Rodeo Life

Category: Articles

  • Back When They Bucked with Glen Bird

    Back When They Bucked with Glen Bird

    Because of his high school ag teacher, Glen Bird began riding bulls.
    The Weatherford, Texas man began his rodeo career at the behest of Mr. William T. Woody, ag teacher at Peaster (Texas) High School, a career that would end up with six International Pro Rodeo Association (IPRA) titles and the high respect of his fellow cowboys. As a child, Glen attended rodeos with his granddad, who loved them, especially the bull riding.
    He rode calves on the family ranch then continued the sport when he was in high school.
    Mr. Woody had competed as a bull rider at Sul Ross University in Alpine, Texas, and he saw potential in his student. Because Glen couldn’t drive, Mr. Woody would enter him in the FFA rodeos held across the state and drive him there. And because many of the FFA rodeos hired professional stock contractors, the bulls were extra rank and the high school kids turned them out, not wanting to get on them. “Mr. Woody knew all them stock contractors,” Glen remembers, “and he’d tell them stock contractors, ‘Look, these bulls are turned out and this boy I brought with me will get on them.’” So Glen ended up getting on five or six bulls at each rodeo. He may not have got them rode, but he was willing to get on them.
    He remembers one time at a rodeo in Gainesville, Texas, where Adrin Parker was the stock contractor. He had a bull, No. 36, that nobody wanted. Every performance, No. 36 was turned out and Glen got on him. “He slung me all over that arena. I was so beat up and bruised up by the time I got on the bull I had drawed, Mr. Woody kept ice on me all day.” Two years later, he got his revenge on No. 36; he rode him for a third place finish.
    In 1964, after high school graduation, he hit the rodeo road. He was already competing on the weekends, but now he hit the trail hard. He had gotten his IPRA card a few years prior, and, along with Hal Pilgrim, went to rodeos everywhere. “We’d try to go to a rodeo every day,” he said. It wasn’t hard. With bull buckouts at Mansfield, Texas two nights a week and a rodeo on Saturday nights, and rodeos in Simonton every weekend, there was always somewhere to ride.
    And Glen and his buddies didn’t limit themselves to Texas. It was common for them to be up at a rodeo on a Saturday afternoon in Texas or Oklahoma or Arkansas, then jump in the car and make a Sunday matinee performance in California. The car was full, too. By this time, Glen and friends Red Doffin (a bull rider) and Ronnie William (a bareback rider) were in the vehicle, along with Bernie Johnson, Glen’s brother Arnold Bird, and Hulen Missildine. “They would go anywhere I entered us,” Glen said. “I always had a full car, and we’d go non-stop.”
    In his glory days, Glen and his buddies were competing in anywhere from 150 to 200 rodeos a year. “The thing about it is, we loved it,” he said. “If you can’t travel, you’re not going to ever rodeo. Every day, when we’d wake up, we’d more than likely be in another state, meeting new people. It was unbelievable.” And his riding was unbelievable, too. According to Ronnie Williams, Glen’s style was impeccable. “I think he was one of the greatest bull riders there ever was,” Ronnie said. “He had a perfect style and form, he rode so perfect, that he made it look effortless. And his percentage of winning first place was unbelievable. It seemed like every time he’d nod his head, he was winning first.”
    In the early days of his rodeo, Glen rode bareback horses. He didn’t like to, but for a while, he did. And his friend Ronnie knew it, and occasionally set him up for a joke. “That dang Ronnie would enter me in the bareback riding, and I’d get there (to the rodeo) and find out I was entered. But he didn’t enter me in a whole bunch of them, because I was entering him in the bull riding, and he didn’t like that.”
    Glen won the IPRA’s bull riding title four times: 1966-67-68 and 1970, and the all-around in 1968 and 1970. The International Finals Rodeo began in 1970, so prior to that, whoever had the most money won at the end of the year was the champion.
    Ronnie won eight IPRA bareback titles, and thought his buddy was the best in the business. “I don’t think anybody ever rode with the style he rode with, and was dominant in the IPRA all those years. It was a privilege for me to get to rodeo with him.”
    Another traveling partner, Red Doffin, thought the world of Glen. “He had lots and lots of class,” Red remembered. “You talk about a bull rider that looked pretty on bulls. He just turned his toes out and rode them with style, rode them perfect. That’s the way he rode.” Glen was hard to throw off, as well. “He had good form,” Red said, “and when they throwed him off, they throwed him off on the top of his head because he tried as hard as he could try.”


    Glen never suffered from a lot of injuries. He broke a leg during his first – and only – semester of college, affixing a spur in the cast so he could continue to ride. He also broke a bone in his left hand, his riding hand that took six months to heal. The broken leg and possibly returning to riding bulls too soon has affected his walking today. That’s not being tough, he insisted, in riding with a cast, “all that was, was stupidity. If I had not have done that, I would be walking so much better today.”
    In 1972, he got on the last bull he’d ever ride. His legs were bothering him so badly he took the locks out of his spurs and rode with loose rowels. “I couldn’t stand the pressure it was putting on my legs,” he said. “After a while, anything you do that you burn at it like that, it makes the longevity of it short. It finally caught up with me.”
    By this time he had a wife, Judy, and two children, Jennifer (White) and Jason. He got a job with Miller Brewing Co. in Ft. Worth, working there for 33 years. He also started a Limousin cow herd, selling the bulls at the Texas Limousin Association’s annual sale for years. He started his herd from some heifers and a bull that his aunt and uncle had in Oklahoma. He ended up with a herd of 35 purebreds and did very well with the breeding program. Both of his kids showed the cattle, his daughter winning Limousin Heifer of the Year.
    When he quit riding bulls, Glen had to quit going to rodeos, for fear he’d get the bug again and hit the road. “I didn’t watch a rodeo on TV for ten years or so,” he said. “I wasn’t going to be able to quit them if I kept around them.” Then one day his friend Sam Roberts called, asking if he’d watched a bull riding on TV. “I can’t, Sam,” he said. “I’ll want to get to riding again.” Sam shot that idea down. “Hell, you ain’t going to do that, you’re too old,” he said. “And I thought, by gosh, he’s right, and now I don’t miss one.”
    Inducted into the Texas Rodeo Cowboys Hall of Fame in 2010, Glen remembers with great fondness his rodeo days. “I had more fun than the law allows. I thought I was a millionaire. I enjoyed every bit of it. I don’t regret any part of it,” he said. “If I ever got the chance to live it over again, I would.”
    And Mr. Woody, the ag teacher? They still stay in touch, even though Glen nearly got kicked out of his class the first day of school. Glen walked into the classroom with his hat on, pants stuffed into his boots, and put his feet on the table. Mr. Woody jumped up with a two-by-four in his hands and said, “We’re going to find out who runs this class right now. You or me? I’m going to ask you to take your feet off the desk and your hat off.” “I looked at that two-by-four,” Glen chuckled, “and I sure didn’t want no part of that.”
    Glen and Judy spend their time now “doing whatever we want to,” said Judy, who spent most of her years at home, working a couple different jobs along the way. “We’ve been married for 48 years and we have learned that it’s about being a companion to each other and doing for each other all the time. We go to church all the time and have a lot of friends to spend time with.” They also have two granddaughters, Skylar and Taylor.

