Dear Roper,
In an episode of “The Score”, this January, auctioneer Steve Friskup spent a lot of time discussing how the desire to live the Western way of life was driving the horse market through the roof. People from the coasts and the cities are looking to get a piece of land and return to their natural roots in the West, and, in turn, the real estate market has exploded in team roping hot spots all over the U.S.
In this issue, we get the chance to highlight some of those popular places to relocate and their team roping offerings, including many of the real estate agents who can help you find a place of your own with an arena in your backyard and the pipe entryway of your dreams. These agents featured in this issue have a keen understanding of the needs of the team roper, and many of them funnel their profits back into the team roping industry as competitors, too.
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Managing Editor G.R. Schiavino uses her feature space this month to tell the story of a family living in one of those hot spots—Colorado’s Torres family, whose commitment to the horse industry manifests not only in team roping, but also in a vibrant charro culture.
In her feature this month, Senior Editor Kendra Santos talks to legendary ropers about their greatest regrets from the rodeo trail. From Jake Barnes and Trevor Brazile to Kory Koontz and Jade Corkill, their answers are as diverse as the men themselves, and some may surprise you. (Spoiler: Trevor Brazile‘s answer won’t surprise you at all if you’ve followed anything he’s written over the years.)
I hope you’ve been following along with teamropingjournal.com, as the last few months have been truly amazing in team roping land. The Open guys have had hundreds of thousands to rope for between The American, San Antonio, the Cinch Timed Event, the BFI and the Lone Star Shootout, just to name a few, and we’ve covered those in depth online and briefly in this issue, too. The Wiley Hicks in Amarillo, the ropings of BFI Week and, of course, the NTR Finals gave the recreational crowd some amazing chances at even bigger money, too. We highlight those results here and online, too.
Thanks for flipping through this month, and we’ll see you down the road.
