Who are your Junior NFR partners?Calvin Taylor, Luke Williams, and Trent Wood. What horses are in your string?I’m riding a horse I call Taz—he’s 7—and one named Laser—he’s 10. I ride a palomino—Hollywood—a little bit too. But Tax is my favorite. He rides around there, drags his ...read more
TRJ: You and Paul (Eaves) have been so dominant up to this point. How are you feeling heading into summer?CS: This is the most we’ve ever had won. I’ve been on both ends of it, but it really takes the pressure off of a guy. But I guess if you think about it, there’s really never ...read more
Weeks BeforeThe first two times I won the BFI, in 2005 and 2008, I would have been in Montana before going to Reno. There, I wouldn’t have been able to jackpot as much, so I would have been in the practice pen, really focusing on making sure my horse scored, letting the steers ...read more
Number and End4-Elite HeelerAll-Girl PowerI usually just meet up with my partner, Jayme Marcrum, at the ropings. We’ve known each other for a long time, probably since ’85 or ’86. I used to head and she used to heel back then. I quit for a while after I had my kids, and then I ...read more
Tyler Wade, who qualified for his first trip to the Thomas & Mack in Las Vegas in 2016, started out the season roping with Trey Yates. Now after five years, Wade will be seen entered with his rookie-year partner Tyler McKnight, who made his first appearance in Las Vegas just last ...read more
Kendra Santos: When did you start team roping, and how did that happen?Jason Smith: I was raised by a single mom, Linda Smith, and my Grandma Carolyn lived across the street. My grandmother worked the concession stand on Sundays at an arena in Dallas they called the Hog Pen. My ...read more
When it comes to team roping accomplishments, it’s often a matter of who won what for how much in what time, and have they done it more than once. Within those parameters, there’s certainly no shortage of legendary feats such as the historic eight consecutive world champion ...read more
SUPPLY AND DEMANDThe toughest gig today is finding the horses that you can win on. As you well know, fewer horses are bred now and there’s more demand. There’s twice as much money in team roping today as there was 15 years ago. So, if you can find good horses, you’ll need to be ...read more
Gist Silversmiths has made the BFI buckles for nearly all of the storied roping’s 41-year history, but the BFI Champion buckle on Cody Cowden’s belt is one-of-a-kind. Cowden won the 1997 Bob Feist Invitational with a time of 47.72 seconds on six head with his Wrangler National ...read more
The spring run of rodeos in California wraps up this month, and, per tradition, spending April and May in the Golden State means roping in the mud sooner or later. ‘Tis the season, as they say.Since the beginning of time, timed-event cowboys have debated whether it’s best to boot ...read more
The basic economics law of supply and demand has kicked in full force in the rope-horse business, and it’s a hot topic for all involved—recreational ropers and rodeo ropers alike. We asked a few industry experts to share in this conversation about the growing rope-horse market, ...read more
Dr. David Fletcher kicked off February by winning the Wildfire XX #11 Businessman’s Super Qualifier with his partner, header Alan Chappell. In an event that paid out more than $231,000 and drew 420 teams, Chappell and Fletcher took the winning check for $43,000 after securing the ...read more
