the good news of the Lord and connect with people.”
One of her favorite connections is with the Elizabeth Stampede, where last summer, Hailey won both her first rodeo on Sister and her first PRCA rodeo. “I’d seen it on the WPRA Today show, and I know girls that talked about the great ground. I went to it on the way to the college finals, and I had a blast! Their pancakes were amazing too, and some of the committee came out to Denver when I competed there this winter. It was so nice that they cared and stayed in touch.” Another favorite destination was the IFYR during high school, where Hailey finished third in the average in barrels her junior year, and the top 15 in the average in barrels and poles her senior year. “I always wanted to enter because I heard so much about it from my friends, and I loved the payout for a youth rodeo, as well as seeing my friends.”
When she’s not traveling – passing time on the road listening to music, sermons, or motivational speeches – Hailey works on her family’s ranch and trains horses with her mom. “We’re mostly focused on whatever horses we need for the two of us. We start with a two-year-old each year, and we’ve gotten into some breeding. Now that I’m done with college, I’m really looking forward to taking in outside horses and having more in training at one time,” says Hailey. “I’m going to the rest of the PRCA circuit rodeos in May and I’ll see how much I get done. I’m planning on riding my two main horses and hauling some three-year-olds to give experience. If we’re doing well, we’ll go hard this summer and go as far as we can!”
