Utah young guns Houston Thomas and Wacey Pulham roped four steers in 33.85 seconds to best the field of 158 teams at the Lariat Bowl in Salado, Texas, taking home $18,000.
Home for Thomas and Pulham is currently the Phillip Ranch in Washington, Texas, where both ride 3-year-olds and rope horses for John Phillip. So when Thomas sold his head horse the day before the roping, he had a few horse options at his disposal.
“John let me ride a good horse of his named Marty Robbins,” Thomas said. “He’s 11 and he worked great all day.”
Pulham rode a horse he brought with him from his family’s ranch in Utah, a 6-year-old mare he calls Cadillac raised by his grandfather.
They were high team back in the #11 after making three clean runs throughout the roping.
“We just went out there and caught four good steers,” Thomas said. “It felt great.”
“Our third steer was iffy, and I threw a trap and had to be patient to get that right leg in there,” Pulham elaborated. “That short round steer felt great, that was our best steer all day. I’d been in a high-pressure situation before and it didn’t work out, so I was sure glad this one did.”
Thomas and Pulham both moved to Texas from Utah, and they’d competed against one another in high school rodeo before teaming up for the Lariat Bowl.
“I was going to move to Stephenville, but a friend told me about working at the Phillip Ranch and all the horses I’d ride and what I’d learn,” Pulham said. “So I moved here in the middle of October, and it’s been great.”
#11 LARIAT BOWL SUPER QUALIFIER
Salado, Texas
TOTAL PAYOUT: $75,360
158 Teams
Produced by: Wildfire Arena
Date: January 3, 2015
1. Houston Thomas / Wayce Pulham / (33.85 on four) / $18,000
2. Steve Tomlinson / Neil Jordan / 35.39 / $12,660
3. Michael Riggins / Casey Robinson / 38.00 / $9,700
4. Anthony Williams / Jim Bynum / 39.28 / $7,240
5. Tom Epperson / David Jones / 42.76 / $5,500
6. Justin Reininger / Dillon S Shults / 43.74 / $4,200
7. John Hightower / Stormy Wolf / 43.83 / $3,000
Fast TM: Liz Richards / Ricky Mellman / $750
View full results here.
