“I’ve always wanted to rope since I could walk and be around horses, and it’s what I’ve always done,” says Caleb Smidt. “I watched the NFR on TV and it’s what I’ve always wanted to do.” The four-time WNFR qualifier and 2015 World Champion Tie-Down Roper is the first of his family to travel the professional rodeo trail. But the horse training and roping he learned growing up, particularly from his dad, Randy Smidt, gave him the foundation of skills that took him from Bellville, Texas, to the arena floor of the Thomas and Mack Center.
Caleb, the All-Around and Tie-Down Roping Rookie of the Year in 2013, competed at the WNFR for the third consecutive year in December and won $60,000. Although the 2017 season didn’t have gold buckle returns, he finished fifth in the world standings and split first place in Round 8 with his high school friend Cory Solomon. “I had a really good year all last year leading up to the finals, and then got to the finals and just didn’t do very good,” he says. “It’s been really wet here all winter, so hopefully it dries up and we can be roping and practicing and back into the swing of things. Justin Maass has a covered arena and I’ll go over there. He tunes me up and keeps me in line and always has good advice for me. We rodeoed together in 2013 and he’s been my coach through the whole thing.”
Caleb credits riding good horses just as much with his success as his motivation. “A good horse is a big part of my success, and being able to have my family up here with me rodeoing and joining in. I don’t like the driving part, but when you have a good horse and family with you, it’s a lot easier. It’s been successful for me the last four or five years.” He continues to ride Pockets, the horse that carried him to the WNFR and the world title in 2015. The pair won $130,000 last year, and Caleb also rode Walter Johnson’s horse Iron. The latest member of his equine team is Bart Hutton’s horse El Gato, who carried Caleb through his winning run at the Dixie National Rodeo in Jackson, Mississippi, in February. “He’s a smaller horse, and he’s got a lot of try and a big heart. He gives it everything every time you ride him, and he can run and handle big cattle. He’s still a touch green at the bigger and louder rodeos, but he’s getting better,” says Caleb, who set the horse on his biggest stage yet at The American in February.
Between every one of Caleb’s horses and his saddle is a 5 Star Equine pad, which he started using in 2015 and rode at the WNFR. He officially joined the 5 Star team in 2016 when time and hard use proved that the pads should be a staple in his tack room. “I like them. They last a really long time and seem to fit my horses good, so I’ve ridden them ever since 2015,” says Caleb. Along with spreading the word about their products through his social media, he also signs autographs at the WNFR. They’re also put to use for everyday jobs like working cattle and riding colts, which Caleb enjoys doing when he’s home. He also enjoys team roping, which he’s done professionally in the past. Caleb tried his hand at steer wrestling, but that set him back almost a year in 2014 when he broke his leg, so tie-down roping remains his primary focus.
“I love hunting,” Caleb adds. “My father-in-law has a few places to hunt, so I do a lot of deer hunting and hunting wild pigs.” Hunting will take a back seat by March and April when the PRCA Texas Circuit rodeos pick up, followed by the summer run. “Dodge City is one of my favorites and I always seem to do good there. Coming out of the head box at Salinas is always pretty exciting, and Deadwood, South Dakota, is another good one. My family has been with me (rodeoing) every year since I got married,” Caleb says of his wife, Brenna, and their son, Cru. “Now that we have a 2-year-old kid, we might start seeing more stuff on the road and doing more things. He likes horses a little bit, but he likes tractors more than anything, and big machinery.
“Since I make a living doing this, I want to make the finals and try to win another gold buckle,” Caleb finishes. “I’ve always kind of had the mindset that it’s what I do for a living, so I have to make a living at it. It’s what I do to support my family, and always my main goal is to be successful and rodeo.”
Category: Rodeo LIFE Cover Feature
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Caleb Smidt
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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.
Bob at about age six, with his hand-me-down Stetson hat 
Bob and Kristen Tallman and Daniel and Nicole Pennell, along with their children Canyon and Cashly on a vacation. The family lives near Poolville, Texas – Courtesy of the family 
Bob at about age six, with his hand-me-down Stetson hat 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.”
Bob Tallman – Brenda Allen 
Bob Tallman’s grandchildren Cashly (on the left) and Canyon at their grandpa’s Bull Riders Hall of Fame induction in 2017 – Courtesy of the family 
Bob signing autographs in the early 1980s, aboard John and Dottie Taylor’s palomino horse. – Courtesy of the family 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.”
