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Timothy Troyer is the 2019 International Finals Youth Rodeo (IFYR) Saddle Bronc Champion and is also sitting number one in the International Pro Rodeo Association. From Columbia, Kentucky, Timothy admits there’s not a lot of saddle bronc riders around where he lives. Put that with his height, 6’2”, and the fact that he just started riding broncs two years ago, and that makes his win at the IFYR even sweeter. “I just started going to rodeos and figuring it out along the way,” he said. “I do base all my success on God and I couldn’t do it without Him. My brother Jesse has always been there to support me and push me to get better – he is definitely one of my biggest motivations!” Timothy spends many hours working out – preferring the old school workouts like jumping and cross fit work.

This was his second year at the IFYR. “It’s a great place for young people to get started and compete and it pays well.” Timothy was home schooled – he grew up Amish. “We weren’t allowed to go and even watch rodeos – no competitive sports. We played a lot of baseball or volleyball. But we couldn’t go to games.”

Timothy’s parents decided to leave the Amish community when he was 13. They moved to Westcliffe, Colorado, for four years before moving back to Columbia. “A month after we moved to Colorado we lost everything in a house fire and had to start over from scratch,” said Timothy. “But with help from God, family and friends we recovered.”

 

He doesn’t miss much about growing up in that lifestyle but says it helped him in life by teaching him life skills. “I know how to make a living from hard work,” he said. “We still talk Dutch at home and cook the same. I build furniture on the side, and that’s one thing that I will always do.” The one thing that stumped him was social media. Although he’s figured it out, he admits that it is over used.

While Timothy, Jesse, and his younger brother, Dwayne adapted well to the change, it has been more difficult for his mom, Kate. “I was taught so different that it’s hard. We didn’t learn English until we went to school at the age of six.” She also misses getting together with family and friends. She still raises a big garden and does all her own canning and freezing. They also raise their own meat, butchering a steer when the elk meat runs out. William is a big hunter and heads to Colorado every year to get an elk. The boys have gone with him.

Timothy has been riding for just over two years. “I always wanted to do it as a kid and my parents wouldn’t let me until I was 16.” He picked up rodeo on his own. “My brother started riding bareback horses when he was 16. I bought a saddle and a pair of chaps and started entering exhibitions at rodeos. I watched some YouTube videos and halfway had the basics figured out.” The hard part for Timothy was entering. “I didn’t know anything about associations; I just searched for rodeos to enter.”

Kate, wasn’t too happy about him riding right off, but she’s comfortable watching it now. “It was scary for me,” she said. “It was totally new for us. He was introduced to it through friends who barrel raced. The boys grew up on a farm – their dad used to train horses when he was younger – so they had always been around horses – we used them for everything.”

 

The other delay in Timothy’s starting was due to an accident he had in 2015. “He was at work and fell 22 feet off the roof, shattering both bones in his left leg above his ankle. It’s full of plates and screws– it took three surgeries to fix that. It took a full year until he was back to normal.” Timothy has worked on his father’s (William) construction crew since he was 13. He used to build houses and pole barns. William switched to excavating two years ago.

Timothy heads to school at South Western Oklahoma University this fall. “I am going to go for a business degree at Weatherford, Oklahoma, and rodeo.” He admits he’s a little nervous to start school. “I’ve never been to a public school – the Amish school I went to had 20 kids and was a 30×40 building.” He made it through the eighth grade in the Amish school. “That’s when you graduate anyway.”

He has continued his education online to prepare for college. “I’ll have classes every day of the week.” For now, rodeo will have to be done on the weekends. The goal is to have his own business someday – either in furniture or construction. For now, he’s going to enjoy college, rodeo, and his girlfriend, Sadie Wolaver, who he met at a rodeo in Canada. They have been dating since November. “I would marry her right now, but I don’t want to get married and have financial problems, so I’m saving up for it.”

“We’re proud of our boys and what they are accomplishing,” concludes Kate. “I love to watch him now. He’s got the determination and will power to push through and get after his goals. He doesn’t give up very easily. I would say he gets that from his dad.”

The 18 year old is from Yampa, Colorado, a small town located 30 miles south of the famous Steamboat Springs ski resort. Even with that close proximity, Jace doesn’t ski. “I get so busy with sports, I don’t make time for it.” Due to conditions and his high school sports, Jace is unable to practice in the winter. “We had 5 feet of snow last year and freezing temperatures all winter.” During the fall, he splits his time between football and rodeo and then wrestles throughout the winter. He was the running back and linebacker in football for Soroco High School and he wrestled in the 170 pound division, earning the state title this year in 2A. After spending the past three years as runner up, he finally reached his goal. Jace has wrestled since kindergarten, working his way through middle school into high school and coaching the peewee program. “I love the sport – it teaches great life lessons – I love that kind of competition. You are out there by yourself so there are no excuses. Dedication and teamwork are still in there as far as practice partners – being accountable for your actions on and off the mat. Wrestling teaches discipline in cutting weight, making weight, and grinding it out. It’s very rewarding in the success because it’s all you.”

 

As a freshman, Jace was a big surprise to a lot as he made it to State finals, and ended up runner up – for the next three years. “It was a rough go for a while, but we got it done.” What he concentrated on this year was his mental game. “Honestly in life and in sport – if you can mentally overcome stuff, that will make the difference in your success.”

