Over the last 15 years, I’ve watched this game change in so many ways. It’s always been about making a living roping for me, but there are so many more opportunities in this business now than ever before. For me, it was rodeoing, jackpots, roping schools, and buying and selling horses. When the USTRC came along, it got bigger. And now, since the World Series of Team Roping started, the team roping world is booming.
Having lived a lot of the evolution of team roping, including early in my career when our event wasn’t even standard at every rodeo, it’s just so cool to see so many more avenues for people to make a living in this industry. I never thought I’d see the day when rope horses would sell for $250,000, much less a 3-year-old prospect for $1.7 million (congratulations, Trevor Brazile and Miles Baker). To see where this industry is headed is wild.
When I was a kid, a good horse cost about $5,000. There was an old rule of thumb that a top-notch rope horse cost about as much as a new truck. Before long, a new truck was about $10,000. Today, a good horse you can go win on is worth $70,000 to $100,000 and more. That’s hard for an old-school guy like me to wrap my head around, but it’s great for guys working hard to make good horses.
I heard the other day of some roping steers bringing $2,200 a head. It’s pretty hard to make that pencil. Clay and I have always practiced a lot. That takes a lot of horsepower and a lot of cattle. We’ve always roped a lot of muleys, and some steers that most people consider rank or junkers. Never in my career have I paid retail price for a horned steer. You pay a premium for those horns, and they’re like new cars that lose 25% of their value when you drive them off the lot.
I have a little grass now, so I’m going to start raising my own native Corrientes. I have a bull and a few cows. Knowing me, if they grow up to be worth $2,200 a head, I’ll sell them and keep roping muleys. But it’s my intention to start my own little herd.
When I hear about guys getting paid to rope with people, and guys paying for trades, it makes me wonder if this’ll one day be a rich man’s game. I’m not here to judge, but I appreciate that none of the bulldoggers pay for trades. They all just work it out so everybody can get their run. That’s the cowboy way, and makes financial sense for everyone.
The cost of everything continues to change with the times. I bought my first place in Queen Creek, Arizona—which was a double-wide modular on five irrigated acres—for $75,000 in 1985. And at that point, I was like, “How in the world am I going to pay for this place with a rope?”
It’s easy for a guy like me with one foot in the grave to stay stuck in the past, and good for the guys in the middle of all this progress. It’s great to see more ways to make a living roping and riding rope horses, including the rope-horse futurity world. It’s a whole new version of the horseshow world, and there are a lot of new names in this business. There’s a reason some of those guys aren’t rodeoing. Ask their bankers about that.
The guys who are still out there rodeoing are crafty. I’ve known Cody Snow since he was a kid, and he was always buying goats, trading a cow or whatever it took to keep some money rolling in. Rodeo guys pounce on good deals, and find a way. It doesn’t matter if you’re roping, pitching horseshoes or rolling marbles, you have to do whatever it takes to make a living. Like they say, you can’t eat those gold buckles.
People see that I’ve won millions in my career. But that’s not net profit. You can never win enough after expenses to raise a family and be comfortable. So if roping is your passion, you better find a side hustle that pays the bills. Real estate has always been one of mine, in addition to the roping schools and horses. I love to rope, and I’m in this thing for life. Just remember that there are more ways than one to make it pay.
—TRJ—
