Rodeo Life

Category: Articles

  • On The Trail With Tuker Carricato

    On The Trail With Tuker Carricato

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

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

     

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

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

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

     

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

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

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

     

    Tuker with 2017 winnings – photo by Trisha Carricato

     

     

  • Safety First

    Safety First

    One of the most important things I learned watching my father teach people to rope was to help keep them safe. He would let headers start out with just one coil in their hands and the tail of their rope hanging down by their stirrup. There’s no option, when you throw your rope, you have to kick and keep riding your horse – or lose your rope.
    Hali, my daughter, roped until June or July of this year with just one coil in her hand. She was a 4+ header, winning money and saddles, still using one coil. My theory is her hands are more valuable than any roping she could ever win. If the steers stops or drags, there are so many things than can happen to your kids, or any beginner, that can get them in trouble.
    I highly recommend this for anyone who is learning, whether it’s kids or beginners. Let them build the loop the size they want, with the amount between their hands, then cut their rope off where the tail is hanging down by their stirrup.
    I advise starting on a Hot Heels or mechanical dummy with their horse sitting still. They need to be able to sit on their horse, rope, pull their slack and then dally without the horse moving at all. They need to master these fundamentals at a stand still before attempting to rope a moving dummy.
    The next step is to cover the same fundamentals at a slow walk. Rope, pull slack, and dally without letting the horse turn. By mastering basic fundamentals at this pace, the odds of staying in control at a faster pace are much greater. It’s very easy to get excited once things start moving.
    I once had a school in Oklahoma where the head guy was notorious for ducking. Everyone at the school was related to him somehow. I told him before we started I could fix it, but I wanted to see how bad it was first. I let him run two steers, and it was pretty wild. The first steer wasn’t too bad, but the second was out of control. I rode up to him, grabbed his rope and cut it off where he only had a coil and no tail hanging.
    Everyone was amazed when he wasn’t ducking anymore. He would rope, ride up and handle the steer. At lunch he said, “I had to ride, because I didn’t have any rope.”
    It’s amazing how much better your mind works to engage your legs if you know you don’t have the luxury of going left and getting a dally. I have a simple rule at my schools – you get to lose your rope once. After that, I will make sure you don’t have enough rope to duck.
    I recommend starting all youngsters and beginners out this way. It’s no more than a learning tool to help teach someone to ride their horse. I can’t begin to tell you how many young kids I’ve seen who are missing fingers and thumbs. It scares me to see kids rope with a long rope. It’s so important for them to learn to ride after they throw and stay in control.
    Currently I’m working with Hali to help her learn how to reach. As a 5+ she will have to learn this to be competitive. I am working on a series of videos of drills including ground work. These are available to view at speedroping.com.

  • Back When They Bucked with Tom Miller

    Back When They Bucked with Tom Miller

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

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

    Tom with his family at the 2017 National Cowboy Hall of Fame – Rodeo News
  • Roper Review: Tanner Brown

    Roper Review: Tanner Brown

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

    COWBOY Q&A

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

  • Effective and Fun Practice

    Effective and Fun Practice

    Teaching people to rope, and improve their roping, is what I do for a living. I enjoy teaching riding and roping and seeing the improvements people make. I think it’s important to be ready to rope when you get to your cow, especially with the popularity of the World Series ropings and their barrier.
    One of the big conversations I have with parents is about the practice pen. I absolutely believe kids need to make their horses work correctly. They need to prepare their horses for competition by mastering the fundamentals of scoring, running across the line, rating, pulling, and facing…. But it also needs to be fun.
    If at all possible, kids need a practice horse in addition to the horse they compete on. Because, when getting your horse ready for competition and working at the fundamentals described above, it’s not necessarily helping your roping. The focus is on the horse and what he needs to do. I think kids need to have a horse to ride so they can work on their roping. A horse they can practice on and test their ability without worrying about how their horse is working.
    In the practice pen when someone tells me he can catch 15 in a row without missing, I think that’s a guy who’s not challenging himself. To truly improve and be prepared, it’s important to work at different scenarios… not just make the same runs over and over. Having a good practice horse, that you don’t have to train, makes this enjoyable. I believe you have to ride your competition horse differently than your practice horse. The reason a practice horse is so valuable is it allows you to work on what you need to do to be faster.
    A great practice horse is one that scores just a little and leaves flat across the line. He may not be the fastest, but you can practice riding, swinging, and roping. The same goes for heel horses. They don’t need to be fast, but they do need to stop correctly. Practice horses need to be good enough that kids can work and focus on their roping.
    Some parents have a tendency to make their kids do everything correctly in the practice pen and the kids don’t really have a chance to enjoy it. I don’t disagree that they need to work at their roping, but the fact is, if they don’t enjoy it they will find something else to do.
    There are many beneficial videos on speedroping.com for kids and adults. If you want to watch some of my daughter’s runs with my tips, visit the site and do a search with her name, Hali. Most are free to watch.

