Rodeo Life

Category: Articles

  • On The Trail with Madison Outhier

    On The Trail with Madison Outhier

    Madison “Madi” Outhier has been competing in rodeo since she was one. “I started in the lead line,” said the 16-year-old sophomore who made history by winning both the Junior American and the American in the breakaway roping on March 3 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. “I started roping when I was 8.” Helping her get the win was her equine partner, Rooster, a 10-year-old gelding that was raised on the ranch and trained by her dad, Mike.

     

    “Rooster is amazing. My dad let me start roping off him when he was seven, three years ago. He didn’t let me ride him too much because he would stop way too hard for my roping abilities. We are so molded together – he’s the sweetest horse in the barn. When I saddle him, he turns his head and nudges me. He goes wherever we need to go with a great attitude.”

     

    Rooster is a grandson of Colonel Freckles and a son of Gallo De Cielo. His mom is Colonel C Hermosa, a horse that was raised on the Outhier ranch as part of the LA Waters Quarter Horse breeding program started in the 1970s by Madi’s grandparents, Lou and Wanda Waters. “Colonel Freckles was a futurity Champ and one of the best cutting horses around,” explains Mike, who is Madi’s main coach. I had Rooster ready three years ago, but Madi wasn’t. We worked on position and the basics. Madi works real hard at rodeo and she’s so coachable.” Mike competed in both ends of the arena; bareback, saddle bronc, bull riding, calf roping, team roping, steer wrestling, and steer roping. He entered his first International Pro Rodeo at the age of 15 and went to the International Finals Rodeo, winning the All Around in 1995, 1996, and 1997. He made four appearances at the Wrangler National Finals, 2001 – 2004, competing in saddle bronc riding. He won the PRCA Linderman Award twice; 2004 and 2007. Through rodeo, Mike has developed a huge circle of friends that have been instrumental in his daughter’s success. His good friend, Ricky Canton, is a huge part of it. “He always keeps us in calves and puts on ropings every Saturday and Sunday in the fall and winter. It’s really helped her roping- she’s roping against girls that have roping schools of their own.”

     

     

    Madi also honed her horsemanship skills by playing polo, something her mom, Kristy, did professionally for 25 years. She played her last polo match last year, retiring to stay home with her family and help Mike with the horses that they train and sell .“Polo has helped me a lot with my competition skills, my mind set,” said Madi. “You have an hour and a half to make up your mistakes in polo, in rodeo you have 2 seconds and then you have to drive home. I bring my polo mindset to rodeo – and don’t get too stressed out.”

     

    All that support and Rooster’s incredible abilities have paid off greatly this year. They won the Junior NFR in Vegas in the 15 and under; Joe Beaver 15 and under, Cody Ohl and won second in Lari Dee Guy’s open breakaway.

     

    The family ranch is in Utopia, Texas, but they also have a place in Fulshear, 30 minutes from the middle of Houston, where they live during the week so Madi and her younger brother, Ace, can attend school. “Mom has a big polo barn. We live in a little house attached to the barn. Rooster is 200 feet away from my bedroom. We have polo fields out front that our family built.”

     

    Ace (11), is involved in baseball, basketball, football, fishing, and hunting. They both work hard at school. “School is very important to me and my family. I play basketball as well so basically ever since school started I’ve had basketball, then come home and rope and then homework. I work really hard to keep all As, but it’s worth it to keep good grades to get into a good college.” Kristy handles all the communication with school when Madi has to take time off to attend rodeos. “The teachers know I work hard and they give me my work and I usually get it done before I leave.”

     

    Besides polo, rodeo, basketball, and school, Madi has another passion – acting. “I was an actress and that’s all I wanted to do when I was 9. We spent one summer living in New York City. My mom had a couple of polo jobs in upstate New York that summer. I had won an acting competition that gave me an agent in New York City that sent me on auditions, sometimes three a day… all summer,” she said. “I was in a couple movies with Robert Duvall. That’s what I did and what I loved.” She was also in a fabulous children’s movie called “Charlie, A Toy Story.”

     

    She missed the ranch, though, and they came home. “It’s so much different when you have a whole ranch in Texas versus a tiny little apartment in New York City. My mom was so awesome to support me in taking me there, but they didn’t want to live there either. I had an agent in Houston that I still do auditions for, but a year ago I started focusing on everything else I was doing. It was too much to balance rodeo, basketball, school, – I still love the acting world – in fact Robert Duvall called my dad to congratulate me.” She felt the experience with acting gave her the skills to interview, something she has done a lot of since winning the American.

     

    Madi found out about the Junior American through the International Finals Youth Rodeo. “We signed up there and I went to a few others – Joe Beaver and Cody Ohl had qualifiers. Joe Beaver is also where I qualified for the open breakaway.” She had two spots in the Junior American and two spots in the main semi finals.

     

    After she won the Junior American short go on Friday, at the Will Rogers Memorial Stadium in Ft. Worth., she moved to the fifth round of the semi qualifiers at Cowtown Coliseum. “I honestly think I used up all my nerves in the semifinals. Once I made it to AT&T I knew I had accomplished my main goal. I was just like okay, get this one run at a time. Three runs. The last one was a 2.2 – my fastest time is a 1.7 at Ricky Canton’s roping. I was a 1.9 to win the Junior American at Will Rogers. I was actually a 1.9 three times that week. I’m usually not that fast.” She gives her dad the credit for that. “My dad giving me the perfect start. He can watch the calf and how long the box and barrier is. And then the calves were great there all week. We kept a list on them and we watched a video on them.” After that, she just remembers what he told her and nods her head. “Tip down, throw down. Look at the shoulder.”

     

    After that win, what’s next for this young roper? She competes in barrel racing and cutting, but breakaway is her favorite event. “I get direct results – the horse is a huge part of it, but I have control of the winnings because it’s myself doing the roping.” She practices every day – she ropes on Rooster and one other practice horse and I rope between 10 and 20 calves every day. I try to rope the dummy too.”

     

    College is definitely in the future. “I really don’t know what I want to do – I love the business industry, I’ll get into that like my grandpa did. My mom’s dad (Lou Waters) has taught me how to act and be and go about things. He’s such a respected and humble man.” Madi is quick to give her parents the credit for her success. “They taught me all their horsemanship skills and to stay humble and take everything as a blessing. I pray to God every night. They’ve showed me how to live.”

  • Back When They Bucked with John Harris

    Back When They Bucked with John Harris

    From the time he was a baby, all John Farris ever wanted to do was be a cowboy. And he spent his life doing it. The Addington, Oklahoma man was born in 1928 in Iowa Park, Texas, the son of B.A. and Eva Farris. When the neighbor’s cows got out and onto Farris property, John and his brother would ride them. At the age of sixteen, he hitchhiked to the rodeo in Jacksboro, Texas, to ride a bull. He got hit in the mouth, and when his parents found out where he’d been, “they threw a fit,” John remembers.
    But it didn’t discourage him. He graduated high school in 1944 and went to work, plowing for neighbors and working in the oilfield. He rodeoed, too, riding bareback horses, saddle bronc horses, bulls, roping, and even doing a little steer wrestling. Of his events, he won the most money at the saddle bronc riding and bull riding. In 1951, he won the wild horse race and placed in the amateur bronc riding at Cheyenne Frontier Days.
    It was at a rodeo in Stanford, Texas, in 1954 when he met a striking dark-haired barrel racer. John and Mildred Cotten met on July 4 and were married the next year. She was an accomplished barrel racer, winning the Texas Barrel Racers Association championship in 1955-57. When she joined the Girls Rodeo Association (the predecessor to the Women’s Pro Rodeo Association) in 1958, she began going to pro rodeos, and in 1957, John got his RCA (Rodeo Cowboys Association, the forerunner to the Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association) card, and the two traveled together.
    They spent the next fifty-plus years together, rodeoing and traveling across the nation.

