At 18 years old and two years removed from the colic surgery that nearly killed him, Missn Cowboy Sioux, a.k.a. “Marshall”, carried Tanner Tomlinson through three rounds at Ellensburg, helping Tomlinson and Wesley Thorp win the average and $10,650 apiece, capped by a 4.1-second arena record-tying run in the finals.

Tomlinson and Thorp tied for third in the first round in 4.7 seconds for $2,921 each and tied for eighth in Round 2 at 5.0 for another $126. With 13.8 seconds on three head, they won the average for $6,501 apiece, and their 4.1 in the finals added another $1,102.

The conditions and the timing of the win just made how special Marshall is even more obvious for Tomlinson.

“I got to give my horse credit too,” the 2022 NFR average champ said. “Marshall’s one of the best set horses going and he did an amazing job. It didn’t look like it from the TV and the videos don’t do it justice. The Ellensburg committee did a heck of a job, but it was so muddy and boggy and he just trucks through it every time and he set the steer up so good for Wesley.”

Tomlinson and Thorp entered the short round high call, and when teams ahead of them started going fast, simply catching was no longer going to be enough. Garrett Rogers and Jake Minor went 4.8, then Lightning Aguilera and Kaden Profili went 4.6.

Tomlinson and Thorp drew one of the best steers of the round. Tomlinson was in the barrier, took a swing over him, and Thorp heeled him first legal.

The clock stopped at 4.1.

“I didn’t know we were 4.1 and won the rodeo,” 26-year-old Tomlinson said. “It was pretty awesome—one of my bucket-list rodeos for sure.”

For Tomlinson, Marshall’s ability to finish the run was a major reason 4.1 was possible in the deep ground.

“He is the fastest horse I’ve ever rode from the back of the box to the line,” he said. “He fires so good, scores every time. But where he makes up the time is finishing the run. He faces and pulls the cow. He literally will run backwards facing.”

“I mean, on any other horse in the mud at Ellensburg, I go 4.7, 4.8.”

That versatility has long been Marshall’s calling card. The 2008-model sorrel had already proven himself well before Tomlinson owned him, with Kal Fuller riding him to win the 2020 BFI with Reagan Ward. Tomlinson eventually bought Marshall at Cheyenne in 2023 after Fuller told him to try the horse.

Marshall became Tomlinson’s No. 1, but in August 2024 his career—and life—were suddenly in jeopardy.

While Tomlinson and then-partner Patrick Smith were traveling between rodeos, Marshall started acting like he was going to colic. Days and some time on the operating table later, when something still wasn’t right, Tomlinson was faced with the possibility of either another surgery or putting the horse down.

He chose to keep fighting for him.

Marshall eventually started eating and showing positive signs, and after months of rehabilitation at Outlaw Equine in Texas, he returned to his job in February 2025.

His first rodeo back became one of the defining moments of his career.

Tomlinson had hardly run live steers on Marshall when he decided to ride him on the final steer of the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo. Tomlinson and Travis Graves were 4.9 to win the rodeo, pocketing $25,350 each.

From there, Marshall’s comeback continued. Tomlinson rode him at Houston and, after saying in early 2025 that one of his goals was to someday ride Marshall inside the Thomas & Mack, finally got to ride him at the 2025 NFR.

Now, another summer later, Tomlinson says he feels as good as ever.

“He’s 18 this year he feels better than he ever has before,” Tomlinson said. “He’s been amazing. I’ve rode him quite a bit and been trying to stay on him.”

Marshall does his best work fresh, so Tomlinson has rotated him with the others in his string throughout the summer. He plans to keep Marshall ready for the bigger opportunities ahead, including Puyallup and potentially Sioux Falls.

But the days of Marshall spending an entire summer bouncing from rodeo to rodeo are coming to an end.

“This will be his last summer going,” Tomlinson said. “I’m going to leave him at home, so I am trying to get the best out of him and then save him. That way I can get a few years out of him and just ride him in the winter.”

That was already Tomlinson’s goal in 2025, when he said Marshall had been through too much and meant too much to have “his wheels hauled off.”

Ellensburg offered another reminder of why he is worth saving.

Marshall has gone from a BFI champion to Tomlinson’s game-changer, to a horse vets weren’t sure would survive, to a Fort Worth champion and NFR A-team. Now, at 18, he can still handle less-than-ideal conditions, fire across the line and finish a run hard enough to turn a would-be 4.7 into an arena record.

And for however many big runs Marshall has left, Tomlinson knows exactly what he has underneath him.

“You can ride him in an NFR setup. You can jackpot on him,” Tomlinson said. “You can ride him just about anywhere and he does good every time.”