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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.”
Audrey jumping four abreast performing at in Phoenix, Arizona with the Flying Valkyries. She drove the horses back into a standing ovation. – courtesy of the family 
Audrey’s book club girls (they read and ride) left to right: Lisa Thompson, Kristin Reynolds, Sheila Varian, and Audrey Griffin at Sheila’s Ranch in Arroyo Grande – Kathryn Burke 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.”
LAX cowgirls leaving for Brussels, 1958 – Courtesy of the family 
Audrey in Brussels writing a letter home in 1958 – Courtesy of the family 
Audrey team roping – photo by John Kendall 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
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 at Dodge City Roundup 2017 – fotocowboy 
Amy With Randy Bernard at The American – Courtesy of Amy 
Miss Piggy in college in New Mexico – Courtesy of Amy 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.
Amy on set at RFD-TV studio with Cort Scheer – Courtesy of Amy 
Riding in the county fair parade on Flo-yo with her dad. – Courtesy of Amy 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 -
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.” -
Colby Lovell
Rodeo and hunting are two lifestyles that often complement each other — one season picking up where the other leaves off — but Colby Lovell calls hunting his greatest weakness towards rodeo. “My biggest deal with hunting is that I love to raise dogs,” explains the professional team roper from Madisonville, Texas. “I’ve grown up with such a love for that. There’s nothing better than raising a set of puppies and seeing them grow and develop. It’s something money can’t buy, and the hard work and effort I’ve put into it has taken a lot away from my rodeoing, but it’s something that I love to do.”
Colby has 25 bloodhounds, many of which he’s raised and trained himself. “It’s hard to get a real solid dog — it takes a lot of time and it takes a special type of dog to be very good. They need to go eight to ten hours one day and want to get up in the morning and do it again. They have to love it as much as you do. I hunt with my best friend and seven or eight other guys. We’ve done it religiously since we were kids hunting with the older men, and these dogs we’re hunting with have originated from right here for the last 50 or 60 years.” With Colby returning to the rodeo trail this season after taking a year off, he has several friends who care for his dogs and exercise them while he’s on the road. They have to stay legged up much the same as horses, though Colby runs them less in the summer when they’re prone to overwork themselves in the heat.
Hog hunting and deer hunting are two of his favorites, though hog hunting is more likely to spike the adrenaline since the quarry can charge and has tusks that grow several inches long. “I put a tracking system on the dogs, and once they have the hogs bayed up, we usually try to rope them. A couple of the videos I’ve taken have gone pretty viral.” Since feral hogs cause so much damage to property and waterways, hog hunting goes year round in Texas. During deer season, Colby and his son, Levi, hunt on Colby’s grandfather’s ranch near the Trinity River. A year ago, Colby started feeding Record Rack deer feed on the ranch. “We haven’t seen a deer big enough to kill on the river in three years, and last year, my little boy killed the biggest deer we’ve seen since putting the feed out. He scored a 160 — I’m a big believer.” Colby and his friends donate a large portion of their meat, and also make steak, pork chops, and an abundance of summer sausage.
The time Colby enjoys with his son and his daughter, Jewel, will carry into the rodeo season since the Lovell family plans to travel with him more this year. His wife, Kassidy, runs an equine swimming facility, Champion Fit Equine, with her mom and will fly home for work when needed. One of the reasons Colby, a six-time WNFR qualifier, decided to take time off was the wear and tear from traveling and being apart from his family. “There’s no downer to having your kids with you,” he says. “There might be frustration when I leave the arena, but when I get around my wife and kids, I can’t express how much that picks me back up and makes me want to go to the next rodeo.”
Colby grew up heeling and his hard work took him far, such as winning seven USTRC open ropings when he was 18, but it wasn’t far enough. When finding the caliber of header he needed to make the WNFR didn’t pan out, Colby became a header himself. Within four months of roping horns instead of heels, he was approached by several professional heelers. “I was so lucky to accomplish making the NFR on my first try. I look back, and I was just lucky to have Kory Koontz behind me.”