Jace competes in the Colorado State High School Rodeo Association, where he is this year’s All Around Champion. Going into the fall season he would play football Friday night and then immediately head to the weekend rodeos where he competed in reined cowhorse, tie down, team roping, and steer wrestling. Add that to the fall ranch work, Jace kept busy. His family ranch runs 1,300 leased cow calf pairs during the summer and fall gathering on the 12,000 + acres takes some time. Add shipping to that and the family of three boys has their work cut out for them. “My brothers and I are the cowboys pushing them up to summer pasture and putting out salt and mineral during the summer. Then we gather in the fall.”

Jace and his two brothers, Eric, 21, and Kody, 16, started their own cow herd when they were young. “I bought two cows in second grade and same with my brothers. Each year, we’ve grown our herd.” They have around 200 of their own cows now. “Mom and dad treat us good – we work pretty hard on the ranch and they help by taking care of most of the expenses on the cattle.” The cattle on the ranch are divided into four big bunches and the boys check on something every day during the summer.

 

He comes by his love of horses through his parents, Mark and Jeannie Logan, who competed in reining before the boys were born. They started raising horses with their stud, Doc Sugar Catalyst when Eric was just a baby and most of their horses they rodeo on and work the ranch on comes from Doc. Jace and his brothers found their niche in the horse world through rodeo, starting with the local gymkhana club and NLBRA, then climbing the ranks of junior high and high school rodeo. Jace competed in team roping and dally ribbon roping with Eric, and the brothers were crowned the NLBRA dally ribbon roping world champions in 2012.

Jace has been pro rodeoing since last October, running down the road with Eric, who also steer wrestles. They use the same horses and haze for each other. “I pulled a check at my hometown rodeo, the Steamboat Springs Pro Rodeo series. We hit that ten week series every weekend.” One of the horses, the haze horse Skeeter, is one that was raised at the ranch. The steer wrestling horse, Gray, was bought out of Texas when Eric was at Odessa College. Besides steer wrestling, Jace and Eric also compete in team roping together. Jace heads on Skeeter-the haze horse, and Eric heels on a horse they also raised on the ranch and used in reining. During the week the boys and Eric’s fiancee, Shelby-who breakaway ropes, make time to practice everyday. The family put in an arena a few years ago which allows them the flexibility to practice whenever they have free time from the ranch.
Jace is going to the University of Wyoming this fall to study Animal Science with a concentration in livestock production. He plans to apply that later in life as a ranch manager. For now, he’s going to rodeo for a while. “I want to see how far I can go in it.”

Piper is currently mastering four ponies, and has been working on that for a year. She began her career as a trick rider at the age of four. She added Roman Riding a year later, hopping on her brother’s ponies one day in the arena. “My brother was driving a wagon and I wanted to be part of that, so I just jumped on.” She relies on her brother, Cash, for the ponies. Cash doesn’t mind anymore because the ponies aren’t fast enough for him to use on the chuck wagon. Chuck wagon racing is a Canadian thing, and he started with ponies, and is now moving to Shetlands. Along with the rodeo events, both Piper and Cash do a lot of work on the ranch, which has been in the family for five generations. The family lives in Wardlow, Alberta, a small ranching community, three hours from the border in the middle of nowhere. Between Brooks and Hanna, the community is known for the Calgary Stampede rodeo horses that make their home there as well. Most of their family lives around the area.

 

Piper is a gymnast, nicknamed Pipes because she is so strong and has the ability to do things that kids her size can’t do. Her gymnastics teacher, Petre Neda, is an Olympian champion. He immigrated from Austria and coached the Olympian gold Korean team. She started at age 2 and at this time in her life, her groundwork in gymnastics is more difficult that the strap work of trick riding. “That’s what has set her apart,” explains her mom, Kelsey. “She can do difficult maneuvers like the bar work in gymnastics. Her snappy groundwork is her signature. The maneuver she likes the least is anywhere that the ponies can potentially bite her. “Since she rides naughty ponies, she has a hard time trusting her horse so she would prefer to vault.” Her work ethic in gymnastics included 20 hours of training a week. “Her coach was very strict – back hand springs, back walkovers, putting her feet in bars against the wall and lifting up; multiple chin ups and climbing a rope up a wall were other “warm up activities” he required of Pipes. “Piper respects her coach because he can do anything she is doing and when she doesn’t want to try, he shows her.”

Pipes received her first formal training in trick riding from Rae-Lynn Armstrong, who was Madison MacDonald Thomas’s partner in Magic in Motion. “I met her through that,” explained Madison, who has been working with her for four years now. “She’s determined with a lot of try and a lot of heart. She’s very fun to teach – you can throw anything at her and she’ll try it. For someone as young as she is and the pressure of the shows we put her under, it’s incredible what she can do and handle.” Madison, who has been trick riding for 20 years, teaches trick riding from coast to coast. “The number of trick riders is growing,” she said. “The ‘trick’ is learning how to use your body, and Pipes is a natural – I love that little girl – she’s a fun one.”