  • Roper Review: Shane Brown

    Roper Review: Shane Brown

    Most ropers only dream of winning the kind of money paid at the World Series of Team Roping finale in Las Vegas. Those dreams recently came true for Shane Brown, Robstown, TX, and his partner, J. R. Wood, Sinton, TX. The duo won the #13 on December 6th, splitting $254,000. The team previously won the #12 roping at the World Series roping in Sinton, TX earlier this year. Brown and Wood both had their numbers raised, to a #8 heeler and #5E header, respectively, forcing the pair into the #13 Finale. The duo came from sixth high call to win the roping with a 29.65 aggregate time on four head.
    Shane, and older brother Scot, grew up in a farming and ranching family and were riding before they were walking. They started roping young and team roped and roped calves through school. Growing up, Shane won a couple of TYRA state championships in calf roping. In 1997 he was the Texas High School rodeo team roping champion header. In college Shane eventually dropped calf roping and focused solely on team roping.
    After high school Shane pursued an education at Texas A&M where he earned his degree in Animal Science and a Masters in Agri-Business. After graduation, Shane was a commodities broker for five years and is now a Vice President and the Robstown branch manager for Texas Farm Credit.
    Shane is married to his lovely wife, Ravyn, and the couple has two daughters, Bailey, 8; and Blakely, 5.
    “I met my wife in college,” says Brown. “We both grew up in rodeo. Once we married, she slowed down to raise our girls. Now she’s a stay at home mom and far busier than I am.”
    Brown admits to being fiercely competitive. This trait benefits his other hobby and passion – golf where he carries a #3 handicap. Being competitive and handling pressure runs in this family. Two years ago, his brother Scot, won the #11 at the World Series finale.
    Undoubtedly family comes first for Brown, “We do a lot as a family. Right now my girls are active in gymnastics and volleyball. I haven’t been roping as much lately. Basically just enough to qualify for the World Series finale.”
    COWBOY Q&A
    How much do you practice?
    Once or twice a week. But in preparing for the WSTR Finals, we would practice several times a week.
    Do you make your own horses?
    Typically yes. My dad raised the horse I rode in Vegas, and I broke and trained him.
    Who were your roping (rodeo) heroes?
    Phil Lyne. I grew up roping with him and rodeoed with his daughters. My dad was an extremely good roper and gave it up so we could rope.
    Who do you respect most in the world?
    My family.
    Who has been the biggest influence in your life?
    My parents, my wife, and God.
    If you had a day off what would you like to do?
    A perfect day would be playing golf in the morning. Then hanging out with my family and roping in the afternoon.
    Favorite movie?
    Lonesome Dove.
    What’s the last thing you read?
    Emails.
    How would you describe yourself in three words?
    Driven, family-oriented, competitive.
    What makes you happy?
    Being with family and friends.
    What makes you angry?
    Laziness.
    If you were given 1 million dollars, how would you spend it?
    Buy some acreage that my family and I could enjoy.
    What is your worst quality – your best?
    My worst is lack of patience for people who don’t try. My best is lots of patience for people who try hard.

  • Roper Review: Courtney Small

    Roper Review: Courtney Small

    Everyone who enters the USTRC Finals has dreams of clean runs and big paychecks. Unfortunately, only a handful of ropers realize those dreams. One such dream come true was Courtney Small, and header, Lari Dee Guy, who came from third high call to win the Cruel Girl Roping. The pair posted a time of 37.25 on four head to win the roping and split $16,000 in cash plus prizes.
    “Actually I prefer being third high call. From there the goal is to make a nice run and put pressure on the top two teams,” says Small.
    Courtney, 24, started roping when she was just eight. She and her dad started roping at the same time. Eventually her brothers, Zac and Blair, rope as well.
    “We would rope almost every night,” explains Courtney. “That’s where my addiction to roping started.”
    Small is grateful to her parents for giving them the opportunity to rope and pursue their passion.
    “My dad blessed us with the chance to rope every day during the summer. He wanted us to succeed in whatever we wanted to do,” says Small. “Every day we would start out roping the dummy, then saddle our horses and rope the mechanical dummy. That was our routine from about ten to fifteen years old. We were consumed by it.”
    Courtney admits to a life long passion for horses and roping. When she was about thirteen, the family built an indoor arena where they roped and also had a church.
    “The arena has been a huge blessing. God has used our arena to bless the lives of many people; and given young people a place to come and rope.  We still rope in our arena every day and I’m very thankful for it.”
    The Blair kids were homeschooled and well educated using the accredited Christian based A Beka Academy. To see how her education measured up, Courtney attended public school during her sophomore year and found it very easy.
    After high school Courtney attended Tarleton University in Stephenville, Texas before transferring to and graduating from Oklahoma State University. Currently she is working with her father at the family cattle embryo laboratory near Welch, Oklahoma. She will soon pursue a Masters in Animal Science, a degree that will be helpful as they expand their business.
    “There are some new things we want to do,” says Courtney. “I so enjoy working with my family. I also have lots of time to rope, which is a huge plus.”
    “I am very grateful and give the glory to God. Without Him, none of these blessings would be in my life. I have to thank my parents and am so blessed to have them. I realize not many people get the opportunity to do what I do. I also want to thank my sponsor, Classic Ropes.”