    In 1962, they began working for stock contractor Tommy Steiner. Mildred took entries (those were the days before Procom and the computerized entry system, when contestants called the rodeo secretary to enter) and secretaried the rodeo. John was chute boss, for either the timed event end or the roughstock end, or both. Steiner was the first producer they worked for, but throughout their lives, they worked for others: Harper Morgan Rodeo Co., Neal Gay, Don Gay, Stace Smith, Mack Altizer, the Auger Rodeo Co., Mike Cervi, and more.
    When the Farris’s worked a rodeo, things went smoothly; the pay-out was right, the arena was clean, and the stock was loaded correctly.
    While they worked for stock contractors, both continued to compete. John rode bulls till the age of 44, and Mildred qualified for the National Finals Rodeo thirteen times.
    In 1967, one of the years Mildred made the NFR, John began a career of working the NFR that would last till 2012. Throughout those forty-six years, John did everything from security work to caring for grand entry saddle horses to working as chute boss. He was timed event chute boss for years, sorting cattle, setting the barrier, and making sure the animals were in the right sequence. He’s best known by rodeo fans as they saw him on TV: flagging in the next barrel racer during each night of the NFR. He set the barrel pattern at the NFR every year, from 1967 to 2012.
    The couple rodeoed nearly year-round. They would be gone all summer and most of the fall. After the NFR, they would be home till the Texas Circuit Finals on New Year’s, then home again until Ft. Worth started. The couple moved to Addington, to be near John’s parents. Their sons: Billy Tom and Johnny, stayed with B.A. and Eva Farris during the school year. As soon as school got out, the boys were with them. And during the school year, if the rodeo was close, John might run up to Addington to pick them up for a weekend, or a contestant traveling south might bring them. A few times, Tommy Steiner flew his airplane to get them.
    They worked thirty-five or forty rodeos a year, and as soon as their boys were old enough, they were on the labor list. They pushed calves and took saddles off, among other chores. “We’d rather do that than run around,” Johnny remembered.
    John and Mildred would call and check in on their kids but if the boys needed to get ahold of their parents, they called Procom. It was before the invention of the cell phone, and Procom would give the boys the number for the rodeo their parents were at. Then the boys would wait till entries opened for the rodeo, and Mildred would answer their call.

    John was working for Tommy Steiner when Tommy was the first producer to use the electric eye for the barrel race. He was with Tommy when it was purchased. He also considers improvements to the judging system as another forward step in pro rodeo. Before the professional judging system, a cowboy might get scored poorly if he wasn’t a friend of the judge. When the pro system started, it leveled the playing field.
    John and Mildred were reserved, but they took care of business, said Vickie Shireman, a PRCA secretary who knows the Farris family and worked with the couple. “They were very well respected. They were quiet, but if somebody needed help, John and Mildred would be the first to help.” They helped numerous cowboys and cowgirls get started, nurturing young people on the rodeo road. Buddy Lytle, a tie-down roper, steer wrestler, and later, a judge, lived with the family for years. Announcer Mike Mathis was a friend of the family. “John was an amazing cowboy,” he said. “He was a hell of a competitor, and he and Mildred were a team.” Rodeo producers knew that when John and Mildred worked for them, things would go smoothly. “No matter where,” Mike said, the work “was going to be taken care of, and properly.”
    One of John’s favorite parts of rodeo was the people. As contract labor, he and Mildred would be in town for the entire week of rodeo, and made countless friends among contestants, contract personnel, and committee members. They watched children of friends grow up, often seeing multiple generations compete. John worked through hundreds of hours of slack, sometimes six or seven hours a day, but it never got old for him. Once, after three days of slack at a rodeo, world champion tie-down roper Fred Whitfield asked John if he was tired of it. No, he answered, “because I get to see everybody.”
    Mildred passed away in 2013; before she died, she and John were recognized numerous times. They are the only couple to be inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame (2006); the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame (2004) and the Rodeo Hall of Fame in the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City (2010).
    John was chute boss for the Texas Circuit Finals for twenty years and received the WPRA’s Outstanding Individual Award in 1999. He was Texas Circuit Man of the Year in 1997. Mildred was PRCA Secretary of the Year eight times and served as a director, vice-president and president of the Girls Rodeo Association and Women’s Pro Rodeo Association.
    His family: Bill and wife Sally, and Johnny and wife Jan, threw a ninetieth birthday party for him last year. More than 140 people came to visit with John and celebrate his life. John has four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

  • On The Trail with J.J. Elshere

    On The Trail with J.J. Elshere

    South Dakota native J.J. Elshere finished 16th in the PRCA saddle bronc riding standings in 2018, and won his fifth Badlands Circuit Saddle Bronc Champion title in October. While J.J., short for Jeremy James, is also a four-time WNFR qualifier and the 2006 WNFR average champion in the saddle bronc riding, his motivation for riding at the age of 39 is still bucking horses over dollar signs— though pulling a check is always a highlight. “I wasn’t even planning on traveling that much, but with how Kissimmee went last year, and when I won a little out of San Antonio, things got rolling a little bit to where I decided I’d try (to qualify). I ended up pretty good for what I was planning on doing.”

    J.J. won $75,773.58 last season, and his 2019 rodeo lineup includes the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo, and Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. In 2015, he competed in The American just a few months after winning the 2014 PRS World Saddle Bronc Champion title. These days, the Badlands Circuit, which J.J. has competed in since buying his PRCA card in 2000, keeps him closer to home and his wife and five sons, while the Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo is just 40 miles down the road from his ranch near Hereford. “I’ll probably get into the Extreme Broncs there, and then the regular rodeo. They have some pretty good stock there and quite a little added money. Any time you can ride for that money and not have to travel is pretty nice.”

     

    These days, J.J.’s wife, Lindsay, and their five sons, Talon (16), Thayne (14), Trik (9), Tel (8), and Trailon (6), don’t often travel with him altogether because of a ranch to run and multiple school sports to attend. The whole family was with him the years he competed in the WNFR however, as well as the RNCFR in 2016, making the 30-hour drive to Kissimmee, Florida, following Trik’s state wrestling competition. “Rodeo is just the greatest sport there is. The rodeo family that you meet along the way are lifelong friends,” says Lindsay. “The years J.J. was making it to the Finals, I had four little boys with one on each side holding on to my purse. That was pretty stressful having all the kids there, and Taos Muncy’s mom (Johnnie Muncy) was sitting right behind us. She’s become one of my dearest friends and she helped me through the Finals. They become family and you can’t raise your kids without them. They video for you when you’re not there and text you to let you know how they did. And we get to see the country—our kids have been to pretty much every big zoo in the United States and Canada, and it’s a real great experience. It’s a hard life, but it’s great.”

    The Elsheres run cattle and grow hay on their ranch, all with the help of their older boys. “We sure couldn’t do half the things we do without their help. They’re pretty handy boys—rarely do we ever need outside help,” says Lindsay. She too grew up on a ranch, and rodeoed in the SDHSRA with J.J. Talon and Thayne handle the bulk of haying while J.J. is rodeoing in the summer, along with helping their neighbors during branding season and taking on other jobs like riding colts. J.J. has been starting colts since his teens, and has a pen full of horses to ride year round. “I put the basic 30 or 40 days on them, or whatever the owner wants. I have a barn that I can ride in, so they’re pretty good about loping circles in the barn all winter long. I just really like to ride horses. I like coming across the ones that are smart and pick it up quick that are pretty fun, and there are some that can be pretty challenging.” Like his sons, J.J. grew up ranching with his parents, Jim and Lana Elshere, and siblings, Cory, Ryan, and Misty, working the operation his grandpa started and later passed down to J.J.’s dad. “We’d make sure everything was done, and our parents would take us wherever we needed to go, and they worked pretty hard to help us along.”

