The Utah team of Hagen Peterson and Dylin Ahlstrom are rolling again, four years after the cousins swept the Wilderness Circuit Finals Rodeo and were year-end champs.
Peterson, 26, and Ahlstrom, 28, again both rank in the top half of their circuit standings. They each recently started families and have jobs riding rope horses in Delta and Ogden, respectively. They decided to take their wives and tiny tots to the close-to-home rodeos this summer while Ahlstrom seasons some young heel horses. The PRCA’s Circuit System, seemingly, was made for this.
But it’s broken.
“Making our circuit finals now is a joke,” said Ahlstrom of the circuit that half the Top 15 seemingly designated this season. “And it’s even worse in the calf roping. I don’t know what the right answer is, but this isn’t it.”
In tie-down roping, just three guys from Utah, Idaho or Nevada will make the Wilderness Finals (Riley Webb leads the standings). And in Heeling, Levi Lord claimed the Wilderness Circuit and is winning it. Arizona’s Cory Petska, plus Texas’ Douglas Rich and Nicky Northcott, are taking up the top four heeling holes with five more of the top 12 filled by non-residents.
In heading, only three of the current Top 12 are from Utah, Idaho or Nevada. Accordingly, while a guy usually needs to win $6,500-$9,000 to make any of North America’s circuit finals, in mid-August it’s already taking $15,000 for a heeler to make the Wilderness Finals.
“Some guys who’ve made our circuit finals for decades didn’t even buy their card this year,” said Ahlstrom. “As for me, I wanted to slow down and spend time with my kid, but I’m going to have to go to 50 rodeos just for a chance to make my circuit finals.”
So, what happened? The PRCA’s 12 geographical circuit finals rodeos have served for 50 years as the icing of the competitive cake for ropers with full-time jobs who don’t compete full-time – the guys who make up the majority of PRCA membership. Their carrot was the possibility of becoming a national circuit champion.
But in 2022, the PRCA rebranded the national circuit finals into the “NFR Open,” moved it to Colorado Springs, Colo., and made its paychecks count toward NFR qualifications. Champs also win a berth into the Cinch Playoffs in Puyallup, Wash., from which they can make the Governor’s Cup in South Dakota. Thus, the system designed for the majority of PRCA members is now aimed directly at NFR contenders, who are no dummies. Of the 60 designated Playoff Series rodeos, 14 are inside the Wilderness Circuit.
“Levi is one of my good friends,” Ahlstrom said. “But he has $41,000 won in our circuit. I can’t catch that guy.”
He and Peterson have run “millions and millions” of steers together since they were 10 years old, said Ahlstrom, which helps them make great runs. Dylin’s brother is a construction project manager and an 8-plus heeler, however, who hasn’t bought his card in four years. He said he can only practice twice a week, so he’s not going to go try to beat the top 15.
“I don’t know the right move, but something different needs to happen,” said Ahlstrom. “I have another friend who’s young with a full-time job. He said he just can’t take off all the work he would have to take off to make our circuit finals.”
And there’s a domino effect. The circuit’s smaller rodeos are knife-fights now, too, because NFR contenders are trying to get their Wilderness rodeo counts in. Of 30 teams entered at a small Wilderness circuit rodeo now, 20 are NFR teams. A salty 3.7 won Jerome, Idaho.
“The circuit system isn’t working as it was meant to work,” said Ahlstrom. “The circuit guys don’t enter anymore. We’ve probably lost like 20 guys to other circuits, like they drive to the Mountain States because Wilderness is so miserable to try to make the Finals. Or they can go to amateur rodeos for a $60 membership and $90 fees. Those have really picked up around Utah.”
The topic is not just on the circuit guy’s minds, it is something that has PRCA team roping event director and two-time world champion Kaleb Driggers’ attention, too.
“This is a concerning issue that I have been working diligently on for every circuit,” Driggers said. “There is cases in almost every circuit where it is no longer about the circuit cowboy and I have been fighting for them.”
“My idea was when the season was over, if you are in the top 15 in the World in your respected event, you are not allowed to attend your circuit finals,” he continued. “This would allow the cowboys to continue to circuit rodeo but, once you make the NFR, you can’t compete at two finals. It is a way of tiering rodeo without limiting small rodeos from getting a few NFR guys to enter. It is a win-win in my eyes for the cowboys and the committees.”
“NFR guys push back on my idea, but if we run off all the circuit guys, there’s going to be 30-40 of us driving around here before too long swapping money around. Added money is great, rodeos continue to do more and it’s awesome, but very few rodeos throughout the year add more money than the cowboy does. More times than not, the entry fees outweigh the added money. People are often concerned with limited entry rodeos and from a committee’s point of view, I understand how it can be helpful at times in different scenarios. Do I often vote for a limit? No. But I do not believe that the limited rodeos would be as big of a deal if the circuit guys and the young guys could get what is theirs back. I took this job because I’m passionate about the sport—it has gave me everything that I have and I want to see it grow. But we are on the wrong trajectory, especially in the Wilderness circuit being effected the most.”
Peterson and Ahlstrom hope to spend another year or two building up their horses and giving their NFR dreams one more go before they settle down for good. Ahlstrom’s daughter just turned 2 while Peterson’s son is about to turn 1.
“It dang sure makes it tougher now,” said Peterson. “Especially when guys will claim Wilderness and then don’t show up at the Circuit Finals but have enough won to go to the NFR Open. I guess I want to be able to beat them anyway. Might as well just take it to them in the circuit. Hopefully, come next year, we can get it on!”
This pair has Caldwell remaining, of course, and Gooding and Burley and a handful of good rodeos. But because of NFR-contender partner-swapping, the Wilderness standings are far different in heading vs heeling. Since Peterson and Ahlstrom want to rope together again at Colorado Springs, they’ll have to try to win the average at the Wilderness Finals. Piece of cake.