The trick riding and Roman Riding has come easily to Pipes, who practices Roman Riding often while the family is moving cows. This is the first year that she has had to work on the mental part. She’s never been nervous before. In Roman Riding there is no room for error. In order to “button up mentally,” Pipes has implemented a song into her preparation time. Fairland Ferguson used to performa in the show Cavallia, so Pipes sings the song: ‘Strong in the legs, quiet in the hand, chest and eyes up and go sell eggs.’ It’s an inside joke – she repeats the song until she is calm and focused.

Piper leaves with Madison July 2, and she will go all the way to the end of August. Kelsey will travel along. “Maddie is contracted with Flying U, Mr. Rosser has given me my first chance to see if I’m good enough to be with her,” said Pipes. Her first show is Nephi, Utah, July 11-13. This is her first full summer on the road and she is excited. She came down to the states from the end of January until the middle of March for The AMERICAN and performed during the Junior American. “My teacher sent me homework. Miss Gray has been her teacher since kindergarten and now in third grade, she will work ahead to get done before she leaves. Half of her class is gone for the winter.

“It gets pretty cold up here, so many of them go to Arizona,” explains Kelsey. “We do everything in -40 degree weather and it will be like that for a long time.”
There is a tremendous amount of work that goes into the few minutes in the arena. “The production behind it takes a whole team,” said Kelsey. “It takes two hours just to get in the arena.” For Pipes, she would rather skip that part.

“I don’t like to brush my hair,” she admits. “I just want my hair in braids.” She is not taking after her mom – who has a chain of beauty schools in Canada.
“I grew up out here and I wanted to braid my ponies hair instead of barrel racing,” said Kelsey. “I worked internationally for Revlon for several years as Canada’s creative director. So I got to go to Barcelona and Paris, designing shows. I loved this side of the business, so I started schools. I have a great team – we’ve had the same team my whole career and we’re committed to each other. You can’t be strong without that.” Her ability to produce a style show has helped with the specialty act scripts. “We can do the photography, the make-up and all the art that goes behind it.”

Her husband, Wes, spends his days doing ranch work, and is supportive of his children’s interests. “It takes a lot of time, but it’s good.” After a full day of looking after cows, haying, or whatever is necessary, he practices with the kids, rope a little with Cash. As a former bronc rider in Canada, he knows what it takes to get trucks and trailers ready to go. His bronc riding skills have come in handy as Cash breaks his ponies. “The ponies are too small for me to get on, but I can coach him.” He stays behind when the family hits the rodeo road. “I got the easy job – I fly down to watch and then fly home.”

 

…A Little more about:

Cash Yule

Cash started working with ponies when he was six – he is 11 now. His secret is to spend lots of time with them. “Don’t give up and don’t let them win or they will keep doing that over and over again,” he said. “When I was little, I liked to play around with them. When I got older I started doing other stuff with them. I try to pick the better ones that aren’t naughty.” His cousin dropped off a trailer load when Cash was younger and he sorted through and picked the ones he thought he could break. “The other ones that I couldn’t break, I would buck them.” He puts them on a wagon and drives them until they are tired. He tarps them and ponies them on to something and Piper is often the rider.

 

Cash is in sixth grade and attends a school where there are 75 kids in school from k-12. His favorite part is social studies and math. He plans to play defense in the NFL one day as well as become a veterinarian. Along with racing ponies, Cash team ropes.

Last year, Kynan Vine, rodeo director of Calgary Stampede, hired Cash for the Presidents Day – a private performance done before the Calgary Stampede to recognize the sponsors. Last year it was geared towards kids and they had the opportunity to produce their first rodeo. They had to find all the other kids to help, they did events like ranch roping, mini broncs, barrel racing. He pushed the kids – they learned how to take the entire production seriously. He has become a huge mentor – they work hard for him and the rewards. Cash just sold 25 ponies – ponies that he raised. He has quite the business going on.

Bridger Anderson is from Carrington, North Dakota, where winters are seven months long. “For five months out of the year you can’t beat it,” said the 20-year-old who just won the College National Finals in steer wrestling. “In the winter we practice when it’s above 15 degrees, but that doesn’t happen too often. The temperatures will get to -20 with wind chill down to -50.”

“Bridger has been horseback for as long as he can remember. “My parents rodeoed, dad (Glenn) roped and mom (Robin) breakaway roped and team roped.” He has two sisters, Cedar and Dawsyn, who both competed growing up as well. “I was tying goats at amateur rodeos when I was five. The first time I roped at an amateur rodeo was in fifth grade.” He made it to Nationals in the calf roping twice in junior high and once in high school. His true passion has always been steer wrestling.

“When I was three, I told my mom I wanted to be a steer wrestler. I was going to be a Paleontologist during the day and professional steer wrestler at night.” Although he’s not so interested in dinosaurs anymore, he’s definitely got his sights set on the WNFR. “I grew up going to rodeos, it was during the NFR that Luke Branquinho became my rodeo hero – the person I looked up to and idolized growing up.”

 

He jumped his first steer in the spring of his eighth grade year at Tyler Schau’s bulldogging school.

Then Robin came up with an idea in December of 2015. “We don’t give Christmas gifts; so we look for experiences,” explained Robin. “I wanted to do something that would take Bridger to the next level and to create some relationships. I sent a message to Luke’s Fan page on Facebook, asking if I could pay him to send Bridger to California to throw steers with him for a few days. Luke responded 20 minutes later and said ‘let’s do it’. We flew down and spent a weekend at the Branquinho Ranch in April, 2016. Ever since that weekend, Luke has been a mentor for Bridger; often seen in the box with him if they are at the same rodeo. I could always tell from a distance that Luke was a great human being – you need to surround yourself with people like Luke.”

