Jake Smith has been toiling away in his arena in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, training horses and paying his dues in anticipation of this moment. Smith, 31, is sixth in the PRCA World Standings with $110,777 won on the head side after spending most of his career a heeler. Smith is a Wildfire Open to the World Champion as a heeler, and in 2023 he won the R…

Kory Koontz qualified for 22 Wrangler National Finals Rodeos, won the NFR average title in 1997 and won every major jackpot along the way. But when he stepped away from professional rodeo—after seasoning iconic reacher Dustin Egusquiza—Koontz found himself re-creating his life from the ground up, learning how to budget and to manage a teaching busi…

It was a weekend for the "underdogs" with teams outside the Top 15 raking in and climbing in the PRCA world standings. Tanner Tomlinson and Patrick Smith have been fighting tooth and nail to climb in the standings, and they’ve landed themselves both at 21st in the world after a $14,064-a-man weekend. Tomlinson and Smith won the Farm-City Pro Rodeo …

JoJo LeMond roped at four National Finals Rodeos before heading back to his family ranch in Andrews, Texas, to raise his kids with his wife, Blair. But the move home wasn't sunshine and rainbows for LeMond, and he's as real as it gets with how he made the transition out of full-time rodeo and into life as a cutting horse trainer. --- This episode i…

Leaving the box flat not only affects your start, it also plays a role in setting up the entire run. If your horse is squatting, their skewed balance can get you off balance. In this bonus Roping.com tips episode of The Short Score, Trevor Brazilegives three tips for leaving the box flat. Riding the famous stallion The Darkk Side, Brazile explains …

We're still not over the highest-paying rope horse futurity in history, the ARHFA Old West Rope Horse Futurity. In this final feature of the Old West futurity, The Short Score brings you conversations with Clay Smith and Joseph Harrison after their wins. Clay Smith was the first $100,000 winner of the weekend, taking home the win in the Open Futuri…

The Team Roping Journal was all over the place this weekend, from the ARHFA's Old West Rope Horse Futurity in Wallsburg, Utah, to the Cheyenne Frontier Days short round. Miles Baker kicked off a historic weekend at the Old West Rope Horse Futurity, winning $50,000 in the Pre-Futurity Heading Thursday, July 25, on Relentless PYC. Baker talks about t…

Kenzie Mayer of Elite Equine Promotions is a master marketer in the team roping game, and our partners at The Money Barrel Podcast sat down with her to talk through the way the rope horse industry has stepped up their game in horse promotion. With The Money Barrel host Kayla Jones, Kenzie discusses how the rope horse futurity business has impacted …

With the heart of the ProRodeo season in full swing, there's some catching up to do. Erich Rogers and Paul Eaves picked up their second California Rodeo Salinas titles Sunday, July 21, 2024, with a 46.5 on five steers. All in all they pocketed $10,946 a man to push to No. 15 and 16 in the world standings. Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira added a …

Martin Lucero had a storybook career, with 16 National Finals Rodeo qualifications and an NFR average title. He was a master of strategic entering, and he's still a resource for the young guys of the game. Lucero stepped away from full-time rodeo slowly, though, over the last decade, and in this episode of The Score, he explains why he called it a …

From Cowboy Christmas, to the NFR Open, to Tate Kirchenschlager—we talk it all on this episode of The Short Score. Cowboy Christmas 2024 is officially in the books, and Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira came out on top as team roping's top money earners. They crushed the record they set in 2022 of $35,152 a man by raking in $47,275 each this year.…

Joseph Harrison is an undoubted force in the futurity game, now having $476,934.27 in American Rope Horse Futurity Association earnings, as of June 28, 2024, making him the richest roper in the ARHFA game. Harrison joins The Short Score to talk about what it means to be the richest roper in the ARHFA and how to ensure a successful future in the rop…

There comes a point in every professional team ropers' career that the sacrifices rodeo demands don't quite feel worth it anymore. For three-time World Champion Jade Corkill, 2024 was the year he decided to step away from the ProRodeo spotlight and focus on his family. Corkill, however, has won nearly $80,000 in his time away from full-time rodeo i…

