After a successful winter and spring worth $50k by May, Jake Smith has secured his first top-10 spot in the world heading standings and has his best shot yet at hurdling the National Finals Rodeo-cut wall that’s kept this Broken Bow, Oklahoma, cowboy home in Decembers past. Being three deep in horses has everything to do with Smith’s 2024 success, and his No. 1, Guns, has been firing.
More Guns Less Roses is a stout 9-year-old sorrel who stands 15.3 hands, and pushes the scales at a sturdy 1,200 pounds.
“Guns is the horse I ride at the longer-score rodeos with averages,” Jake said. “We won good at Logandale, Red Bluff and Clovis this spring with me riding Guns, and I’ll ride him at rodeos like Reno, Casper, Sheridan, Salinas and Cheyenne this summer. Guns and Flinty—which is the horse my brother (and two-time champ of the world) Clay rides that belongs to his father-in-law, Jason Richey—have the same brands.
“They were both raised by Reliance Ranches, then bought by Trevor Brazile, then Wyatt Imus, then Kaleb Driggers. I see all these brands on Guns, and think those guys must have thought something of these two horses to stick their brands on both of them.
You wonder why Guns has passed through so many hands, but it goes to show you that just because somebody else doesn’t get along with one doesn’t mean it’s not worth trying him. You need to get on one to see if it’s a fit.”
Guns and Flinty went separate ways when Driggers sold Flinty to Clint Summers, who then sold him to Richey. Driggers rode Guns awhile, then traded him to 2D Rope Horses.
“I bought Guns from 2D, which is Cheyenne Dorris, in Stephenville in the spring in 2023,” Jake said. “I was headed to Clay’s house to practice one night after San Angelo, and he asked me to pick up a couple horses from 2D they were wanting to sell. We got them saddled, and Clay said, ‘You need this one more than I do, so you ride him and see if you want him.’ I ran five steers on Guns that night, and could instantly tell he was more head horse than I had. It was a few days before the BFI, and Cheyenne told me, ‘If you say you want him, consider him yours. I’ll bring you the papers at the BFI, and a handshake’s good with me. Pay him out however you can.’”
The horse upgrade helped Smith get Guns paid for pretty fast.
“If there was one horse I couldn’t do without, it would have to be Guns,” Jake said. “And he’s my go-to horse at the jackpots, for sure. It’s pretty simple—he scores really good, and he’s really fast. Guns is a straight running-bred own son of Valiant Hero. But it’s crazy how cowy he is.
“If a steer checks off or comes to me, he cows to him and sticks his head over to the cow. That was making me miss my slack sometimes. I knew they were going to laugh at me, and call me an Okie and a hillbilly, which I am. But at the WestStar Roping in Ellensburg last September, I found a hay string and tied it from the bit on the left side to the D-ring on my girth on the left side, just tight enough to where Guns couldn’t turn his nose to the right. Me and Paul (Eaves) won second at the roping that day, and I’ve never looked back or taken that hay string off since.”
Smith, 31, says Guns gets “juiced up” around big crowds, “but when he gets to the head box, he doesn’t move.” Smith and Illinois native Douglas Rich, who heeled for Coy Rahlmann at the 2021 NFR, joined forces in May 2023. Smith’s 28th-place finish last year was his best before now. Jake and Doug are buddying with Clay and Coleby Payne in 2024, and both were top-10 teams at press time in May, with Jake handling the entering.
“The ways Clay has helped me are too many to count, and this horse deal with Guns is just one example,” Jake said. “Since we were little, Dad (Mark) always told us, ‘If somebody’s got some kind of advice, put it in your bag. If it helps, use it. If it doesn’t, it never hurts to try.’ So we listen to what everyone has to say. But having Clay, who knows all the ins and outs, in my corner is amazing.
“One of the things I’ve tried to do in the last year or so is always try my best, but always smile, whether I catch or miss. The first year we rodeoed, when I was heeling for Clay, we buddied with Dustin Bird and Paul Eaves. Bird was the guy you couldn’t tell if he caught or missed as he rode out of the arena. He was going to have a smile on his face and talk to you, no matter what. Learning that has really helped me, like when I warped the high-team steer for Doug at the World Series Finale last December. At the end of the day, there are way more important things than roping and rodeoing, and God lets us do what we love.”
This is the second year Jake’s rodeoed hard as a header.
“I tried the heeling deal awhile, and just didn’t have the success I was looking for,” he said. “Clay told me, ‘You need to head,’ and that kind of sealed the deal for me. The good Lord put Guns in my hands when he’d passed through so many others, like it was meant to be. He’s just good.”
He might not be suited for the Thomas & Mack, but he’s sure helping Smith try to get there.
“The rodeos aside, Guns has made a night-and-day difference in my jackpot heading,” Jake said. “He lets me catch up fast and rope on the gain. He’s not for little buildings in tight spaces. But Guns is great everywhere else.”
The other two horses Smith’s hauling these days include a 12-year-old sorrel grade gelding he raised and calls Reminic, because he’s by a Reminic clone. Smith considers him his third-stringer and is most likely to ride Reminic at fast setups.
Friendly rounds out Smith’s remuda, and is an experienced veteran they think is 20 or 21 that Smith has a lot of faith in.
“Friendly’s the older chestnut horse I rode at Fort Worth, San Antonio and Houston, and won Corpus Christi and the Kid Rock rodeo on in May,” Jake said. “Chad rode a palomino at his last NFR when he roped with Joseph Harrison (in 2022), then got on Friendly there. Chad sold him to Luke (Brown), who rode him last summer, then I bought him from Luke in December. Friendly’s been there and done that. And let’s face it, our horses are almost everything at this level.”
—TRJ—
