As somebody who came up during the time before team roping was even included at a lot of the biggest rodeos, it’s mind-blowing how many more opportunities there are to win big money roping these days. New events are popping up everywhere—rodeos and ropings—and it’s been good for all levels of ropers, from the full-time pros to the part-time hobby ropers. The rope-horse futurities have also been added since I roped for a living, and have done wonders for both people wanting to make money with a rope and the caliber of horses available to all ropers now. 

The rope-horse futurities have an identity of their own now, and have brought on more breeding, training and ownership opportunities for team ropers and horse owners. It’s no surprise that Jay Wadhams is at the foundation of today’s rope-horse futurity phenomenon. Jay and his NFR switch-ender and American Quarter Horse Association Hall of Famer cousin, JD Yates, have been longtime standouts at the rope-horse end of the horse show world. 

Jay and his wife, Lindsay, started the American Rope Horse Futurity Association about 20 years ago now. The ARHFA showcases horses that are 3-6 years old, and are judged, with times also factored into their scores. The way these horses are trained and judged has evolved, and is now producing a lot of really nice ones. 

This new high-caliber team roping horse is not the result of taking a half-broke horse and giving him a crash course in roping, like so many people used to do. Today’s rope horses are bred to do it, and are started right from a very young age. These horses are not brought along to be show horses, but rather jackpot horses, and in some cases rodeo horses. 

Guys like Clay Smith, Joseph Harrison, Logan Medlin and Cody Snow have successfully gone on and rodeoed on futurity horses. World Champion Barrel Racer Jordon Briggs won a ton at the barrel-horse futurities on her great horse, Rollo, and her husband (Justin) also rode him at the rope-horse futurities. 

Some people get reining and cutting “rejects” and rope on them. They say they “make” faster, because they’re broke. Those horses have earned respect, and the tables have turned to where instead of being called rejects now, people look at it more like they found their calling as rope horses. 

We all know that without a good horse, we’re nothing. There have never been more good horses out there, and these rope-horse futurities is where so many of today’s standouts got their start. People have figured out that it’s possible to make a good run and have your horse look good doing it. Being fast doesn’t have to mean whipping, spurring, jerking and ducking. 

The rope-horse futurities are letting people in the market to buy a horse have more runs to judge them by. A horse that’s bad in the box is not going to win at a rope-horse futurity. Naturally, the price tags are as shiny as these high-end horses, but they’re worth it. 

The rope-horse futurity industry has also given guys who don’t care to rodeo hard a good way to make a living roping and training. Look at Trevor Brazile, Joseph Harrison, Billie Jack Saebens, Brock Hanson and the Kirchenschlager boys, to name a few. And guys like Rhen Richard and Kaleb Driggers are doing both. They’re making some great horses, and being paid what they deserve to do it. And as the steers have gotten smaller, the horse training has evolved to fit that. 

We used to think a horse didn’t get good until he was 10 years old. There’s still some merit to sweaty saddle blankets making good horses, but the rope-horse futurity system has sped up the process. When you start with a horse that was born to rope on, and bring him along from the beginning to be a rope horse, it speeds up that learning curve. 

It used to be that if you were an open roper, you just had to bow up and go try to make the NFR to make a living. Thankfully, there are more ways to make money team roping today than ever before. The American way has always been to build it better, because that’s progress. We have power steering, airbags and air conditioning in our trucks now. Our rope horses have a lot more user-friendly features, too.

—TRJ—