After a year of learning how to play the long game, James Arviso emerged as the 2025 Resistol Rookie Header of the Year with $54,037 won.
When Seba Dalkai, Arizona’s Arviso set out for his first year on the ProRodeo road, he wasn’t just chasing experience—he was chasing the title. He wrapped up his rookie year with $54,037.44, besting Riley Kittle by nearly $13,000. Arviso and 2024 Resistol Rookie Heeler of the Year Logan Moore made a statement with their record-breaking run in Burley, Idaho, but the real victory came in what he learned.
“Of course I was happy about it,” Arviso, 22, said. “When you’re a rookie, that’s what you set out to do—to win Rookie of the Year. I have bigger plans and higher expectations, but even to accomplish this is still good for me. I told myself as long as we don’t end up in the negative and go home early, I’d be happy with last place.”
Finding His Groove
When Arviso headed out this year, it was the original assumption that you had to be fast on every run, on every steer.
“When you’re at home watching, it feels like everyone’s going fast,” Arviso said. “Then you come out here, and you’re like, ‘Dang, I gotta go fast,’ and it screws you up. But once I settled in, I realized you just have to catch. That’s when I started feeling like, ‘Man, I can do this.’”
But mid-June, he had an epiphany.
“After Reno is when I finally figured out it’s not that hard,” he said. “You don’t have to go three on every steer. The good guys, you never see them not win. They’re always third or fourth, and when they do draw a good steer, that’s when they win first.”
That mindset shift allowed Arviso and Moore to find their stride in the late summer. Rather than forcing fast runs, they started to catch the steers that mattered and focused on getting paid.
“Most places they pay 15,” Arviso said. “However you can win money at the 15-money rodeos, you need to make that happen. If you draw a strong steer, you can still win 12th or 13th and get out of there with $1,500 or $1,600 instead of trying to win first. I’ll take third through eighth all year.”
From the beginning of July, Arviso added $24,180 to his and Moore’s pockets, pulling big checks in Livingston, Montana; Mandan, North Dakota; the Wildcard round in Cheyenne, Wyoming; Ogden, Utah; Logan, Utah; Omak, Washington; Canby, Oregon; Burley, Idaho; and Bremerton, Washington.
Now What?
While 2025’s success marks a milestone, Arviso isn’t content to stop there. The Resistol Rookie title checked one goal off his list, but the next one is already in sight.
“Any other guy that’s in the top 50—their goal at the end of the year is to make the NFR,” he said. “That’s kind of my goal, and hopefully I can do it before I get too old.”
As the regular season wrapped up, Arviso shifted gears to the college rodeos, roping with fellow Resistol Rookie contender Jaydon Warner, where the pair picked up right where Arviso left off.
“We’ve had the best start to college rodeos I’ve ever had,” Arviso said. “We won all three rounds at both rodeos we went to.”
With lessons learned, a record under his belt, and the rookie title secured, Arviso’s debut season laid the foundation for what’s to come. Whether it’s on the road with new partners or under the bright lights of Las Vegas one day, he’s already proven he has the tools—and the mindset—to get there.
“I feel like I learned a lot this year,” Arviso said. “You just have to go do your job, stay consistent, and don’t try to do too much. That’s when everything starts working.”