    COWBOY Q&A
    How much do you practice?
    About five days a week.
    Do you make your own horses?
    Yes. My brothers and I have made every horse we own.
    Who were your roping heroes?
    I always looked up to my dad because he got me started. He had won quite a bit and was my idol.
    Who do you respect most in the world?
    My father.
    Who has been the biggest influence in your life?
    My father.
    If you had a day off what would you like to do?
    Rope.
    Favorite movie?
    The new Magnificent Seven was very good.
    What’s the last thing you read?
    A textbook of some sort.
    How would you describe yourself in three words?
    Leader, dedicated, shy.
    What makes you happy?
    When I win.
    What makes you angry?
    When I miss.
    If you were given 1 million dollars, how would you spend it?
    I would set quite a bit back and probably build a horse barn on my property.
    What is your best quality – your worst?
    Best quality is independent thinking. Worst quality is procrastinating.
    Where do you see yourself in ten years?
    Hopefully more involved in our lab with the expansion, and enjoying the growth of business.

  • Back When They Bucked with Dilton and Pat Emerson

    Back When They Bucked with Dilton and Pat Emerson

    Dilton and Pat Emerson of Bossier City, Louisiana, know the value of a horse shoe. Keeping equine athletes of all disciplines shod has sustained the husband and wife for many years, and their bootprints through rodeo history are accompanied by their ingenuity. This includes inventing a now widely-used anvil and starting their own horseshoe supply business – one of the largest in the country. They also support the rodeo industry with their time, serving on the boards of several rodeo organizations, and most recently, helping organize the Gold Card Reunion in Las Vegas during the WNFR. “The reunion originated last year, and we had about 150 gold card members come,” says Dilton, chairman of the reunion board and a gold card member himself. Shawn Davis, manager of the PRCA and one of Dilton’s longtime rodeo friends, recently asked Dilton to help organize the reunion. Open to all PRCA gold card members, the reunion takes place this year in the Thomas & Mack Center on December 8th. “We have someone in charge of getting interviews during the reunion for the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs, and there will be slideshows and storytelling,” Dilton describes.
    His own rodeo career with the PRCA – known at the time as the RCA – began in 1954, the year he married Pat. The couple – both born in 1936 – were raised one town over from each other, Dilton in Taylor, Arkansas, and Pat in Bradley, Arkansas. Horses were Pat and her family’s means of transportation, but Dilton didn’t own a good horse until he was in his 40s. Instead, he competed in all three roughstock events and steer wrestling. “His family thought he was totally crazy and doomed from day one,” Pat recalls with a laugh. Yet Dilton paid all his expenses and made friends with competitors like Shawn Davis, Tom Nesmith, who put Dilton on his horse Old Brown, and Neal Gay. “Neal took a liking to me when I was a kid and helped me out, and I worked for stock contractor Tommy Steiner. I got on everything he turned out,” says Dilton. “Steiner had a bronc saddle in his tack room that became mine, and I had a bareback riggin’ of my own.” His bronc saddle is now on display in the Lynn Hickey American Rodeo Gallery of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City,  its cinch tightened on a bronc sculpture rearing from the chutes.


    Near the time Dilton’s RCA career began, Pat tried her hand at riding bareback horses in the Girls Rodeo Association (GRA). “I hadn’t thought about competing, but I had an older sister that rode roughstock. I was staying with her one summer and she took me to rodeos,” says Pat. “There weren’t more than six or seven bareback riders, but enough to have a rodeo. I messed with it for two or three years, and did exhibitions in saddle bronc riding the summer of ‘55. But once I started raising our three kids, I quit.”
    Dilton was rodeoing with Pat’s brother when the couple met. While their children – Peaches, Joe, and Ross – were young, Pat worked as a secretary for several steel firms and Dilton rodeoed full time. When he eased off the gas pedal in the mid 1960s to start shoeing horses on racetracks, Pat was a mutuel teller, cashing tickets for the bidders. They travelled with their children to Detroit, Chicago, Omaha, Nebraska, and the Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, Louisiana, where they eventually settled. “We never had a horse trailer when we rodeoed or worked on the racetracks, we rented apartments,” says Pat. “We worked together for three or four years before starting our horseshoe supply business. Everything Dilton has done, he’s taught himself.”
    “When I started shoeing horses, it was at an all-time low for farriers,” Dilton recalls. “A big horseshoe company went out of business in 1965, and people were predicting that it was the end of the horse era. Back then, they didn’t have playdays or horse shows. Horses were mainly used on ranches for working cattle, and the ranchers did their own shoeing.” Yet the Emersons still saw a need for horseshoeing, though they never intentionally set out to start a business. “Dilton always had a good supply of stock that he shod with, which a lot of horseshoers didn’t, so they’d buy or borrow from him. He got a distributorship specifically for thoroughbred racing shoes, and then we were able to get distributorships for bigger companies.” Within ten years, Emerson Horseshoe Supply was one of the larger horseshoe suppliers in the business. The anvil Dilton designed in the mid 1990s also set them apart. “There’s a lot of nickel in the anvil, which gives it good bounce-back,” he explains. The Emerson Anvil is preferred for many horseshoeing contests and even knife makers, and is shipped across the country and even as far as England. Their anvil is in use in the bladesmithing TV show Forged in Fire, and Dilton designed a commemorative 25th anniversary anvil for the 2004  World Championship Blacksmiths’ Competition, held during the Calgary Stampede.
    Emerson Horseshoe Supply has been distributing horseshoes and farrier supplies for 35 years, the shop right next door to the Emerson’s house. “It works well for waiting on customers after hours. Before cell phones and ordering ahead of time, I’d be up at six in the morning selling horseshoes,” says Pat, who runs the store. “Grandma is really amazing – she can tell you about all the shoes, their differences, and the prices,” says Seth Emerson, their grandson. He’s worked in the store since he was old enough to stock shelves, and only recently left to become an auditor for the state and continue his rodeo career, tie-down roping in the PRCA. “My grandparents have done so much for me, and it was very rewarding for me to work with them. My grandpa started team roping in his 60s, and I’ve always roped at their place. I’ve been good friends with Shane Hanchey since high school, so he’s stayed there. I also used to hold a big jackpot there and guys like Cody Ohl and Marty Yates would come and Grandma would cook for them. Grandpa’s always been there when I rope, even if it’s cold, and then he pulls the truck up next to the arena to watch.” The Emersons also have three granddaughters, Cassie, a breakaway roper, Stewart, an aspiring actress in New York City, and Kirby, a junior in college at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
    Prior to team roping, Dilton took up chuckwagon racing, living just a few hours from the National Championship Chuckwagon Races in Clinton, Arkansas. Dilton and his team, racing under Emerson Horseshoe Supply, won the classic division in 1997 racing thoroughbreds. He built his own wagon, weighing approximately 1,000 pounds, but his interest moved to team roping around 2000. He currently heels in the USTRC and local team roping associations. “I practice three times a week, but I generally go to Stephenville (Texas) so I can rope with Rickey Green,” says Dilton.
    Pat enjoys snow skiing, and is planning a skiing trip with her granddaughters and grandson’s girlfriend in February. She’s also active in her church, and one of 50 rodeo wives that make up H.A.N.D.S. (Helping Another Needy Diva Survive). The organization, started by Sharon Shoulders and Donna McSpadden, sends anything from money, food, cards, or even personal visits to rodeo families going through hard times. “We were in Oklahoma City recently for Rodeo Hall of Fame inductions, and we also go up to Colorado Springs for the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame, and then Las Vegas in December,” says Pat. “We’re both very active and very social. We’ve been blessed with good health, good friends, and good family!”

