Monthly Archives: December 2020

ARLINGTON, Texas – Bareback rider Tim O’Connell did everything he could during the 10th round of the National Finals Rodeo to win his fourth world championship. He rode Powder River Rodeo’s Two Buck Chuck for 89 points and had to wait out a re-ride by his closest opponent, Utahan Kaycee Feild. The decision didn’t rest on O’Connell’s performance, though. Feild was awarded 91 points on Three Hills Rodeo’s Junior Bonner to win the round and the world championship at Globe Life Field. But O’Connell had no reason to hang his head. He fought a brilliant 10-round bout to claim the Montana Silversmiths gold buckle. Instead, his big score was worth third in the round, and he fell to third in the average. He also finished as the No. 2 man in the world standings. Through 10 nights of ProRodeo’s championship event, the Zwingle, Iowa, cowboy placed six times, including the fourth-round victory after matching moves with Fettig Pro Rodeo’s Pop A Top for 90.5 points. He left Globe Life Field with $148,064 in NFR earnings and finished the campaign with $270,991. He was just $6,657 behind Feild. While there was disappointment in the air, O’Connell proved again why he will continue to be a contender for the world title each year. The NFR features only the best 15 cowboys from the regular season, and 2020 was his seventh straight trip to the sport’s premier event. He won three-straight gold buckles from 2016-’18. An injury suffered on the final night of his final championship cost him to miss much of the 2019 campaign. He battled for three months to advance to the NFR, where he and other bareback riders were met with a buzz saw named Clayton Biglow, who claimed the crown. Of his seven trips to the finale, O’Connell has finished among the top 5 six times. With him coming within a whisker of this year’s gold buckle, there’s a new fire that is being built as he prepares for the 2021 campaign. A key bright spot that appeared was his traveling partner – Jess Pope, a senior at Missouri Valley College – claimed the NFR average title. Now the two will venture into the next campaign with bright light shining on next year’s NFR and another shot at ProRodeo’s gold.

ARLINGTON, Texas – The Montana Silversmiths gold buckle that is awarded to world champions is an elusive thing. Only one person per event can earn that piece of hardware each year, and Biglow did that in 2019. The 2020 National Finals Rodeo was a much different story. He closed this year’s finale in fine fashion, though, matching moves with Hi Lo Pro Rodeo’s Redzilla for 88 points to finish fourth in the 10th round. “I learned more than I have at an NFR,” said Biglow, 24, of Clements, California. “This is not most important to the stats but most important to me as a bareback rider. I’ll probably hold on to this finals for the rest of my career. It is what is going to fire me up every time.” It was a rough championship for the reigning world champion. He bucked off twice and had two scores in the 60s. Still, he placed five nights and earned $80,442 over 10 nights at Globe Life Field in Arlington. He pocketed $11,000 on the final night of the season. “I got on that horse at the finals in 2017, and it didn’t go very good,” he said. “She wasn’t very good. She was younger. Ever since then, they were 90 on her every time, so I knew I had a really good shot to win a check.” Now that the season has concluded – Biglow ended the year seventh in the world standings with $151,415 in earnings – he will take some time off, enjoy the holidays with family and keep his eyes open for the schedule. The first one on the calendar is in Odessa, Texas, in early January. “I will enter whatever opens up,” he said, realizing that the pandemic may change things again in 2021. “I’m sure I’ll be itching enough to fly to get on one. Whatever rodeos are open, I’m going to go to them.” Besides the lessons he gained over his week and a half in north Texas, the California cowboy realizes there are many other great things that come out of competing as one of the best in the game. “The guys in that locker room are what make it,” Biglow said. “No one is ever down on you. Everyone is trying to pick you up and trying to figure out your problems. If someone is having hell, I’m going to help him; we’ll figure it out. That’s how it is. “Getting on bucking horses isn’t the easiest thing in the world, so if you’re are down on yourself, it makes it 10 times harder. These guys always pick you up.”

ARLINGTON, Texas – As he reflected on the last 10 days, Mason Clements wasn’t too thrilled with how his third National Finals Rodeo appearance went. Still, he quietly found success. He placed in five rounds and finished fifth in the average race by scoring 810.5 cumulative points on 10 rides; that was worth nearly $23,000, and he pocketed $66,269 at Globe Life Field in Arlington. “It will work, and, honestly, it’s the best I’ve done at the finals,” he said, referring to his five placings and not suffering a no-score through the week. “I stayed on all 10 horses. I don’t know about riding them. There are a lot of things I am going to go back to the drawing board and fix. I want to make sure I don’t have those errors and mistakes in the season and going into next year’s NFR.” Clements struggled with his rigging through eight rounds, then switched to a new piece of equipment for the final two nights of the season. That made a great deal of difference for him, especially in regards to his confidence. “Every one of these other guys brought it, and it was anybody’s game,” he said of the other bareback riders in the field. “You just had to mark them out, keep your chin tucked and keep spurring; just do your job, be a bareback rider, be tough. There is no doubt that 14 other guys in that locker room are all of that. “I was really happy with how the horses performed. They did their jobs, and we did ours. Everything else is out of our control.” Clements finished 10th in the world standings with $124,771 earned through the COVID-affected 2020 campaign. That’s saying something, especially considering that fewer than half the events took place than in a typical rodeo season. “There were a lot of positives that happened,” Clements said. “It is still just a learning experience, and I’m happy. “How many times can you say you’ve been to Texas for the NFR in a baseball stadium? In a year like this, I’m so grateful for what the PRCA has put together to make this happen.”

