Snow and Thorp Back in Action After Thorp’s Return from Rodeo Suspension
Cody Snow and Wesley Thorp earned $15,832 each in Thorp’s first two weeks back on the Pro Rodeo scene after a month-long PRCA suspension.

After competing at the 2021 Cheyenne Frontier Days, Wesley Thorp packed up and drove his rig home for a month off Pro Rodeoing due to Thorp’s PRCA suspension from a barrier conflict with the judges during the team roping performance on July 16, at the Pike’s Peak or Bust in Colorado Springs, held July 14–17. Snow and Thorp got the gang back together and are making a bold statement after adding a total of $15,832 in earnings over the last two weeks.

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Snow and Thorp won the Northern Pro Tour Team Roping in Ellensburg, Washington; won the Washington State Fair & Rodeo in Puyallup, Washington; and placed third at the Dillon (Montana) Jaycees PRCA Rodeo.

“It’s been good ever since coming back out. My horses got some rest and we got to kind of regroup,” said 2019 World Champion Heeler Thorp. “Cody was in a spot where he was wanting to win something to seal the deal up for the NFR. We kind of got on a roll right off the bat.”

In the last two weeks, Snow has jumped from 13th in the PRCA World Standings to seventh with $70,776.02. Thorp is fifth with $96,351.15.

“I was pretty focused coming back out,” Thorp said. “My goal was to just be able to make the best runs that we could on the steers that we got, but don’t take any bad throws. I wanted to come back out here and finish it off and get the ball rolling and see how far we could get up the standings before the finals.”

Snow, the 2019 Wrangler NFR Average Champion, headed on his faithful buckskin mare, Annie, who helps Snow give Thorp solid handles.

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Cody Snow and Annie giving one of their iconic handles to Wesley Thorp. Kaitlin Gustave Photo

Annie is pretty fun to heel behind,” Thorp said. “She doesn’t ever pull them away from you. She’s easy to read. You can ride a pretty aggressive corner and she’s not going to jerk anything away from you. It’s cool to have a horse that solid and smooth to heel behind.”

Thorp heeled on his black, 12-year-old gelding, Ray Jay.

“He worked really well,” Thorp said. “He used to cow a little bit when the head rope went on and leave with his shoulder. It was cool for me because that was probably his nemesis in the past.”

With two weeks left in the Pro Rodeo regular season and already having earned $5,277 each after winning the first round at the Pendleton (Oregon) Round-Up—unfortunately, they missed in the second round—Snow and Thorp are geared up to finish out the season strong.

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“I feel good just because both of our horses feel good and we’re making smooth runs,” Thorp said. “Salinas is an average rodeo with a longer barrier, so that fits our team pretty good because we like to make controlled, smooth runs and place. I feel like we have chance to finish out the year strong.”

The team is still eyeing what could be Snow’s first-ever gold buckle and Thorp’s second, since there is more money to be won over the duration of the 2021 Wrangler NFR, held Dec 2–11, back in its home arena in Las Vegas—The Thomas & Mack.

“You never know. It could always come down to a couple thousand,” Thorp said. “No doubt, the NFR is usually where the gold buckle is won. It sure doesn’t hurt to be as close to the top as you can when you get there.”

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