     

    J.J.’s dad rode bareback horses for several years, then passed the roughstock gene along to J.J.’s older brother Ryan, who rode saddle broncs and helped J.J. start his rodeo career. “The goal was to ride professionally and make the NFR—I decided that right around high school. They didn’t have junior high rodeos back then, so I did a lot of 4-H rodeoing and then I high school rodeoed for South Dakota.” J.J. qualified for the NHSFR in saddle bronc riding in 1997 and 1998 and even slid his hand into a bull rope for a time, but saddle broncs were his niche. “It was just a little easier event because that’s what a lot of guys from up here did, so that made it easier traveling. My parents helped me out the most getting me started, and my brother. I used to work for Jeff Gabriel and he helped coach me along and we’d go to some schools. Eudell Larson, the rodeo coach in Dickinson, helped me out at some of those schools, and Tom Miller.”

    Today, J.J. helps with as many rodeo schools as he can, along with coaching Talon in the saddle bronc riding and Thayne in the steer riding. “We’ll have some practices in town or at the neighbors. We’re not really set up for bronc riding, but Thayne rides steers and we can do that at home. If not, then we go into Rapid City or Sturgis—Rory Lemmel has a nice facility we can use.” Talon qualified for the NJHFR in 2016 and now competes in the SDHSRA, while Thayne went to the 2018 NJHFR in Huron, South Dakota. “I could hit a couple rodeos that were close when he wasn’t competing, so that worked out good,” says J.J., who competes in bronc riding matches in addition to pro rodeos throughout the summer. Four of his five boys will be in 4-H rodeo this summer following their school sports, including basketball and wrestling. J.J.’s goal is just as much to help them pursue their passions as his own. “I plan on going to the stock shows and all my circuit rodeos, and to just keep having fun and pull a check or two. I want to thank everybody who’s ever helped me along the way. There’s a lot of people to name, but I’ve had a lot of support over the years.”

  • On The Trail with Tyler Waltz

    On The Trail with Tyler Waltz

    Born and raised in Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania, Tyler Waltz was the oddball through high school, focusing on rodeo instead of other sports. “I grew up with Jeff Askey and he and I had rodeo in common.” Tyler worked every event in high school, trying to make his childhood dream of winning the world in the IPRA come true. Several injuries would have shattered that dream for most, but not Tyler. He’s leading the bareback riding in the IPRA by more than $10,000; and he’s more determined than ever to make his childhood dream come true. “It’s in my blood,” said the 28 year old. “My dad (Dave) and uncle (Steve) both rodeo, and I love to do it.”

     

    His list of injuries started his junior year in high school, when he broke his right femur at the National High School Finals in Farmington, New Mexico. He recovered from that and made it back to the high school finals again the next year. At a pro rodeo he attended before the Finals, he got hooked by a bull.. “It bent the rod in my femur; it was a bad deal. I really thought they were going to amputate my leg. We went to four different hospitals to find someone that could get the rod out.” He was headed to the University of Tennessee in Martin and the college rodeo red shirted him until he was better. “My dad went to school there and was on the rodeo team; my best friend Jeff Askey was going to school there, so I figured that was the place to be. The coach (John Luthi 731-514-4630) is really good too.” He made the college finals his freshman year in bareback and steer wrestling. “I missed my sophomore year for knee surgery, but went my junior and senior year.” He graduated with an Ag business degree and plans to be a rodeo coach. “I’d like to rodeo first, and when I slow down, I’d like to coach.”

     

     

    Tyler has focused on bareback riding, but has added steer wrestling to his events. He also team ropes and hopes to make a run for the IPRA All Around next year. He stays in shape by doing T25 on his phone at least a couple times a week. He also made the decision to stick closer to home to rodeo, something that has helped him stay healthy. “I think when I was starting, I just went too hard, and that led to some of my injuries,” he said. Tyler travels with his girlfriend, Bri Dubar, the 2017 IPRA Breakaway Champion. “She’s honestly done all the entering, she’s done it all,” he said. “I don’t like the road part of it. I like when you get there, and hanging out with your friends.”

     

    His dad knows all about overcoming rodeo injuries. “Its part of rodeo,” said Dave, who owns a fuel and coal business and farms on the side. “I was injury plagued when I rodeoed too – he’s mentally tough and that’s what he wants to do.” Dave and Tyler raise bucking bulls, hauling to 25 rodeos a year around the northeast. Tyler works for his dad in the winter, both in the fuel business and the bucking bulls. “My success is because of my dad – he’s always been there and taught me everything I know about rodeo. He gave me every opportunity he could get me to succeed.”

     

    His mom, Cindy, rode English and Western Pleasure and her parents produced a rodeo at Jersey Shore, which is how they met. “My parents put a rodeo on a few times a year,” said Cindy. “It was an open rodeo and lots of people came out.” Cindy knows rodeo is her son’s true passion. “He has a strong will and a good faith and I’m hoping this is his time. I’m very proud of him for going after his dream.” He has two older sisters – Lauren and Courtney –33, and 30; Lauren still runs barrels.

     

    Tyler and Bri will both be competing at IFR 49. “When I was a kid, I always wanted to win the world in the IRA It’s been a really good year – I’ve worked really hard to have a year like this.” Tyler wants to be remembered as a good person – an all around good cowboy.

  • On The Trail with Nate Jestes

    On The Trail with Nate Jestes

    Nate Jestes grew up in Fort Collins, Colorado. “I lived in town and spent my childhood playing sports.” Since the age of 6, Nate played hockey, baseball, and soccer as well as wrestling, track/field, and golf. When he got into high school, he concentrated on football and lacrosse, receiving academic athletic honors all four years. He played on All Star teams along with his older brother, Bryant, and younger sister, Kelli. The closest the bullfighter came to cattle was his summer job at a local sale barn, Centennial, working cattle in the back pen and family visits to his mom’s (Sue) family ranch in Douglas, Wyoming. It was at the family ranch that Nate acquired a love for flying when he flew with his uncle on the ranch.

    After high school, Nate pursued his dreams of flying, heading to Bozeman, Montana, and completing a two year Aviation Science program at Montana State University. He got his Associate of Applied Science in Aviation and went on to get his commercial rating and his flight instructor certificate. At the age of 20, he was hired as a flight instructor at Summit Aviation and taught for two years. While Nate was in college, he worked at the Yellowstone Jet Center to learn more about the aviation industry and get his foot in the door. His boss, Al Sanvold, was a professional bullfighter, and Nate tagged along to a couple of his rodeos.

    “When I quit playing sports and working out, I missed that athletic side of my life,” said Nate. “When I watched him, I was intrigued and amazed how much athleticism it took to do what he did. I decided I could do that and hit him up about it. I was really interested in learning how to do it.”

     

    “Nate is a laid back guy,” said Al, who has now switched careers again; he leases a spot in a barbershop and Red’s Classical Barber is open for business in Belgrade, Montana. “He was one of my most favorite employees, he would do anything I asked; he was quiet and got the work done. When he came to me, I wasn’t sure if he was serious.” After Al realized he was, he agreed to take him down to the (Montana State Rodeo) college practice and teach him how to fight bulls at their practice every Monday and Wednesday. “The first time we went and we were working with a wheelbarrow I knew the kid was going to make it – I didn’t know he’d be a 3x NFR bullfighter. He took to it right away and everything I told him, he put in his memory bank. He has more natural talent than I’ve seen in any student I’ve taught so far.”

    “I continued working as a flight instructor for two years and during that time I also worked a few rodeos; high school and then I had an opportunity to do a summer run full of amateur rodeos in North Dakota.”

    That is when Nate was faced with another decision. “When I gave my boss my schedule, he said he couldn’t work around it. At 22 years old, my aviation career was on track, and I was getting to the point where I was building enough hours to apply for bigger and better.” The amateur rodeos didn’t pay enough to make up for the loss of his flight instructor career, so he turned again to Al.