Currently, Colby ropes with one of his best friends, Ty Arnold, and he and Cory Petska are teaming up to see how far the summer run takes them. “Ty is one of those good up-and-coming heelers, and I’ve been roping with him this winter. He’s one of the best young guys I’ve seen. You don’t get very many opportunities to rope with Cory Petska, and my second year of rodeoing, I got to rope with him that winter right after the NFR,” says Colby. “He could motivate you to do anything rodeo-wise. Ty Arnold being a good friend — he motivates me and pushes me, and I’ve been close with his family since I was young. What motivates me is all my friends and family getting to share the (WNFR) experience and getting to enjoy that with them. Without them, there wouldn’t be any motivation to do it.” -
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’s first elk – 2017 – photo by Trisha Carricato 
Tuker competing in Pinedale, WY where he placed first – photo by Trisha Carricato 
Showing his steer at the Wyoming State Fair where he was Showmanship Reserve Champion – photo by Trisha Carricato 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.
Tuker with Tim O’Connell in Salt Lake City at Days of 47 – photo by Trisha Carricato 
l-r Oldest brother Chaze, mom Trisha, dad Tony, brother Wyatt & Tuker in front – courtesy of the family 
Tuker with Kelly Timberman – photo by Trisha Carricato 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 -
Safety First
One of the most important things I learned watching my father teach people to rope was to help keep them safe. He would let headers start out with just one coil in their hands and the tail of their rope hanging down by their stirrup. There’s no option, when you throw your rope, you have to kick and keep riding your horse – or lose your rope.
Hali, my daughter, roped until June or July of this year with just one coil in her hand. She was a 4+ header, winning money and saddles, still using one coil. My theory is her hands are more valuable than any roping she could ever win. If the steers stops or drags, there are so many things than can happen to your kids, or any beginner, that can get them in trouble.
I highly recommend this for anyone who is learning, whether it’s kids or beginners. Let them build the loop the size they want, with the amount between their hands, then cut their rope off where the tail is hanging down by their stirrup.
I advise starting on a Hot Heels or mechanical dummy with their horse sitting still. They need to be able to sit on their horse, rope, pull their slack and then dally without the horse moving at all. They need to master these fundamentals at a stand still before attempting to rope a moving dummy.
The next step is to cover the same fundamentals at a slow walk. Rope, pull slack, and dally without letting the horse turn. By mastering basic fundamentals at this pace, the odds of staying in control at a faster pace are much greater. It’s very easy to get excited once things start moving.
I once had a school in Oklahoma where the head guy was notorious for ducking. Everyone at the school was related to him somehow. I told him before we started I could fix it, but I wanted to see how bad it was first. I let him run two steers, and it was pretty wild. The first steer wasn’t too bad, but the second was out of control. I rode up to him, grabbed his rope and cut it off where he only had a coil and no tail hanging.
Everyone was amazed when he wasn’t ducking anymore. He would rope, ride up and handle the steer. At lunch he said, “I had to ride, because I didn’t have any rope.”
It’s amazing how much better your mind works to engage your legs if you know you don’t have the luxury of going left and getting a dally. I have a simple rule at my schools – you get to lose your rope once. After that, I will make sure you don’t have enough rope to duck.
I recommend starting all youngsters and beginners out this way. It’s no more than a learning tool to help teach someone to ride their horse. I can’t begin to tell you how many young kids I’ve seen who are missing fingers and thumbs. It scares me to see kids rope with a long rope. It’s so important for them to learn to ride after they throw and stay in control.
Currently I’m working with Hali to help her learn how to reach. As a 5+ she will have to learn this to be competitive. I am working on a series of videos of drills including ground work. These are available to view at speedroping.com. -
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.”
Tom during his induction to the National Cowboy Hall of Fame – Rodeo News 
Tom at the 1981 NFR in Oklahoma City, OK – Fain 3: Tom Miller competing in Burwell, Neb. in 1979 – JJJ Photo 
Tom attended Black Hills State from 1968-1971. While in college he qualified for the NIRA finals four times and was a two time all-around national champion. In 1970 and in 1971 Tom won the bareback riding, saddle bronc riding and all around titles at the CNFR. After college Tom went on to professional rodeo and he qualified for the National Finals Rodeo six times. He won the saddle bronc average at the NFR in 1975, 1979 and 1981. He was runner up to the world champion in the saddle bronc in 1979 and 1981. Tom currently ranches near Red Owl and also in Texas with his wife Vivian. – courtesy of BHSU 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 -
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. -
Effective and Fun Practice
Teaching people to rope, and improve their roping, is what I do for a living. I enjoy teaching riding and roping and seeing the improvements people make. I think it’s important to be ready to rope when you get to your cow, especially with the popularity of the World Series ropings and their barrier.