ARLINGTON, Texas – Jess Pope just picked up the biggest paycheck of his life, earning $170,417 for 10 days work at the National Finals Rodeo and winning the bareback riding average title. Don’t look for him to settle for anything. He was raised around hard work, and that’s going to continue. He left Arlington on Sunday en route to his Waverly, Kansas, home, where he will do some day work for people in his part of the Sunflower State. He’ll also go back to work at the local sale barn every Wednesday during his Christmas break from Missouri Valley College, where he is a senior. “My goal was to win the average,” said Pope, who rode Pickett Pro Rodeo’s Uncapped for 89.5 points to finish second in the 10th round of the NFR; that was worth $20,731. “It’s a marathon, not a spring. I just win in there and did it. It’s like what they say, ‘Dream it, do it, own it.’ I dreamed it up and ran with it.” It was a dream come true for the 22-year-old cowboy. He finished the season with $220,029 and capped his incredible campaign third in the world standings. “It shows that I was the guy at the NFR this year,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what he got on, he rode them all the same. He rode the buckers the same way he rode the ‘hoppers.’ (Saturday) night when I went to bed, I thought about all 10 horses I got on. There’s not one thing different I’d want to do on all of them. I was really strong on everything. I feel like I had a great finals.” He did. He was second in NFR earnings, finishing about $12,000 behind world champion Kaycee Feild, who earned his fifth gold buckle. Pope leaves Globe Life Field with life-changing money and a boatload of confidence. “To show up at the NFR and beat the top 15 guys when they’re supposed to be on top of their game is amazing, and it helps my confidence a lot,” Pope said. Those are the best horses you get on all year long and do it in 10 days in a row. I went in there and realized I can do it. “It’s just the beginning for me.” Until his next rodeo, though, he’ll still build on his work ethic. When he’s not doing day work or helping at the sale barn, he’ll be working out and dreaming about bucking horses. “There’s a lot more to my life than just rodeo,” he said. “I don’t even know the next rode I’m going to go to. I’m going to go home and do the stuff I love. I’m not the kind of guy to just sit at the house. I’m going to go about my life like I did before.”

ARLINGTON, Texas – College students around the world spend tens of thousands of dollars for their educations. Northwestern Oklahoma State University senior Bridger Anderson just received the biggest lessons of his life over the last 10 days at the National Finals Rodeo. On top of it, he made $77,068 at ProRodeo’s premier event. “Things just didn’t play out the way we expected it to, and we just rolled with it,” said Anderson, a steer wrestler from Carrington, North Dakota. “My steer (Friday) night didn’t leave like we wanted to, but we did exactly what we were planning on.” He threw the steer down in 4.4 seconds, but he broke the barrier – not allowing the steer an appropriate head start – and was penalized 10 seconds. A 4.4 wouldn’t have placed in the ninth round, but it would have helped him stay a little higher in the average race, which pays bonuses for the fastest cumulative times on 10 runs. Anderson still finished sixth in the aggregate, which was worth $16,500. He finished the year with $120,934 and ninth in the world standings. That’s proof of just how tight the bulldogging race was in 2020. “I feel very fortunate,” he said. “It’s not every day you win over $70,000 in a week and a half. I’m happy that I’m pretty healthy and my horse was pretty healthy. Stockton (Graves) did an outstanding job for me as my hazer, and I couldn’t ask for a better week. “I couldn’t be happier for Jacob Edler. I think I might be one of the most pumped people about it.” Edler, a Northwestern alumnus, earned twice as much NFR money as Anderson, won the NFR average title and claimed the steer wrestling world title. “We practice together all the time,” Anderson said of Edler. “We practiced our butts off for years, but especially the last two months leading up to this thing. Jacob didn’t get this given to him by accident. He damn sure earned it.” That’s the same for Anderson. Just qualifying for the NFR is a big deal, especially in 2020 with the schedule reduced and the competition as strong as ever. He placed in just three years, including a share of the second-round title, and gained more from the experience than he would have imagined heading in. “I don’t thing we necessarily did our job quite to the expectation of what we could have,” he said. “I learned what it takes to win a world championship. We’re going to go home and work our tail off until we are in a spot to do that. I won more money than I have in my life, and I learned exactly what it takes to be great. That’s what we’re going to focus on right now. “You’ve got to strive to be the best, but only one guy gets to be the best every year.” At just 22 years old, Anderson will have plenty more chances to be the best.