Luke has been glad to help. “He’s a sharp kid, he excels in the classroom and the arena. There’s a lot of talent out there, but he has all the things that will make a champion out of him. He has the right mentality, technique and work ethic. There’s several ways to bulldog. I teach the basics and let guys find their own timing. Nobody bulldogs the same. That’s what I like about Bridger – he’ll adapt to the situation and picks up things from here or there that will help him out. There’s very few out there that are like that.”

 

As far as adapting Luke’s signature move once he’s thrown a steer, Bridger said, “I’ll be better known for walking out emotionless – I don’t do much.”
Bridger went to Shawnee to the IFYR his sophomore year (2015) and won the steer wrestling title there. He was the North Dakota State champion wrestler at 170 # in 2016 – his junior year in high school. He was also in football but made the decision his senior year to retire from both sports so he could focus on getting into The AMERICAN. He qualified for the semi-finals that year in Rapid City, but didn’t make it to the AT&T – he finished in the top 25. He turned 18 in August before his senior year, bought his PRCA permit and made the short go his senior year in high school in Denver (2017) at the National Western Stock Show.

When it came time to pick a college, Bridger chose to rodeo for Stockton Graves at Northwestern Oklahoma State University. “I’ve known him for three years, said Stockton, who has been the coach for seven years. “He’s a great kid – he works hard in the classroom and he works hard at steer wrestling.”
Stockton is traveling with Bridger this summer along with Billy Bolden and JD Struxness, who was the 2016 CNFR steer wrestling champion, under the coaching of Stockton. They are hauling Bridger’s horse, Whiskers, Freeway, JD’s haze horse Wave, and Billy’s horse. “Whiskers is 10 – and came from Diamond S Performance Horses (Tyler & Jackie Schau, who are also mentors of his). He came off the track. He knows his job, usually if something goes wrong it’s my fault not his.”

 

Bridger says the driving is just part of the game. “I like to rodeo and you have to travel to rodeo. It’s worth it if you get to run steers; there are cool rodeos and cool arenas out there. We’ve gone to quite a few, and this year we’re going to even more in hopes to make it to Vegas.”

“I never doubted Bridger was going to be here. He’s always been determined, focused and willing put in the work,” said Robin. “When he was three he decided to quit daycare, saying ‘Mom, cowboys don’t go to daycare.’ So at the age of three, Bridger stayed home – Glenn was around on the ranch, and he painted pink fingernail polish on the television remote to show the power on and off button and the channel up and down button. He also taught him how to push ‘1-9 start’ on the microwave so he could make himself a hot dog.” He had lots of stories for his mom at the end of the day including what laundry detergent to use, and what his teacher had taught him during the day, insight gained from the television.

Glenn taught Bridger good horsemanship. “He keeps his hands soft and is light on Whiskers mouth in the corner.” Glenn, who works for ProAg in the crop insurance world, is excited for his son. “The kid is living his dream and more power to him.”

The National Little Britches Association was founded in 1952, and sanctions rodeos in over 33 states, giving children 5 to 18 years old opportunities to compete in rodeo events across the country. For kids in the central part of the country, NLBRA is one of few choices they have when it comes to being a rodeo competitor, and they couldn’t be more grateful. The Hinrichs family from Ellsworth, Minnesota have only been involved with the NLBRA for a few years now, but much of their time is now centered around the rodeo schedules in both the Dakota Prairie Little Britches and Minnesota/Eastern South Dakota Little Britches rodeos.

“The Big Deal Land & Cattle Company, that’s what everyone likes to joke about and call me around Minnesota and South Dakota,” laughs Steve, patriarch of the Hinirichs family, who supplies all the timed event cattle and goats for Little Britches rodeos across Minnesota and South Dakota. The fact is, the busy family hasn’t slowed down enough to give the stock-contracting business an actual name since they started rolling along three years ago. Not only do Steve and his wife Bridget work jobs outside of the family’s horse training business, but all three of their children, Paige, 18, Tanner, 15, and Kiana (Bubbles), 8, compete in the Little Britches Rodeo Association with quite a bit of success. In 2016, the Hinrichs children became more involved in rodeo and started in the MN/Eastern SD Little Britches Rodeo Association. Word spread that the family kept stock for the kids to practice on and train horses, and it wasn’t long before the requests started coming to bring livestock to the rodeos. “A contractor backed out right before a rodeo a couple years ago, so they asked if we could bring some stock. People were happy with what we brought, and it’s grown to full-time from there. We bring stock to rodeos in both states and will supply cattle and goats at approximately 50 rodeos this year.”

