Kirby Blankenship, a 9.5 heeler by trade, had never seen the head horse—Twisted Hickory Time—he was supposed to ride Nov. 4 in the Lazy E in the Riata Buckle’s Handi-High L1 #12.5 All-Ages Championship, but that didn’t matter too much.

That same 5-year-old horse owned by Wesley Thorp and Shawn Grey? He’d also never been to a jackpot on the head side, but that didn’t matter, either.

J.D. McGuire has been busy in the oilfield and being a dad to his two girls, and he’d never swung a leg over the 4-year-old heel horse—Canteburys Cherrey—he rode, even though he owned him. BUT, that didn’t matter, either.

All results and payout are unofficial pending audit. Stallion and breeder results will be posted as it becomes available.

In the end, they roped four steers in 31.25 seconds to win $60,000 on futurity horses when they could have been riding seasoned horses of any age in the Riata Buckle Handi-High L1 #12.5 All Ages Championship. Plus, DT Horses banked another $9,504 thanks to the horse Blankenship rode—Twisted Hickory Time—being the nominated horse of the duo, earning the stallion-owner payout thanks to Hickory Holly Time. Breeders Chris and Melissa Garbrick will also earn $4,752 from Twisted Hickory Time’s performance.

Play-By-Play

Blankenship, 23, from Lampasas, Texas, and McGuire, 37, from Midland, Texas, made four rock-solid runs without many bobbles for the win.

“The first run we went 8, and then we were two 7s,” Blankenship explained of their day. “Our second steer was so good and our third steer was even better. In the short round, second callback had to turn theirs out, and they got ours. When I saw they turned him out, I knew it was game over because that little mousy steer looked too good.”

They had to be 7.69, but they didn’t know that.

“When we rode in there, both of us rode in there and got in there fast enough that Cade or Dru didn’t have time to figure out what we needed to be,” McGuire added. “Andy Holcomb was 6 or something, and he made a good run. We figured we might have half a second on them. But we knew we had to be aggressive. Kirby got out and snapped it on him, I heeled him, and when we were riding forward Dru said we had to be 7.6 and we were 7.5.”

Opportunity Knocking

Blankenship, 23, trains horses for a living, so of course he’d figured out something to ride in the Pro Futurity. But as the Riata Buckle crept closer, he became more aware of the opportunities that it would bring in the lower divisions, too.

“Shawn called me on Wednesday, and he asked if I wanted to ride the horse,” Blankenship said. “Five minutes later, he said JD McGuire wanted to rope, and he took care of putting us down.”

For McGuire, it was Grey, who talked him into coming in the first place.

“Shawn said, ‘Hey do you have an extra hole still?” McGuire explained. “I was just entered once with Cody Wheeler. And Shawn’s the one who said we need to come up here. When Shawn asked me, I was trying to figure out which horses we were bringing, and not overcommit—which is what team ropers do—but at the end of the day, we got it lined out. And I told Shawn I was going to ride my 4-year-old, and he said, ‘Do you think you need to ride something more seasoned? Because the horse Kirby is going to ride hasn’t ever been headed on at a jackpot.’ And I said, ‘We’re either going to win it or we’re not, because this is our only option right here.’ And here we are. I never try to miss an opportunity to tell Shawn he was wrong.”

Versatility

The ‘head horse’ Thorp and Grey call Beatbox had already won $8,210 for sixth in the Pro Futurity under Thorp and behind the sharp spins of Cody Snow. And he was team 109 in the #12.5 on the heel side, making it back to the short round in seventh call but having bad luck there. Blankenship and McGuire were team 111, but luckily there was an arena drag in between those runs.

Watch Kirby Blankenship win The American Rodeo Contender Series Semifinals in Abilene, Texas.

By Hickory Holly Time and out of the mare Playmate Centerfold by Smart Mate, Twisted Hickory Time didn’t mind the work one bit, and he stayed flat and relaxed throughout the back-and-forth.

“I just jumped on him, and Wesley gave me some instructions,” Blankenship said. “He said he’ll be ratey and green starting. So honestly, I got a pretty good jump on everyone. I cheated the system.”

The heel horse, 4-year-old Canteburys Cherrey by Cantebury Cat out of the Dual Rey mare Cherrey, was started in the heeling by Hunter Koch, and he was supposed to show at this year’s ARHFA World Championship. But Koch had sent the standout prospect home to McGuire to ride for a bit, and McGuire never got to it with his life’s obligations. So his good friend TyDaniel Haller took the horse, and he had a blast bringing him along all summer.

“I told TyDaniel I’d come get him in a week or so,” McGuire said. “They take such good care of all the horses, and then I said I’d come get him in two weeks, and then it’s been five months. Then Hunter asked when I was sending him back for the futurity, and I asked when we had to enter. He said we needed to enter in September, and it was already October. We didn’t get him in the rope horse futurity, but this worked out.

“TyDaniel rode him in the Open, but we had to swap saddles,” McGuire added. “TyDaniel’s saddle is for kids, so we had to put a grown man’s saddle on for this roping.”