Old-school cowboy cool is the best I can come up with to describe a four-header on walking-fresh 500-pound muleys in today’s sudden-death format frenzy that plays out playoff-style over short scores in so many places. The Clovis Rodeo chooses to honor tradition with its cowboy conditions. And a second-straight win in the team roping—this time with fellow young gun Ross Ashford—says Jr Dees is cool going old school. 

“Clovis is not your average rodeo, that’s for dang sure,” said Aurora, South Dakota native Dees, 25, who heading for Levi Lord last year tied at the top at Clovis ’22 with Andrew Ward and Buddy Hawkins. “There’s a lot more to it than just a regular team roping, and I love it. It’s one of my favorite rodeos all year. I’ve always loved roping necks. But you need to have a game plan, and be able to control the run as best you can at Clovis.”

Such cowboy conditions always call for head horses who can handle them, and Dees’ Dillon has certainly answered that call the last couple years.

“Dillon’s real strong to the horn,” said two-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo header Dees, who roped at his first Finals with Tyler McKnight in 2017, and returned to Vegas last December with Lord. “Those muleys are big, and a head horse has to be strong enough to keep their head here. Our third one went left, which meant having to deal with that left wall. Dillon keeps the run moving, which helps Ross, because he knows where they’re going to be going.”

If you were at Clovis or watching from home on the Cowboy Channel and Ashford’s heel horse looked a little familiar, it’s because you know him. Remix was the warrior horse that somehow survived the 2020 road wreck that killed the other horse Kory Koontz had in his trailer that day. Rudy didn’t make it. Remix was beat up pretty bad, but fought his way back to being Koontz’s main mount. When Koontz decided to semi retire, he sold Remix to Travis Graves. Now Ashford owns him. 

“Remix is 15 now, and I bought him the beginning of this year,” said Ashford, 24, who comes from Lott, Texas and roped at his first Finals in 2021 with NFR switch-ender Clint Summers. “He scores good, and there’s a heeling barrier at Clovis. Remix is big, can run and is really easy to dally on. He’s forgiving. He’ll stay with them really good if I need to track one.”

Dees and Ashford were second high call behind Coy Rahlmann and Jonathan Torres. Dees stuck it on their last muley fast, and Ashford and Remix waited out a wild jump or two, then closed the deal. Their 32.2 on four describes the degree of difficulty here, and how far this contest is from the 3-second winter-building blurs in everyone’s recent rearview mirrors. 

Jr and Ross split fourth in the first round, won Round 3, fourth in the short round and first in the average, and left Clovis with $9,521. Forever Clovis Arena Director Vince Genco says the four-header came about from conversations with eight-time World Champion Header Speed Williams a few years back.

“We have a four-header in the timed events (Clovis a one-header in the roughstock events), because that’s what the contestants wanted,” Genco said. “That goes back to Speed Williams. He came to us years ago, and suggested that in order to keep the contestants here all week we needed to put up more money and have a four-header. So we worked toward that, and got it done.”

The muleys came about a couple years ago, when about three weeks before the 2021 Clovis Rodeo the committee still wasn’t certain they’d be cleared to proceed with putting on the rodeo due to COVID concerns. 

“No one wanted to put up the money for expensive Corrientes, because there was still so much uncertainty about cancelations,” Genco continued. “So we brought in the muleys, which in this case are Mexican beef cattle. And everybody loved it. 

“The team ropers loved the muleys, and so did everybody else. When you see roughstock guys watching the team roping, you know you’re doing something right. I had several calls from old-time cowboys who watched the rodeo on the Cowboy Channel, including (California native ProRodeo Hall of Fame steer wrestler) Jack Roddy, who said, ‘This is the best watching I’ve seen in a long time. There’s no being bored watching the Clovis Rodeo. Don’t ever change a thing.’”

That’s kind of what Dees and Ashford are wanting to do with their partnership now. The longtime second partners at the jackpots got off to a sluggish start as a new rodeo team this winter, but have been having a glorious spring. They’ve gotten wins in Huntsville, Texas; Redmond, Oregon; and now Clovis, on the heels of a second-place finish at another California four-header behind Ward and Hawkins at last week’s Red Bluff Round-Up. 

“We’re trying to build horses, and a good, solid, long-term team,” said heading-half Dees. “I’m aggressive, a little wild, and like to go fast. Ross doesn’t get too worked up about anything. He’s chill, and catches two feet a lot. This last month, we’ve gone back to roping what they give us, and seeing what they pay us.

“The barrier’s just long enough at Clovis that those big muleys get a head start, which gives them confidence and lets them run wide open and strong. It’s more like going to the pasture, and having to doctor one. It’s hard to stay focused for four days, but you have to get through the course. You have to make a plan, go to them and stay on the same page as your partner.” 

“I really like roping with Jr, because I feel like he tries really hard,” Ashford answered. “When he gets in the box, he’s going to do everything he can to do a good job and let us win. He’s not scared to back in there and bring some heat, but he can also just go catch when it’s called for. I have a lot of confidence roping with him. He’s our quarterback, and if you don’t get spins, nothing else matters much. Here at Clovis, you can only be as fast as the muleys will let you be. When your header does a good job, it doesn’t really matter if they have horns or not.”

Dees clipped the barrier on their first steer at Oakdale the other day, but they rallied and won the second round. They headed back to Texas after Clovis with smiles on their faces about their California spring run. 

“We both made a few mistakes this winter, but we’ve had a great spring run,” said Dees, who currently hangs his hat in Orange, Texas. “We’ve drawn pretty good, and have made some nice runs. Things have kind of just been falling in our favor. We’ve gone back to trying not to beat ourselves, and it’s been getting us paid. Sometimes you have to slow down, and go back to just heading and heeling the steer.”

Their next rodeo road trip will be the week of Livermore, California and Sisters, Oregon in early June. Meanwhile, the team will spend the second week of May in Mexico, where Ashford will marry his soon-to-be-bride, Taylor Langle. Dees and his girlfriend, Rigby Baker, will join them before getting back to rodeo business—with a little golf sprinkled in every chance they get. 

“Our main goal is to go rodeo this summer, make a living and keep our horses put together,” Dees said. “We both claim the Badlands Circuit, so we want to get our circuit count in also. We want to stay focused, make the National Finals and see what else comes along.”

“We’re going to try to keep it pretty simple,” Ashford added. “We just want to catch steers and try to make the Finals.”