Looking Ahead
This year I just want to rope good; to rope to my potential, and try not to let my head get to me. I don’t have one particular goal in mind, other than to do my best at every roping. Then I’ll be okay. I’m just trying to get over last year. It was a hard year. I’m just trying to get my confidence back. I feel like I took a beating.
New Year, New Ride
I started taking a different horse this year—Hooey. I bought him almost two years ago from Joseph Harrison. He was 7 and real green when I got him, and I’ve just been roping on him. He was ready to run steers when I got him, but I just kept roping on him for about two years now, and he just gets better and better and better. He’s real nice now.
Hooey Highlights
He has a really good stop and a really good mind. And he’s just laid back. I really like those laid back horses. I can’t handle the jigging and jogging and stuff. He’s just kind of cool, calm, and collected, really. It’s probably my favorite thing about him.
Ride Him Right
I’m working on building up our confidence together and to get him in the right spot every time. We get in the right spot a lot, but sometimes we don’t, and that’s when we mess up. If I can ride him right, if I ride him like I ride him in the practice pen at the roping, he does great. It’s never his fault. If I don’t put him in the right spot, I mess up, so I’m just working on putting him in the right spot every time and making my corner perfect.
Do What You Love
I work for Beverly Robbins, so I saddle horses in the mornings, and then we just rope all day. So my job is really just to heel for her all day, and it’s pretty good.
I’ve been here about 2 years now, and we’ve roped together a bunch over the years. It’s kind of been a bit of a dry spell, but we usually rope pretty good together.
Not Afraid to Ask
I ride and make my own horses. My good horse, Cajun, the one I’ve ridden forever, I made him, but I had to send him off to get him over the hump. I sent him to Steve Orth for 30 days and he finished him for me. Sometimes I’ve gotta have help. But, with Hooey, I haven’t had to send him off yet. I start with them young and make them as I go. But if I need help, I’m not afraid to ask for it.
2015 for the Win
I liked winning the Cruel Girl in 2015. It was an all-year thing, so that saddle is pretty hard to win. I really liked. I also won the World in the WPRA in 2015, so that was pretty neat. But really, I’m just pretty thankful for all my wins.
Growing Up Down South
My dad’s family owns a ranch down in South Florida, so my dad roped, and I grew up roping on my dad’s ranch. My family in North Alabama, they all rope. My cousin, Morgan Jones, ropes up there and he’s really good, so I got to rope with him a lot. I’ve just roped my entire life.
Then, when I moved to north Alabama my senior year of high school, I Tennessee High School Rodeoed. I made it to Nationals in the Breakaway and I placed out there in Gillette. I think I was like 10th or something. That’s the last time I ever breakawayed.
On the Roping Road
I’ve always kind of roped, but I didn’t really get to go like I wanted to until about five or six years ago. I used to just head, so I got to start going and heeling all the time with a few different jobs I had that gave me some really good opportunities to just go, so I tried to take advantage of them.
I started at Dean DeRenzo’s down in Ocala, Florida, and then I went to Joel Colgrove. I really did well there, and stayed with Joel for a year or so. Then I went to Beverly’s. I’ve had a lot of cool opportunities.