Abilene’s Randy Lewis, DVM, is back in Las Vegas for the World Series of Team Roping Finale XII, after recently completing construction on a clinic he built partly with winnings from a successful 2015 Finale.
“I just built a brand new equine clinic that actually a good portion of was paid for with team roping winnings from here in Las Vegas,” Lewis notes. “They’re probably the best run team ropings that are available at all. Anything that Denny Gentry runs is run to a T—he always has the team ropers interest at heart There’s a reason that this roping has grown like it has and that’s Denny Gentry, without questions. Plus there’s too much money not to come.”
The only qualified run that Lewis has coming into the Finale is with Vinson in the #11 roping in Hamilton, Texas in January. He is roping in the #13 with Twister Vinson, the #12 with Bobby Boyd and the #11 with Twister’s dad Bruce. He has been going to the WSTR Finale for many years and claims that the best decision that he could have ever made was entering the very first WSTR Finale which makes it better for him in the long run not having to qualify in every roping.
“If you roped in it the first year they consider you a legacy,” Lewis explained. “You don’t have to qualify you can just send your money in and rope. It helps take a lot of the pressure away from having to hustle around and get qualified runs.”
Lewis is roping on a 13-year-old palomino he calls Mack, the same mount that helped him and partner Megan White take home second in the #10 Ariat WSTR Finale X in 2015, earning them $263,000.
“I bought him two years ago—November 1st, 2015 and I had him for a month and then came out here and won $260,000 with Megan White,” Lewis recalled. “The guy that I bought him from called him “Champ” and I renamed him Mack—they say that’s bad luck but I changed it within those 30 days of buying him so I think I disproved that it’s bad luck.”
As Lewis, owner of West Texas Equine Clinic, is a known vet in Texas, graduating from vet school at Texas A&M University in 1997, shared some tips that will help with hauling to the Finale to keep your horses feeling good while on the road and the duration of your stay at South Point.
“Just take time hauling and give them plenty of time outside the trailer,” Dr. Lewis added. “Give them plenty of fresh water. Just make it as similar to home as you can. It’s pretty hard to do but anything that you can do to make it a routine and doing things that they’re used to will make it a lot simpler.”
