Guy Howell and Logan Schliinz put the finishing touches on a solid 2025 season in the Badlands Circuit, winning the year-end titles with $27,758.31 won on the year.
For Whitewood, South Dakota’s Schliinz, the title marks a career first. But for Howell, it was his fourth year-end circuit title. As a rookie, Howell won the Montana Circuit in his first year rodeoing in the Big Sky Country. In 1998, he captured the Mountain States Circuit, also in his debut season there. In 2006, Howell won the Badlands Circuit crown in his first year in the circuit. Now, almost 20 years later, he’s claimed his second in the Badlands.
“I just thank God that I’m still able to do it, and I’ve finally wound up with a great horse and a good partner and we happen to win together,” Howell, 55, said. “There’s a lot of people that rope good—everybody ropes good. It’s a deal where you’re just thankful when it goes your way.”
Leading the way
When the 2025 ProRodeo season rolled around, Schliinz was looking for a header and reached out to Howell, who lives nearby. After Howell’s son-in-law, Riley Curuchet, moved to Killdeer, teaming up with Schliinz made perfect sense. Though they hadn’t roped together much before, their partnership clicked quickly, helped by their similar schedules and responsibilities at home.
“We always knew each other but he roped with other people, and it’s not that we didn’t visit, we just didn’t rope together much,” Howell, of Belle Fourche, South Dakota, explained. “So, we started this year and, geez, started winning. Logan did a great job of entering us and keeping in contact. I’ve got a lot of stuff going on and he puts up hay and sells hay, and I put up hay and feed it to my cows. So, we kind of had to keep on a tight schedule of when we needed to come home and get stuff done. So, it worked out pretty good.”
Howell and Schliinz jumped to the lead in the standings in July after taking advantage of a significant time in the Badlands Circuit: Cowboy Christmas. The Fourth of July is a big time in the circuit, highlighted by the Roughrider Days Rodeo in Dickinson, North Dakota; Sitting Bull Stampede in Mobridge, South Dakota; North Dakota’s Killdeer Mountain Roundup PRCA Rodeo; Mandan Rodeo Days in North Dakota; Gary Rodeo in South Dakota; and the Black Hills Roundup in Belle Fourche, South Dakota. Together, Howell and Schliinz won Dickinson with a 5.9 for $3,276 apiece, Killdeer with a 4.9 for $3,815 a man and they placed sixth in Belle Fourche for $1,253 apiece.
Their successful summer gave them a lead no one could kick heading into Minot, North Dakota, for the circuit finals Oct. 10-12—a moment of redemption for Schliinz. A year ago, he entered Minot with a chance to win the year-end title, sitting just over $100 behind standings leader Dylan Hart. Despite a round win for Schliinz, Hart’s success at the finals held him at No. 1. This year, Howell and Schliinz were nearly untouchable.
“Good thing, because we didn’t win nothing at the circuit finals,” Howell said with a laugh. “I had close to I think a $7,800 lead, and he had like an $11,000 lead. We both had the same amount of money won, just the heelers had that much different from the headers winnings. But it was a phenomenal year. We got to go to the (North Dakota) Roughrider Cup in Mandan. We won one out of four rodeos here in the Badlands to do that; we won Dickinson and that qualified us for that. It was just good year.”
Good horses, good year
As Howell gets older, he recognizes the role a reliable horse plays in a guy’s success, and for him, “Ernie” made a world of difference.
Registered as Dashing Company, the 10-year-old gelding originally came from the racetrack and was purchased by Howell as a 3-year-old. But prior to Ernie was Deuce, his full brother who Howell bought as a 2-year-old and trained alongside his daughter Shayla (who is married to four-time NFR header Brenten Hall). After placing on Deuce at a jackpot—before selling him to NFR team roper Brye Crites—a man gave Howell information on his full brother, Ernie. Seven years later, and Ernie has earned his keep.
“He’s pretty easy,” Howell said. “So, I mess with him a little bit, roping a stand still dummy on him and exercise him a little bit. I don’t run a lot of practice steers on him, and he pretty much does his job. My other thing is, when you’re rodeoing, if somebody says, ‘Oh, that steer we drew really runs,’ I always told my partner, ‘They haven’t been chased by this black horse.’ He’s fast, and he does a good job. It’s not that I’m any big feather in my hat for training him. He pretty much took it on, and I tried to stay out of his way.”
Ernie was named the Badlands Circuit Team Roping Horse of the Year, alongside Curuchet’s heel horse, after the 2025 circuit finals.
“He’s deserved it for the last couple years,” Howell said. “This year he just really deserved it. My heeler did good and we seemed to win good together, and our horses had good timing together; his horse and my horse had good timing together. And it turned out.”
Looking ahead to 2026
In 2026, Howell plans to take things one day at a time. He and Schliinz will head to Colorado Springs next July for the NFR Open, but he also imagines he will continue circuit rodeoing. Between bigger payouts in the sport, Ernie and rodeoing alongside his family, rodeo has been rewarding for Howell.
“My hat’s off to the people that are putting the rodeos on with how much more they pay and how much more the Cowboy Channel’s done for people to put money into it and get some advertising,” Howell said. “That deal has really changed, and you can have a fair year and keep your money together circuit rodeoing around. We had a phenomenal year, so it was extra good, and I did very well jackpotting, too. That’s what I like about my horse—he’s everything. I can go run 25 steers on him in a jackpot, I can go run one on him at the rodeo or I can run 25 on him and then go take him and run one at the rodeo. It just doesn’t matter. So that’s a blessing to have one like that, and so that’s kind of kept me going. Plus the kids roping and doing things and trying to get some horses for them maybe to try if I got one.”