ARLINGTON, Texas – Halfway through the 2020 National Finals Rodeo, Jacob Edler had to make a big business decision. He had qualified for his first NFR on Ditto, a mare that was owned by Canadian Clayton Moore and recently acquired by Shane Frey. They matched together pretty well through the first five nights, but Edler noticed he was getting further away from the steers on each run. He opted for Mabel, a 9-year-old sorrel mare owned by Garrett Henry and ridden through the last couple of years by fellow bulldogger Stetson Jorgensen. That made all the difference in the world … well, Edler’s world championship, anyway. “This has been an awesome experience,” said Edler, 26, of State Center, Iowa. “I just tried to do my job every day. Getting to ride Ditto the first five rounds was great, and she did great, but I knew it wasn’t going to work for the rest of the time. I have to thank Garret and Stetson for letting me ride Mabel. She’s the reason I’m sitting here right now.” In all, he placed in eight of 10 go-rounds and won the NFR average title with a cumulative time of 43.4 seconds. That was worth $67,269 and allowed the Iowa bulldogger to pocket $154,904 over 10 December nights inside Globe Life Field. He finished the year with $200,510 and outdistanced Jorgensen by just $1,680 to earn the coveted Montana Silversmiths gold buckle. “It’s a start to my future,” he said. “I’ve never seen this much money in my whole life, and I’m very grateful for that. I’ve been blessed to do as well as I have. Me and my beautiful fiancé, Moriah, are going to be able to start a life with this.” Not only is he about to be married, but he and Moriah are expecting their first child. Edler took his moment during an in-arena interview to proclaim that for all the rodeo world to witness. In Saturday’s 10th round, he stopped the clock in 3.9 seconds to finish in a tie for fourth place, with $8,885. Not only did that help his stance in the world standings, but it pushed him past Jorgensen for the average lead. Mabel was the driving force, but the decision to jump on the red rocket’s back all came down to a gut feeling he had – or maybe it was a premonition. “I had a dream about it right before the fifth round,” said Edler, who finished as the runner-up to his national champion teammate J.D. Struxness at the 2016 College National Finals Rodeo but is now taking home the first gold buckle in steer wrestling for Northwestern Oklahoma State University. “In the fifth round, I had a great steer drawn, and there was too much separation when I made the move to the steer. I ended up placing fourth in the round, but I knew if I’d been on a horse that gave me a little straighter, tighter goal, I would have won the go-round; that was my sure-tell sign that I needed to get on something else.” And what does it mean to wear that world champion’s trophy around Alva, home of his alma mater where he now lives? “It’s huge,” he said. “We’re one of the forces to be reckoned with as far as the Bulldogging Capital of College Rodeo, so to be able to bring that gold buckle back to Alva is great.” While the 10 days of ProRodeo’s grand finale may seem to have been a great success for the Iowa cowboy, it wasn’t. He almost missed action because he tested positive for COVID, but a second test came up negative. He also watched his spot in the world standings drop to sixth after the ninth round, but he was able to climb back up quickly with a fantastic final night of bulldogging on the final night of the wild 2020 season. “You’ve got to show up every day with a positive attitude,” Edler said. “You’ve got to also keep pushing forward. “It was awesome to get to compete with a guy that’s such a competitor like Stetson. When I threw that steer down, I felt like I did my job to the best of my ability, tipped my hat and bowed to the crowd and got out of the arena to see how the race unfolded, and it fell in my favor.”

ARLINGTON, Texas – Bareback rider Mason Clements made a couple of necessary adjustments, and it paid off Friday during the ninth round of the National Finals Rodeo. “I broke out a new rigging that I had worked on at home before I got here,” said Clements, who rode Pete Carr Pro Rodeo’s Painted River for 84 points to finish fourth in the go-round. “I wish I would have done that four or five rounds ago, but it is just a learning curve. We’ve got a new one under us now, and it is a lot better. “I’m back to 100 percent. My body is still feeling good, and this rigging is the money.” Of course, having a horse like Painted River helps matters. It was the second time Clements had been on the Texas-raised bronc, which is out of the great mare Riverboat Annie and by the stud Korczak. He was the first ProRodeo cowboy to ride Painted River during the 2014 Guymon (Oklahoma) Pioneer Days Rodeo, and the two matched for 84 points that day, too. “That horse is really fun,” he said. “I had seen Kaycee (Feild) get on her in Stephenville (Texas) at the end of the year. Everybody told me she was just a really great horse. It’s pretty cool to see it here and the finals and to get a chance to ride it again.” Clements has placed in five rounds and is sixth in the average race with a cumulative score of 726.5 points on nine rides. He has pocketed $43,423 in Arlington and sits 11th in the world standings with $101,924. More importantly, he has the 10th round yet to go with a chance to collect more Texas money before returning to his home in Spanish Fork, Utah, which he shares with his fiancé, Brianna. If he remains sixth in the aggregate, he will add a bonus of $16,500 plus whatever he earns on the final night of the season. “Brianna takes care of a lot for me,” Clements said. “She takes care of everything and keeps everybody entertained while I’m doing my thing. That’s big for me. I get worked up when I’ve got all that stuff to do, so she sees that and takes care of a lot of that for me. “During the day, she keeps me calm and focused on this. She makes sure I take her shopping, which I love to do, because she gives me everything I need, and she deserves the world, too.” He has a chance to return that kind of support with a big payday Saturday night.

ARLINGTON, Texas – Orin Larsen is third in the bareback riding world standings, and he had high hopes of finishing this National Finals Rodeo with the world championship. His chances now are very slim heading into the final night of the season, but he’s still enjoying his time at Globe Life Field in Arlington. Tim O’Connell and Kaycee Field are in a tight battle for that Montana Silversmiths gold buckle, and it will come down to Saturday’s Round 10 to see what happens. “I’m probably out of the world title, but I’m just here having fun,” said Larsen of Inglis, Manitoba, now living in Gering, Nebraska. He rode Stace Smith Pro Rodeo’s Cactus Black for 83.5 points to finish sixth in Friday’s ninth round to pocket $4,231. It’s the bottom payment for placing at the NFR, but it’s still good. “The land payment needs to be paid, so we are going to make every check I get count; it might have been better if I was living up in Canada, about a couple hundred thousand by the time I get out of there,” he said with a laugh. “I really underestimated that horse. He is just a cute little stud horse, but he really fired out of the chute and really meant it.” Larsen has pushed his NFR earnings to $64,788 and has an annual salary $146,180 with a big chance to add to it in the 10th round. He sits fifth in the average race with a cumulative score of 741.5 points on nine rides. If he stays there when the NFR concludes, he’ll add a bonus of $22,846. “I think it’s just coming down to a drawing contest,” Larsen said, referring to the cowboys being matched with their broncs by a random draw. “Everybody is just riding really good and really strong. Even with (Thursday) night and how things went with guys hitting the ground, they came back stronger. Everyone is mad and hungry, and you are going to see that (Saturday), too.” No matter what happens in the arena, he has the support he needs with his wife, Alexa. There is intense pressure to perform well, especially at ProRodeo’s premier event. “That woman does not get enough credit,” Larsen said. “She has helped me in every way possible to make my week better. She pretty much pampers me while I’m here. Without her, I’m definitely nobody.” As a six-time NFR qualifier, he’s definitely somebody, and rodeo fans know it.