  • Back When They Bucked with Butch Stewart

    Back When They Bucked with Butch Stewart

    Butch Stewart spurred his first bronc in the IPRA — known then as the IRA — in 1966 as a senior in high school. It was the start of a long and wide-ranging career in the association, from winning World Champion Bareback Rider in 1973, to working as an IPRA field representative, and eventually, serving as the executive director for five years. “One of the things I admire and respect about Butch is his integrity,” says IPRA General Manager, Dale Yerigan. “He’s an old-school, look you in the eye and tell you the truth kind of guy. When he tells you something, you don’t have to wonder if he’s going to do what he says.”
    Butch was born into that dependable lifestyle in 1946 on the ranch his dad, Bill, managed in Arkansas. The family later moved to North Carolina, and Butch and his three brothers all rodeoed. His two older brothers, Billy and Jim Bob, competed in timed events, and his younger brother, Ricky, rode bulls. Their dad rodeoed, but he passed away when Butch was 10. “I’d go to the rodeos in my early days, and the bareback riding would be the event I’d watch. Why I don’t know, but that’s what I wanted to be,” Butch recalls. “There were no rodeo schools, but when I was 13 or 14, there was a horse trader in town and my family was good friends with him. He would have something he thought might buck, and I just started getting on them. When I got up into high school, I went to rodeos in North Carolina and South Carolina and Georgia. It took me forever before I won any money, but I never did give up. One night at a rodeo, it just clicked, and from that point on my skills got better and better, but I really had to work on it. I won second at Rock Hill (South Carolina) and won $57, and I thought there would never be another dry time.”
    Butch continued practicing on anything that would buck and traveled to rodeos with his older brother or his good friend Charles Malcolm, a bull rider who also helped Butch in the bareback riding. In 1966, Butch bought his IRA card and ventured into Florida for several rodeos, where he met Harry Watt of Meeker, Colorado. “Harry rodeoed for a living, and I told him I was going to graduate from high school and (asked) what would be the chances of me getting in and going to rodeos with him. He’s a very plain-spoken person, and he said, ‘Just tell me where you want me to pick you up. But I tell you right now, you hold your end up or you can go home.’” Butch graduated and left the same night on a Greyhound bus to meet Harry. “My mother, Pauline, was standing in the door just bawling. I stayed in contact with her and my oldest brother, and I’d call once a week.”
    While in the past Butch made it to 15 rodeos a year at most, he and Harry entered 120 rodeos in 1966 throughout the eastern half of the country. Butch would eventually rodeo as far away as California, and even tried bull riding, but he primarily entered on the IRA circuit. He and Harry traveled in the Coloradoan’s single-cab pickup and camper, minus air conditioning, with as many as four other cowboys joining them at times. “I loved it! I couldn’t get to enough of them,” says Butch. “Those first rodeos we went to I drew some great horses and won first, and everything just clicked. Harry taught me how to get to rodeos, where to go, and how to enter. He’s been a great friend and we still talk all the time, and he’s the one who really taught me how to rodeo.”

    Butch had to set his gear bag aside when he was drafted into the Army in 1967, but after serving two years in Germany, he returned to the IRA. By that time, he had a world title on his mind and was runner up to the IRA world bareback riding champion in 1971 and 1972. “I went back home in the fall of ’72 and saw a friend of mine, R.D. Thompson. We went to school together and he was a teacher and a coach, and he wanted to know what I was doing. I told him I got real close to winning a world title the year before. He said, ‘You can win if you want it worse than anybody else,’ and that stuck in my mind. That following year I won my world title. Maybe my skills got to a higher level, but it was just the want-to. I set my sights on something and I went after it. It was a great feeling.”
    Several years before winning the world title, Butch met his future wife, Brenda, at a rodeo in Eunice, Louisiana. They were married in 1971, and Brenda’s background in ranching and high school rodeoing fit the newlywed’s lifestyle like a hand to a roping glove. She worked with the IRA on merchandise while Butch worked for the association as a field representative from 1977 to 1983. He traveled often and worked with current stock contractors and recruited new ones, along with staying in touch with the contestants. Once Butch and Brenda’s two children, Heath and Carissa, were born, however, he wanted to stay closer to home. Butch took a job managing several large cattle ranches in North Carolina and Oklahoma from 1983 — when he retired from rodeo — until 1999.
    The family moved from ranch to ranch sometimes every six or seven years, and the ranching lifestyle and Butch’s work in the IPRA proved valuable for his children. Carissa started working in the association in the early ‘90s as a receptionist and is now in charge of the IPRA rodeo sanctions, results, and standings. Heath started working with Jerry Nelson’s Frontier Rodeo Company in the early ‘90s as well, and is now the rodeo manager of the company. “Dad ran Five R Rodeo Company for a guy, and he always made sure his family was taken care of, and the livestock, before he went on the road,” says Heath, who took 18 horses and two bulls to the 2017 WNFR. “He took good care of things and has a good work ethic.” Heath’s sister, Carissa, adds, “I’m glad my dad chose to be a rodeo cowboy back in the day. The people you meet in rodeo become your rodeo family, and some of my lifelong friends I met through my dad rodeoing.” When Butch returned to work in the IPRA in 1999, Brenda started helping with the IFR, the IPRA convention credentials and check-in, and securing sponsors to cater food for the VIP room.
    In 2002, Butch became the executive director. “It was the day-to-day business of running the association, the bills, the IFR, the sponsorships, and the contestants’ needs and concerns,” says Butch. He and Ronnie Williams, a longtime IPRA member and former executive director, were also instrumental in working with the governor of Oklahoma at the time, Frank Keating, on declaring the third week of January “IFR Week.” “I enjoyed seeing the success of the association and the new contestants coming on, the friends that you meet, the awesome staff, and the people in Oklahoma City that we worked with.”
    Butch retired from his job as executive director in 2007 and managed a ranch in Davis, Oklahoma, for six years until it was sold. Presently, he works for Jerry Nelson’s Frontier Rodeo Company in Freedom, Oklahoma, feeding the livestock and running the ranch when the crew is on the road. “I really love what I’m doing, being around these bucking horses, and Brenda and I are very proud of our two kids and our grandkids.” He and Brenda make their home just a few hundred yards from Heath and his wife, Shay, and their children, Jade, Brooke, and Chase, who is on the Northwestern Oklahoma State University rodeo team. Butch is happiest caring for the equine athletes who made his rodeo career possible, but he often travels to the WNFR, and he never misses an IFR. “I tell them if there’s anything I need to do for them, I’m glad to do that, but I just have a good time, sit back and watch, and visit with old friends.”

  • On The Trail with Kim and Taycie Matthews

    On The Trail with Kim and Taycie Matthews

    When the lights shine down on the grand entry of the 48th Annual International Finals Rodeo this January in Oklahoma City, two cowgirls will have a stronger connection than most in the arena.