  • On the Trail with the Clown Family

    On the Trail with the Clown Family

    The Harrison family is affectionately known across the rodeo world as the “Clown Family.”

    John and Carla Harrison and their four children: Addy, Caz, Billie, who passed away in October of 2014, and Charlee, are regulars at rodeos across the nation.

    John, the grandson of world champion bull rider Freckles Brown, grew up in Soper, Oklahoma. When he saw Leon and Vicki Adams at his hometown rodeo at the age of six, he was hooked. “I knew then it looked like fun,” he said, “hanging upside down on a horse. I decided I wanted to do it.” His dad, Wiley Harrison, knew how to trick rope. He taught John in the family living room. “We tore up everything,” John remembers. “I broke lamps, hit the ceiling, knocked the lights out, knocked plaster off the wall. Mom was always cussing us.”

    His first real audience was for 4-H talent show when he was fourteen. “I won the talent show and that threw gas on the fire.”

    John had seen roman riding done at a rodeo, and decided he wanted to do that as well. He and his dad found a team broke for a wagon, but they “dang near killed me,” he said. “They were mean and kicked, and Dad realized I was going to get hurt.” They located a roman team owned by Vickie Tyer, who had sold them to Cotton Rosser, who was looking to sell them. John sold a few head of cows and over spring break, he and his dad loaded up for California to get them. They paid $10,000 for the team, what his dad considered a large sum. “My dad, a rancher, had never paid that much for horses, and he about croaked,” John laughed.

    John spent two and three hours a day practicing his trick riding and roman riding, learning from trick riders like J.W. Stoker, Karen Vold and others.

    It was in 1999 that he got his PRCA card. That year, he booked a dozen rodeos for Johnny Walters, doing the roman riding while Penny Walton and Kelly Brock were trick riding. He booked the next two years for Bob Barnes, roman riding, trick riding and trick roping. After that, his career blossomed. In 2002, he went to California and worked for Cotton Rosser and the Flying U Rodeo Co. The next year, he worked for Steve Gander’s World’s Toughest Rodeo tour based out of Iowa.

    At this point, John wasn’t clowning rodeos yet, but he wanted to. A buddy in Wahoo, Neb., was putting on a bull riding and asked him to clown it. “Man, I’ll be terrible,” John told him. He borrowed a barrel from Gizmo McCracken, and “that’s what lit the fire,” he said. After a lot of performances and experience, clowning became fun and he became adept at it.

    John gives credit to another clown, Keith Isley, for helping him get started. Keith had a trick riding act that he gave John permission to do. “Keith jumpstarted my career,” he said. “That’s truly the reason I am where I am in my career, due to that act.”

    It was in Iowa that he met the California girl who would become his wife. Carla was interning with the World’s Toughest Rodeo, doing publicity and working closely with John on appearances and interviews. “I had a crush on her,” John said. “We were both too shy to let each other know it.” After her internship ended, she and John stayed in touch. Carla, who grew up on a cattle ranch near Salinas with a dad who ranch rodeoed, talked to John every night. When he called her, asking her to go with him to the PRCA Awards Banquet where he was nominated for Specialty Act of the Year in 2004, she realized she had an “overwhelming love” for him. They married in 2006.

     

    They are on the road together, along with the kids, as much as possible. “We’re together constantly,” Carla said. “We did everything together, but now that the kids are in school, I stay home while he takes off.”

    The Harrisons have diversified beyond rodeo contract work. They own rental properties in Hugo and Soper, Okla. “I’ve always been an entrepreneur,” John said. And he and Carla realize how the rodeo business works. “We talked about retirement in rodeo, and there is none. (Rentals) are something we could do and be gone.” They also own a liquor store in Hugo.

    Each fall since 2007, they’ve produced a Wild West show at the Oklahoma State Fair in Oklahoma City. They aim for top-notch entertainment with good performers. Performers including Vickie Adams, Blake Goode, Vince Bruce, the Riata Ranch Cowgirls, Melissa Navarre, Jerry Wayne Olson, and others have worked the show. John used to trick rope but found it easier to be producer. They are in the same location for eleven days, a switch from being at a new rodeo each week. “It’s a nice break from rodeo after the summer,” John said.

    John and Carla were hit with a tremendous blow in October of 2014 when their seventeen month old daughter, Billie, died of kidney failure. It was all sudden. Carla had been in California with her mother, who was going through cancer treatment. She had just flown home, and John had left for a rodeo, when Billie was life-flighted to a hospital in Texas. She died on October 17. Their faith and their rodeo family got them through the difficult time. “You use that term, rodeo family, loosely,” John said. “When we lost Billie, the way the rodeo community came together, it truly touches you in a way that is unexplainable.” Carla’s mom died four months later. “I spent many hours on the phone, crying with my mom,” Carla said, before she passed away. “I asked her, please, when you get to heaven, hug and hold Billie.” It was tough, Carla said, but she is grateful for others. “I want people to know how thankful I am for the love of others, how everyone poured into our lives. Our family, our friends and our rodeo family came in and surrounded us and uplifted us. I can’t tell you how that lifted us.”