ARLINGTON, Texas – The 2020 National Finals Rodeo version of Clayton Biglow is much different than it was in 2019. A year ago, Biglow dominated the NFR, setting earnings and aggregate records on the way to his first world championship. This year, he’s placed in just four of nine rounds so far and has earned $69,442. Still, he is sixth in the world standings heading into the final night of ProRodeo’s grand finale. “That felt more like it,” he said after riding Three Hills Rodeo’s Devil’s Advocate for 85.5 points to finish fourth in Friday’s ninth round at Globe Life Field. “I’ve just been trying to brush off the frustrations and move on to the next one. It’s been one heck of a week and not the one I was looking for. “You’ve got to take the positive from it. I’ve learned a lot this week, and I am ready for (Saturday). I’m ready to get home and get ready for next year.” It’s been a rough year for everyone, thanks to the COVID-19 global pandemic. There were less than half the rodeos of a typical year, and some of the ones that were missing were many of the biggest in the game. Instead of leading the world standings entering this year’s NFR, he came in fifth, and it’s been an uphill climb in Arlington. “It’s a lot different than last year,” said Biglow, 24, a bareback rider from Clements, California. “It seems like everything went my way, and this year it’s going the opposite. But I’m here at the finals. I’ve made my fifth NFR. I’m happy about that, and it’s not the end of Clayton Biglow, that’s for damn sure. I’m ready for next year. It’s building a fire in me that I needed.” Friday’s ride was good enough to add $11,000 to his NFR paycheck. He’s pushed his season earnings to $140,415 with one night left. But as he looked back, he realized there were some great things that came out of this calendar year. “In the rodeo world, I’ve had kind of a different year, and to throw COVID on top of that, it makes things a little more crazy,” he said. “I got married this year, and I’m pretty happy about that. I’m a blessed man.” He suffered two no-scores, which is uncommon for someone of his caliber. The “Eliminator Pen” also hammered him with both scores in the third and eighth rounds being in the 60s. By matching moves with Devil’s Advocate, he was able to show off just a bit more – Friday’s pen is considered the “hoppers,” which are the easiest-to-ride broncs at the NFR, and they come just one night after the E pen. “It’s a drastic change going from the E pen to the one-penners, but I needed it,” Biglow said. “I needed that little hopper, and I needed to work on some things. I feel like I got it done, and I’ve got $26,000 to win (Saturday) night. “I knew she was going to be super good. She is about the hoppiest horse you can think of. She rides good. I wish I could take her home and practice on her.”

ARLINGTON, Texas – Ryan Jarrett might want to get his engine checked; if it cranks a little slow but still has good power, it might need some fine-tuning. And, quite possibly, he’s been turning a few knobs here and there and put something together. On Friday night, he roped and tied his calf in 8.4 seconds to finish in a tie for fifth place in the ninth round of the National Finals Rodeo. It was his fourth paycheck of the week worth $5,500. He missed out on collecting cash at ProRodeo’s premier event on the first three nights, then started revving the engine in Round 4 by finishing tied for fifth. He finished third on Night 5, then placed third Thursday. In all, he’s pocketed $53,308 in nine days of work at Globe Life Field. “I thought I broke the barrier,” Jarrett said, noting that he would have suffered a 10-second penalty, which would have taken him out of the top six spots that collect cash. “I was way to close and thought I’d just broke it. The calf didn’t have a whole lot of snap on the end of the rope, and thinking that I broke the barrier, I put two wraps on.” Once the calf is caught, cowboys then flank the animal and tie three legs together, most commonly using two full wraps around the legs, then throwing in a half-hitch to secure it. To be even faster, some cowboys take a chance and put just one wrap and a half-hitch, but there’s more of a likelihood the calf can break free before a six-second time limit elapses. “She would have laid there with a wrap and a hooey all day,” said Jarrett, the 2005 all-around world champion and a 13-time NFR qualifier. “It didn’t go as good as I wanted, but luckily we held in there. It’s money, and I’m not complaining. I’ll do it again tomorrow night and maybe get some of that average money, too.” He sits fifth in the average race with a cumulative time of 95.7 seconds on nine runs. Should he remain there, he will add a bonus of $31,731 when Saturday night comes to a close. “Even though it is a fifth- and sixth-place split, it still feels good to get a check,” he said. “You don’t leave here with your chin on the ground. “I’d like about a third-place check tomorrow and a fifth in the average, and I’d be tickled pink. I’ve got about $50,000 won so far, and that on top of $40,000 … that’s $90,000 where I come from.” That would be a good bit of work for just 10 days.