    Kim and Taycie Matthews, currently ranked no. 4 and no. 5 in the IPRA world standings, are mother and daughter qualifiers in the barrel racing. They’ve had a strong year in the IPRA, with Kim holding steady and Taycie making a late-season surge as a rookie. Did we mention Taycie was only 14?

    The Matthews family, from Wynne, Arkansas, has been involved in barrel racing for many years. Kim’s parents trained barrel horses as she was growing up in Caruthersville, Missouri before she went on to college at the University of Tennessee Martin on a rodeo scholarship. After college Kim kept up barrel racing some, but got married in 2000 and quit for eight or nine years to start a business and a family with her husband Terris.
    Together they own Matthews Ridgeview Farms, a large sweet potato operation where they supply to many major retailers across the United States.
    But when Kim had two young daughters, Jaylie who is 16 and Taycie, who just turned 15 in December, it was practically written in the stars the girls would have horses. Their grandparents were quick to ensure they had ponies as babies and grew up horseback from there.

    “They started riding, and that gave me an opportunity to get back in it,” Kim explains adding, “we were going to barrel futurities and big open shows, not really going to any rodeos, and three years ago we decided we were going to go to some rodeos. We went to about three or four with Kindyl Scruggs [the IPRA’s 2016 world champion barrel racer] and then we went back to the barrel races and barrel futurities,” But 2017 would be special Kim describes, “this year Taycie just begged, she said ‘I want to try to make the IFR, so I said ‘okay, if I’m going to have to haul you, I’m going to run too. So we just decided to go this year, and we went… a whole lot…” Kim laughs.

    All three Matthews women joined the IPRA’s 2017 season. And though Jaylie didn’t go as hard as Kim and Taycie, she plans to rodeo with them in 2018. Being involved in horses and on the rodeo road together with her daughters has been important to Kim.

    “I think it’s awesome. It’s a lot of bonding time and just keeps us having so many things in common. We got to spend a whole lot of time together this summer.” Taycie echoes that sentiment. “It’s fun. It’s just built our relationship more together,” she says.

    Going from the barrel racing and futurity world has been a fun change for the girls in particular.

    “You’ve got more driving, but a lot of it’s easier because you get there, and you’ve got all day to just rest until your run, and you don’t have as many horses to take care of because you can only run one horse at the rodeo,” Kim says. “We go to the futurities and the derbies, and we may carry 9-10 horses so that’s a whole bunch to take care of,” she laughs and adds of rodeo, “It’s a whole different life. You’ve got a whole different set of people, and you have no idea what the ground is going to be like when you get there. You have no idea what the weather is going to be. You just have to adapt or don’t run, which I did that a few times this year,” she laughs, but adds seriously, “it’s all about your horse. You can’t do it without your horse so you’ve got to take care of them first.”

    Being in the IPRA specifically has afforded the girls the opportunity to travel to rodeos internationally and places different than they were used to.

     

    “Going to Canada was an amazing experience in itself. We went up there three different times and the culture, the scenery, the hospitality, we loved it all, we really enjoyed the trip and not just that, but it changed my whole view of going north,” Kim says. “I could not believe the hospitality that we received from so many different people in so many different states. It changed my whole view about northerners, because you kind of hear they have that stigma just like we do as southerners, but we just had an awesome summer. As far as IPRA it’d been a long time since I’d been back going to IPRA rodeos, and it was really good. There were a lot of places I was amazed at how good the ground was and just how they treated us, and I was very impressed.”

    For Kim and Terris, giving their children a life with horses has a much bigger impact than the adventures. It teaches accountability, responsibility and confidence Kim says. “I just think it helps you be a well-rounded individual. It keeps you out of trouble, because it keeps you busy, and it teaches you. You’re responsible for a life. It’s not a human life, but it’s a horse that’s as important as a human, because you can’t go down the road without it,” Kim assures.

    And it’s clear the year has had an impact on Taycie.

    “I’ve learned how to ride different horses. It taught me how to be more responsible and to be more grateful for what I can do,” she says.
    The year for Taycie did not start off strong, and the Matthews’ stud horse she was riding got hurt, but Taycie rebounded when Kim let Taycie share her horse Feelin’ the Firewater, the newly crowned 2017 IPRA Barrel Racing Horse of the Year. The move to share the horse paid off big time. Taycie broke the arena record at the IPRA’s largest regular-season rodeo, the Festival Western de St. Tite in Quebec.

    “The beginning of the year was rough. I was getting ready to quit and just go back to barrel races, and it got better in about June, and it’s been getting better from then on,” Taycie describes, saying of her incredible accomplishment at St. Tite, “I was excited I couldn’t really believe it.”

    That win secured Taycie’s qualification to the IFR, and so now mother and daughter will get to share the experience together.

    “It means a whole lot to have qualified with my daughter, because she had a slow start to the year. It was just a struggle, because I’ve never seen as many tough barrel horses and as many people going and continuing up until the end as this year,” Kim says adding, “there were a couple of times where she got discouraged, and I almost was discouraged but tried not to let her know it, because things may not have been going her way, and we’re thinking ‘is she going to make it, is she not going to make it,’ and I made the comment, ‘if she doesn’t make it, I don’t want to go. It was just going to be special for both of us to do it.”

    Now that they both have done it, it will be exciting to watch them compete together in Oklahoma City Jan. 19-21 at the IFR. Then it’s full steam ahead for 2018.

    The Matthews have been expanding their farm business, and Kim is excited for her studs and breeding operation and to bring along some babies. By the end of the year she’ll have some 3-year-old horses ready to start their careers. “That’ll be a huge milestone, and I’m very excited about that,” Kim says.

    And as for her girls, Taycie wants to take up breakaway roping in addition to running barrels, and Jaylie plans to hit the trail hard too, so no telling what will happen for IFR49.

     

    The Matthews want to thank husband/ father Terris for his support of their endeavors, as well as hauling partners in the IPRA; Kindyl Scruggs, Cayla Fielder, Travis Gardner, Kylie Brueggeman and Sherry Rhea for helping with the driving. They also give credit to their sponsors; B Equine Essentials a therapeutic mud and poultice, Oxy-Gen Products and JHA Saddle and Tack.