    “He told me that rodeo was tough and very few people made a living at it, and he told me that I needed to be willing to give up my life to do it – sacrificing my entire aviation career, weddings, funerals, birthday parties,” remembers Nate. “I’ve always followed my heart and it was tugging me towards rodeo and ultimately that was the decision I made.”

    He officially switched careers in 2010; moved back to Douglas and worked for his dad (David) in his construction business to fill in the gaps when he wasn’t rodeoing. He worked Montana State High School Finals in Bozeman and Al came to watch. “It had snowed 6 inches the night before and the arena was a mud pit. They hung up about 8 bulls; we had to work that night. Al came up to me and said ‘Nate really, really good job. There’s no doubt in my mind you are ready to get your PRCA card and start fighting bulls at the professional level.’”

     

    He got his card in September of 2010 and worked his first PRCA rodeo in White Sulphur Springs. Nate went to the PRCA convention in Las Vegas and spent three days sitting in his booth; nobody showed any interest in this new bullfighter. “The last day, Bob and Marty Barnes hired me for their entire summer run – June – September. I did their run for two years, working for my dad during the off time.”
    In 2013, Nate got another big break. “When I was fighting for Barnes we would sell the rodeo with the Mexican fighting bulls. I was down in Sterling, Colorado, at a bull fight and won it.” That is when he met Cody Webster. He was at the event, working for Cervi, and friends with PBR bullfighter Frank Newsom. “He invited me to go to Rex Dunn World Championships in Ardmore, Oklahoma. I made the short round, and ended up winning fourth. That is where my career as a bullfighter started to get some traction.”

    Cody worked a lot of rodeos for Powder River and Nate ended up getting hired in 2013 with Cody and the rest is history. “The young man has such a wonderful way about him,” said Lori Franzen, who along with her husband, Hank, own Powder River. “His personality is such that he wants to please – and his ability makes that easy – he’s really good in the arena and such a pleasure to have outside the arena around the crew. And his wife is a doll and a huge supporter of him.”

    This marks the third year that the trio, Nate, Cody Webster, and Dusty Tuckness, will fight bulls at the Thomas & Mack. The three work as a team. “We all know what each others doing. When you’re fighting bulls, you’re reacting to the situation. When you have three guys on the same page, it just falls together.”

    Nate spent the month of November at the Pitt Training Facility in Bozeman, Montana. Dane Fletcher is a retired linebacker for the New England Patriots, and Nate knew him when he was playing for Montana State. “I heard about this gym that was opening and I reached out to him – I sent him some videos of me fighting bulls, and he put together a workout routine. I try to get up there whenever I can.” His training consists of many things – explosive, deceleration, strength, cardio, stretching – everything. “The sport of rodeo is fast, you have split seconds to make decisions and react; your body has to be able to perform and get there – the speed is crazy.”

    Nate is married to Bridget, a kindergarten teacher in Douglas. The couple met through his cousin and their friendship led to a wedding on May 14, 2016. Her teaching schedule works perfectly with his work schedule. Although he only has May and November completely off, his busiest time is from June to September and they travel the rodeo road together during the summer.

    “When I started to find success in the rodeo industry, I was only missing one piece of the puzzle in order to take it to the next level. That puzzle piece was found 6 years ago when I met my wife. I just want to thank Bridget for all that she has done for me. She is the backbone to this whole thing, and I wouldn’t be where I’m at without her.”

    At the end of his rodeo run, Nate has no plans yet. “I wasn’t raised or led down the path to become a bullfighter. I’ve had the cards stacked against me from day 1… Never be afraid to dream. Chase those dreams, and through hard work, determination, perseverance and resilience anything is possible.”

  • On The Trail with L.A. Waters Quarter Horses & The Outhier Family

    On The Trail with L.A. Waters Quarter Horses & The Outhier Family

    Mike and Kristy Outhier are continuing the brand that Kristy’s parents began – LA Waters Quarter Horses. “My dad (Lou Waters) put himself through college as a cotton farmer,” said Kristy. “When they moved to Boston, mom (Wanda) helped put him through business school – they had a $20 per week budget for groceries.” The goal was to buy a ranch in Texas and thanks to smart business decisions and a horse named Colonel Freckles, the dream came true. “They had instincts about him – and did lots of research – they bought Colonel Freckles as a young stud and promoted him.” Between his successful business ventures and Colonel Freckles, they were able to build a breeding facility on a 300 acre facility near Houston. “Dad was the backbone and master mind, but mom was the wind beneath the wings, did all the paperwork, and helped pick the crosses that they bred to.” Mike and Kristy are running LA Waters with a stallion, Wild Card Dunnit, that they raised and campaigned. “We won the AQHA Junior Horse of the year in all the roping events in 2006.”

     

    Kristy grew up in the horse world, involved in AQHA and cutting, but left that behind when she found polo. “I fell head over heels in that, and went on to Texas AM intercollegiate polo.” After college, she worked for a year, and got hired to play polo professionally. “I spent 5 years hauling – three months at a time, playing across the United States.” For Kristy, polo was the best of sports – it incorporated her love of horses, which she trained, to her passion for competing. “To have a sport with a ball in the competition – all that goes into your strategy on the field, and then it’s multiplied by your horse and horsemanship. It’s like driving race cars – if you’re good at it, you still have to have a good car.”

    She was competing in Calgary Canada when she met Mike – both in their 20s. “I didn’t know a thing about rodeo, except it existed and here comes this guy.” Mike was traveling with a friend of his (Johnny Pollock) and his wife (Tori) introduced them. “He stopped by the barn while I was riding one of my ten horses. He offered to jump on one of my horses, English saddle and all. Away we went, and four months later we were engaged.”

    She continued playing polo and Mike kept rodeoing. “I would go somewhere riding 18 hours a day – it wasn’t glorious. Mike would fly in when he could.” She took time off when their oldest, Madison, was born, but went back to polo shortly after. “I was out of the country a lot; England, Argentina, and other countries, and that was hard on the family.” Madi watched her play on the US Team in the Queen’s Cup last year in England. She played her last polo match last year, retiring to stay home with her family and help Mike with the horses that they train and sell.

    Mike started competing at the age of 7. His dad (Milburn) was an IPRA bareback riding champion, and Mike was born into the rodeo world. “I remember going to the rodeos with my dad,” said Mike. “I’d be behind the chutes, rosin in hand. I was always around the chutes. I craved it my whole life.” His dad taught him how to do all the events – having competed in them himself. “All week we rode outside horses for other people, and then go rodeo on the weekend.” He had two younger sisters (Lynnsi and Amy) who started rodeoing when they got older. When he started entering the junior rodeos and high school, his mom (Deena) and grandpa (John Salsbury) would haul him. Mike competed in both ends of the arena, bareback, saddle bronc, bull riding, calf roping, team roping, steer wrestling, and steer roping. He was also a four time IFYR All Around Cowboy (1993, 94, 95, 96). Mike entered his first IPRA at the age of 15 and went to the IFR, winning the All Around in 1995, 1996, and 1997. He is a pro rodeo cowboy in the NFR as well as the IPRA. From Oklahoma, Mike was the PRCA Resistol Saddle Bronc Riding Rookie of the Year in1998. He made four appearances in the NFR, 2001 – 2004, competing in saddle bronc riding. He won the PRCA Linderman Award twice; 2004 and 2007. Most recently, he was inducted into the International Finals Youth Rodeo (IFYR) Hall of Fame in 2007.

