Beverly Robbins and Jimmi Jo Montera crossed the BFI Charlie 1 Horse All-Girl Team Roping off their bucket lists March 26, 2025, after roping four steers in 34.50 seconds for $20,000.
Robbins and Montera were due for the title, having two of the most iconic careers as women in the sport of team roping. WPRA World Champion Robbins went down in history as the first woman to place in the Feist at the BFI, and she’s also made the short round at the George Strait. While the Tuscumbia, Alabama, lady isn’t quite sure if she’s won the All-Girl at the BFI before, Montera—who has numerous NIRA titles, WPRA world titles and major all-girl wins like the US Finals and Wildfire—knows this title has eluded her too long.
“It means a lot,” Montera, of Greeley, Colorado, said. “This is the only major, open all-girl that I haven’t won, so it’s always a goal. A breath of fresh air to finally do it.”
How Robbins and Montera won the BFI
Robbins and Montera started the day with an 8.63 in Round 1. Knowing each other’s roping styles well allowed them both to focus on doing their own jobs.
“I just worry about my end and she does her end, and we just try to get simple,” Montera said. “We just don’t overthink it. We don’t have like, ‘Ok we’re going to do this.’ We just kind of go rope together.”
On the head side, Robbins goes back to the practice pen.
“I know what she likes, how she likes them to handle, it doesn’t happen a lot, but I know,” Robbins said with a laugh. “You just do what you practice every day and hope it comes natural. You can’t think a lot in this situation. Just hope it all comes together.”
Round 2 saw a 7.86, followed by an 8.82 in Round 3 to lock them in high call for the short round. But do the legends still get nervous?
“Oh yeah,” Montera said with a laugh. “I think if you don’t, then you probably shouldn’t do it anymore. I think if you don’t get a thrill out of being high call, then there’s something wrong.”
Robbins and Montera lived up to the pressure, solidifying the aggregate with a 9.19 in the short round. Still, Robbins felt there were areas she could have been snappier.
“I felt like I better take an extra swing today,” Robbins said. “I just didn’t feel as snappy, and and my horse was a little strong; I felt like I needed to take a swing over and make her back off, so that’s kind of where I was.
Robbins rode her 12-year-old mare “Waspy,” who’s always a winner but might have lived up to her name a touch inside the Lazy E.
“I knew I had to make her kind of give me a rate right there, so it was a little struggle,” Robbins said. “I just had to take some extra swings to make things right. The barrier felt good. My horse, she didn’t really want to go right to the right wall, and I got some that wanted to go right. So, I was kind of panicky about what was gonna happen, but [Montera] don’t let them go to the right anyway.”
Montera called on 8-year-old “Mamba” on the heel side.