 

Paige competes in all 7 rodeo events available to a senior girl competitor; breakaway roping, ribbon roping, team roping, barrel racing, pole bending, goat tying, and trail. She recently graduated from Adrian High School, and will be attending the Southeast Technical Institute, where she’ll be studying Invasive Cardiovascular Technology. Besides maintaining a 4.0 GPA, which helped her obtain a full-ride scholarship to the school, Paige has worked for two years as a CNA at Parkview Manor, a nursing home in Ellsworth. Paige also helps with farm chores and attends the Salem Reformed Church in Little Rock, Iowa with her family on Wednesday nights. “I’ve enjoyed competing in the Little Britches Association. I really like the leadership role I can have as a senior in the association and cheer on and mentor the little ones.” Paige favors roping the most, “At home I normally break in the tie-down calves, so the kids often ask me how they’re going to run at the rodeos. It’s been nice competing with Tanner and we’re fortunate we can practice together.” Paige hopes to continue roping in the future and looks up to Trevor Brazile as a competitor, although she doesn’t get much chance to keep up with his career. “We don’t have time to watch much television because we’re always outside. Friends will talk to me about something that was on television and I’ll tell them ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about,’ we just live a different lifestyle than most people do.”

Tanner, a sophomore at Adrian High School, likes math and playing guard for the school basketball team. He competes in calf roping, and as Paige’s partner in both ribbon roping and team roping. He spends time watching rodeo runs on YouTube and especially likes to watch his favorite calf roper, Cory Solomon. He agrees with his dad that he lives in a rodeo paradise and appreciates the opportunities he has to practice whenever he wants. “I can tie goats or rope when I need to, and if it’s raining, I can rope in the indoor arena. I’m pretty competitive, so It’s great being able to have the tools I need to get to the top of my game.” Tanner enjoys hanging out with his friends at the rodeos and has learned a lot seeing the backside of rodeo production through the family’s involvement. “Being involved in the Little Britches Association has been great, my family enjoys the time together and everyone in the association has been so good to us.” Tanner likes getting to drive within a 20-mile range of the farm with his newly acquired farm permit but looks forward to turning 16 in July, so he can have more freedom on the roads. “It’s not bad having all the chores on the farm; my dad says if you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.”

The youngest of the Hinrichs crew, Bubbles, may have been born with the name Kiana, but since her dad started the nickname after noticing she blew little bubbles laying in the hospital bassinet, Bubbles is what she’s gone by her whole life. As a second grader, her favorite school subject is reading, and she especially likes to read stories in the Biscuit series. She loves to compete in barrel racing and pole bending the most and likes practicing at home with her siblings. Bubbles likes riding Henny Penny, her 13-year-old black mare in all her events. “The Little Britches rodeos are giving Bubbles a great environment to grow as a competitor. She was a little hesitant to go too fast at first, but her confidence is growing, and she’s getting faster at each rodeo. She recently won the flag race and that used to be the event she dreaded the most.” Her favorite chore to help with in the afternoons is bottle-feeding the baby goats and calves.

 

The family’s settling into their new home at Hinrichs’ Arena, on land where Steve grew up as the youngest of four children belonging to George and Leona Hinrichs. The farm is in the southwest corner of Minnesota, just one mile from Iowa and 30 miles from South Dakota. “My parents were very involved in showing horses and my mom was the secretary and treasurer of the Southwest Minnesota Trail Riders’ Club where we showed horses in halter, pleasure, and game events. When they passed away, I bought their 80-acre farm, and we’re raising our family here.” The farm has an outdoor and indoor arena that Steve used after he graduated from Ellsworth High School in 1989, to train outside horses while helping operate their dairy cow business. Bridget, graduated from Ellsworth High in 1997 and is grateful she’s just three miles from her childhood home, where her father, who remarried after her mom passed away, still farms and raises stock cows. Steve and Bridget have been married since 1998 and appreciate raising their family in their hometown with so much family history surrounding them.

Currently, Steve works for a neighboring farm managing 4,000 head of swine. Besides that daily work, he spends three days each week riding horses at the sale barn, sorting and bringing livestock up for auction. “I work at the Sioux Falls sales barn on Mondays and Wednesdays, and the Sheldon, Iowa barn on Thursdays. I ride horses I have in for training while I work at the auctions and it gives me great opportunities to train horses for my clients.” Bridget who team roped, and barrel raced before family responsibilities took over, also works at the sale barn with Steve on Thursdays but spends much of her time managing the family and farm, where she takes charge of raising bottle calves and goats.
The family keeps approximately 25 head of roping cattle, 30-40 goats, and 50 calves ranging from those still on milk, up to 350 pounds. “Right now, we’re bottle feeding 20 calves and get new calves in from the dairy twice each week. We use lots of Jerseys for the Little Britches rodeos; people thought they’d be too weak and wouldn’t run, but we feed them heavy and they work great for the kids. The cattle we use give each of the competitors a chance to win and we work hard to keep them as even as possible. If one of the cattle or goats don’t work well, we don’t bring them back again. We can’t always predict what they’ll do, but we want to bring the most user-friendly stock we can to the rodeos. I’d much rather see the kids beat each other on times rather than beat another contestant just because they drew better.”

It’s said that a family that plays together, stays together; and for the Hinrichs that’s what their life is about. When they aren’t taking care of business, they like to take their dogs out for coon hunts and go bow-hunting for deer. They enjoy their time together on the road; Tanner shared, “On the way to rodeos, Paige and I put in the aux cord and get jamming with dad to get pumped up. We mostly play old country music that dad will recognize, and he gets crazy with all that stuff.” One of the family’s pre-game traditions is the kids all praying together before the rodeo competition gets started. Steve explained, “It’s not all about blood and guts, of course we all want to win, but it’s more about making good horses, learning from our mistakes, and helping each other get better. We’re glad that the Little Britches association gives us a great opportunity to watch our kids grow in rodeo and enjoy the members and the comradery we share. If we’re not having a good time while they’re competing, what’s the point in doing it?”