  • On The Trail with Tyson Durfey

    On The Trail with Tyson Durfey

    Tyson, Shea & their daughter Praise Royal – Dashing Darling Photography

    Tyson Durfey is making his tenth appearance at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, defending his world champion title from last year in the tie down roping. Tyson grew up in Savannah, Missouri, training horses and ranching with his dad, Roy, and older brothers, Travis and Wes. “It was a miniature boot camp for guys. It was always me, my brothers, dad and at least one or two people there roping with us.,” said the 34 year old, who makes his home in Weatherford Texas with his wife, Shea Fisher, and 14 month old daughter Praise Royal. “We lived in a single wide trailer house – 10 feet wide by 75 feet long, with 75 spare tires holding the tin on the roof.” He remembers waking up to ice in his water glass. “Keeping the fire going was a huge part of life. Dad would wake us up and we would feed, then eat breakfast, then doctor cattle – ropers and feeders. We always said yes ma’am and no ma’am, but it was a bachelor pad. We’d rope from 9am until midnight every day, riding about 25 head of horses. Most Sundays were jackpot days at the Durfey Ranch and everyone would come by – we were the calf roping hub of the Midwest.”

    Tyson’s parents divorced when he was 2 and he spent the first five years with his mom. “I was pretty rotten – I would skip school. By the time fourth grade rolled around, I was hanging around with rough kids, riding skate boards. It wasn’t looking so good for me in school, and my dad told mom that we needed to come with him and he would straighten us out. My dad ruled with an iron fist – what he said was the way it was.” Tyson was in every learning disability class, and was getting Ds and Fs. His dad told him he was going to get straight As, and was expected to work as well. “I didn’t believe him, and one night I’d fallen asleep studying, and he gave me a whooping and it put the fire in me. I graduated with honors and it was because I had the motivation to apply myself.” Roy roped in the PRCA and passed that to his boys. At nine, Tyson competed at his first rodeo. “I wasn’t a stand out, but by the time I was 12, I would match people roping for money. I would sell horn knots, and sell pop cans.”

    That also gave Tyson a taste of money. “We grew up poor; we would light the hot water heater once a week and all share the same bath water,” he explained. “I wanted the fancy truck and Capri camper.” By the time he was 16, he was making $30,000 a year shoeing horses plus what he was winning. “Dad gave me the resources; cattle, horses, and ability, but never gave me a dime. I kept track of it all through FFA in a notebook.” His life was pretty routine – he’d get up around 4:30, flank and tie calves, go to school, get out and go shoe horses, then go home and rope.

    Tyson competed in Missouri High School rodeo, winning state his junior and senior year. “There was no prom or sports or extracurricular activities.” He went to Missouri Valley College in 2003 on a full ride rodeo scholarship. “I stayed in college for two months. I’ve always had a sense of urgency to be the best I can be, and I didn’t like the college atmosphere, so I left and cracked out rodeoing.” At nineteen years old, Tyson hit the rodeo trail, living in the back of his truck, and crisscrossing the country. “That first year was tough for me. My very first pro rodeo was Indianapolis, Indiana. I drove 14 hours to get there and the barrier rope wrapped around the stirrup, ripping it off and I fell off my horse.” He remembers the crowd laughing at him. He drove 45 hours to get to the next rodeo in Portland, Oregon, and broke the barrier. He won second in Spokane, and then drove straight through to Brent Lewis’s house in Arizona where he stayed for a few months working for him and learning from him. “From there it was history, I was off.” His achievements include three Canadian World Championships (the first ever non-Canadian resident to achieve this feat), winning “The American” in 2014, Winning Houston Rodeo in 2015, qualifying ten times for the WNFR, and 2016 world champion with well over one million dollars in PRCA earnings.

     

    His dad played another major role in Tyson’s career. “In 2007, before the Reno rodeo, I had a family friend call wanting to sponsor me,” he said. “It was my first sponsorship, and that $10,000 helped propel me to win Reno and another $25,000 over the week. I found out later that my dad had given this guy the $10,000 because he knew I wouldn’t take it from him.”

    Tyson met his wife, Australian country music singer, Shea Fisher, at Rodeo Houston in 2010. “I saw her in the hospitality room. For me, I knew I was going to marry her right then, but she didn’t know for a few years. I had gone to a movie after the rodeo, and I saw her in the horse area after the rodeo. I walked up and visited with her again. We sent Facebook messages back and forth for six months. She kindly rejected my request for her phone number nor would she agree to go to dinner with me. I was persistent – she never told me to get lost. I finally got her phone number and we visited for another 9 months on the phone before she went out on a date with me.” He flew to Nashville with roses in a shoe box in his suitcase to spend one day with her. “She told me if we are going to be official, you have to ask my parents. That couldn’t happen for four more months, when I met her parents at the WNFR.” They dated for one year, were engaged for 10 month and were married October 6, 2013 at Vista West Ranch, in Dripping Springs, Texas.
    The couple have launched several businesses together including Shea Michelle Buckle Designs which was launched by Shea in 2010. Designs by Shea and Designs by Durfey were launched in 2015. Shea’s dad had started a buckle company in Australia and Shea brought that knowledge to the company.

    Shea Baby is the latest launch. “It’s a baby boot line that we designed,” explained Tyson. “We had planned it out a couple years from having kids. My wife is very talented with design and how things come together. I had seen a pair at a store in Brazil, and knew we could make them really cute and neat. As fate would happen, we put a lot of time into it, but we stumbled onto really good manufacturers and sourced a really good leather, so they are all natural.” Praise Royal is a great model for the company.

    Tyson has also designed and launched his own line of boots TD Performance through Corral Boots that are available now at Boot Barn. “I like to credit myself as a pretty smart guy because I named all the businesses after my wife! The businesses fit my wife’s personality she is the workforce behind getting things done.”