    Carla’s main job is wife and mother, but she also is an auctioneer. As a child, she discovered her dad’s old auction books and put herself to sleep, practicing. The family lived thirty miles from where they ran cattle, so on the way to and from cattle, he would help her with the tongue twisters and the speed.

    She has sold cattle and farm equipment and still does junior livestock auctions, but her niche is benefits, especially the high-end auctions. She flies to California frequently, sometimes selling as few as a dozen items, but all very high-end. If John is free, he goes with her. “People assume he’s the auctioneer, and I get up, and they’re caught off-guard,” she laughs. Auctioneering is much like rodeo. “I want people to have fun, but you have to control the tempo of what’s going on.”

    The couple’s children are Addison, age eight, Cazwell, six, and Charlee, who is thirteen months old. Addy is in third grade and learning to trick ride. Caz, a first grader, has a natural sense of humor, and Charlee, their “newest angel on the ground,” was born in November of 2015.

    The “Clown Family” moniker came from announcer Jerry Todd. The kids frequently dress in John’s trademark yellow shirts with red fringe, and John loved to rub his red nose on Addy’s cheeks after a performance. Jerry picked her up and said, “oh, look at the little clown baby.” Carla started using the name on Facebook, in a tongue-in-cheek manner. But it’s grown. Last year in Las Vegas during the National Finals, people she had never met recognized them. “I love it, and welcome it,” she said.

    They may be a rodeo family, but Carla jokes that she spends more time in vehicles than anywhere else. “I always tell John, we rodeo, but I feel like we really truly drive for a living. I’m always driving.” When they first married, John was reluctant to let her drive, even though she’d grown up driving trailers. He finally relented, in the middle of North Dakota, at night, when no one else was around. Now she drives most of the time, she joked. “So my alligator mouth has overloaded my little hiney. He went from never letting me drive to now, we get twenty miles down the road and he’s miraculously tired,” she laughed.

    Throughout his career, John has been the PRCA Comedy Act of the Year in 2012, 2014-2015, the Coors Man in the Can in 2014, and has been nominated for either the Comedy Act, the Dress Act, or the Coors Man in the Can awards every year since 2008. This year, he has been selected to work the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo as barrelman.

    Through their troubles and blessings, John and Carla hang on to their faith, crediting it with getting them through the passing of their daughter. “Without it, I don’t know how John or I could have gotten through.” They look at the positive in everything. “I try to find blessings along the way, even in the worst of times. I think it’s the only way to keep going.”

  • COOK SHACK: Chocolate Zucchini Bread & Grandma Casserole

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    Chocolate Zucchini Bread
    recipe courtesy of Siri Stevens

    ingredients:
    3 eggs
    2 cups sugar
    1 cup oil
    1 tsp vanilla
    3 cups grated zucchini
    1 tsp salt
    1 tsp soda
    1/4 tsp baking powder
    2 & 3/4 cups flour
    1/4 cup cocoa
    1 cup choc chips

    DIRECTIONS: In a mixing bowl beat eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla extract. Stir in zucchini. In a separate bowl combine dry ingredients (except sugar). Add to zucchini mixture and mix well. Pour into greased pan and bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour .

     

     

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    Grandma Casserole

    recipe courtesy of Dave Rubenthaler, in memory of Florence Rubenthaler, “Country Cookin’, The Pioneer Journey Cookbook”

    ingredients:
    1 large onion, diced
    1 lb. ground beef
    salt & pepper to taste
    1 pkg/ (8 oz.) of noodles
    2 cans cream of celery soup
    1 box (8.5 oz.) Jiffy corn muffin mix
    1 egg
    1/3 c. milk

    DIRECTIONS: Saute onion in butter or oil, add ground beef, salt and pepper. Cook until done, drain fat. Cook noodles in salted water until done. Drain. Add noodles and soup to meat and mix well. In separate bowl mix corn muffin mix according to instructions using the egg and milk. Put meat and noodle mixture into a greased baking dish. Cover with corn muffin batter. Bake at 400 degrees until corn is done, about 20 minutes.

  • Roper Review: Butchie Levell

    Roper Review: Butchie Levell

    Butchie Levell, Senior Team Roping Header Champion – Lazy HH Photography

    Butchie Levell (Butch Levell III) has gone to a lot of USTRC ropings in order to be tied for first with Keith Elkins from Clinton, Louisiana, in the Scholarship Standings.  If he holds onto that lead until the end of the Finals, he will win $10,000 in scholarships.
    The 18-year-old form Omaha, Nebraska, has been roping since he was 10, and is now a #6+ header and #6 heeler. “I like heading better, that’s been my strong point. Heeling is a little tough, but heading has been easy going for me.” His family, dad, Butch, mom, Pam, and older sister, Jennifer, were not into horses at all. “We have two houses on our property,” he explained. “The people that rented the house had horses and roped and I decided one day I wanted to be a cowboy and it started from there.” He started with the neighbors, and then got in with Jeff Straight, JD Yates, and Jay Wadams. “They helped him the most,” he said. Butchie started showing horses in the AQHA at the same time he was learning to rope and this year he stayed the summer in Colorado at JD Yates house, roping in the Colorado Junior Rodeo Association, and winning their year end Senior Team Roping saddle with his partner, Colton Reed.
    This is his first year out of high school and he decided to stay home a year to rope, work for his dad, and take care of 50 head of cattle that he has accumulated over the years. “They are old roping heifers that I kept as momma cows and now I rope their calves.”  He keeps them on leased pasture and at his place.
    Butchie is headed to his fifth USTRC Finals. “It’s awesome  being down there for a week, hanging out with friends, and going up against the best in the world and lots of money,” he said. He will haul four of his six horses to Oklahoma to enter everything from the open prelims to the #10; he’s entered mostly as a header, but is roping as a heeler as well.
    His dad, Butch, owns a recycling business, Lakeside Auto Recyclers, and his mom is a stay-at-home mom. When he’s not roping or working with his herd, Butchie helps his dad with the company. His plans are to attend college and get an Ag Business degree and make his way to the NFR someday. “I rope until my arm gets tired and I don’t want to stop,” he said. “I rope until 8 or 9 every night.” He knows that’s what it’s going to take to get to the NFR. “My goal is to work hard every day and push to get better.”