ARLINGTON, Texas – The good comes with the bad and vice versa; that’s life, and that’s also the National Finals Rodeo. Steer wrestler Jace Melvin has experienced a bit of both over the past nine days inside Globe Life Field in Arlington. He earned his first paycheck on opening night, then waited four nights for his second, a go-round win sharing run of 3.9 seconds. He followed that with another placing in Round 6, then things didn’t really go his way. He was off the pace on the seventh night, then didn’t get the clock stopped for 24.6 seconds on the eighth. “I just needed to get back to what I do,” said Melvin of Stephenville, Texas, originally from Fort Pierre, South Dakota. “I’ve been fighting lower back stuff, but the sports medicine got me to feeling right.” He went in for treatments after Thursday’s run, then again twice on Friday. He felt normal, and he looked pretty good, too, grappling his steer to the ground in 3.7 seconds to finish fifth in the ninth round. That was worth $6,769 and pushed his NFR earnings to $53,365 He will return to the Justin Sportsmedicine team a couple more times before Saturday’s final round of the 2020 ProRodeo season. “I’m going to try to finish off the week as strong as I can,” he said. “I’ve learned a lot. It hasn’t been exactly how I’ve planned it out, but I’ve taken a lot from it. I’m exited for what tomorrow brings and what the future brings. “Anytime you can win a check, you feel pretty dang good here. It’s been a pretty tough bulldogging this week. They aren’t just giving checks out.” No, they are earned. Three men earned a share of the Round 9 victory, and they stopped the clock in 3.5 seconds. Melvin’s 3.7 would typically get a bigger check, but he’ll take what he can get. He is less than $500 from crossing the $100,000 mark for season earnings. “(Thursday) night didn’t go how it was supposed to go,” Melvin said. “Tonight, I thought, ‘Go at the barrier and throw him down fast.’ They hadn’t won anything on that steer, but I knew I had a chance.” He sits eighth in the average with a cumulative time of 79.1 seconds on nine runs. If he remains in that spot when Saturday night concludes, he will earn a bonus of $6,346. “I have to realize there’s a reason you’re here,” he said. “I’ve tried for five years to make it here. It takes a lot of time and work and money. You’ve got every right to be here. There’s a reason you’re here to do what you’re best at. Stay true to the plan. “I have a chance for two checks tomorrow in the round and the average. I still have nothing to lose. Any time you have a chance to win two checks on the last night, it’s always a great opportunity to be in.”

ARLINGTON, Texas – Wyatt Casper needed that in the worst way. The world standings leader for most of the year, Casper watched his advantage slip away after Thursday’s eighth round, when he finished in sixth place while Ryder Wright won the night and moved to the No. 1 spot on the saddle bronc riding money list. “I enjoy nights like this, not the one last night,” said Casper, who rode Calgary Stampede’s Xena Warrior for 88 points to win the ninth round Friday at the National Finals Rodeo. “I think she could have won Horse of the Year for the last two years. She is just an outstanding bronc. She gives it all she’s got every time and bucks hard. She is pretty fun to ride. I’m lucky to draw her.” For his efforts, Casper pocketed $26,231 and took a big leap back toward Wright, who finished in a tie for second place. Casper trails by just $1,314 with one night remaining. And, truthfully, he has had an amazing NFR. He has placed in seven of nine rounds and earned $121,270 in just nine days. He is second in the average with 290.5 cumulative points on eight rides – he was bucked off in the fourth round – but he has virtually no chance to catch Wright for the average title even if Wright fails to garner a score in the 10th round. The best he can do is stay second in the aggregate, which will pay $54,577. Some things will have to happen for Casper to walk away from Globe Life Field with the coveted Montana Silversmiths gold buckle. First, he will have to place at least third in the 10th round and hope Wright fails to score. But that’s of no concern to the Miami, Texas, cowboy. “I needed a little pick-me-up before tomorrow night,” Casper said. “I have a good mindset, so hopefully I’ll draw a good horse and let the chips fall into place where they will. “It’s a nail-biter. It helps bring out the better in me, and I think the same goes for Ryder. It’s a good competition.” Yes, it is, and that’s exactly what he was eager to play on the sport’s biggest stage. He has a chance to get on 10 of the greatest bucking horses in the world, and that’s what he needed after scoring just 82.5 points in Thursday’s round. Xena Warrior was the perfect medicine to cure what ailed him. “I’ve seen her in the Fort Worth short-go with Dawson Hay, and he was 90 points on her,” Casper said. “That meant it would be a dream come true to get on her, and I finally got to. When you’re getting on those good horses, everything usually feels a lot better.”

ARLINGTON, Texas – If practice makes perfect, then Richmond Champion was very ready for Friday’s ninth round of the National Finals Rodeo. He matched moves with Sankey Pro Rodeo’s Great Nation for 86.5 points to finish third in the go-round. The $15,654 he earned pushed his NFR salary to $77,974 with just one night remaining in the 2020 ProRodeo season. He is fifth in the world standings with $142,123. “I won Missoula (Montana) on him last year, and I just got on him as a practice horse for the NFR, so I was really pumped,” said Champion of Stevensville, Montana. “He was way better here than he was either of those times. I knew he was going to be tougher than any of the other horses out in this pen. “He’s got a little bit of a drop and sometimes he moves ahead. Today he had the drop and was up under himself, so it was pretty awesome. It felt really good on my end.” Now in his sixth NFR, he knows what it takes to win big money at ProRodeo’s grand finale. That came into play after getting bucked off in Thursday’s “Eliminator Pen” by Northcott-Macza’s Spilled Perfume. “I got a little bit of a stinger,” he said, referring to a pinched nerve in his neck. “That third jump, she went left, and I just got a hair behind her, didn’t have my feet set and took it all on my arm. My whole arm went numb. The next thing you know, I’m looking down at my rigging thinking, ‘This is not good.’ By the time I got behind the bucking chutes, my fingers were tingling again.” He was also No. 1 in the average race, then fell to seventh with 680.5 points on nine qualified rides. “It sucked, and I was pretty upset,” said Champion, who attended nearby Tarleton State University on a rodeo scholarship. “You just reassess and make the next goal: ‘What is the next thing I’m going to accomplish in this situation, and they are paying average checks that ride nine head the best.’ “I’ll win as much as I can and try to get a good fifth- or sixth-place average check and call it a successful week.” He’s still had a solid week, which nearly $80,000 grand stands as a testament, but competitors get flustered when their beaten. For Champion, he just leans on his wife, Paige, who is a retired Olympic figure skater. “She let me do my thing last night, and we talked about it this morning,” he said. “She is a great support all the time. She has great timing. She knows when to say it and when to let me deal with it on my own, then we will come back to it. “Today, she said ‘Just go make the ride you want to make and have fun.’ Things are looking up, and I’m excited for tomorrow.”