    He finished his strongest NFR ever in 2004 and started off 2005 winning many of the major rodeos in Bronc riding. He was in the top 5 in the world standings going into the big summer run. He and his traveling partner, Taos Muncy, had to rent a jet to make it to several rodeos in a few day stretch. The two were up at Window Rock, Arizona with a huge week ahead of them when time stopped for Mike. He finished a picture perfect ride and hit the ground right after the whistle, when a pick up man ran smooth over Mike crashing him head on with the chest of his horse at full speed. Mike had to be carried out of the arena and put in an ambulance straight to the hospital. When he came to, he never regained full use of his left shoulder, his riding arm. After months of doctors and studies it was known that the blow had damaged all the nerves that attach the neck and shoulder. It was devastating to Mike and Kristy, as their lives suddenly changed. “Both of us have battled injuries and we always bounced back. Every time it just brought us closer and you learn to really appreciate each other when you are down physically.”

    He rode a bronc last year, and still competes in team roping and steer roping, but has concentrated his time on training horses and coaching his two children as well as many others in rodeo.

     

    Madison, Madi, is 16 and competes in all the events. She went to every NFR since she was born and by the time she was four, she was riding around the barrels on her own. “Her biggest love in life is roping, and she just completed her best year as a breakaway roper,” said Kristy. Between rodeo and school, she works hard to be at the top of her game. She is an AP student, taking a full load at school. “She is so much like her dad, but she also has varsity basketball, and of course, she got into polo big time – there’s not enough hours in the day.” Madi competes in the Texas High School Rodeo, TYRA, and YRA. She is headed to her third year at the Junior NFR, competing in breakaway. Her rope horse was raised and trained on the ranch and her barrel and pole horses were bought as yearlings by Mike’s father – they are now 22 and 15. They are working on young ones for Madi as she progresses in rodeo.

    She learned rodeo from her dad. “He’s really taught me how to be a humble winner and never take winning for granted. Just because you have a winning day doesn’t mean you always will. He’s been my only mentor in breakaway and I’ve had a bunch of success in that and I owe all of that to him.” Last year she won the Junior NFR in Vegas in the breakaway, also the Cody Ohl’s 15 and under and the Joe Beaver. ”I definitely thank my mom and dad – anywhere I want to go, they take me.”

    Her younger brother, Ace, is five years younger, 11, and rides well but his passion is sports and fishing. “Ace is our bigtime fisherman,” said Kristy. “He just won 3rd runner up in his first ever state wide fishing tournament this year. He has the talent of a professional fisherman and has the passion for it.”

    Mike and Kristy head to the “office” every day – the barn – riding and training anywhere from ten to 20 horses each day. The foals start selling from their yearling year through to the two-year-olds that Mike has started. “We keep one or two,” said Kristy.

    Along with the performance horses, Mike raises bucking horses. “I used to wait for my folks to leave and buck all the steers at the house – I like the idea of being a stock contractor and messing with livestock.” He bought his first set of horses at the IFR Bucking Horse Sale in 1996. “I liked to have them around to buck.” He sold them, and three years later, he found some good blood from Ike Sankey, and started again. “I had some stock contractors take a chance on me and buy some of my horses. I raise them until they are three, after they’ve been dummied twice and ridden once. We take them to our family annual ranch rodeo, the Utopia Ranch Rodeo – which has been going on for 16 years.” The town of Utopia has gotten behind the event and with a crowd of more than 1,000 watching the Memorial Day event. The horses head to pasture for the summer and in the fall, they sell them all. Stace Smith, Pete Carr, Scottie Lovelace, and HiLo Rodeo have all bought horses from Mike. “Several of my horses have been to the NFR – Betty Boop, ridden by Tim O’Connell won a round last year. Sweet Maria has been high mark horse of the night. It’s been crazy – one year Raised the calf horse, sold him to my buddy who rode him at the NFR, plus I had bucking horses there as well. That’s pretty cool.”

    From bucking horses to performance horses, from polo to fishing – the Outhier family is on the go. “I couldn’t be happier to be building a breeding program and helping my kids succeed,” concludes Kristy. “I feel so lucky to have a great man at home and a great family and life ahead!”

  • Josh and Jonathan Torres

    Josh and Jonathan Torres

    [ Josh & Jonathan Torres both sit at 17th in the PRCA Standings and share the common goal of qualifying for the WNFR this year. ]

    Josh and Jonathan Torres, lately of Stephenville, Texas, share the bond of brothers, team roping partners, and business partners, along with their common goal of qualifying for the WNFR this year. Josh, 29, is the header, and Jonathan, 26, is the heeler, both sitting 17th in the PRCA standings. The brothers spent their early years near Miami, Florida, following after their dad, who rode horses and kept a small herd of cattle. They high school rodeoed for Florida and later moved to Lake Charles, Louisiana, to attend McNeese State University. Despite their three-year age gap, they were able to rope together for two years and qualified for the CNFR in 2012 and 2013, where they won several rounds.
    “I just like roping, period. But I like that you have to have somebody that also has the same plan and goal as you,” says Jonathan. “You pretty much have to be a team player for everything, and you both meet other people who help you out. Then you have two people with ideas and strategies, not just one.” Josh feels the same about teamwork, both with his brother and his horses. “It takes such special horses, and when a team is working on getting those horses together, you realize how many you have to go through to get a couple of good ones. I think trying to get on a lot of good horses or make them or find them is the best part about team roping. If I didn’t have a fun head horse to ride, I wouldn’t be doing it. I like to show them off and have fun doing it—that’s what keeps a guy motivated to do what we do.”
    Josh’s main rope horse, Junior, is an 8-year-old gelding he purchased from his friend Willie Brooks in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who asked Josh to season Junior. “He’s extremely smart. I asked my friend if he wanted to sell Junior just because he was so athletic. He’s kind of hard to ride—his feet move so fast, so your mind has to move just as fast. He’s been fun, and I wouldn’t be entering any rodeos if I didn’t have that horse.” Jonathan has ridden his 12-year-old gelding, Biggie, for the last two years, whom he purchased from Brock Hansen. “He’d been rodeoed on before by Cesar de la Cruz, and Brock had him and didn’t need a heel horse. He wants to win, and he’s a powerful, big horse. Biggie is out of a Playboy Boonsmal stud horse, and he’s kind of gritty and cocky.” Jonathan and Josh also took two other younger horses on the road with them this year as backup horses that they’re seasoning.
    Whether on the road or at home, they’ve fed their horses Nutrena’s SafeChoice Original for the last five years. “You have to take care of your horse, because that’s what makes your money, whether it’s worming, hay, feed, or clean water—all those things make a difference,” says Josh, who has a degree in animal science. He and Jonathan have even conducted several feed experiments with their horses, and found they had the calmest energy on Nutrena. “It keeps our horses energized, and we might feed three or four times a day. I had a horse that wouldn’t eat very well on the road, but he went to eating that Nutrena and we’ve had really good luck with it on the road. Nutrena is sold all over, so it’s pretty easy to find. We like to have a good-looking herd.”
    Along with keeping several young horses at home to work on when they’re not traveling, Jonathan and Josh run Young Guns Productions, LLC, a timed event stock contracting business. “We have Corriente cattle and we lease cattle to cutters. When they get big enough to break in, we use them for jackpots and then lease them to people for practice or ropings,” says Jonathan. “When we’re gone, a couple of our buddies like Cory Clark and Dillon Wingeried help out, or we’ve hired contract help. It’s a team effort!”
    Of the many rodeos on their 2018 run, a favorite of Jonathan’s is the Salinas Rodeo, while Josh enjoys San Antonio. “I like Salinas because we’re there for a few days, and they have fresh steers that have never been roped—it’s kind of ranchy and fun,” says Jonathan. Josh adds, “The hospitality is great over at San Antonio, and it’s the loudest rodeo that I’ve ever been to. Your adrenaline is going and it’s a pretty fun and exciting rodeo.” Their goal is to experience the energy and excitement of the WNFR next. “It’s the best chance we’ve ever had this year. I definitely want to thank our parents, Jose and Teresa Torres, and my wife, She’Rae Torres, for helping all of us,” Josh finishes. “And I’m thankful for the relationship we’ve had with Nutrena. Rodeo is a hard deal, and it takes a lot of effort from so many people. The Lord has put certain people in our lives and got us through so many situations good and bad. Because the Lord is so good to us we keep our heads up and remind ourselves to take advantage of every situation as best as possible. We believe in His plan. We just try to do our jobs, believe, and work!”