    They travel as a family to all the rodeos. Shea has started entering as well, pocketing just over $20,000 this past year. “Now that I have a family, rodeo is not my main priority anymore,” he said. “At the end of the day I compete because I love to and I love the fans.” They travel in a pickup and Cimarron trailer. Most of the summer, they were traveling with Shea’s parents, who helped with Praise. “I get tired of the road sometimes, but when I get to come back to the trailer and see Praise smiling at me, it makes it all worthwhile.”

     

    The family has recently purchased some land in Texas, and Tyson is excited to get back into hunting, something he used to do a lot. “My family has a pheasant and deer hunting property in South Dakota, and deer season opens next week in Texas. I’m looking forward to setting up some feeders on that property in Texas and disappearing after the WNFR for a few weeks.”

    Tyson has his sights on one more world title. He is preparing for the NFR by training a lot, working out, spending time in the Bible. “We all go out there expecting to win. The way I train and prepare is to prepare for everything. It’s easy to win when you’re on a hot streak, but after you’ve been cold, it is hard. I’ll envision my emotions and body language if the calf kicks and how do I prepare for the next round. A lot of people will think they have to push … I like to go back to the basics and not push. If you have a bad day and push harder, then you could have a worse day.” He falls asleep listening to audio Bible readings. “It just downloads information in my mind and allows me to handle situations in my flesh. My overall favorite book is Proverbs – there is so much wisdom in there, second is James – I’m Irish, pale skin and have a temper. I’ve known that for a long time, and I have been able to train myself how to act.” James 1:19 is one of his favorite verses. My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,

    “I want to be a motivator for people – I want them to look at me and say that if you can do it, I can do it too. I’ve read or listened to a couple hundred self-help books – Tony Robbins is my all-time favorite, I’m obsessed with processes that can make people better human beings and understanding why people do certain things. “A wise man learns from other people’s mistakes and avoids his own.” Tyson continues to help people wherever he can. “I will always share what I learn and continue to learn about how to become the best reflection of myself. The greatest failure of all is to reach the pinnacle of your career and still be unhappy. I can use my title to motivate and help other people. We are put here to inspire, encourage, and help others.”

  • Back When They Bucked with Butch Morgan

    Back When They Bucked with Butch Morgan

    Butch Morgan believes his biggest accomplishment in life was marrying his wife, Charlene, 55 years ago. His life, like most, is a series of opportunities and change, culminating in doing the very thing he is best at – promoting the Western way of life through the trophy business and his more than three decades with Western Horseman.
    Albert Lewis Morgan was born June 13, 1940. He was nicknamed Butch by the Baggs Postmaster because of Butch Cassidy, the outlaw, who ran in the same country as they ranched. His dad, Lewis, was a rancher, running sheep and cattle near Baggs, Wyoming. His mother was killed in a water-heater explosion when he was nine months old. His father remarried but Butch was mostly raised by his sister, Carol Laramore Gipson. When he was in high school, he played basketball, selected twice to be on the all-state team. When he was a teenager, he moved in with his sister and her husband, Bill Laramore, who taught Butch how to rope. Since there was no high school rodeo, the only place he could compete was at the little local ropings.
    He went to Casper College on a basketball scholarship, but was pulled to the rodeo side of things early on. “I grew up in the western way of life and thought the rodeo life was cool,” said the 77 year old, who is only 5’10”. “I wouldn’t have made it as a basketball pro.” He competed in tie down roping and steer wrestling. After earning his associate’s degree, he transferred to Colorado State University and won the CSU men’s All-Around title in 1961, the same year teammate Charlene Hammond, received the All Around Women’s title.

    They met at the party after the awards. “I had a nice horse and she liked him. A year and a half later we got married.” Charlene’s brother, Dick Hammond, was a trick rider and wanted Butch to try it out. Turns out, he was pretty good at it and the couple started traveling with a group called the Fireballs, Dick and Deb Hammond, Karen Womack Vold and Butch. They worked all the major rodeos, Ft. Worth, Calgary and all over the United States and parts of Canada (Alberta, B.C. and Manatoba). The group traveled for three summers working for Harry Vold in Canada. They hauled in an old pickup and camper, then a van and four horse trailer. “We slept in the back of the camper shell back then.”
    Karen Vold was one of the members of that group and remembers Butch’s abilities. “Butch was so athletic it came easy for him. He could make more mistakes than anybody because he could bounce right back. People loved him; he was a crowd pleaser, and he was fun to work with.”
    Butch and Charlene traveled with the group for a three years and then decided it was time to settle down. When their first daughter was born, they moved to southeastern Colorado, where Charlene opened a ceramics shop and Butch got a job teaching fifth grade at Ordway. He made $300 a month, and he got his bus driver’s license because there were kids that had never gotten out of Ordway. Butch would take them on field trips. He taught for three years, traveling to rodeos and ropings in the summer.”
    He gave up teaching to join Charlene in the ceramic shop, expanding the business into a full line of trophies called Blue Ribbon Trophies, in 1964. “Charlene did a lot of sculpturing and that’s what helped our deal. The horse and livestock industry was our Trophy Stones that Charlene created.” Charlene created sculptured relief figures for every event that were then molded, cast, and finished. She did the creative art work and Butch did the marketing and sales. Things grew and they moved that business to Colorado Springs. What started in a little chicken coop grew to 50 employees. “We did the awards for American Quarter Horse Association, Reiners, Cutters – we concentrated on the horse events. That’s when I started roping steers.”
    He team tied with Dick Yates and Chuck King in the 1960’s and dally team roped in the early 70’s. When team roping came to Colorado around 1978, he lost his right thumb in the coil. “I had to learn to rope again, I was feeling pretty sorry for myself. I saw a sign in my doctor’s office that read: I used to gripe that I had no shoes, then I saw a man that had no feet. I remember it like it was yesterday.” In Butch’s typical witty personality, he has been known to pretend his thumb is stuck between the elevator doors and other objects and pull out the stub. He made the steer roping Finals in 1979, after he lost his thumb. “We had Blue Ribbon Trophies, it was hard to go team roping because I couldn’t always go when my partners wanted to, so I concentrated on steer roping.”
    The couple has three children, and all of them have won high point championships and continue the parents’ passion for the Western way of life. The oldest daughter, Rhonda Holmes, and her husband own Triple J Ranch in Sarasota, Florida. Jay is an AQHA and NRCHA world champion and they breed and train cutting, roping, and working cow horses. Their daughter, Morgan (22), attends Texas Tech and has won six world titles. Butch and Charlene winter there, heading south after the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, which they have attended for nearly 40 years, every performance.