ARLINGTON, Texas – It wasn’t pretty, but it worked out for Mason Clements during the second coming of the “Eliminator Pen” of bareback horses at this year’s National Finals Rodeo. Clements managed to get by Mental Illness of the Sankey Pro Rodeo and Phenom Genetics string for 77 points to tie for sixth place for the second straight night, this time for Thursday’s eighth go-round. The nastiest horses in the game are done, and many of the cowboys are breathing a sigh of relief to not have to face them again. That’s not necessarily the Utah cowboy. “It’s a relief and it isn’t, because I want redemption, and I want it now,” said Clements, who added another $2,115 to push his NFR earnings to $36,654. “You go all year long to come here to have a shot at those horses for the right amount of money and the right stage. I just hope I have them again at a big rodeo in the season or back at the NFR again next year.” It was a tough night for most of the bareback riders. Six cowboys failed to get a score, and two others were jerked around like rag dolls. The seven that managed to make better rides all collected NFR cash. “Everything damn sure bucked,” Clements said. “Jess Pope had a pretty nice horse compared to how the rest of the field went, but he still had to do his job. Everything was on fire. I’m pretty sure my horse ate half the plywood in the alley before we got her in the chute. “They were a bunch of fire-breathing dragons in the field. I haven’t seen that many guys miss markouts or get bucked down in a long time out of the 15 of us. This is crazy. Anything can happen at the finals.” He arrived at Globe Life Field early Thursday to work on his rigging. He hoped it would help him perform better. The rank horses were tough enough, but trying to do it with a worn out, yet important, piece of equipment made things a big tougher. He will finish the final two nights with a new rigging. “When they’re new, they’re a little tight,” said Clements, a three-time NFR qualifier from Spanish Fork, Utah. “When it’s dried and cured, it’s really solid like a piece of wood. I’ve stretched it out some, and I’ll stretch it out again before I ride in the ninth round. “I’ll just pull it down tight, then you go in and squeeze your hand and nod your head.” Getting past the eliminators is still an accomplishment, and he takes great pride in still being healthy and in good shape for the final two horses of a rough 2020 season. “It’s a big mental game when it comes to the best, buckingest horses in the world,” he said. “The third and eighth rounds were those horses. You’ve got to do it if you want to crown a world champion. At least when it’s here, we have time to rest and recover, and a lot of times, we don’t get that.” He likened his ride on Mental Illness to being part of a Fourth of July celebration, only different. “She felt like a fireworks mortar, but you don’t put it in the tube; you just set it on the ground and don’t give it any guidance,” Clements said. “She wasn’t out of control, but she sure made me work for it with her moves, going back and forth and turning back to the left.”

ARLINGTON, Texas – Jacob Edler knows what his job is and how to handle his business. He’ll let everything else take care of itself. In the midst of a steer wrestling world championship race, the State Center, Iowa, cowboy is handling his tasks one night at a time at the National Finals Rodeo at Globe Life Field in Arlington. Through eight nights of ProRodeo’s championship event, he has placed six times, including the last four consecutively. He has earned $78,750 in those eight days and sits No. 1 in the average race with a cumulative time of 34.7 seconds. He’s also third in the world standings with $124,357, about $10,000 behind Texan Matt Reeves, who has held the top spot since March. On Thursday night, he knocked his steer to the ground in 4.0 seconds to finish fourth in the round, earning another $11,000 in the process. “I knew this pen of steers that a 4.0 was going to win something, but it would be toward the bottom of the round,” Edler said. “I haven’t worried about where I am in the money, where I am in the average. I’ve just been trying to hit the start, do my job and let the chips fall where they may. “The PRCA hires people that can do all the math way better than me. I’m going to do what I know to do and let them do all the math.” He doesn’t have to add anything up when it comes to bulldogging. He has been around the steers that were in the second, fifth and eighth rounds for several weeks, so he was ready. He’d also seen that steer go in its two previous runs; he knew the animal would veer off to the right toward his hazer and possible put everything out of position “Dirk (Tavenner) and I had a game plan,” he said “I knew he was going to do his part and get that steer blocked off, and I knew (his mount) Mabel was going to get me up slick on that steers back. I knew when I moved that steer’s head, he liked to be thrown down. I got the right go, got him laid down and finished fourth.” Confidence is certainly key when it comes to competing at an elite level, and Edler has a bunch of it right now. He realizes that there are just two nights left in this magical season that has him battling for the Montana Silversmiths gold buckle. “I feel like this is the sharpest my mind’s been all year,” Edler said. “I haven’t let a whole lot bother me this week and stayed in a good place mentally, and I plan on staying in that place for two more rounds. “The coolest part of this is actually getting to participate in my first NFR. I’ve dreamed of doing this forever, and it’s happening. I’m very grateful for the success I’ve had up to this point.”