One of the big conversations I have with parents is about the practice pen. I absolutely believe kids need to make their horses work correctly. They need to prepare their horses for competition by mastering the fundamentals of scoring, running across the line, rating, pulling, and facing…. But it also needs to be fun.
If at all possible, kids need a practice horse in addition to the horse they compete on. Because, when getting your horse ready for competition and working at the fundamentals described above, it’s not necessarily helping your roping. The focus is on the horse and what he needs to do. I think kids need to have a horse to ride so they can work on their roping. A horse they can practice on and test their ability without worrying about how their horse is working.
In the practice pen when someone tells me he can catch 15 in a row without missing, I think that’s a guy who’s not challenging himself. To truly improve and be prepared, it’s important to work at different scenarios… not just make the same runs over and over. Having a good practice horse, that you don’t have to train, makes this enjoyable. I believe you have to ride your competition horse differently than your practice horse. The reason a practice horse is so valuable is it allows you to work on what you need to do to be faster.
A great practice horse is one that scores just a little and leaves flat across the line. He may not be the fastest, but you can practice riding, swinging, and roping. The same goes for heel horses. They don’t need to be fast, but they do need to stop correctly. Practice horses need to be good enough that kids can work and focus on their roping.
Some parents have a tendency to make their kids do everything correctly in the practice pen and the kids don’t really have a chance to enjoy it. I don’t disagree that they need to work at their roping, but the fact is, if they don’t enjoy it they will find something else to do.
There are many beneficial videos on speedroping.com for kids and adults. If you want to watch some of my daughter’s runs with my tips, visit the site and do a search with her name, Hali. Most are free to watch. -
Back When They Bucked with Butch Stewart
Butch Stewart spurred his first bronc in the IPRA — known then as the IRA — in 1966 as a senior in high school. It was the start of a long and wide-ranging career in the association, from winning World Champion Bareback Rider in 1973, to working as an IPRA field representative, and eventually, serving as the executive director for five years. “One of the things I admire and respect about Butch is his integrity,” says IPRA General Manager, Dale Yerigan. “He’s an old-school, look you in the eye and tell you the truth kind of guy. When he tells you something, you don’t have to wonder if he’s going to do what he says.”
Butch was born into that dependable lifestyle in 1946 on the ranch his dad, Bill, managed in Arkansas. The family later moved to North Carolina, and Butch and his three brothers all rodeoed. His two older brothers, Billy and Jim Bob, competed in timed events, and his younger brother, Ricky, rode bulls. Their dad rodeoed, but he passed away when Butch was 10. “I’d go to the rodeos in my early days, and the bareback riding would be the event I’d watch. Why I don’t know, but that’s what I wanted to be,” Butch recalls. “There were no rodeo schools, but when I was 13 or 14, there was a horse trader in town and my family was good friends with him. He would have something he thought might buck, and I just started getting on them. When I got up into high school, I went to rodeos in North Carolina and South Carolina and Georgia. It took me forever before I won any money, but I never did give up. One night at a rodeo, it just clicked, and from that point on my skills got better and better, but I really had to work on it. I won second at Rock Hill (South Carolina) and won $57, and I thought there would never be another dry time.”
Butch continued practicing on anything that would buck and traveled to rodeos with his older brother or his good friend Charles Malcolm, a bull rider who also helped Butch in the bareback riding. In 1966, Butch bought his IRA card and ventured into Florida for several rodeos, where he met Harry Watt of Meeker, Colorado. “Harry rodeoed for a living, and I told him I was going to graduate from high school and (asked) what would be the chances of me getting in and going to rodeos with him. He’s a very plain-spoken person, and he said, ‘Just tell me where you want me to pick you up. But I tell you right now, you hold your end up or you can go home.’” Butch graduated and left the same night on a Greyhound bus to meet Harry. “My mother, Pauline, was standing in the door just bawling. I stayed in contact with her and my oldest brother, and I’d call once a week.”