Kolton Schmidt has added a new mount to his horse herd in 2024: a bay mare they call Rhianna. Registered as Carters Won Time Out, Rhianna comes to Schmidt from A&C Racing and Roping, Rhen and Kaden Richard's top-notch training program. Carters Won Time Out spent 2023 on the rope horse futurity scene with Rhen, picking up wins like the 6-&-Under Hea…

Preston Burgess is teamed up with eight-time NFR qualifier Cody Cowden on the 2024 California Circuit front, and they've made some recent money moves to climb in their standings. Burgess, a Hilmar, California, native, and Cowden have steadily climbed to fifth and third in the circuit standings after pocketing $6,718 a man between their average win …

Memorial Day weekend is a time for us to honor and remember those who selflessly sacrificed their lives for our freedoms, and it's also a major jackpotting weekend in the team roping world. The best of the best enter across multiple Open ropings in the South, such as the Windy Ryon Memorial Roping, Cody NesSmith Memorial and the Danny Dietz Memoria…

Kenna Francis and Whitney DeSalvo had a huge week in Texas at the 2024 Women's Rodeo World Championship, pocketing $71,000 for Francis and $84,000 for DeSalvo. Francis and DeSalvo were one of three teams who made it through the WRWC tournament throughout the week inside Cowtown Coliseum and put an exclamation point on the week with a 6.62-second ru…

Champions were crowned May 11, 2024, at the WCRA Rodeo Corpus Christi. Winners of Corpus not only took home $15,000 and the coveted Rodeo Corpus Christi surfboards, but they also grabbed a spot on the WCRA Free Riders team in Kid Rock's Rock N Rodeo May 17, at AT&T Stadium. The 2023 Rodeo Corpus Christi champions Riley Kittle and Jace Helton return…

Dustin Egusquiza and Levi Lord took home the 2024 Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo win May 3-5, after roping three muleys in 22.6 seconds for $3,596 a man. Between the rounds and the aggregate, Egusquiza and Lord left Oklahoma with $5,298 each to push Egusquiza to No. 1 in the world standings with $70,234.22 won on the year and Lord to No. 2 on the heel s…

Andrew Ward and Jake Long won the Yeti US Open at the Cinch USTRC National Finals of Team Roping April 21, 2024, roping five steers in 29.14 seconds to win $32,300. On this episode of The Score, DruStew sits down with the duo after their US Finals win to talk about the state of open ropings and what it takes to win at the highest level. --- This ep…

Resistol Rookie of the Year contenders were making waves across ProRodeo all weekend, from Clovis, California, to the Lone Star State of Texas. The third-annual Resistol Rookie Roundup was at Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas, April 26-27. Utah cowboys Ben Jordan and Scott Lauaki took home the 2024 win with a 4.5-second run in the four-man Roun…

Sydney Ball is headed to her fourth Women's Rodeo World Championship, this time with the 2023 Challenger world title to her name. The 23-year-old Virginia native, now living in Texas, leads the 2024 WRWC Challenger leaderboard on the head side heading into the WRWC May 13-28 in Fort Worth. Sydney, 23, and her twin sister Sally didn't start roping u…

Though the ProRodeo spring run is in full swing, The Short Score is reflecting on Luke Brown's Pendleton Round-Up in 2008. Back in 2008, Luke qualified for his first NFR where he would place in seven of 10 rounds. But his trip to Las Vegas wasn’t really punched until September that year when he won the Pendleton Round-Up with his regular season par…

Jody Ramer is an American Quarter Horse Association Professional Horseman, World Champion, ARHFA Judge and professional saddlemaker for Genuine Billy Cook Saddles. He's spent a lifetime perfecting all of these crafts, and in this episode he sits down with host Chelsea Shaffer to discuss how he applies all of those skills to his career at Billy Cook…

The 2024 BFI took place at the Lazy E Arena March 28-April 6, with the team roping wrapping up April 3. Multiple champs from BFI Week join this episode of The Short Score to talk about their wins, including The Feist champs, Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira, the 12.5 champs, Cole and Birch Eiguren, and the Charlie 1 Horse All-Girl winners, Kenzie…