ARLINGTON, Texas – Thursday was a big night for bareback riders from Missouri Valley College in Marshall, Missouri. Senior Jess Pope won the round, followed by two national champion alumni, Tim O’Connell in second and Tanner Aus, who finished tied for third. Combined, they pocketed more than $60,000 in one night of bareback riding. “That’s huge,” said O’Connell, who rode Stace Smith Pro Rodeo’s Mr. Harry for 85.5 points to snag $20,731. “They want to talk about Tarleton (Texas) State down here, but you might want to talk about Missouri Valley to be a bareback rider.” It was also a rank night of bareback riding, with the cowboys facing down the toughest-to-ride broncs in the game. There were six cowboys that received no scores, and a couple others that saw low scores brought on by the horses winning the battle of the “Eliminator Pen.” “I’m not going to lie; I stopped watching it about halfway through,” O’Connell said. “That was probably the toughest E pen I’ve ever been part of. Typically, our second round of the E pen were nicer horses, but I think this one was tougher than the first one (last Saturday). Out of seven NFRs I’ve been part of, I’ve never seen anything like that. “Those horses brought it. The E penners like this arena.” Bareback riding is often likened to a fist fight, and the nasty horses vs. the greatest cowboys in the game this year made for a nice prize match. While Pope and Calgary’s Xplosive Skies may have been the premier bout, O’Connell’s match-up with Mr. Harry was quite the undercard. “I had a feeling it was going to be like that,” said O’Connell, a three-time world champion from Zwingle, Iowa, now living in Marshall. “He might not have been the strongest horse in the pen, but he was hard to track, hard to ride and was constantly tail-whipping you in the eyes to keep you from seeing him because you’d constantly have to keep your eyes shut. He was like riding a jackhammer.” He pocketed $20,231 for finishing second and pushed his NFR earnings to just less than $90,000. He remains No. 1 in the world standings with $212,184. With other cowboys having hell with their E pen rides, he also moved up two spots to fourth in the average race with 675.5 cumulative points on eight rides. That could be a healthy bonus when the NFR concludes Saturday night. “That round was huge for me in more ways than one,” he said. “That was a big move last night. It was a big ride and it was shifting things out in the average, putting more space between me and Kaycee (Feild).” Feild, a four-time world champion, is second in the standings, $36,000 behind O’Connell. “It’s just a step in the right direction,” O’Connell said. “This thing is far from over.” Thursday also was a night to celebrate Pope, who travels the rodeo trail with O’Connell. The two are like brothers, and it shows. “For him to come to his first NFR and do this well is great,” O’Connell said. “He’s doing it quiet. He’s finally getting settled in. “I was just super happy he got the job done.”

ARLINGTON, Texas – Every athlete understands the need for a little bit of practice. Fundamentals are a vital part of success. Ryan Jarrett took that to heart, even during the National Finals Rodeo. Since he’s commuting from his Comanche, Oklahoma, home every day, he decided Thursday was a good day to tune himself and his horse, Snoopy. That night, they stopped the clock in 7.8 seconds to finish third in the eighth round of tie-down roping at Globe Life Field. “I changed some things up today; I changed my underwear and my boots,” Jarrett, a 13-time NFR qualifier originally from Summerville, Georgia, said with a laugh. “I roped at home today. I mixed it up a little bit. I’m a little bit superstitious on some things, so hopefully that will make a little bit of difference.” The 280-mile daily round-trip is nothing new to rodeo cowboys, who essentially travel for a living getting from one rodeo to another. It allows him the chance to rest in his own home and handle his business before he makes his way to compete at ProRodeo’s biggest annual event. Most nights, he drops Snoopy off at Outlaw Equine on the way home and picks up the gelding on the way back to Arlington. That also changed Wednesday night. “There’s a good chance he’ll go home with me tonight, too,” he said. “The practice session went good. I guess I needed it and he needed it. Maybe we both needed a change in the atmosphere a little bit, and this gave us a chance to get dialed in a little more and be ready to win something.” Jarrett placed in the fourth and fifth rounds, then missed placing the next two nights. His Wednesday night run, though, became viral after he through his rope backhanded and caught the calf, stopping the clock in 11.4 seconds. “I have a bad habit that if I ever over-and-under my horse (with the rope), when I pull it back up, I swing it backwards and rope the calves,” Jarrett said. “It was not for show by no means. It’s not the first time I’ve ever done it at a ProRodeo, but it is for the NFR. Nobody in his right mind would do it.” Even though Jarrett doesn’t have a social media account, he heard all about it, even the Tik Tok that has had several thousand views over just a few hours. For now, though, the focus is less on a backhanded throwing motion and more on what he can do the final two nights of the 2020 season. Jarrett has caught all eight of his calves and sits fifth in the aggregate race.  He’s also earned nearly $47,000 in just three nights of placing. “It feels real good,” he said. “Hopefully I’ll slide in here and get a little more (Friday) and Saturday and call it a success.”

ARLINGTON, Texas – There was a bit of trepidation inside the bareback rider locker room prior to Thursday’s eighth go-round at the National Finals Rodeo. It was time for the “Eliminator Pen,” the nastiest bucking horses in the game, and the best of them were situated at Globe Life Field ready to release a bit of torment. Nobody came out unscathed, but some were worse off than others. “It’s a big sigh of relief in that locker room after those horses are done,” said Tanner Aus, who rode Calgary Stampede’s Soap Bubbles for 85 points to finish tied for third place in the round. “I’ve gotten on him a couple of times before. It has always been alright. That is the best score I’ve ever had on that horse, so that was good. “She was pretty honest. She just came out of the chute around to the right and bucked right down in front of the chutes. It was no day off, but it felt good.” She wasn’t the first Calgary bronc to have a good day at the Texas NFR. Where some horses have struggled to perform at their best inside the complex built primarily for the Texas Rangers, the Canadian horses have generally excelled. The cowboys have attributed that to the horses being energized after not bucking at rodeos since March. “They are pretty fresh and seems like everything they brought has been firing,” said Aus, a five-time NFR qualifier from Granite Falls, Minnesota. “I’ve gotten on two of them so far in eight nights, so I’m thankful for that. “That horse has a little different trip than the last time I got on her. I think that was in 2016. She’s still a good one for this pen.” It’s always a benefit to the cowboys when the horse underneath them is performing well. Half the score goes to the animal, so in order to be in the mid- to upper-80s, the bareback riders know the importance of a solid mount. “I think some stuff that is hard to ride on any given day is harder to ride here,” he said, referring to Globe Life Field. “This is a great big arena, and it’s just another variable thrown into the mix. It’s a tough night of bareback riding, and it always is. I’m very thankful that it went well for me.” Aus has placed in four rounds so far but still earned $81,077 at the NFR. He has pushed his season earnings to $142,802 and sits third in the world standings with just two nights remaining. “I haven’t been paying attention to that,” Aus said. “Don’t ever take your foot off the gas. It doesn’t always go the way you plan, but I have been very thankful for my time here. I’m staying focused and feeling good after eight rounds.”

