It’s easy to be gracious when things are going your way. It’s life’s curveballs and challenges that test our true character. How many of you watched the last perf of the San Bernardino (California) Sheriff’s PRCA Rodeo with me from the very edge of your seats at this year’s regular rodeo season finish line on Sunday, September 29, because the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo teeter totter was in full swing?
A 2024 trip to Vegas came down to one steer between a two-team buddy group. When it was over, three of the four friends—Erich Rogers, Paul Eaves and Derrick Begay—made the Top-15 cut. Colter Todd was the odd man out, and finished 16th in the world on the heeling side. It’d be a big, fat yikes—if this wasn’t two of the coolest cowboys of all time we’re talking about here.
To set the stage for you, if you weren’t in that moment with the rest of us, the two teams pulled into San Bernardino with a mere $84 margin between them.
“We had to beat them, regardless of what they did, for me to make it,” Colter explained, calm as ever when it was over. “But it was actually fun. It was like we were in the practice pen running one last steer to see who makes the Finals.
“The hardest pill for me to deal with mentally was that I felt like I was on the downhill slide, and had been doing bad instead of climbing and battling. In the end, I felt like I failed the last 30 days of the regular season.”
Rogers and Eaves rode in to rope the team before Begay and Todd this time. That was not the order they roped in most of the year when they buddied, but the way all the trades turned out it was how it was right there at the end.
Rogers and Eaves stuck it on one in 5 flat to take the lead of the rodeo. So when Begay and Todd rode in next, the only play was to try and win it. Begay took his shot, but did not connect. That’s the understandable hard part for him.
“I should have roped that steer all day,” said Begay, who does not do excuses. “My horse scored good. I had a good go. The steer was good, and the timing was there. That’s a steer I catch every time. Nothing was out of whack. It was an easy shot. Everything felt good, and I missed.”
That Begay would man up and own it was predictable. That Colter cared most about his header and best friend making it was also par for their cowboy course.
“It went exactly how it was supposed to go,” said Todd, who won last year’s NFR average with Begay. “For me, it’s fine. I don’t rodeo for a living (he ranches). Not that I don’t care or have any emotions. But the way it ended up coming down to that last steer, it was bittersweet, but also cooler than heck.”
They rode out the back end at San Bernardino knowing the 500-mile drive back home to Arizona—Seba Dalkai for Begay, and Willcox for Colter—would be a long one.
“Not much was said,” according to Begay. “I was bummed out. We got in the truck, and I started driving. We stopped at In-N-Out (Burger), then kept going. So many things were going through my head. A guy dreams about making the NFR. My wife is due December 21, so she’s probably not even going to go to the NFR. Now I’m not going to get to rope with my best friend. If I didn’t go, Jonathan Torres would get to rope with his partner (Nelson Wyatt, who finished 16th on the heading side).
“I finally said a few words. I told Colter, ‘The main reason I pro rodeo these days is because of you.’ The thought of going to the Finals without Colter did not make me happy.”
Hailey Rae Photo
Naturally, Colter wasn’t having any of that. And he placed all the blame directly on his own two shoulders.
“I just didn’t rope good enough,” Colter said. “To fail at the end is hard. After the second round at Sioux Falls and before we roped our steer at Mona, Utah, the heading was done and Begay was in. That meant so much to me. He roped good enough. He deserves to be there.
“This is the first major failure I’ve had to deal with. It’s good for me, but it’s not easy. I had $94,000 won the first of August. To have that fall through does not feel very good. But I’m pumped for a guy like Tanner Braden, who’s been on the bubble a couple times. I’m not the guy who needed to make it the most, and I’m happy for everyone who did make it.”
Of course he is. So Colter of him. Wyatt finished $3,081 behind Begay with $101,988 on the regular season. Todd ended up $3,843 behind Eaves with $105,069. They only went to 70-some rodeos, when team ropers can count 80.
“That the way it went was meant to be is the only way I can wrap my head around what happened here,” said Begay, who’ll head for Torres at Derrick’s 11th NFR in December. “We were taking care of business. That it was meant to be is the only explanation that makes any sense.
“We did have rodeos left, and could have gone to places like Pasadena, New Braunfels and Stephenville (Texas). But we’re supposed to make it with what we entered. We didn’t want to do anything stupid and force it. We went to all the good ones where we could ride our own horses.”
They did it their way, just like they live the rest of their lives. And their conversations haven’t returned to this subject since they were in that truck driving home from San Bernardino a month ago.
“Fall’s a good time for cowboys,” Begay said. “And when you get home and back to your life, you get busy and forget about rodeo. Colter and I both do that. Being back home on the desert puts a good feel back in me.
“I’ve been gathering cows. Colter came over this morning to preg check cows with me. Colter does the preg checking. We worked the cows and weaned the calves before heading to our (Turquoise) circuit finals, which starts tonight in Camp Verde (Arizona).”
These are family-first cowboys with life perspective.
“There was a time when I got nervous, and thought, ‘What if I don’t get Begay in?’” Colter said. “For me, it’s fine. I don’t rodeo for a living. It’s not that I don’t have emotions or care. There was no reason not to make it with what we won early. As a competitor, it was hard for me to lose ground until right there at the end. But the way we roped, Begay needed to make it. I obviously did not.
“It absolutely crossed my mind before we roped that last steer that those other guys rodeo for a living, and have sponsor contracts. They have to make the NFR. Bottom line is that it worked out exactly how it was supposed to.”
It’s all good for these guys. But still…
“It’s hard to let a friend down,” Begay said. “For me to make it and him not is a feeling I’ve never had before. It’s a letdown. But we both know we have to accept the outcome.
“It’s disappointing, but it’s going to be OK. Because we’re best friends. Colter’s not just a team roping partner, and rodeoing isn’t our life. If rodeo is all that mattered to me, I’d move to Texas and rope all day. Cowboying is our life.”