  • On The Trail with Nellie Miller

    On The Trail with Nellie Miller

    Annelle (Nellie) Miller gets home as often as she can. “This year I didn’t have to travel near as much,” said the mother of two. “We had a pretty good start in the winter so we could pick and choose where we wanted to go.” Nellie has fit motherhood into her NFR run perfectly. “They travel with me most of the time.” That family includes James Miller, General Manager of Red Bluff Roundup, and their two daughters; Payton is 6 and Hadley is 3. “Since they aren’t in school yet, they can go with me. My parents are a huge factor in this too – her dad, Sam Williams, trains her horses, and her mom, Roxy often goes down the road to help with the girls. She has two brothers, Clint and Wyatt.

    She competes on her horse, Sister, a 10-year-old blue roan mare, Sire: KS Cash N Fame/Dam: Espuela Roan. “I have so much confidence in her,” said the 30-year-old who is making her third appearance to the Thomas and Mack arena this December, with career earnings of $533,276. The duo won Cheyenne Frontier Days in spite of a run around the barrels in the hail. “I knew she was going to work no matter what. My main plan was to push her through that hail – my cowboy hat helped block it a little bit and luckily it wasn’t too big. We definitely felt it – honestly I don’t remember much about it, I was just trying to get through it.” Back home in California now, Nellie is doing mom stuff. “I’m riding a few horses and I’ll go to the Circuit Finals, but until December, I’m home. “ The road to her third WNFR qualification started when she was a little girl.
    Nellie started riding about the age of ten. Roxy took it upon herself to take her daughter to some gymkhanas and once she started, the whole family pitched in. Sam is a self-taught horse trainer. “I’ve had a few mentors along the way; Tom Johnson, Bob Nelson and his wife, and I picked up a little bit from everybody, learning where I could from anybody.” Sam breaks all the horses they use on the ranch and roping trail. “I rope and my boy ropes too. Nellie started out roping and the barrels just happened,” he said. “You have great hopes for all of the horses you ride, but until you put them on the clock, you never know. Sister was a real good mare to break and ride – real confident. I was tying cattle out in the field when she was four – very willing and not afraid. To run at the PRCA level, you have to have a horse that can do anything. She tries hard every time. So does Nellie – she doesn’t weaken an ounce.”

    Nellie rodeoed through high school, competing in team roping, barrel racing, breakaway roping, pole bending and goat tying, although goat tying was her least favorite event. She made the high school finals in barrel racing all four years, but only traveled to it three times. “My last year it was in Springfield, way far away, and the horse I was on was a real good horse at state level, but not at a national level, so we decided not to go. Her parents, Parents are Sam and Roxy Williams and brothers are Clint and Wyatt…Father Sam trained her horse Blue Duck which was a homegrown horse and started out as Sam’s roping horse.”
    Nellie went on to college rodeo at UNLV in Las Vegas, winning the region and second at the CNFR. “I never made it in the roping, just barrels.” She had a great horse in Blue Duck AKA Rebas Smokey Joe (Registered name), half brother to Sister, and made the decision to start rodeing professionally on him. She filled her permit on 2008, but Blue Duck got hurt midyear and they went home. “He came back the following year and did OK and in 2010 we made the NFR.” Nellie has no words to describe her first trip to Vegas. “You never know until you experience it for yourself. It was a real learning experience. We struggled that week. We didn’t know what to expect.” The duo won second in the first round, and after that they were one out of the money every night for five or six nights, and then it went downhill.

    The bright spot in that year is she met James Miller, who worked for one of her sponsors. They got married one year later in Las Vegas. Payton was born in 2012 and they moved to California in 2013 for the position that James accepted as GM for Red Bluff RoundUp. Hadley was born and Blue Duck was getting older and Nellie was starting to work with Sister, but she wasn’t quite ready for life on the road. “She had a lot of potential and had what it took to be a rodeo horse, so when she came on, we hit the trail.”
    The family lives in Cottonwood, California, two hours from the Oregon border. The small town has a lot of team ropers and barrel racers, but it’s not the California that people generally think of. “It’s rural and ranching.” Nellie was raised there, but James made the trip across the country from his home state of Florida. “I kind of joke about James – he hit California and had more friends than I did – and I lived here my whole life. He’s got a lot to do with the community and the town and it’s fun to be a part of all that.”
    Both girls have ponies and they are already talking about barrel racing. For now, Nellie and Sister are at home making sure they are legged up for Vegas. “We raised Sister and have a whole family of horses related to her – I’ve been running her since she was six, and she’s consistent and always fires. She’s special!” Nellie’s secret to being on the road is simple. “I just try to do my own thing and if it works out that I win great and if not, that’s the way it goes. I don’t get wrapped up in beating anyone.”

    Rounding the barrel at the 2017 WNFR – Steven Gray
  • On The Trail with Lacee Curnutt

    On The Trail with Lacee Curnutt

    Lacee Curnutt from Talihina, Oklahoma, grew up riding on a ranch. Her grandfather, Don Huddleston (Back When They Bucked, page 18)raised her riding with him on the southeast Oklahoma ranch. “My grandpa went to the NFR 8 times and even though he had retired by the time I started hazing, I used to haze for everyone he helped,” said the oldest of five sisters. “On Sundays, Grandmomma took me to church and we always practiced after the meal.” Lacee competed in barrel racing and hazed with her two bulldogging teams through college. “Those two teams helped me stay on the rodeo team,” she said. Lacee went to college for elementary education, but left to go pro rodeo before completing the student teaching.

    She hazed for her ex-husband and several bulldoggers and came home when she became pregnant. “Then along came Walker Don Woodall,” she said. “I couldn’t be luckier –he’s friendly, loving and kind. And a good boy.” She came home and waitressed and eventually worked in the oil fields. “I was still hazing at the amateur rodeos and raising Walker; trying to be a good mom.” Although Walker rides horses, his first priority is playing football. He also likes fishing and playing baseball.

     

    Lacee met steer wrestler Tom Lewis through a mutual friend and they literally met on the road – at a Wendy’s at Hayes, Kansas. He went his way and she went hers. “I told him if he made the short round at Dodge City, Kansas, I’d come watch him.” He did and she went and he won the rodeo. “It was a good first date.” That was more than a year ago and the couple will be married November 10.

    She has been able to stay home, quitting her job of hauling horse trailers, to take care of the horses at home and keep up with 10-year-old Walker and Tom. Whenever she can, she hazes for Tom as well as several others. “I can remember the first time in 2003 when I bought my card. I hazed in Ft. Worth and they were fresh cattle; that will always weed out who deserves to be there. It was a man’s sport, and I had to prove myself before they were ever really nice. Once I did, they were good.”

    She says that one of the secrets to being a good hazer is having a good horse. “That hazing horse has to help everyone,” explained the 35 year old. “When I was young, I had a horse that we got off the track. He bucked everyone off and finally I got him and he took care of me until the day he died. He was 22 – it’s been hard to find another one. I’ve trained a bunch, and Chad Richard out of Utah had one that has been super awesome – Superman.”

    “Throwing your leg across enough of them you know the difference. When to say enough is enough and when to keep messing with them. With age, you recognize what a good horse has to have. You’ve got to have some heart in them – I like finding that peace in a horse.” They have the perfect team now between Superman and Maverick. It’s the same way they feel about working as a team with each other.

