Patrick Smith’s WSR Hesa Dunofa Lena will stand at Highpoint Performance Horses for the 2023 breeding season, adding the highest-earning stallion in team roping history to the facility’s stellar lineup of performance studs.
“Rooster”—a 2004 stallion by Hesa Sonofa Dun out of the Doc Olena daughter Paulena—has showcased his foot speed and big stops at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo under the likes of Cesar de la Cruz and Dakota Kirchenschlager. Rooster will make his third appearance in the Thomas & Mack in 2022 with Smith, and he’ll go straight from Las Vegas to Pilot Point, Texas, for his first breeding season with Highpoint.
“Rooster has been an asset to so many people’s careers throughout the last decade and a half,” Smith, who has two gold buckles to his name, said. “He’s one of those rare horses that’s won go-rounds at the NFR and won California Rodeo Salinas. Standing him at Highpoint will have him where he belongs—with the best stallions in the industry on the biggest stage. Plus, with Highpoint not far from all the winter rodeos, I can still swing in and pick him up to go to the big winter rodeos as I need him.”
Charlie Cole and Jason Martin already stand the likes of Show Me The Buckles, Slick By Design and Winners Version, along with other leading stallions across the Western performance disciplines. Their stallion service leads the industry in customer service, with the ability to collect and ship immediately to anywhere in the world. Highpoint Performance Horses is also the official stallion breeding program of the Ariat World Series of Team Roping.
“We wanted to bring another leading rope horse stallion to our program with the explosive growth of the Riata Buckle program,” Martin said. “Rooster is unique in the sport today—there is no other stallion in the modern era that’s pulled the load he has, for as long as he has, in this discipline—or perhaps any rodeo discipline. He is the kind of cross that will help the rope horse evolution stay sound and strong, with the athleticism and speed ropers demand.”
Rooster has won at every level, picking up a check for $140,000 in the #11 Ariat World Series of Team Roping Finale with Jason Vohs in 2010. Russell Cardoza netted $20,000 on him at the US Finals, and he subbed in to get Kirchenschlager to his first NFR in 2012 in the last week of the regular season. When Smith bought him in 2019, he immediately went to winning—including a fourth-place, $35,000 payday at the BFI.
Rooster’s books open Oct. 10, 2022, and contracts are available at highpointperformance.com. Look for the Highpoint Performance booth at the Ariat World Series of Team Roping Finale in Las Vegas to talk to staff about Rooster and to meet and visit with Smith.
For more information, call Christi at 903-816-1428.
