Will (and Cody) Cowden’s Rattler
Rattler has carried Cody Cowden as a helper at the last six Cinch Timed Event Championships, including a win for Daniel Green in 2013.

Eight-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier Cody Cowden rides a borrowed horse these days. When he helps Daniel Green and Jordan Ketscher at the Cinch Timed Event Championship in the Lazy E’s red dirt arena, Cowden’s 18-year-old son Will shares his horse Colonel Rattle Chex, a.k.a. Rattler, the 16-year-old dark dun that stands out from the pack of top-of-the-line heel horses. 

Rattler came from ropers Mike and Sarah Jay, who now live in Canton, Texas. Cowden went to try a head horse for a friend, and noticed the Colonel Freckles-bred gelding. His friend bought both the head horse and Rattler in a package deal, but ended up not being in love with the smaller-statured heel horse. So, he decided Will needed to have him. 

“This horse was the catch,” Cowden, of Merced, California, said. “I have to ask to ride him and follow all of the procedures.”

Cowden on Rattler TRJ File Photo

Will rode him through some of his junior rodeo career and won the ProAm at the Cinch Timed Event Championship March 1, where he’s ridden Rattler the last four years.

“The good thing about him is that he takes no drugs, no thing, just hay. And he’s sound,” Cowden said. “He’s real honest. He doesn’t have no cheat to him. He runs down through there real free. He doesn’t take your throw away. He’s not a hard stopper–he just slides through it. He doesn’t try to stick it to you.”

Green is sure to ask Will annually if he can borrow his horse, and Will is happy to oblige. 

“I won it riding him the first time I used him,” Green said. “I won it on Cody’s horse Shot in 2008, and then they came up with Will’s horse. He’s really good. He’s honest, he doesn’t take shots from you, he’s athletic–he’s just a really, really solid horse.”

At home in California, Will, who is riding horses and roping for a living right now, saves Rattler for the bigger ropings, but each year, Rattler makes the 23-hour trip from California to get the call at the E. 

SHARE THIS STORY
CATEGORIES
TAGS
Related Articles
badCopy of WSG - link preview with lines and logo
Anything But Average
Logan Olson and Jade Nelson Dominate Badlands Circuit Finals
Nov_2025_034strait02 copy
big break
Jade Corkill's 2009 George Strait Team Roping Classic 1-2 Punch
MCS_9548
Fresh Perspective
Jade Corkill’s Comeback Complete: 2025 CoJo Roping Win Caps Resurgence Season
MCS_9489
Rare Air
Kaleb Driggers' $885K Year (and Counting)
Clint Summers Mr Joe Shadows Bar
Great Again
"Joes are Hard to Come By" — Clint Summers Mr Joes Shadow Bar is Again Nutrena PRCA Head Horse of the Year
The Team Roping Journal
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.