     

    “I never thought I would ever have a lady haze for me,” said Tom, who made the NFR in 2012. “She’s not just a cowgirl; she’s special. She’s the love of my life, we’re good friends and we can talk. It’s been good. At the end of the day, it’s just a rodeo.” He has been dogging steers since he was a junior in high school, joining the PRCA in 2001. In 2012, after winning the circuit 4 times, he made a run at the NFR. His good horse got hurt after he made the NFR in 2012 and it’s taken him four years to find Maverick. Four guys rode him at the Finals last year and the duo, along with the hazing horse, Superman, have had a great year.

    Lacee’s goal in life is to be happy and have a peaceful life. “I want to give back, I love helping young ones! Always give God the Glory; we would be nothing without Him! Her other goal is to be the first female hazer at the NFR, a goal she has held dear for many years. “I’d love to make history. To me it would be a payoff of years and years of hard work.”

  • Tami Semas

    Tami Semas

    Tami Semas—professional barrel racer, saddle designer, and wife and mother of two—found her niche in the horse industry in high school, and dug deep into her passion after college. The first of her family to rodeo growing up, the 41-year-old from Brock, Texas, learned by trial and error, and her persistence earned her two qualifications to the PRCA Columbia River Circuit Finals, and a place at The American’s inaugural rodeo in 2014. In 2015, she was Equi-Stat’s highest-earning rider of futurity horses, and has trained multiple futurity and derby winners. “Where a lot of people who’ve had parents in that event have the process narrowed down a little bit, I had my biggest successes from my biggest failures,” says Tami. “I’ve spent a lot of time learning from horsemen how to get a horse really broke. I understand the game of barrel racing, and to combine that with horsemanship is kind of my approach. I wanted a very smooth motion in my horses around the turn, and I have learned to get a horse to be soft. I’m a small person—I can’t hold the horse around a barrel—and I’ve learned through various horsemen how to get a horse to respond through weight, leverage, and positioning to keep them light.”
    Searching for a saddle that was balanced for Tami’s smaller stature led her to becoming a saddle dealer for seven years, and ultimately, launching her very own line of Tami Semas Barrel Saddles. “A lot of saddles on the market didn’t feel like they balanced my weight great, and either pushed me forward or back. I ride everything centered, and I bought a saddle from one company that worked pretty good,” explains Tami, who at that time was Double J Saddlery’s highest-selling dealer without a store. “I learned a lot about what many riders were wanting and needing. I came up with some ideas on how I would tweak things if I would ever be able to build my own saddle from scratch.”
    Tami quit her dealer job in 2014, and she approached a manufacturing company about building her own saddle that same year. “A lot of things are the same with saddle parts, but they can be put together to have a uniquely different feel,” Tami explains. Her saddle came out in the 2015, her best futurity year to date, and the Tami Semas Barrel Saddle was a success. They now sponsor several athletes, including Hallie Hanssen, a futurity horse trainer from South Dakota. After two-and-a-half years, Tami decided to go out on her own for manufacturing, and with the aid of her custom tree maker and a new manufacturer, the latest line of Tami Semas Barrel Saddles will launch this fall.
    Of equal importance to a balanced saddle is the saddle pad underneath, and 5 Star Equine became one of Tami’s sponsors the year her first saddle came out. “I’m a firm believer in their product. I’d used their pads over the last 10 years, and they’ve been a sponsor over the last 3 years, and we also promote them with our saddles,” says Tami, who is also using 5 Star’s new line of leg gear. “The things I use for my barrel racing and riding I call timeless tools. I’m not someone to use the latest and greatest thing that’s come out on the market; I’m going to use the tools that have stood the test of time, and I believe 5 Star is a product that has stood the test of time. That 100 percent natural wool has always allowed my horses’ backs to breathe well, especially down in Texas. I want a pad that absorbs shock, breathes well, fits comfortably on my horse, and can withstand weather conditions, and 5 Star has been that product for us.”
    Tami, who trains all of her horses, sold her futurity horses this year, thinking 2018 was her year to rodeo. But when her horse Smooth N Famous, who won nearly $200,000 during his futurity career, had an injury this year, she had to turn him out to pasture and make a new plan. That became running and seasoning a 6-year-old, Colour Me Gone, she trained and sold but bought back recently. “I’ve pretty much seasoned him at the pro rodeos, and I’ve gone to Northside, which is an open rodeo every weekend. I always like the Diamonds and Dirt Derby, and we just keep training horses this year and selling them. Next year we’re hoping to have our horse better seasoned for the rodeos,” says Tami.
    Her 15-year-old daughter, Madison, traveled with her most of the summer, and enjoys riding and other sports, while Tami’s 16-year-old son, Myles, plays football. Aaron, Tami’s husband, rode bulls for 18 years and qualified for the WNFR 7 times, while he’s also one of the founders of the PBR. “He’s doing some fixer-upper homes down here and ropes, and when you have a family and kids at this age, it’s definitely a busy time. What we’re doing is just trying to train good horses, build a good saddle, and let the horses tell us where we’ll be going.”

  • Back When They Bucked with Jane Douthitt

    Back When They Bucked with Jane Douthitt

    The wife of one of the biggest rodeo stars of his time led an interesting life of her own.
    Even though Jane Douthitt often lived in the shadow of her husband, Buff Douthitt, she managed to be involved in a variety of activities.
    Her life started on June 21, 1936, the daughter of R.C. and Ola Francis Kirkland, near Knox City, Texas. Her father was a rancher, and she and her brother were always on horseback. Living fifty miles from the nearest grocery store, horses and riding were their entertainment.
    She graduated from Guthrie High School in 1952 and went to college at Texas Tech in Lubbock, majoring in business. She did not compete in collegiate rodeo; she had other plans. “I had my mind made up,” Jane said. “I didn’t have time to do anything but get my education. I had my life to get on with, in my mind.”
    After college, she moved to Wichita Falls, where her dad’s kinfolk lived. She competed in barrel racing at amateur rodeos, riding borrowed horses. At the time, local ranchers would sponsor barrel racers, furnishing the horse and paying the cowgirl’s entry fees, and that’s how Jane rodeoed.
    She competed in several pageants, finishing as runner-up for Miss Wichita Falls Queen and winning the Miss Rodeo Archer City title in the mid-1950s.
    Her brother was in college in Wichita Falls when she met the man who would become her husband.
    Jane had admired the looks of Buff Douthitt, a tie-down roper, steer wrestler, and roper in the wild cow milking (at that time the wild cow milking was often included in pro rodeos) when a picture of him with a group of other cowboys at Madison Square Gardens in 1946 hung in the ranch office where her dad was general manager. At the age of ten, she had pointed to his face and declared to her mother, “here’s the man I’m going to marry.”
    She convinced her brother to take her to Vernon for a pro rodeo, and at the dance after the rodeo, Buff asked her to dance. She didn’t recognize him; he wasn’t dressed western but had on dress clothes and dress pants. “Gee, I thought he was cute, but I was determined that I was going to find me a pro cowboy,” she said. “So I turned him down. What a mistake that was.”