    ____________________

    The USTRC launched the scholarship program this year. “We had talked about this for a long time,” said Kirk Bray, USTRC President. “With putting $100,000 up and making it available for any age, up to 24, potentially a kid that’s 13 or 14 can start building a scholarship bank with us.” The USTRC Scholarship Program will award $100,000 in scholarship funds annually. Sixty (60) scholarships will be awarded to the top point earners during the 2016 season (November 1, 2015 thru October 31, 2016). “They had to opt in to the program because we wanted to make sure they are serious about going to college. It’s a pretty strict program, but we want to award the kids that go to college and get good grades. It’s a way to give back.”

  • ProFile: Troy Heinert

    ProFile: Troy Heinert

    Troy Heinert takes care of cowboys and constituents. In rodeo, the Mission, S.D. man works as a pickup man, and in the world of politics, he is a senator in the South Dakota State Legislature.
    He grew up on the family ranch west of Mission, the son of Margo and the late Harold Heinert. When he was twelve, his dad died, and his mom moved the family to Pierre.
    In high school, Troy team roped and rode bareback horses, and continued the bareback riding while in college at Black Hills State University in Spearfish, S.D., and at Sinte Gleska University in Rosebud. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and taught school at Rosebud Elementary for ten years, all the while competing in the PRCA and at Indian rodeos.
    Troy’s dad Harold and stock contractor Jim Korkow were best of friends, and when Harold passed away, Jim said, “you’re my boy now,” Troy said. “He never treated me any different than he treated TJ (Jim’s son.) If TJ got a twenty (dollar bill), I got a twenty.”
    It was through Jim that Troy began picking up. He started with 4-H and high school rodeos, working through the summers for Korkow Rodeo. After he quit riding barebacks twelve years ago, he picked up more steadily.
    He works many of the Korkow Rodeos, along with rodeos for Stace Smith, Three Hills Rodeo, and Wilson Rodeo. He’s been selected to pick up the Indian National Finals Rodeo five times, and was chosen this year to work the Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo in Minot, N.D. this month.
    He loves picking up. “It’s as close as you can get to a bucking horse without having to get on them anymore. It’s fun, especially when you know the horses and you can put yourself in a position to help the guys make good rides, and help that horse buck, and see a match-up click.”
    He loves spending time with the bucking horses. “To be around them, to sort, feed, truck them, learn their personalities. They learn your voice, and if a horse is throwing a fit in the chute I can ride up to it and start talking to it, and you can see them pay attention and stand up.”
    Four years ago, Heinert ran as a Democrat in the 26th District, for the S.D. State House of Representatives. He won, served a two year term, then ran for state senator in 2014. He won that election, and is running again this fall, unopposed.
    He feels he has met a lot of his goals as a representative for his district, which is predominantly Native American. He is a member of the Rosebud Sioux tribe, and it is important for him “to be a voice for Native Americans and cowboys,” he said. “My district has three reservations in its boundaries, and we don’t have many opportunities for a voice. I have a lot of people depending on me to be that voice, and I’ve been able to do that, and to get people to understand some of the issues we see on the reservation, to see why things are the way they are, and what they can do to help.”
    As a senator, he is able to show people unfamiliar with Native Americans and reservations what it’s like. “I think, even in South Dakota, there’s a lot of people who just don’t know what our healthcare system is like, what our education system is like, what poverty looks like, and the different relationships the tribes have with state and federal governments.”
    He is very proud that he was able to pass an Achievement Schools Grant program, which allows public schools to apply and create a cultural school for Native American kids in the district. “That’s the first time it’s happened in South Dakota,” he said.
    Being a cowboy in politics is also an advantage. “There are some farmers and ranchers in the legislature, but when it comes to ag issues, even something in transportation and trucking, it helps to have that background knowledge of what it means to load a truck and go down the road.”
    Heinert is the Senate Assistant Minority Leader; fellow cowboy Billie Sutton, a former saddle bronc rider, is Senate Minority Leader and has been a part of South Dakota politics for the last six years. Heinert credits Sutton with helping him get his feet under him in politics. “I had a great mentor in Billie. He had been there a while, and he knew the ins and outs, and that gave me a head start.”
    He is married to Gena; they have three children: sons TJ, who is 22, and Harold, who is ten, and a daughter, Jordan, who is 21.