Kory Koontz has 22 NFR qualifications to his name, and one thing he credits to his success is horsemanship. Roping.com recently released a full youth clinic with Koontz, with a range of videos with great tips, from dummy roping, how to rope the sled, live steers and a lot of focus on the fundamentals. On this episode of The Short Score, Roping.comb…

Brooke Wilson has established herself as the queen of riding one through the sale ring in the last five years just as the rope horse market has exploded. Wilson, 36, of Canyon, Texas, is a wife, mother and 5.5 header who won more than anyone else at the first Riata Buckle in 2022. She and her husband Rodey have topped the Horse Sale at Rancho Rio t…

The Lone Star Shootout is one of the biggest ropings of the year, and it's notorious for its gunslinging nature. In 2024, Dustin Egusquiza and Jake Long took the win with an impressive 11.66 seconds on three steers at the jackpot’s new home in Abilene, Texas. Egusquiza and Long took home $76,000 for the average but pocketed $80,000 on the day, as w…

JC Yeahquo and Buddy Hawkins copped the biggest check of the PRCA regular season, winning the 2024 RodeoHouston for $50,000 a man. Yeahquo and Hawkins are a new team in 2024 and have both jumped to No. 1 in the world standings after taking home $54,375 a man in Houston. Yeahquo now has $65,674.40 won on the year, and Hawkins has $70,240.46 on the h…

Patrick Smith has championed Rooster—WSR Hesa Dunofa Lena—since 2018, but now Smith is ready to pass the stud along to someone who will maximize his opportunities in the rope horse breeding business. In this episode, Smith explains his decision to sell Rooster (as well as his Riata Buckle spot) and how time commitments have kept him from focusing o…

Paul David Tierney now has THREE Cinch Timed Event Championships to his name, having won a whopping $388,500 in his career at the Ironman of ProRodeo. Tierney finished the three-day marathon with a time of 322.8 seconds on 25 head worth $100,000, winning second with a 58.7 in Round 2 worth $2,000, third in Round 3 with a 57.9 worth $1,000 and third…

On March 4, 2024, Chris Neal of CN Productions and Rising Stars announced the richest breakaway roping event in the history of the sport—the Kimes Ranch Million Dollar Breakaway Roping. The roping will take place in Scottsdale, Arizona, Nov. 27-30, 2024, and will pay out $1 million across a 10-round Open format. In this Breakaway Breakdown crossove…

Jeremy Barwick is one of the horse industry's biggest players—selling millions of dollars in performance horses annually through Western Bloodstock and Triangle Horse Sales. He doesn't often do interviews, but when he does, he says what he means and means what he says, dropping the most useful knowledge you'll find on the horse industry anywhere. B…

The Relentless Remuda's Miles Baker won three Open Futurities at the Royal Crown in Buckeye, Arizona, outright, and Jeremy Buhler jump-rode Remuda stallion Pride And Joyy for the only other Open futurity there was to win Feb. 8-10. Baker also let Paul Eaves ride Remuda horse Gunners Nite Train for the Open Jackpot win. All told, the Remuda took hom…

The 2023 ProRodeo season didn't end how Brenten Hall planned, right outside the Top 15 at No. 16. For the three-time NFR header, it was a wave of emotions, but he's bouncing back in 2024 with a positive outlook, fueled by his faith. Hall and his new partner, Kaden Profili, are hot off their $15,000-win at The American Contender Finals Feb. 10, in A…

The Henry's 88 Ranch is a six-generation operation in Douglas, Wyoming, where the family raises and trains performance horses that are bred to compete in the richest incentives in the country and work for a living on the ranches of the American West. In its third year, the 88 Ranch's Remuda Sale runs Feb. 2 to Feb 4 online, offering the ranch's fin…

In this episode of The Score from The Team Roping Journal, two-time NFR heeler Billie Jack Saebens delves into the intricacies of rope horse breeding programs, the dynamics of buying and selling rope horses, and the competitive landscape of rope horse futurities. Saebens, drawing from his extensive experience, provides practical insights into the p…