Nathan Hatchel just graduated from Southwestern Oklahoma State University with a degree in business management. The 22 year old from Hennessey, Oklahoma, is heading to Casper for his third appearance at the College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR) in the bull riding. “This year I’ll go first in the nation. It’s a clean slate going in, but sitting first through the season is bragging rights; but whenever you get to Casper it’s all even, so it’s about riding good and getting good bulls. That’s the fun part to me – everybody has a chance.”

Nathan is getting prepared for the upcoming Finals (June 8-15). “Right now, whenever I’m climbing on the bulls I feel like I’m physically and mentally ready and trusting in God. I go to my Bible every day.” He credits his coach in college (Mike Visnieski) for the mental game, and his dedication to the gym every day for the physical preparation.

“I’m doing a lot of stretching and I do cardio and free weights. Right now I’m trying to gain muscle, but I ride the best at a certain weight so I try to keep that going.” He is also very careful about what he eats, avoiding sweets, cutting down on carbs, and doing meal preparation before heading out to a weekend of rodeos. “I get people laughing at me like I don’t have enough money for food, but I’m just trying to keep it healthy.” One of his favorite road foods is chicken and rice. “I could take that every weekend.” He puts chicken in a crock pot with barbeque sauce, Worcestershire sauce, lemon pepper, seasoning salt, and garlic salt. He adds onions, bell peppers, carrots, asparagus, and takes that with cooked rice. “I don’t even care if it’s hot.”

“Wherever I go now, the preparation I’ve done through the week is done and I just have to react and trust myself that I’ve done the work in the week to be successful on the weekend.”

 

Nathan grew up in a small 2A school, where everybody knew everybody, with his dad, Craig, and his older brother, Dylan. He came from bull riding stock, both his dad, Uncle Glenn, and grandpa, Corky Hatchel, rode bulls, but he wasn’t allowed to get on one until he was 13. Instead, he concentrated on sports – basketball, football, and baseball. He played on a traveling team in the summer and enjoyed basketball the most. “That’s what I played until my junior year of high school – then I put my focus into riding bulls.” His goal was to get a full ride scholarship, and that’s what he did at SWOSU. He competed for Oklahoma State High School Rodeo, making the National High School Finals both his junior and senior year. He was fourth in the nation his junior year, and was riding with a torn MCL his senior year, so he didn’t ride as well. “I got that fixed and went to college,” he said.

His dad works in the oil field and was instrumental in teaching Nathan the basics. “He’s always there,” said Nathan. “He goes to every rodeo – he drives umpteen miles – Rock Springs to Casper – and everywhere in between.”

Craig wasn’t crazy about Nathan riding bulls at all. “I know how dangerous it is – now I’m pleased that he is. He’s very gifted – Nathan is very athletic and has put a lot of time and effort into this.” Craig has supported him with practice bulls at home and helping him find the coaches he needed along the way. “He is very dedicated and when he sets his mind to something, he puts 110% in it. He finishes what he starts.”

Nathan remembers watching his dad and uncle ride when he was young, but he wasn’t formally introduced until one day when Craig offered to let Nathan and his brother get on a steer. “We didn’t know what we were getting into. My brother was a football star, and I thought it was fun, but didn’t ride one steer for the entire year to date, not one.”

The second year, he won the championship in the COJRA – Central Oklahoma Junior Rodeo Association. After that, he kept riding in another little association in Edmond. He started going to a bull riding school put on by David Berry (Monster Bull Company) out of Locust Grove, Oklahoma, “He puts them on once a month and he had the perfect stock for me to get on,” said Nathan. “We went back month after month and I spent summers out there in high school and worked for him. We did drills and drills and that’s how I got started. He’s been a huge help to me. Still to this day, he welcomes me and is always there to help and comment on my riding.” The drills consist of a stationary drill on a barrel as well as walking on a pipe for balance plus other things. “Another good one is getting a medicine ball and sitting on them and squeezing it with your legs – then try standing on top of that ball and keep that ball underneath you. When I’m on the back of a bull, I can’t see, so that’s where the subconscious comes into play. And the balance comes in.”

David Berry has put on bull riding schools for more than 20 years. “I wasn’t a world champion bull rider; my claim to fame was the PRCA Resistol Rookie of the Year in 1988 alongside Ty Murray,” said the 51-year-old. The next year, in the short go of Cheyenne he broke his jaw. “That was the same year Lane Frost died – the bull after me. Growing up in Oklahoma all you heard about was Lane Frost. His school helped me a lot – he gave me the time of day.” David took his love of bucking bulls and started raising them and helping others learn how to ride. “I recognized the heart and try in Nathan – you can help coach to ride, but you can’t teach them to try. They have to bring that on their own.” David saw Nathan’s work ethic and dedication to learning. “Talking about riding a bull and getting on one are two different things. I can’t remember Nathan ever talking about riding a bull; he just gets on them. And he does everything with a grin on his face.”

Once Nathan went to college, he turned to Chad Drury, with Nothin’ but Try Ranch. “They have accepted me into their family – I took a bunch of buddies over there and got on some of his young bulls and he ended up sponsoring me and we’re pretty much family – that’s the name on my chaps.”