  • Back When They Bucked with Wally Woods

    Back When They Bucked with Wally Woods

    Wally Woods was born in Victoria, Australia, the second youngest of four brothers. “When you’ve got four brothers, and I was the second youngest, I had to fend for myself,” said the 84-year-old Australian cowboy. “My father worked on a cattle/sheep property. My mother died when she was very young. When I was about five years old, we had a post office and I would deliver the mail bag three miles up the road five days a week on a horse.
    Wally started competing in the steer riding when he was 14, winning the first one he entered. “I left school when I was about 11- there was no high school – I went traveling with a Wild West show, traveling all over riding bucking horses and doing all kinds of things in the show. You name it, I did it. We used to do two riding a bucking horse, one in the saddle and one behind, and we’d jump off.” He performed every night, and was part of each act. He traveled with the show for three years, and then switched to rodeo.
    He worked in a spare car parts place and competed on the weekends. “In them days, in this country, money was hard to come by. We’d go to any buck jumping contest we could find (bronc riding).” He got his first big win in 1951, winning the Jubilee Championship of South Australia in the bronc riding. “I won a big cup and 100 pounds. From then on, at different times, one of me own brothers and I used to break in horses and a money earning contest, and travel around to different rodeos all over the country.” He entered every event. “There were five events in those days; bronc, bareback, steer riding, bull dogging, and roping. The roping was either calf roping or wild cow milking. Through the next ten years, I won four all around champions of the year, that’s the highest money winner over the five events.”
    Wally was part of the Australian Rough Riders Association, which started in 1944. “They had a secretary, and a spokesman. It was just a membership that organized it all, and one secretary. From 1945 until 1959, then we formed a board of directors and all that,” he said. “They nominated me as the first president in 1959, and I was that until 1965, competing the whole time.” The ARRA is now the national governing body for professional rodeo competition in Australia, the oldest national rodeo organization in the world.
    The first national finals was held in 1961. “It was an 8 round contest, so you’d ride eight of everything; eight saddle horses, eight bareback horses, eight bulls, bull dog eight steers, and rope eight head,” he explained. Wally, who is 5’6” and 11 stones (14 pounds = one stone) won the bull riding by three bulls, riding seven out of the eight. He won the high pot all around champion for the year, second in the bronc riding and placed in every event.
    Wally met his wife, Lexi, at a rodeo in Victoria. “She was only a girl when I met her,” he said. “I waited seven years to marry her – my brother married her older sister.” Once they were married in 1958, she traveled all over the country with him. They have two children, a son, Guy, who is a cutting trainer in Texas, and a daughter, Lindy, two years and two days older than Guy.
    They traveled around in a Ford 250, with his dogging horse in the back, and towing a caravan behind where they lived. Wally made a good living from rodeo. “In them days if you won 100 pounds (one pound = $2) in five weeks you were doing good; I won 500 pounds, which is good.
    We used to buy petrol at about 2 shillings (.33 a gallon), now it’s $4.80 a gallon. We traveled anything up to 700 miles – there is some big distance between towns. From Victorian border to New South Wales is 600 miles.”
    He continues to hold the record for winning three riding events in one day, and fourth in the bulldogging, at the Australian Championships. In 1958, he won the World Bronc Riding Championship, which included America, New Zealand, and other countries. “All told, I won 40 state Australian titles, and over the years, I’ve won 170 first places. We used to get a big sash when we won a contest, and I counted them out to see who many I won.”
    He continued to compete well into the 1960s, and when he hung up his bull rope, he picked up a stopwatch and started judging. “I knocked off when I bought a transport business in Queensland, which I had started in Victoria. I transported cattle, sheep, horses, whatever livestock there was from one end of the country to the other, anywhere at all.” He still rodeoed around the arena for a little while, but he only went to a very few because he was too busy.
    Wally is officially retired, but he still has some horses. “I breed them, since I give up rodeoing, I’ve managed two big quarter horse breeding properties and I’ve got a little place that we breed horses, Guy sent me a horse to breed here.”
    He’s made several trips to the United States to visit his son and grandchildren, but since his four-way bypass a year and a half ago, he hasn’t done much traveling.
    Wally has seen many changes to rodeo over the years. “It’s the same thing, but we used to ride in an Australian saddle. I was one of the very lucky ones that got to introduce the American saddle to the Australians. There’s a big difference. The
    Australian saddle is an English saddle, but a lot smaller. It has a very low back, and very little, 1 ½ front on it. Once you got used to riding, it’s just like everything, you’re good at it or you’re not.”
    The bareback riggin was completely different than today. “I used to make them and sell them. In 1956, a friend of mine that went to American brought me back a Dixon riggin. The ones they have now, you couldn’t even put them together. It was a straight head one – the original ones were like a bull rope, in fact, we used to use bull ropes riding horses.”
    Bulldogging steers were much different back in his days of rodeoing too. “One of the best bull doggers this country had seen was 6’1, 15 stones (14 pounds per stone – 210 pounds) and I seen his feet not touch the ground for 100 yards after he caught the steer.
    “All the years that I did it, I enjoyed it,” he said of rodeo. “There were quite a few of those fellows that rodeoed and traveled around and we became very good friends and it was also a way of life, it was a way of making money.”

  • On the Trail with Kellan & Carson Johnson

    On the Trail with Kellan & Carson Johnson

    Kellan and Carson Johnson, brothers from 30 miles outside Casper, Wyo., have roped together for eight years. “It’s great – we get to practice together all the time, but its nerve wracking because you don’t want to miss for your little brother,” said Kellan, the 6+ header, who is two years older. “We have an indoor and outdoor arena at home.” They have a great teacher in their dad, Jhett Johnson, 2011 WNFR World Champion Team Roping Heeler with his partner Turtle Powell. The pair won it with a total time of 57.5 seconds on nine head. Their mom, Jenny, competed in goat tying and breakaway in college. “We have plenty of help.” This is Kellan’s second year winning the team roping championship for the state of Wyoming, and he has been the USTRC regional champion, heading for his dad, for two years in a row.

    He made his third trip to the National High School Finals this past summer, he and his partner last year (cousin, Jayden) came into the short go in the same position as this year, third. “The steer we had was great and we were a 5.3,” said Kellan of the run. “We put enough pressure on second and first,” recalls Kellan. “Second high call ended up winning it with a 5.1.” His plan is to practice up for the next year and hopefully win the state title again. “Then go back to Nationals and leave with a first instead of second.”

    He spent the rest of the summer amateur rodeoing in Nebraska. After that, the high school rodeos started up again. “We put up hay and we check cattle and make sure everything is running smooth on the ranch.” The 17-year-old has one more year of high school and is unsure where he will go to college. “I might go somewhere that’s warmer,” he said, and plans to get a degree in Ag Business. He has considered Casper where his dad is the rodeo coach, but thinks he might head to Oklahoma or Texas.

    He and his brother are sitting first in the state at the end of the fall season, he is fourth in calves, and second in the All Around.

    Kellan gives credit for his success to growing up watching his dad and grandpa and uncle break horses. “I learned how a horse should move and act at a high level, cutting, roping, etc. Coming from this family, I learned what good horsemanship, and a good roper, and mindset is all about also,” he explained. “What my dad told me is you have 30 minutes to yourself to be frustrated or angry at anything in life, to understand and go from there. After that 30 minutes, you clear your mind and get on to the next whatever it is.” He explains good horsemanship as someone who can understand the difference between roping and the horse. “When your horse isn’t working right, it makes your job ten times harder than it should be. A horse also demonstrates the rider’s handiness and how success you will be. If you have a good horse, your roping goes up. If you have a bad horse, it goes down.” Kellan has gone through five head horses in the ten years he’s been roping. “The way I look at it, the better you get as a roper, the better your horse has to be. That will take your roping to the next level.” He has learned how to find the right horse. “For what I do, and for my event, I look for a lot of run, a good mindset, good attitude towards things. Kind of like a little kid, willing to learn what you ask of them.” Roping with his brother has gotten better every day. “We are figuring each other out – if you can wake up everyday and make the same run you made the day before, the sky is the limit.”