The WCRA rang in the new year with the 2024 Stampede at The E at the Lazy E in Guthrie, Oklahoma, Jan. 3-6. In the Progressive Rounds, Jake Wells and Bryer Hamilton took the first-round win with an 8.22, and Heath King and Stephen Britnell won the second round with a 5.79. Peyton Walters and Joe Mattern took home the win and $15,000 with a 5.52-sec…

The Ariat World Series of Team Roping XVII wrapped up at the South Point in Las Vegas Dec. 9-17, 2023, paying out over $18 million. The first roping of the week was the Riata Buckle Open, which paid $106,000 to the winning team of Bubba Buckaloo and Nicky Northcott. Buckaloo and Northcott were 43.06 seconds on six steers for the win, and they join …

The 2023 NFR is in the books, with world champs and average champions crowned. It all came down to Round 10, and when it was all said and done, Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp held on to the lead in the world standings to clinch the 2023 world title. Derrick Begay and Colter Todd went into the tenth round leading the average as the only team to catch a…

Round 9 win. They were 3.5 seconds Dec. 15 to win their second go-round in a row and push them to the top of the world standings. Wade and Thorp join Chelsea Shaffer on The Score to talk about their run, the steers and how they feel heading into the tenth round as the projected world champions. ___ This episode is presented by Resistol, who have su…

In Round 8 of the 2023 NFR, Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp knew they drew a steer they could win on. The money steer of the round, to be exact. And they took full advantage of it in just 3.3 seconds. Wade and Thorp not only won the round, they tied the team roping world record and pocketed $30,706 a man. That $30,706 was good enough to put them back i…

and went to the lead with a 4.0. Six teams later, Clay Smith and Paden Bray tied Begay and Todd. Following Smith and Bray, Clint Summers and Jake Long joined both teams at the top, taking home their fourth round win of this year's NFR. Chelsea Shaffer sits down with all three teams on this episode of The Score to talk about their night. ____ This e…

no-times, a leg and one clean run, to be exact. But in the matinee Wednesday, Dec. 13, Rogers and Eaves turned things around in 3.5 seconds to win the round and pick up their first check of this year's NFR. Host Chelsea Shaffer sat down with them on The Score to talk about the run, their horses and how they turned things around. ___ This episode of…

way out of three tough rounds. After roping a leg in the first two rounds and having a miss on the head side in Round 3, they took home a nice check in Round 4 and won Round 5 with a 3.8. The win in Round 5 actually marks Koch's first-ever NFR go-round win. On this episode of The Score, Brown and Koch talk about Koch's first round win and how they'…

Long. They were 3.7 seconds Monday, Dec. 11 to win Round 4, bringing their NFR round earnings in just four rounds to $92,118. Summers and Long are back with Chelsea Shaffer on The Score in a feel-good episode. They talk about what it’s like to live out their absolute childhood dreams, what their mindsets look like this year and just how grateful th…

The strongest, toughest steer in the pen was no match for Coleman Proctor and Logan Medlin, who took the win in Round 3 of the 2023 NFR with a 3.7-second run. After starting off the Finals with two misses, Proctor and Medlin bounced back, cashing in $30,706 a man for the round win. Chelsea Shaffer sat down with Proctor and Medlin on this episode of…

The 2023 NFR has started out better for Clint Summers and Jake Long than any other NFR before, for both men, as they've won back-to-back go rounds. Summers and Long were a blazing 3.8 seconds in Round 2 to win the round, bringing their NFR earnings thus far to $61,412.82 a man. On this episode of The Score, host Chelsea Shaffer sits down with Summe…

Clint Summers fought hard all 2023 to qualify for his third NFR, and he started off the 2023 Finals with a bang, grabbing the first-round win with Jake Long with a 4.2-second run. The win not only comes as a reward to a hard-fought year, it also marks Summers' first-ever round win in the Thomas & Mack. On this episode of The Score, host, Chelsea Sh…

In 2008, Colter Todd would make the NFR on the head side and then walk away from ProRodeo for over a decade. Fast forward to 2023, Todd has returned to Las Vegas, this time to heel for his partner and best friend, Derrick Begay. Begay and Todd are some of rodeo fans' favorite team ropers and for good reason. Chelsea Shaffer sat down with Todd in th…