Britt Williams’ family has raised some of the most famous heel horses in the sport—particularly Jade Corkill’s Caveman (Fine Snip Of Doc) and Clay Cooper and Paul Eaves’ Snip—but during the 2022 Royal Crown, it was all about their head horses.

Williams’ Big Payday

Williams, who roped at the 2010 NFR with Hall of Famer Bobby Harris, won the Royal Crown 8-&-Under heading on Twist Of Style and won third on his other horse, Colonel Of War. Both horses are by their family’s stallion Twist Of Colonel, who’s a half brother to Caveman and Snip by Donnie Nelson’s Snip Of Colonel. For Twist Of Style’s four head score of 486.84, that’s $4,600 for Britt and wife, Kaila, plus another $2,400 for breeders and stallion owners Zan and Juanita Williams. For Colonel of War’s 476.17, the family picked up $2,300 as owners and $1,200 as breeders and stallion owners.

In the rounds, Twist Of Style picked up $500 for third in the third round, while Colonel Of War was third in Round 2 for another $500. Twist Of Style won another $750 for second in Round 1.

Twist Of Style’s and Colonel Of War’s Pedigrees

“They’re both home raised,” Williams, 37, of Hammond, Montana, said. “The bay (Colonel Of War) is out of a mare I rodeoed on for a couple years. My wife and my daughters head and breakaway on the mare. She’s the best woman’s horse I’ve ever seen. The bay reminds me a lot of her. He can be a little bit fragile, but he’s got a lot of extras so if you can hold it all together, you’ve got plenty of horse.

“The horse I won on is also out of my dad’s black stud… His mom is a horse my wife bought in high school out of a sale, when her and her family went up to Montana for the summer. He’s a lot easier to ride than the bay, but a lot of horse. He’s better on the 15th steer than he is the first. It’s kind of awkward for a 5-year-old to just keep going and going and going. I rode them both in the 6-&-Under Open, and I was fourth high call on the sorrel and fifth on the bay, and I was the crying hole—the highest score that didn’t place. They both worked good both days they showed. I stayed out of their way better in the 8-&-Under and it showed.”

Williams—whose rodeo schedule is much lighter these days—also made the short round at Cheyenne on the 2016 gelding Colonel Of War, just a week before the Royal Crown.

“Our program got started off Snip Of Colonel, that Donnie Nelson and Stewart Robinson own in Northern Montana,” Williams said. “We got 50 or so horses from there, and three of them were great, 46 were good ones and one was bad. So we wanted to keep the bloodlines going. We had a few mares, but as we kept going, we had a few that we either rodeoed on or knew somebody who did. The mare power has to be proven. And mostly proven rope horses. Our stud has a lot of run and good size, so we can cross him on cow horses. I might cross him on running horses, too, but I might end up with a lot of horse. He’s very cowy, but his go goes into these colts. I don’t know where we’re going, but it’s good. It’s a five-year process before you even know what you have.”

Williams’ Ranching Roots

The Williams’ program in Hammond—a tiny town on the Wyoming/Montana border—is highlighted with great using horses that the family puts to work branding and doctoring. They foal out their colts in the pasture, and they sell plenty by private treaty and through big sales like the Black Hills Stock Show Sale in Rapid City.

“They’re all really tough and they have good bone and good feet,” three-time World Champion Jade Corkill said, who as recently as 2020 rode Caveman at the Finals. “Those horses are more old school and built to last. They’re all really good—all the ones I was around had little quirks, nothing dangerous. But on their back, they’re the best horses ever. They’re good using horses. They have a ranch, and they know how to use them and what they’re doing. If they called me and told me they had a good horse, I’d believe them.”

It was Williams first major futurity title, but not his first appearance at one.

“I went to Fort Worth three years ago, and I had a 6-year-old I was winning on at the rodeos up North,” Williams said. “I could go 4.7 or 4.8 on him, and I went to Fort Worth and made three beautiful 7-flat-second runs, and I was probably about 100th in scoring, so I got a quick lesson. I’m nowhere near what some of these guys are as showman. I think I’m a decent horseman, but I’ve got a lot of room to grow in this deal.”