    Their son, C.L and his wife, Renee have two sons, Braxton and Brayden, who both rodeo and have started their own collection of award saddles. Braxton has eight saddles and Brayden has five. CL won the open at the US Finals when he was 21 and is the superintendent for a large contractor in Colorado Springs. Christy, the youngest, is in the top 20 in the non pros in the reining world for the past two years, and has a little boy, Cooper.
    Butch and Charlene sold the trophy business and Butch was managing Penrose Stadium in Colorado Springs when he was approached in 1988 by Pat Close and Randy Whitte to become the Director of Marketing for the Western Horseman magazine. “The first week I worked for them, I had to go to Scottsdale and got to play golf two days and rope three days – that was my first week. It’s been great.” His title changed about five years ago when the office moved to Ft. Worth. “I am now called Ambassador at Large. My job now is the face of the magazine –we go to a lot of shows and events and do the fun stuff.”
    He ropes a lot in the winter in Florida, and spends his summers roping with his grandsons in Colorado. The #4 Elite spends his mornings on the computer and his afternoons roping or playing golf. “I want to watch my grandkids grow up and help them as much as we can and teach them how to play. I’ve been pretty lucky – when Charlene and I got married, I had $60, she had $40. We had a horse trailer, one car and two good horses.”
    He attributes his success to the people he has known around the world that have helped him along. One of those people is his best friend, PRCA Commissioner, Karl Stressman. “We’ve roped a ton of steers together and laughed a lot over the past 30 years. Butch is good for a person’s soul – he’s a guy that really enjoys life and can get anybody rolling.” People refer to him as the ambassador of the Western Industry. “We need more people like Butch Morgan in the future to take on that responsibility. Butch and Western Horseman are complimentary to each other. We’ve been through thick and thin and anytime I needed somebody to fight or hold the light, it’s been Butch Morgan.”

  • Roper Review: Coy Upchurch

    Roper Review: Coy Upchurch

    Growing up in the small Texas town of Itasca, Coy started riding and roping when he and his dad would help out on a local ranch. It wasn’t until high school that he truly caught the roping bug that would lead him to attend schools taught by roping legends like Dee Pickett and Mike Beers. In high school, he competed in both North Texas High School Rodeo Association and Texas High School Rodeo Association. Afterwards, Coy attended and graduated from Tarleton University, Stephenville, Texas, with a degree in Criminal Justice.
    “One of the guys who taught me to rope worked in a rope shop. He also taught me how to take care of my ropes and when to change lays due to weather conditions. That was Bill Shrum, who works at Fast Back today. Bill has been in this industry for over forty years.”
    Working full time, Coy and his brother, Kerry, went to pro rodeos on the weekends trying to fill their permits. It didn’t take long, however, for them to realize the pitfalls of competing against professional ropers.
    “We both worked full time and practiced when we could,” explains Coy. “We were competing against guys who roped full time. I didn’t enjoy traveling and I didn’t like getting beat by guys who did it for a living.”
    Coy spent ten years (’98 to ’08) working for Professional’s Choice when they produced ropes. While there, he performed every job in the shop: riding rope machines, tying eyes, and rolling ropes – basically every job with the exception of waxing. He also worked sales and trade shows and is grateful for the experience.
    When the oil field business boomed in north Texas, Coy accepted a position as a sales rep for a company that sold drill bits.
    “There is a general misconception about the oil field business where people tend to think the companies don’t care about the environment and waste a lot of money. That was not my experience at all. I met a lot of smart businessmen and developed great relationships that I still value today. But the western industry is what I truly enjoy.”
    During an oil field layoff in ‘09, Upchurch briefly tied ropes at Fast Back. He was impressed by the friendly atmosphere and never forgot it. Leaving the oil field again in 2015, Upchurch joined Fast Back Ropes as a Sales Manager. When the General Manager retired in 2016, he was offered that position.
    “I had never really ‘managed’ people before,” explains Coy. “So I read a lot and picked the brains of people I admired and respected. What I learned is that it’s important to find the best people you can, then get out of their way and let them do their job.
    “I’ve always loved Fast Back ropes. I started using them in ‘95 and have ever since, except for my time at Professionals Choice. I always felt they were the best feeling and longest lasting ropes on the market. I’ve always liked the people at Fast Back, many of whom have been in this industry for years and years. We have an incredible team. They are innovative and passionate about building the best ropes possible. This is, without a doubt, the best job I’ve ever had.”

    COWBOY Q&A
    How much do you practice?
    Several times a week.
    Do you make your own horses?
    Right now I’m riding a young horse that had been started on the machine. I used to enjoy riding young horses, but now it’s more enjoyable to get a horse you can go rope on. There is satisfaction in making one.
    Who were your roping heroes?
    Tee Woolman, Jake Barnes, Clay O’Brien Cooper, Dee Picket, the Camarillos.
    Who do you respect most in the world?
    Jesus Christ and Clay O’Brien Cooper.
    Who has been the biggest influence in your life?
    My parents.
    If you had a day off what would you like to do?
    Ride horses with my daughter.
    Favorite movie?
    The Cowboys.
    What’s the last thing you read?
    The Inner Game of Tennis.
    How would you describe yourself in three words?
    Honest, hardworking, fair.
    What makes you happy?
    Spending time with my daughter.
    What makes you angry?
    People who are rude or mean to others.
    If you were given 1 million dollars, how would you spend it?
    I’d given a portion to charity; take a trip with my daughter, and save the rest.
    What is your best quality – your worst?
    I think my best quality is the willingness to try new things and think outside the box. My worst quality is reacting too quickly sometimes.

