Number and end: I’m a 5-Plus heeler. I’ve been a heeler all my life and just last year started tying on. I’m a 5 header, but it’s not something I work on all that much.
Association of Preference: My wife and I and another couple own Team Roping Canada, so that’s where I primarily rope. But I also have a World Series card and National Amateur card and a USTRC card. I support them all.
Rope of Choice: I use a medium soft Classic Powerline Lite.
Best Horse You Ever Rode: A horse I called Skip. I sold him to Dean Tuftin in 2002. I hadn’t seen him for probably two or three years. I went to a roping in Vegas about four or five years ago and parked by the horse corrals. In the morning, I got up and went out and I saw this horse standing in a pen right behind my trailer and thought, “That’s Skip.” I jumped over the pen and lifted up the corner of his blanket and saw my brand on him. Turns out Dean Tuftin sold him to Dugan Kelly and he sold him to a guy in California.
Favorite Roping: I’ve been to the World Series a couple times and I quite enjoy that. I’ve been to the Reno Rodeo Invitational, too. I’ve never done any good at either, but there’s something about those ropings that gets your mojo running.
Why You Rope: I’m an addict. There’s so many great people in the sport and they’re all doing something they enjoy. It’s a competitive sport, but it’s not competitive among the competitors. It’s more about putting your best foot forward against someone else’s best foot.
Biggest Win: In 1998, me and a friend won the Open at the Canadian Team Roping Finals and we were not expected to do anything there, but we beat the best of Canada on that particular day. Memory-wise, that was the biggest.
Competition Philosophy: I try to do the best I can with what I have to work with.
Real Job: I have two aspects. I’m a farrier and I’ve been a farrier for 40 years.
I used to teach up in Canada for 25 years, but I wanted more freedom so I quit that job and started coming down to Arizona in the winters, and there’s no looking back. The other aspect is my involvement with Team Roping Canada
What’s Your Role with Team Roping Canada? We bought into it with another couple eight years ago. It’s a big part of our life and a part of our income. We put some ropings on up there, the Canadian Team Roping Finals is probably one of the biggest team ropings in Canada. I also handicap the team ropers, we have around 1,000 members. We had a Team Roping Canada event in Arizona and out of the 280 teams, there were only two I didn’t know.
How Does a Team Roping Canada Event in Arizona Work? There’s a lot of Canadians in Arizona in the winter. I’d say about 30-40
percent of the ropers at the local jackpots in Arizona are Canadian. A lot of them are retired, but some people just take time off and come down for a few weeks for sunshine and roping.
