Kendra Santos

Team Ropers

The Man, The Myth, The Legend: Bob Feist

Bob Feist is the founder of the Bob Feist Invitational (BFI) and a 45-year professional rodeo announcer. He also founded Ropers Sports News—the first publication ever dedicated solely to team roping—back in 1968, and still serves as the paper’s publisher. Feist, 81, lives in Lodi, California.

Rope Horse Care

There Will Never Be Another Scooter

Charles Pogue's iconic Scooter was a four-legged wonder.

Team Ropers

At Home with Shad Feild

Shad Feild is the son of late ProRodeo Hall of Famer Lewis Feild and Veronica Feild Jackson. He’s also big brother to six-time and reigning World Champion Bareback Rider Kaycee Feild. Entrepreneur and pilot Shad, 39, lives in Roosevelt, Utah, with his wife, Jazlyn, and their five kids, Daxtyn, 15, Bronx, 11, Mavryx, 9, and twin daughters, Poppy and Goldie, 5. Jazlyn Feild is NFR team roper and tie-down roper Rhen Richard’s sister.

Team Ropers

At Home With: South Point GM Ryan Growney

As general manager of the South Point Hotel Casino & Spa in Las Vegas, Ryan Growney proudly serves as South Point owner Michael Gaughan’s right-hand man. The South Point this month plays host to the Ariat World Series of Team Roping Finale, and as always Growney and Gaughan will be greeting team ropers from far and wide. Growney lives in Las Vegas with his wife, Sierra, and their little girl, Scarlett, who was born in Vegas during the 2019 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

Team Ropers

Katey Jo Gordon IS the Ultimate Cowboy

Katey Jo Gordon grew up in Jal, New Mexico, and now makes her home in Comanche, Oklahoma, with her husband, Dylan. This 5+ header and 4 heeler—who turned 29 on Nov. 25—is a ranching, barrel racing, breakaway roping, team roping cowgirl supreme.

Team Ropers

Welcome to the Ward & Hawkins Show

Andrew Ward and Buddy Hawkins surprised some when they made their first of two-straight Wrangler National Finals Rodeos together in 2020. Others were straight-up stunned when they were the ones who broke Jake Barnes and Clay Cooper’s 27-year-old NFR average record in Las Vegas last December. God might be the only one who saw superstardom—including the 2022 windfall wins at both the Lone Star Shootout and The American—included in life’s master script for the uniquely wired team of Ward and Hawkins. These guys don’t see or walk through this world the same way as the other big dogs.

Team Ropers

Fighting for Their Young Cowboy Lives

Caden Cavness, Cade Walker and Walker Huggins are all young cowboys fighting for survival.

Team Ropers

The Horseman’s Breeder: Mel Potter

Team Ropers

Lucky Ward, Team Roping Fan

How team roping has brought joy to one young, deserving fan named Lucky.

Rope Horses

The Pitzer Legacy: Jim Brinkman and the Family Tradition That Helped Shape the Horse Market

Jim Brinkman and his wife, Tana, are living the Pitzer Ranch legacy started by Jim’s grandfather Howard Pitzer in the Sandhills of north central Nebraska in Ericson. They work alongside their grown children—son Sam and his wife, Kendra; and daughter Sarah and her husband, Lane Larreau—and run horses and cattle per family tradition. Plenty of team roping time is built into the Pitzer Ranch work schedule.