  • Back When They Bucked with Herb Friedenthal

    Back When They Bucked with Herb Friedenthal

    Herb Friedenthal won the bull riding at the second RCA rodeo he ever went to. “It was the night of my 18th birthday and I split first with Walt Mason in Riverside, California,” said the 79 year old from Fallon, Nevada. “I feel so fortunate that in my career I was around the best rodeo cowboys that ever lived from three decades, the 40s, 50s, and 60s.” Herb Joined the RCA in March of 1956. “A couple guys came around to the amateur rodeos and they asked me to throw in with them. It was a big deal for me.”
    Herb was raised in Southern California; back in the 1950s there were lots of rodeos in his area. His dad was an insurance salesman and his mom raised him and his younger brother, John. Herb joined the Marine Corp and served for a little over a year before being honorably discharged. His rodeo career took off after that and he competed all across the west. “Andy Jauregui was a stock contractor and world champion team roper. I worked for him on the labor list, that’s what we did a lot in those days – it kept us busy when we weren’t competing and gave us some extra money.” Herb also worked for Cotton Rosser. “Most of my career I stayed on the West Coast. I was happy living the dream and there were a bunch of good rodeos out there. I placed at most of the major rodeos; Cow Palace, Ogden Prescott, Las Angeles coliseum, and Tucson (he won that one).” He met a lot of great cowboys, including Casey Tibbs, who put together a Wild West Show and Rodeo to take to Japan, and invited Herb to join the group.

    “We went over there in July of 1962,” he explained. The crew consisted of between 35 and 40 people; counting the Mexican bull fighters the Mariachi band, several Indians and the support crew. “Only about 15 of us were rodeo cowboys and out of that there were six past world champions; Gerold Roberts, Ben Johnson, Eddie Akridge, Clyde Vamvoras, Casey Tibbs, and Paul Mayo.” They were there for three months, which included six weeks in Tokyo. “It was a tough deal. We had two performances a day, three on Sunday, and Monday off. Casey took some national finals stock over there. If you got wiped out in the afternoon performance, you had to get on that night. There was no doctor release.” During that time in Japan’s history; 17 years after the war and two years before the Tokyo Olympics, the Japanese still believed that parts of the United States were the same as they had been watching in the old American Westerns, including cowboys and Indians. “It was 100% Japanese. You could get two blocks from the hotel and get lost. The way we made it was we had a business card from the hotel and the cab could drop us off.” After 125 performances, they headed home.

    When he returned, he landed a job modeling for Marlboro. “Clyde Cisco May had it and didn’t want it and gave it to me.” He was photographed in silhouette form for more than a month all over the country. Most of the shots were taken at recognizable landmarks and he wore his hat, spurs, and jeans. He posed with an unlighted cigarette because it took so long to get each shot. “I’ve never smoked or even lit a cigarette,” he said. The ads ended up in national magazines such as “Life” and the “Saturday Evening Post.” That exposure led to stunt work as a bull rider on the television series, “Cowboy in Africa,” which starred Chuck Connors. He also doubled for Michael Landon (Little Joe) on Bonanza and bulldogged a steer for a Buick commercial. He never cared for the Hollywood life, and decided to move on.
    He used his GI bill and went to aviation school. He also met and married his wife of 50 years, Starr. They have two girls, Carry Ila and Ila Carry, and two grandchildren. Herb worked as a flight instructor for two years before becoming a union carpenter. He made that his career for 20 years and moved up to become a business representative for the United Brotherhood of Carpenters until he retired at the age of 70. He took his competitive nature and became a marathon runner. “I finished the LA marathon three times and ran a couple hundred 5k and 10k runs.” He has also been a lifetime supporter of the Braille Institute. “Helping those who are blind or visually impaired is the right thing to do.”
    Herb has no regrets in life. “I’d do it all over again. For 15 years I didn’t have a boss, I got to see the whole world and be around the best guys. I’ve got five acres in Fallon, Nevada. I’ve got a horse, a great wife and family, and I hang out at the sale yard coffee shop (Stockyards Diner), with my friends. The older you get, the fewer friends you have.”

  • On The Trail with Brody Cress

    On The Trail with Brody Cress

    Brody Cress ended his 2017 season with the PRCA with an 88 point ride on Dakota Rodeo’s Bartender to win the saddle bronc riding championship at the Wrangler Champions Challenge Finale on September 30 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. “It is an outstanding feeling – the whole year has been. I can’t think of a weekend that I wasn’t able to win some money,” said the 21-year-old cowboy from Hillsdale, Wyoming. “That helps keep it going and keeps it exciting. You can’t ask for a better season. It makes you want to get on a bucking horse every day.” Brody did something that no other cowboy has done – he won Cheyenne, Salinas, and Pendleton in one season. “I didn’t go to any winter rodeos, but I came back to the first one and won and it’s been clicking – I’ve drawn good and it’s been a year of focus and shooting for the finals. I’ve never been this consistent – 90% this year – dang sure knew things were clicking,” he said. “I’ve always shot for going to the NFR. I’ve always thought if that wasn’t a goal, why rodeo. But this year it’s realistic.” Brody will be heading to the Thomas & Mack this December, but not before completing his finals for his Senior year at Tarleton State University where he is majoring in Ag Business. “I won’t be able to walk with the class, but that’s ok.”

     

    This year has been a lot better than last year, when Brody had a horse fall on him and injure his ankle at St. Paul. “After Cheyenne I took the rest of the year off; my ankle was hurting. I couldn’t walk for ten minutes after I got off the horses. Taking the rest of the year helped me refocus on getting to the gym.”