    The next day, on a date with another cowboy, she was introduced to Buff and she realized who he was. “I knew I had made a big mistake,” she said.
    She dated a couple of cowboys, seeing Buff occasionally, but he never paid any attention to her. In January of 1956, she was about to get his attention. She was at the Ft. Worth Rodeo, sitting with the contestants’ wives and girlfriends, looking down the stairs where the contestants were. “I was conniving,” she laughed. “I saw him start up the stairs, and I just happened to be going down the stairs.” This time, he stopped; they shook hands and talked a bit, and he asked her to the dance that night.
    By the time the dance was over, they knew they would marry. “I say it was God,” Jane said. “It was His design, from start to finish. It was wonderful. We were still just as in love to the day he passed away.”
    They married in September of 1957 and rented a house, no bigger than a studio, in Wichita Falls. He rodeoed and Jane traveled with him, as her job with the oil company allowed. Their first child, April, was born in 1959.
    In 1958, Jane quit work to travel with Buff. At that time, they lived in Throckmorton, where her parents had moved. Three years later, Buff helped train race horses at Hialeah Race Track in Miami, Florida, and Jane and April spent the time with him. Buff and Jane bought a used Air Stream Trailer to live in while in Florida.
    In 1962, the family moved to Ardmore, Okla., where they had some horses and cattle on fifteen acres. Buff continued to rodeo and that year, their son Jason was born.
    It was in the 1960s that Jane took another role with rodeo. She had timed rodeos for Beutler Bros. but decided if she was on the road with Buff, she could be earning some money, too. She learned to secretary rodeos and worked for Hoss Inman, Mel Potter of Rodeos, Inc., and others. This was before computers, when a secretary had to do all the work by hand, including typing day sheets. Often, Buff would drive while she balanced a typewriter on her knees and put together judges’ sheets. “I have always said that if you can (secretary rodeos) and not make a mistake, you can do anything in the world. Boy, what a responsibility,” Jane said. “I loved it.”
    While Buff rodeoed and his family and children traveled with him, they traveled in a car with a horse trailer, staying at hotels. But that year, the price of a room at the Holiday Inn went up $10 a night, “and that was bad news for every cowboy,” Jane remembered. That fall, Buff started planning and designed “horse house trailer”. He, along with a carpenter, in the Douthitt garage, started building a trailer that included a compartment to house horses. When spring came, the Douthitts left for the rodeo trail in their own custom designed horse house trailer, and everybody who saw it wanted one, Jane said. For several years, Buff tried to build one or two in the slow season to sell in the spring.
    In 1969, Buff quit rodeo competition and the family moved to the Ft. Worth area, where they bought a small manufacturing plant to make the horse house trailers. Two years later, they couldn’t keep up with the demand, expanding their manufacturing area and making not only horse house trailers but travel trailers, motor homes and hippie vans.

    Then the oil embargo hit in 1974 and fuel was in short supply. The general public cut back on driving and “cowboys quit pulling trailers,” Jane said. The heyday of their business was over.
    But they adapted to the times, and instead of building trailers, switched to contracts with the U.S. government. They built latrines for the troops in South Korea, relocatable housing, “skid towns” – portable housing for pipeline workers, and residential housing that ended up in Houston. Their products went to a variety of foreign countries, including Syria, Saudi Arabia and Iran, countries in Africa, and to Hawaii. Their business, called MBM International Inc., was headquartered in Ft. Worth. At its height, it employed over 3,500 people in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area.
    In 1981, they decided to retire and sold the business to a foreign company. Jane stayed on with the company for another year, helping them get on their feet. The couple decided to move to Hawaii, but it wasn’t as much fun to be residents there as it was to be tourists.
    So they flipped a coin to determine where their retirement home would be. Buff had grown up in New Mexico, Jane in Texas, and the flip decided the state. New Mexico won out, and the couple moved to Santa Fe. They became involved in the state’s movie industry, providing livestock for movies. Buff served as a movie consultant and played some cameo roles.
    Jane took a position with the Edgar Foster Daniels private foundation in Santa Fe, a foundation that funds operas around the world. It was a job she loved. Buff team roped locally, and Jane usually went with him. She loved team roping and she loved watching him compete. Together, they competed in the ribbon roping at senior pro rodeos. Jane ran for other ropers, too. “I could really run at that stage of my life,” she said.
    In 2006, tragedy struck. At the age of 43, their son Jason died in a gun accident. It hurt Buff and Jane terribly. “That about killed us both,” Jane said. She retired from the foundation.
    In 2014, a horse was tangled in an arena panel when Buff went to release him. No one was around when the accident happened, but it appeared that the horse drug Buff before kicking him, breaking vertebrae C1 through C5, his shoulder and four fingers. Doctors put four metal rods and 22 screws in his neck, and he was hospitalized for several months. He died in September of 2016. Jane had lost her business partner and husband. It took over a year for her to move through her grief.
    Now she stays busy, with an office complex she purchased in downtown Santa Fe. She loves to read, travel, and spend time with April’s sons, who are 23 and 18 years old.
    She looks back on her beginning, a modest start on a ranch in Texas, and is sometimes amazed at what she and Buff did. “I still wonder how two kids raised on ranches could accomplish what we did.”
    It was a good life, she said, and rodeo was a big part of it. “I loved rodeo. I loved watching Buff” compete.
    Buff was inducted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2001 and Jane was honored at the Ladies of Pro Rodeo Banquet in Las Vegas last December.

  • Scott Kormos

    Scott Kormos

    [ Eight-time WNFR qualifier Scott Kormos currently sits at 15th in the PRCA world standings. ]

    “The first time I watched the NFR, I was 8 or 9 years old, and at that moment, I thought ‘I want to be there and compete.’ So I think it was a goal of mine from the very start,” says Scott Kormos. The 38-year-old tie-down roper from Teague, Texas, has eight WNFR qualifications to his name, last competing on the arena floor of the Thomas and Mack Center in 2013. Currently, he’s sitting 15th in the PRCA world standings, traveling with fellow tie-down roper Caleb Smidt.
    With his gold buckle dreams hinging on horsepower, Scott started feeding his horses Nutrena five years ago and calls it the best decision he ever made. “I got a call from them asking if I wanted to be on their team, and it’s been a blessing from the start. The way my horses look, feel, and perform—there’s nothing better. I’ve seen a really big upside. I have a couple practice horses I ride when I’m home, and one is 18 and the other is 20, but they look 12. They’re strong and they stay healthy. I feed the SafeChoice Senior to all my horses, young and old. It’s really good for the stomach—a lot of performance horses are having stomach problems, especially traveling, so this is easier to digest. I got on it and I haven’t looked back since.”
    Scott also attributes his horse Aggie’s endurance through the summer run to his feed. “You’re out here a long time going up and down the road, and you have to take care of the horses. If they’re not sound and feeling good, then we’re not going to win.” Scott purchased Aggie, now a 13-year-old, four years ago during the San Antonio Rodeo at the ranch horse sale. “The people who’d owned him had never roped on him, so we trained him and started hauling him a little bit last year. I’ve been riding him all year this year, and he seems today as good as he did at the start of the year. He’s just a little young to a lot of this, but he’s feeling his way through it.”
    Scott and Aggie often return to enter at their meeting place at the San Antonio Rodeo, and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is another one of Scott’s favorites, from the added money to the hospitality. “There’s not another rodeo we go to like it all year long. They feed you three times a day, have plug-ins and stalls—it’s just unreal,” says Scott. “Through the summer, I just try to tell myself it’s not going to last too long, and just try to drive through two to three months on the road. At my age, it’s about getting enough rest and eating good. I try to look past the travel and focus on the goal I’m trying to get to.”
    At the end of the rodeo trail, Scott’s family waits for him. His wife, Laine, is a full-time nurse, and they have three children, Kade, Lawson, and Letty. “Last year, Kade came out with me a couple months to rodeo, but the boys are all about sports and football. Letty will be 3 in October and she shows a lot of interest in the horses, so she may be a little cowgirl.” When he’s home, Scott shoes horses, a skill he picked up as a 16-year-old working with Ricky Luke, who also coached him in roping. Scott’s dad, Michael Kormos, is an electrician, as well as a team roper, and Scott works with him on occasion. In November, Scott is also hosting his third tie-down and breakaway roping school in Buffalo, Texas.
    “My dad roped steers and I got started roping steers a little bit at a young age, but I started roping calves and I loved it as soon as I started doing it. I love everything about it—the horses, the competition—there are so many things you have to do besides ride and rope. You have to be a good horseman, and you have to score good, rope, flank, and tie. There are so many more things about it that intrigue me,” Scott explains. “My ultimate goal this year is to make the NFR. I think that’s everybody’s goal out here, so I’m trying to get the finals made and have a chance to compete out there.”