Shortly after brothers TJ and Justin started Jones Fencing in 2012, Seth joined the crew. Justin peeled off to return to electrical work, but TJ and Seth spent the following years building a solid business.
“It’s just a local fencing company right here around Weatherford, Texas. He lives in Weatherford and I live just north of Decatur, so we cover the surrounding areas. Mostly we build a lot of pipe fence and we build some barns. We’ve been doing that for going on six or seven years, something like that. That’s what I do during the day and we get time to get off and go rope. That’s what we do.”
In the beginning, each of the brothers worked to ride and rope, but they’ve settled into a rhythm in recent years that takes care of all their needs.
“We’ve got the work for us right now and it’s nice because TJ kind of stays home a little bit more than I do, so I can leave and go rope and TJ’s there to run everything and do everything. It’s the same if he wants to go somewhere—I’m there and can take care of it. But mostly, he stays home and him being there allows me to go rope a lot.”
Seth, a 9 heeler, has been around roping since he was a kid, but meeting and becoming best pals (to this day) with Joel Bach in the 6th grade sealed the deal for him.
“I met him when they moved to Milsap, at a little $15/man jackpot. Me and him hit it off and became buddies and that’s who I junior rodeoed with my 6th grade year and 7th grade year. By my sophomore year in high school, that’s when I decided that’s what I was going to do. I started skipping school to go practice.”
Determined to be a roper, Seth talked his parents into homeschooling him while he and TJ simultaneously helped his cousin, Justin Parish, ride colts and rope. Around the time he finished schooling, an invitation from Ryan Motes to come rope whenever he wanted had him at the Motes’ place shortly after breakfast until well after dark on the daily for a time.
“I helped him ride colts or whatever he had to do, and I worked for Fast Back a little bit back then, when I used Fast Back ropes. He’s helped me with everything. He’s helped me and my brother with work, with roping, whatever we need help with, he seems to be the one that’s always wanting to lend a hand.”
Seth’s wife, Brittany, who owns a daycare, is the other person he has in his corner, sometimes more than he’s in his own corner.
“I have a little girl that’s 3 and [we’re having] a little boy within the month,” Seth said in January, “so my goals are a little bit shaky, but my wife is pushing me not to change, to keep trying to do it, but being a dad, I’m also looking at what’s more important. But there’s still a lot that I want to do.
“I’ve been a 9 heeler since 2013. Last year was probably the most Pro Rodeos that I went to, but I’ve amateur rodeoed here a lot in Texas and gone to a lot of the ropings for a few years now. I bet I started going to the bigger open ropings more about 2014/2015. Then I’ve amateur rodeoed the whole time. I’ve entered Fort Worth a couple times and jacked around and entered some circuit rodeos here and there every other year or something. I plan on going to quite a few this year.”
For Seth and Brittany, the part they love most about roping is the community.
“I love the lifestyle and the family camaraderie of it,” Seth said. “And now that I have kids … me and my wife joke about it all the time. We’ll go to a high school football game here in town and we literally don’t take our eyes off our kid. And we can go to The Capitalist and we don’t know where our kid is. We know most everybody there knows whose kids are whose kids and they watch out for everybody’s kids.
“That’s the way it’s always been. They watch out for you, too, and most everybody will help you with anything you need, if you just ask. That’s what I’ve always loved about it. It’s literally like a big family and everybody wants to help everybody and, if you’re good to people, they’re good right back to you.”