While in the past Butch made it to 15 rodeos a year at most, he and Harry entered 120 rodeos in 1966 throughout the eastern half of the country. Butch would eventually rodeo as far away as California, and even tried bull riding, but he primarily entered on the IRA circuit. He and Harry traveled in the Coloradoan’s single-cab pickup and camper, minus air conditioning, with as many as four other cowboys joining them at times. “I loved it! I couldn’t get to enough of them,” says Butch. “Those first rodeos we went to I drew some great horses and won first, and everything just clicked. Harry taught me how to get to rodeos, where to go, and how to enter. He’s been a great friend and we still talk all the time, and he’s the one who really taught me how to rodeo.”
Butch riding #15 Panic – courtesy of the family 
Left to right, back row: Carissa, Butch, Chase, and Heath. Front row: Brenda, Jade, Shay, and Brooke – Hughes Photography 
Heath, Shay, Brenda, Carissa, and Butch in Las Vegas – courtesy of the family Butch had to set his gear bag aside when he was drafted into the Army in 1967, but after serving two years in Germany, he returned to the IRA. By that time, he had a world title on his mind and was runner up to the IRA world bareback riding champion in 1971 and 1972. “I went back home in the fall of ’72 and saw a friend of mine, R.D. Thompson. We went to school together and he was a teacher and a coach, and he wanted to know what I was doing. I told him I got real close to winning a world title the year before. He said, ‘You can win if you want it worse than anybody else,’ and that stuck in my mind. That following year I won my world title. Maybe my skills got to a higher level, but it was just the want-to. I set my sights on something and I went after it. It was a great feeling.”
Several years before winning the world title, Butch met his future wife, Brenda, at a rodeo in Eunice, Louisiana. They were married in 1971, and Brenda’s background in ranching and high school rodeoing fit the newlywed’s lifestyle like a hand to a roping glove. She worked with the IRA on merchandise while Butch worked for the association as a field representative from 1977 to 1983. He traveled often and worked with current stock contractors and recruited new ones, along with staying in touch with the contestants. Once Butch and Brenda’s two children, Heath and Carissa, were born, however, he wanted to stay closer to home. Butch took a job managing several large cattle ranches in North Carolina and Oklahoma from 1983 — when he retired from rodeo — until 1999.
The family moved from ranch to ranch sometimes every six or seven years, and the ranching lifestyle and Butch’s work in the IPRA proved valuable for his children. Carissa started working in the association in the early ‘90s as a receptionist and is now in charge of the IPRA rodeo sanctions, results, and standings. Heath started working with Jerry Nelson’s Frontier Rodeo Company in the early ‘90s as well, and is now the rodeo manager of the company. “Dad ran Five R Rodeo Company for a guy, and he always made sure his family was taken care of, and the livestock, before he went on the road,” says Heath, who took 18 horses and two bulls to the 2017 WNFR. “He took good care of things and has a good work ethic.” Heath’s sister, Carissa, adds, “I’m glad my dad chose to be a rodeo cowboy back in the day. The people you meet in rodeo become your rodeo family, and some of my lifelong friends I met through my dad rodeoing.” When Butch returned to work in the IPRA in 1999, Brenda started helping with the IFR, the IPRA convention credentials and check-in, and securing sponsors to cater food for the VIP room.
In 2002, Butch became the executive director. “It was the day-to-day business of running the association, the bills, the IFR, the sponsorships, and the contestants’ needs and concerns,” says Butch. He and Ronnie Williams, a longtime IPRA member and former executive director, were also instrumental in working with the governor of Oklahoma at the time, Frank Keating, on declaring the third week of January “IFR Week.” “I enjoyed seeing the success of the association and the new contestants coming on, the friends that you meet, the awesome staff, and the people in Oklahoma City that we worked with.”
Butch retired from his job as executive director in 2007 and managed a ranch in Davis, Oklahoma, for six years until it was sold. Presently, he works for Jerry Nelson’s Frontier Rodeo Company in Freedom, Oklahoma, feeding the livestock and running the ranch when the crew is on the road. “I really love what I’m doing, being around these bucking horses, and Brenda and I are very proud of our two kids and our grandkids.” He and Brenda make their home just a few hundred yards from Heath and his wife, Shay, and their children, Jade, Brooke, and Chase, who is on the Northwestern Oklahoma State University rodeo team. Butch is happiest caring for the equine athletes who made his rodeo career possible, but he often travels to the WNFR, and he never misses an IFR. “I tell them if there’s anything I need to do for them, I’m glad to do that, but I just have a good time, sit back and watch, and visit with old friends.”