Photo by Hubbell Rodeo Photos

When Aaron Tsinigine snuck back to the Navajo Nation for three days rest after the Fourth-of-July run, he had about 20,000 reasons to breathe a sigh of relief. Tsinigine and Ryan Motes added $19,998 to their PRCA world standings totals from June 25-July 4, boosting Tsinigine from 11th to fourth and Motes from 16th to sixth.

“I’ve just been trying to catch every steer,” Tsinigine said. “That’s been my game plan since I left home. It hasn’t always worked out, but this makes it all better.”

Tsinigine and Motes won $9,426 a man for their 4.2 second run at the Cody (Wyo.) Stampede, a time that held from the first slack through the rest of the rodeo. They were 5.0 on their first one at the Greeley Stampede to tie for second, third and fourth, earnings $2,203 a man, and they tied for the short round win at Greeley, too, with a 5.9-second run, worth another $1,153 a man. That run would give them the average win in Greeley, worth another $4,472 each. They picked up another $896 for winning sixth in the first round of the World’s Oldest Rodeo in Prescott, Ariz., and then $1,848 for their average time of 12.3 seconds on two head there, too.

“I’ve never had a good Fourth before, and for the last two months, this is all I’ve been worried about and stressed out about,” Tsinigine said. “I wasn’t worried about Reno or the BFI, I was worried about the Fourth of July.”

Tsinigine might not have stressed about Reno, but the team won $8,109 a man there for finishing fifth in the average there, as well as winning the first round. And without stressing about the Bob Feist Invitational, they still banked $43,000 each for their second-place finish there.

 “One of Aaron and I’s best deals is that when he needs to catch fast, I can go an extra jump if I need to,” Motes said. “He can take another swing if he needs to, too. He doesn’t do that very often, though.”

 For more on their big week, check out the August issue of Spin To Win Rodeo.