Both Chad and his brother, Shane, went to college at SWOSU. After college, Chad stayed around and Shane moved to Nebraska. Chad raised bucking bulls and would call the college to get his young bulls ridden. “Nathan is a good kid,” said Chad. “He’s talented and takes care of business- that’s the kind of person I wanted to sponsor. Anytime I need help, Nathan comes over and helps. It works out really great for both of us. He’s a really good kid and his fiancé is good as gold. He’s a winner, but he’s not arrogant and that’s the kind of guy I want to represent me and our ranch.”

 

Nathan met his fiancé, Kodi Holloway, through friends at SWOSU, she’s on the soccer team, and will also graduate this spring with her nursing degree. The couple got engaged on August 6, 2018. They will get married on September 20.

After the college finals, Nathan will move down to Castle Rock, Colorado, and start learning the tricks of the trade for his grandfather’s (Jim Lovell) construction business (Lovell Group), hoping to become a project manager and perhaps eventually taking over the company. He will also continue rodeoing, and plans to shoot for Resistol Rookie of the year next year once he buys his card. For now, he definitely is aiming for the Permit Challenge at the South Point this coming December. “I was leading the permit standings until April, and since college rodeo I’m sitting 7th and I’m focusing to make the permit standings challenge which happens during the Benny Binion Sale. This is my fourth year to fill my permit, but as long as you have a NIRA card, you can fill your permit more than twice.”

“Graduating college is a big deal for me. There is a life after rodeo, especially riding bulls, and this degree will help me provide for my family,” said Nathan. “The biggest thing I learned from college is responsibility – showing up for class – nobody is there to get you going, you have to do it yourself and grow up and learn that responsibility.” He admits that college has gone by very fast, but he is looking forward to settling in Colorado with his wife and eventually starting a family and raising some bucking bulls of his own. “I want to take what I have and run with it and help others the same way others helped me.”

He has been a believer his whole life, thanks to his grandmother, and the generosity of others that would get him to church since none of his immediate family went. “I bounced from home to home when I was young, and my brother and I finally ended up with my dad. We never had much money growing up, but I learned it’s not about your past; it’s about where you’re going. My past doesn’t define who I am now. I definitely didn’t have a very good childhood but I’m blessed it all worked out.”

“Follow the Lord and your dreams will follow you. Everybody is chasing their dreams, but I’m chasing the Lord and my dreams have come to me. Don’t let anything set you back from that.”

“We were blessed to have started out at a good time with a good group of rodeos. Actually, we have had some of the same rodeos ever since I started,” said Mike Cervi, who was born in Denver, Colorado, September 9, 1936.

 

For five decades, Mike, who earned PRCA Stock Contractor of the Year (1983, 2001), and his sons (the late Mike Jr., Binion, and Chase) have produced many of the country’s biggest rodeos, including RodeoHouston, the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo in Denver, and the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo and 27 others. They continue to take many of their animals to the Wrangler NFR. Recognized for his accomplishments, Cervi was inducted into the PRCA Hall of Fame in 2003.

 

Today, Mike and his sons are recognized as one of the largest rodeo producers in the country, yet he has always been a deal-maker and entrepreneur. As an elementary schoolboy, he sold flavored toothpicks and Christmas trees, hauled ashes and rode racehorses. Cervi became fascinated by rodeo clowns and, by age 14, had a trained mule act at Little Britches and junior rodeos.

 

Mike grew up in Littleton, Colorado where his dad had a newspaper. He got interested in rodeo through the Centennial racetrack, which was not far from his childhood home. “I started out galloping horses at the race track in 1952 at age 12. Many of the people I met were involved in rodeo. I took off with it from there.” Two years later, Cervi was at a Little Britches rodeo, where he was competing in steer wrestling and bull riding. He ended up clowning as well, because someone didn’t show up, and his passion for crowd-pleasing performances was sparked.

 

 

Spending a semester at Colorado State University, Mike got his first taste of stock contracting. “Marvin Brookman sent all the stock to that rodeo in 1957, but didn’t have any help, so I pitched in,” recalled Mike. “That’s when the arena was outdoors – it was just a simple wire and the cars would park all around the outside of it.” Cervi Championship Rodeo now provides stock for CSU every Spring.

 

Mike decided college wasn’t for him and took off for the rodeo road, taking his clown acts, steer wrestling and bull riding with him. One of his acts, the famous mule act, came from George Mills. “He gave me the mule, trailer, and everything I needed,” said Mike. “Gravel Gertie (the mule) would ride into the arena in the taxi cab, get out of the car and lie down while putting her feet in the air. She would get back in the car to leave the arena.” He had another trick that involved a station wagon with windows that were soaped up so nobody could see inside. “We’d get about 32 kids and pack that wagon. We were bringing the kids to the rodeo and every five or ten feet we’d stop the car and let a few more out. At the end, we’d let Gravel Gertie out – that’s how we got the idea of the colt coming out of the limo that we still use today.”

