Garrett Smith 23, of Mt. Juliet, Tenn., climbed to the No.1 position in the Resistol Rookie heeling standings after cashing in close to $6,000 during the Cowboy Christmas run after claiming checks at Prescott, Eugene, and Livingston.

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“There’s so many rodeos at once, you just have to take it one steer at a time,” Smith said, “You know it’s my Rookie year, so first year being out here. There’s a lot of learning and a lot of going to new places for the first time. So there’s a lot of learning curves. It can be a little tough out there, but the game plan the whole time was to just catch my steer and go from there.”

Smith collected a total of $1,027 at the World’s Oldest Rodeo in Prescott, Ariz. after placing eighth in the second round with a 7.2-second run and finishing sixth in the average with a total time of 14.6 on on two head. Then he collected $1,364 at the Euguene (Ore.) Pro Rodeo after placing sixth with a 5.3-second run and collected $3,467 at the Livingston (Mont.) Roundup Rodeo after placing third with a 4.5-second run, cashing in at a total of $5,858 in earnings during his first Cowboy Christmas run.

“We went to Greeley, had a good steer over there, should’ve went a little faster over there than I did and put us in a little bit of a tight spot to have to go fast on the second one,” Smith said. “Prescott was kind of the same thing. I caught both of them over there, we placed low in the average, but still wasn’t quite being as fast as I thought we needed to be. So there around Livingston, Euguene, and St. Paul, through that time, I started speeding it up a little bit. We ended up hitting there at Livingston for 4.5, and we went to Eugene, had a good steer, and I speed up a little bit on him and got us a good check there. That’s really been the biggest learning curve I think. I was catching a bunch but just needed to speed it up a little bit and since I did that we started winning.”

Heading for Smith is Justin Yost, 34, of Citra, Fla., who currently holds the No.33 position in the World Standings and has held his PRCA card since 2007. It is the many years of experience Yost has had in ProRodeo that Smith attributes to their success during the Cowboy Christmas run.

“That’s what has made it so easy,” Smith said. “He’s been out here, he knows where to stay, and where to be entered, what’s best. So that’s been a huge advantage on my part, having somebody who has been to these rodeos because it would be tough coming out here, not knowing, and just throwing yourself to the fire. I would hate to see how it would go. You don’t even know until you get out here and you have to be in the middle of it. These guys have been going to these rodeos for 10 years, they know what perf you need to go in, and all of that. It makes a big difference on how much you win.”

During his rookie season, Smith has relied heavily on G.T. (Misters Got Heart), a 13-year-old bay gelding that he recently purchased from Kayla Lombardo and Quinton Parchman of Cumberland City, Tenn. 

“Everything about him fits my style,” Smith said. 

Currently, Smith sits No.1 in the Resistol Rookie heeling standings with $19,710.89 in earnings, almost a $2,600 lead over Junior Zambrano, 23, of Nogales, Arizona, in the No.2 position. With his sights set on the Resistol Rookie Year-End title, Smith plans on maintaining his lead throughout the remainder of the season as he heads to Vernal, Estes Park, and Elko.