There is no easy way to say such a sad and sudden goodbye to a great kid and cowboy like Gage Holzum. Tyler and Jennifer’s first-born son, who also was big brother to the Holzums’ second son, Ty, died March 3 in a tragic ranch accident involving a tractor at the family’s winter place in Forepaugh, Arizona. Gage, whose passion was heading steers, horses and horsemanship, was 16 when he headed to Heaven. 

“Gage was pretty soft-hearted, but was very hard on himself and a perfectionist to the point where if he ran 20 to 30 steers and roped one neck, he was mad,” said Gage’s timed-event all-around hand dad, Tyler. “Gage was just good to the soul. He was extremely loyal and polite, and didn’t cuss or drink. He was clean cut and professional.

“Gage loved roping, guns, ranching and branding calves, and was very proud of his horses. Their mane was braided, and his tack was clean and oiled. He roped the dummy every night, and was into every detail of the mechanics of roping. He watched a million roping videos, and really looked up to the rodeo and futurity guys. He had his sights set on training futurity rope horses.”

One of the rodeo and roping futurity elite Gage looked up to most was Rhen Richard, who runs his booming horse business out of Utah and Arizona. 

“I helped Gage a little off and on the last couple years in Arizona,” Rhen said. “He was a quiet, sweet, kind-hearted kid; an old-school ranch kid who loved his horses. We talked most about horses and horsemanship, and he wanted to get better at all of it. We talked about everything from what to look for in a horse to conformation. Gage was always comparing his horse to mine, and trying to learn about what it took to get one to the next level. He paid attention, and soaked it all in.

“The first head horse Gage made on his own (Freak Show) is at my house right now, and that kid did a really good job with this horse. This horse does a lot of great things, so Gage was obviously a good hand who had a lot of feel. Gage was a student of the game, and it just breaks my heart that his family is having to go through this. If you got to know Gage, you could just tell he was raised right to be old school, down to earth and hard working.”

Heading was this young cowboy’s passion, though after getting his early start in the California High School Rodeo Association he was heeling this year in the Montana High School Rodeo Association, and roped calves for all-around points. Gage was born left-handed, so really had to work to rope as a righty.

Gage went to some of Joe Beaver’s calf roping schools with the goal of getting good enough to place in a second event.

“Gage was a boy’s boy who was growing into a fine young man,” Joe B said. “He was a kid you were happy to work with and glad to see coming your way. There’s never a good way to say goodbye at a time like this, so today I say, ‘See you later, my friend. You were a great kid.’”

Gage was a sixth-generation California ranch and rodeo cowboy on his mom’s Roen side, and a fifth-generation Montana ranch and rodeo cowboy on his dad’s. The Holzums lived the first 13 years of Gage’s life in the original Cowboy Capital of the World in Oakdale, California before moving to Tyler’s native Montana three years ago. 

The Holzum family now has a ranch in Rapelje, Montana—population 96. There, they run 500 cows, and also raise and train Holzum Quarter Horses, which specializes in ranch-raised performance horses. These days, the Holzums winter in Arizona, so the kids can rope and ride year-round, and “entertain a lot of cowboy pups on the porch.”

“The number of kids who’ve called from all over the place since the wreck has been unreal,” Tyler said. “Gage was a true friend to so many kids, and people of all ages. Since the accident, there have been generations of cowboys show up bawling in our yard, some at midnight.”

Gage had already won seven saddles, but won in life in so many ways.

“Gage was always kind to the kids everybody else picked on,” Tyler said. “He’d say, ‘That’s a good kid, he tries hard,’ and go out of his road to help the kids who struggled. He was pretty young to figure out that being a good person is what matters most, and that that’s much more important than how much you win or how much money you have.”

Jennifer Roen Holzum grew up just outside of Oakdale in Waterford, California. Her grandfather helped start the tradition-rich La Grange Rodeo, and her great uncle registered the turtle brand back before the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, in the early Cowboys’ Turtle Association era. That great uncle handed that iron down to Jennifer’s dad, who passed it down to Jennifer. 

Tyler’s Montana rancher, bareback rider and rodeo announcer granddad, Paul Holzum, started the Gateway Rodeos in Red Lodge and Livingston, Montana, and Cody, Wyoming. 

As horsemanship was a big part of both families’ cultures, Holzum Quarter Horses sport that old Roen family turtle brand on their left hip if they’re mares, and the generations-old Holzum family 7W goes on the left shoulder of the geldings. 

The Holzums gathered family and their innermost circle to bury Gage in a family plot in Montana on Sunday, March 16. Close friend and team roper Rick Montera officiated the graveside service, where Tyler also spoke. 

“It’d be easy to give up and feel sorry for ourselves, but we just can’t,” he said. “You’ve got to get up, grit your teeth and move forward, like we know Gage would want us to.”

A California memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 5 at the Oakdale Saddle Club Rodeo Grounds. A Montana memorial service will be held at 3:30 on Friday, April 11 at Miller’s Horse Palace in Billings, Montana. 

The Gage Paul Holzum Memorial Scholarship Fund has been set up in his honor to help rodeo kids who want to go to college, like Gage did, or could use a financial hand to go to rodeo schools and clinics. Checks can be made out to The Gage Paul Holzum Memorial Scholarship Fund and mailed to Nevada State Bank, PO Box 29, Lovelock, NV 89419. Scholarship fund money also can be sent via Venmo, @GagePaulHolzumMemorial.

“Losing Gage tears our heart out every day, but good has already come out of it,” Tyler said. “There’s nothing anyone can say to make this better, but people really do care and we appreciate that so much. A lot of people are learning not to sweat the small stuff or complain about things like not enough rain or missing a steer since we lost him. It’s impossible to understand why something like this has to happen, and Ty (who’s 11) went from being a little brother to missing his big brother for the rest of his life. 

“We’re good people and good parents, and our whole life is these two kids. So, it’s like why, why, why? But asking why just makes it hurt more. What gets us out of bed every morning is knowing God has a reason, and that Gage is in a better place. Gage’s signature was tucking a Classic rope glove in his belt every morning, and wearing it there no matter where he went. Gage is looking down on us right now swinging a brand new Powerline Lite soft over and over again.”