    Carson is a #7 heeler, and he likes to rope with his brother. “We get to practice every day, it’s always in the family,” he said. The sophomore at Natrona County High School is riding Shwaze, a horse he got a year ago. “When I got him, he was a little green, but now he’s finished and fits me really good.” He spent his time getting ready for the short go by staying relaxed. “It’s nothing more than another steer that we rope in the practice pen. There’s nerves, but not as much as you think. I was super excited to rope our steer, we had a pretty good one. I knew if we could get by him, we’d have a decent shot. It was my first year out there (National High School Finals), coming up second was great.” For Carson, roping is a family deal. “Dad helps all the time, Kellan turns me all the steers I want, my mom supports me, and my grandma is at every rodeo.” His spent his summer the same as his brothers. Amateur rodeo with his brother and keep practicing. When he isn’t rodeoing, he plays basketball and ropes the dummy with his little brother, Kress. “We have matches and have a rodeo season, trying to make the NFR. We have teams with our cousins – we set it out there a ways, and we time it on the phone. We win bragging rights.”

    Little brother, Kress, is seven. He ropes the Heel O Matic and likes to ranch and also likes the bucking end of the arena, helping Dona Vold this fall at the high school rodeos. The family lives on a 7,000 acre ranch that was homesteaded by their great great grandfather in 1884. The house that Jamis and Judy Johson (grandparents) live in was built in 1892, and remains the oldest two story log home that is lived in in Wyoming.

  • Cook Shack : Jalapeno Popper Mac

    Cook Shack : Jalapeno Popper Mac

    Mac Sauce
    recipe courtesy of The Mac + Cheese Cookbook

    Ingredients:
    3 cups whole milk
    ½ cup unsalted butter
    ½ cup all purpose flour
    2 teaspoons kosher salt or 1 teaspoon table salt

    DIRECTIONS: 1. Heat the milk in a pot over medium heat until just starts to bubble but is not boiling, about 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from heat. 2. Heat the butter over medium heat in a separate heavy-bottomed pot. When the butter has just melted, add flour and whisk constantly until the mixture turns light brown, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat.
    3. Slowly pour the warm milk, about 1 cup at a time, into the butter-flour mixture, whisking constantly. It will get very thick when you first add the milk and thinner as you slowly pour in the entire three cups.
    4. Once all the milk has been added set the pot back over medium-high heat, and continue to whisk constantly. In the next 2 to 3 minutes the sauce should come together and become silky and thick. Use the spoon test to make sure it’s ready. To do this, dip a metal spoon and if it doesn’t slide off like milk, you’ll know it’s ready. You should able to run your finger along the spoon and have the impression remain. Add the salt.
    5. The Mac Sauce is immediately ready to use and does not need to cool. Store it in the fridge for a day or two if you want to make it ahead of time – it will get a lot thicker when put in the fridge, so it may need a little milk to think it out a bit when it comes time to melt in the cheese. Try melting the cheese into the sauce first, and if it is too thick then add milk as needed.

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    Jalapeno Popper Mac
    recipe courtesy of The Mac + Cheese Cookbook

    ingredients:
    ½ pound dried elbow pasta
    2 cups Mac Sauce (recipe above)
    2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
    ½ cup cream cheese
    ¼ cup stemmed, seeded and chopped jalapeno chiles, plus extra for garnish
    ½ cup panko crumbs

    DIRECTIONS: 1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
    2. Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until a little less than al dente. Drain, rinse pasta with cold water and drain it again.
    3. Add the sauce, Cheddar, cream cheese, and chiles to a large, heavy bottomed pot and cook over medium heat. Stir until the cheese is barely melted, about 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and stiff in cooked pasta. Take a taste to check the potency of the chiles – jalapenos can vary in heat, depending on the batch and season so you may want to add more to increase the fire.
    4. Pour the cheesy noodle mixture into a large baking dish. Top evenly with panko and bake until you see the cheese sauce bubbling on the sides, 10 to 15 minutes.
    5. Spoon into bowls and serve immediately.

  • WORKING AS A TEAM

    WORKING AS A TEAM

    Hello Ropers, it is great to be back for the sixth article. I hope your summer of roping has been great and the previous articles have helped you with your roping. I would like to discuss the importance of working together as a team during your run. There are so many draw-pots out there now which makes it easier to go and compete but many times we do not know who the person is that we are roping with. As mentioned in previous articles about the steps for the headers and heelers, we need to make sure every time we back in the box and execute fundamentals, we also work with the person in the other box.
    Headers, you have to do your job as if there is not a heeler over there to help you. If the steer runs straight, right or left, you still have to go catch them. Many times heelers choose to stay back because they are watching what the header is doing and this allows the steer to run to the right fence. Now the header has to change position and move up higher on the steer to be able to catch without hitting the fence with their loop. I stress so much to all of the heelers how important position is, and if the heeler is in proper position, they will not allow the steer to run to the right fence. Remember, the shortest distance from point A to point B is a straight line. Both header and heeler serve as the hazer! Heelers need to let the steer know they are out there to the right but not haze the steer left while the header is trying to achieve position. Just as a header needs to understand that if they get to position and swing several more times, they automatically become the primary hazer and the steer is going to move right in front of the heeler.
    I like to start my heel horses with the gate. That does not mean I take off running at the steer. The haze is created the first ten feet out of the box. So if I am ten feet out of the box and ahead of the header, I have established myself as the primary hazer. At this point, I throttle my horse to wait on my header to move forward to position and I can then hustle to position working with the header to keep the steer running the straight line or pattern. If we do this, handles become more consistent by headers and heelers catch rates are higher because they are in place to follow the steer off the corner or set and rope. Now, we are team roping because we are working together as a team to control the environment of the steer. If we control our environment instead of the steer controlling us, we make more consistent runs. Oh, and this is also allows us to make faster runs without trying to be faster. I always tell my students, control is fast! We can slow down and work smarter to be faster.
    Until next time, best of luck with your roping. Rope smarter, not harder!

    Thank you and God Bless!
    Krece