 

The family had a ranch near Sterling, Colorado, which was homesteaded by his grandfather starting in 1852. In 1958 Mike acquired the family ranch. “When I first got to the ranch, I bought a load of cattle from Oregon. I was only 19,” explains Mike. “My dad called and asked how I was going to pay for them. I hauled the load to Scottsbluff and resold. I made a little over $350 – that was a lot of money back then. From there I started trading – I would bring cattle from the west, back to Colorado. It put a little change in my pocket.” He bought an airplane, put a good friend in charge of the ranch and took off. “That’s what I did from 1960 through half of 1980.” During that time the Cervi’s expanded their Colorado operations – adding a ranch in Roggen in 1979 and the Cervi Feedlot east of Greeley in 2001.

 

Along with trading cattle, Mike was also producing rodeos. In 1967 he acquired the Beutler Brothers Rodeo Company, now known as Cervi Brothers Rodeo Company, and in 1974 the Billy Minick Rodeo Company, now known as Cervi Championship Rodeo Company. “When I got in it, there were two major stock contractors – Harry Knight and Beutler. Harry Knight was one of my best friends and one of the most professional people I’d ever been around.” During that time, Mike bought quality bucking horses. “I would buy all the good horses out there that I could. In the early 60s, 70s, 80s, my goal was to grow and improve our string of horses. That was the key to a lot of it. When we were in Oklahoma at the Finals, we sent as many as 35 horses to the Finals every year.”

 

Mike Junior was born January 4, 1971, and his role in the stock contracting grew over time. At the age of 16 Mike went up to Canada and borrowed a stud from Donny Peterson. “He drove up there and wanted this stud – he’s the one that started the breeding program here,” said Mike. 70-80% of the first set of colts yielded good bucking horses. He got a scholarship at Sacramento State for football as backup quarterback. He graduated with a degree in history, and went to picking up for Mike. “He married Sherry (Cervi), and started to trade cattle. He was going to circuit finals, roping, and helping with the stock as he could.” Mike Junior was killed in 2002 when the twin-engine Cessna that he and four others were traveling in crashed. He was on the bubble in the standings and trying to get to a rodeo in Missouri. The loss was a void that Mike will never fill.

 

Another tragedy struck the Cervi family in 2005 when Mike was charged with violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act. “It had to do with wastewater disposal for an oil field,” Mike explained. “I had built a monitoring well in 2000 and we had a leak – my employees were bypassing that without my knowledge.” Three years later, Mike spent five months in prison. “I came home from court and told Binion and Chase that I had to go to prison. They were 19 and 21.”

“It felt like a lot of responsibility at the time, especially given our age, but everything happens for a reason,” said Binion.
“I ran the ranches in Lompoc, California on Vandenberg Air Force Base,” said Mike. “They asked me to take care of 900 cows for them. The game wardens had five horses that were terrible, so I asked Chase to bring me some pickup horses and they stayed with me awhile.” Mike was able to raise their calf weight by 42 pounds by implementing his experience raising cattle and teach the game wardens how to do it. “They didn’t want me to leave,” he said with a laugh, then adding with a serious note about being in prison. “It matures you dramatically and you learn what the real world is – meeting all kinds of interesting characters.” He got out while RodeoHouston was going on, “All my committees stuck by me,” said Mike. He had home detention for five months, paid $30,000 in fines, and did several hundred hours of community service.

 

 

After that, it was business as usual. Mike settled into his role running the feedlot, while Binion and Chase continued down the road. “I run this feedlot and oversee the two ranches,” he said. “When things increase, you put parts together and you have good people around you is how you do it.”

 

“We call him for advice,” says Binion, “Dad gave us an opportunity that most people would die for. He would give you whatever you needed to get the job done. He crafted Chase and I each to do what we wanted to do and did best.” Cervi Championship Rodeo provides stock for pro, amateur, college, and high school rodeos. “We’ll take an animal for everybody – we bring enough for all of them. We make it as fair as we can for college and high school to compete on the same level.”

 

Chase handles the livestock end of the ranch, on both ranches. He also picks up at every rodeo that Cervi produces. Chase was horseback his entire life, beginning his picking up at the age of 14. He gets horses that are started and then he trains them to be pickup horses. He doesn’t sell any, but when they retire, he gives them to a kid as a good retirement home and family friend. “We are blessed to be able to do what we’ve done our whole lives. Binion and I plan to be part of the rodeo thing forever, and we hope to carry on my dad’s legacy. It’s some pretty big shoes to fill.

 

“These boys goals for high school and college is to develop the cowboy; help these youngsters come up so they have something to get on later,” said Mike. “They try to bring horses that the kids can be taught something on.” Part of that program includes a nonprofit that they started to provide free schools to help teach the next generation of bronc riders. To-date, the Ace High Roughstock Academy has put on 25 free schools in the last eight years and hosted over 700 aspiring saddle bronc and bareback riders. “We will host the first one of the year at the ranch in Stoneham, Colorado May 24-26. At the end we give prizes and scholarships.” Acehighroughstockacad.com has more information about the schools.

 

A lot has changed over the years in rodeo for Mike. “Rodeo has increased in popularity considerably,” he said. So has the number of stock contractors. “There were probably 15-20 active stock contractors in the PRCA when I started; now there are over 70.” He has remained at the forefront of that list by being an example to others. “The best management is the owners’ footprint – the best fertilizer for a ranch.”

 

Mike ended with this, “One day, if it all went away, we’ve been blessed to be able to do it.”