    Growing up, Brody stayed in the practice pen and didn’t ride a bronc at a rodeo until he was a junior in high school. He rodeoed at junior rodeos from the time he was big enough to steer his own horse, competing at Murray’s arena summer series. He was a member of Mountain States Junior Bull Riders, starting as a mutton buster and stopping with steer riding. He started wrestling at the age of six and concentrated on that, showing pigs and sheep, and being involved in FFA. “My dad was our Ag teacher for freshman year, and then moved into principal. I was around his FFA kids all the time, and I was very big into showing pigs and sheep.” He competed in the Creed his freshman year, as well as sales. FFA taught Brody how to interact with people. “I got put in a lot of situations – when I was practicing for the Creed, my dad would take me to speak in places I was really nervous about. It allowed me to learn how to turn an awkward situation into something I could handle.” FFA also helped Brody learn how to speak in front of large groups. “I built leadership skills – as I got older I liked helping out the younger kids.”

    His parents; Tommy and Lannette, both rodeoed when they were younger. “Mom grew up on a ranch, and she was a rodeo queen, and team roped, breakaway roped, ran barrels and poles in high school rodeo.” Tommy college rodeoed for LCCC and the University of Wyoming, as well as pro rodeoed, qualifying for the Mountain States Circuit Finals numerous times. He rode saddle broncs and got on a few bulls in college. Now Tommy is an assistant principal at Cheyenne East High School with 1,500 kids.

    “I’m really lucky to be in this system – these kids are great,” said Tommy. “It’s my 21st year, and times have changed, but the kids haven’t. My wife works as an Administrative Assistant for the Wyoming Supreme Court. She has a lot to do with the success of the boys – she’s the one they call for everything still.”

    “We did everything we could do to support them all along and the lessons they learned – the biggest one is that life’s not easy – and we never made any excuses for them. He’s done this on his own,” said Lannette. “I’ve helped him get plane tickets and motel rooms, but he tells us when and where. Brody was in the bucking horse sale two years ago and Blaze was in the permit challenge two years ago, and we went to one round, but this year it’s going to be so exciting. It’s a dream of our entire family. I’m really proud of Brody – he’s made this his goal and he got it done.”

    “My parents put me in wrestling to get the mental and physical aspects,” said Brody. “I almost wrestled in college. It started when I was six and I won nine state championships growing up. In high school I was the state champion my last three years.” Throughout those years, he would wrestle up to 140 pounds going wherever coach needed him. “I learned how to handle myself. At first when I would lose, I would get frustrated. As I got into high school I learned how to handle my emotions – I had to cut 16 pounds my Sophmore year and I learned how to go through that mentally. Wrestling also helped me learn how to take a loss and not just quit.” Working on the mental and the physical aspects of wrestling really coincides with riding broncs. “You have to give it all you have as long as it takes.”

    Brody gained respect for all of his coaches along the way. “I had such amazing coaches that helped me be a great young man as well as a good wrestler.”

    Both the boys worked on riding broncs for several years before competing on them. “My dad and Colt Bruegman really started us. We were lucky enough to get great horses from JD Hamaker, the Millers, Morgan and John Forbes. Frank Thompson would come pick up for us; we got help from Rick Griego flanking and my friends, Levi Romsa, Zane Thompson, Dax Cathcart, Anthony Green and Clayton Hanzlik helped on the neck ropes and pulled gates. It was whoever we could get to come help. Sometimes we would practice twice a week – as long as it was warm enough. I know during high school it was twice a week. Up until I was a junior that’s the only bronc riding I could do. I couldn’t go to a rodeo until I was a junior in high school. We had an amazing pen of practice horses, at one time we had nine. It was a great pen of solid horses.”

     

    His parents wanted to make sure Blaze and Brody knew what they were doing before they went to a high school rodeo. Tommy’s rule was they couldn’t get on until they were 100 pounds. “They wanted us to learn how to get off, and how to make somewhat of a successful ride – it made it a little more fun. It was still rough – but I won my first rodeo I went to my junior year, so that proved that staying home and learning paid off. Up till this year, there’s been bumps in the road, but I was more successful because I had a good start.”

    Brody is in his senior year at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, Texas. “I picked TSU for one because it’s warmer. I wanted to be on a rodeo team that would send me places and a bunch of people came here that went on to the NFR. This is a prestigious program and the kids know how to win. My coach knows I am moving up to the next level and he’s there for me. He is awesome – he helps us do more than rodeo, to be respectful and handle ourselves in front of people. He’s taught me not to make excuses – I face the fact of what I did wrong and how to fix it.”

    He also chose Tarleton for the academic side. “I didn’t want to waste my time, and this school will let me get it all done – all the way through my masters.” Brody is going for his Masters in Ag consumer science so he can teach. “If I get in situations where I could coach and be able to teach that would be awesome.” Classes start three weeks after the NFR.

    Between now and December 7, Brody will get back into the gym and finish up his undergraduate degree. “I’m going to get back to working out and get everything set for Vegas. One of the trainers, Shawn Ready, has put together a workout for me that I’m starting now that I’m home and settled. It’s hard to work out on the road. We stay in shape by getting on so many horses, and I still have college rodeos. I’d like to get on two or three a week to keep things going. I’d like to slow down some, but I want to keep things clicking.”

    He will be joined in Vegas by his family, including his brother, Blaze, who is working with Eric Wisehart in California training cutting horses. “Blaze has taken his love of riding colts to another level. He got the opportunity to go to California to ride cutting horses for Eric Wisehart. He’s riding two year olds and is getting to cut. We have different focuses in life and he’s in a great spot. We’re both doing what we want to do.”
    For now, Brody is basking in the texts and messages from everyone cheering him on. “It is awesome to be on the road and know there are people watching. It’s great to be a professional rodeo cowboy and know you have fans.” And Brody will warm up the same way in Vegas he has done all year. “I wear my tennis shoes in the locker room, the amount of time I spend jumping around getting ready – this warm up is left over from wrestling, and that makes sure my body is prepared.”