ARLINGTON, Texas – In the rough-and-tumble world of bareback riding, Thursday night at the National Finals Rodeo is as tough of a day as any throughout each year. “It was a scary day to be a bareback rider,” Orin Larsen said while talking about facing the “Eliminator Pen” of bucking horses for the second time in eight days. “This is one of those pens you have to have. It’s going to separate your world champions from the rest of the field. For those guys that got jerked down, it definitely wasn’t for a lack of effort. It is just that way, and I just happened to come out on top.” By on top, he means he escaped the monsters. There are times cowboys have to slay dragons, and Larsen did that with an 85-point ride on Beutler & Son Rodeo’s Redigo. For that, he pocketed $13,327 and pushed his season earnings to $141,949, of which $60,558 have come over the last 10 days in ProRodeo’s grand championship at Globe Life Field. “Beutler horses are known to get a few bags of ice on your arms afterwards,” he said, talking about the battle between man and horse, especially on the toughest-to-ride broncs in the game. “I have been on that horse before. He’s really uphill, long and strong. Those stronger horses are what I like to think I thrive on. I’m just happy to get some money.” There was a time at this NFR that he thought that might not be possible. He didn’t place in the first five rounds, but he’s been hot over the last three nights. That’s where all but the $10,000 bonus for qualifying have come from. He earned $11,000 in Round 6, then won Round 7 before falling to third on Thursday. “We need to work on the first and second half together; we need to coordinate those two,” he said with a laugh. “There are still two rounds left, and that is still a lot of rodeo.” Larsen sits fourth in the world standings and fifth in the average race, the latter of which will pay a bonus for having one of the best cumulative scores through 10 nights at the NFR. His combatants over the final two nights of the 2020 season won’t be near as scary than what he and the other bareback riders faced Thursday night. If there’s a gold buckle in my future this year, I’ll be pretty happy,” said Larsen of Inglis, Manitoba, now living in Gering, Nebraska. “Right now, I’m just spurring bucking horses.”

ARLINGTON, Texas – It’s not often that a cowboy can earn money at the National Finals Rodeo and not be happy about it. That’s exactly what happened Thursday for saddle bronc rider Wyatt Casper, who rode Andrews Rodeo’s Brutus for 82.5 points to finish sixth in the eighth go-round, earning $4,231. Meanwhile, his closest competitor for the world-title race, Ryder Wright, won the round and pocketed $26,231. With that, Wright moved into the lead in the world standings, while Casper fell to second, $9,253 behind the leader with two nights remaining in the 2020 ProRodeo season. “I should have ridden that horse a little better,” Casper said of Brutus. “That is a really strong, fast horse, and I did all I could to hang on to him the first couple of jumps. He was on his A game, and I wasn’t. I was s touch behind, then he had those moves, and I was trying to hold on to them. Finally, I could let go and do a little bit of swinging.” Based on a 100-point scale, the horse earns half the points by how well it bucks. The cowboy earns points by spurring the animal from the neck to the cantle of the saddle in rhythm with the animal’s bucking motion. “It’s tough, because you can really feel those moves on a horse like that,” he said. “To not hang one side and then the other side is pretty tough. You are trying to go at him every jump, trying to get as many points as you can. I was really lucky to get this horse down. That’s all I was really going for tonight was to stay in the average. Luckily, we got him down. Casper is second in the average race with 602.5 points on seven rides. Wright has ridden all eight horses for a cumulative score of $698.5. Even if Wright is bucked off one of the next two nights, he’ll still hold the aggregate advantage. There are several ways for Casper to ride off with the world title, and part of that happens in the go-rounds. “I have nothing to lose at this point, so I’m going to go for the go-rounds and see what happens,” Casper said.

ARLINGTON, Texas – In just two nights, steer wrestler Tanner Brunner has produced his best National Finals Rodeo appearance to date. A big part of that came Thursday, when he stopped his steer in 3.7 seconds to finish as the runner-up in the eighth go-round. For that, he pocketed $20,731. It was his best run of his best round in 28 performances at ProRodeo’s grand finale. “I knew that steer was a good chance going in,” said Brunner, 27, of Ramona, Kansas. “After last night, I settled in and wanted to capitalize again tonight. Things worked out.” Yes, they did. He was only one-tenth of a second behind round winner Blake Knowles of Oregon, and it came at a great time. After starting the first six nights without placing, Brunner hit the pay window for nearly $16,000 Wednesday by finishing third in the seventh round. That helped bring comfort to the cowboy, who was looking for a shot to battle through the adversity the NFR has offered him. In his first qualification in 2018, Brunner placed just one time and earned just $3,667 in 10 nights. He also received a $10,000 bonus for the qualification. A year ago, he placed in two rounds and left Las Vegas with $34,962. With two nights remaining in the ProRodeo season at Globe Life Field, he has already pocketed $46,385. A big part of that comes from riding Miss Kitty, a horse he acquired in the last year. “She leaves the box as hard as any horse if not harder, but she’s easy in the box,” Brunner said, referring to his starting spot behind the timed-event chute. “She’s easy in the field. She just makes my job so much simpler. She is just so solid every time that I don’t have to worry about what horse I’m on or what she is going to do.” That’s a dandy partner to have, and so are the other two members of the team, hazer Cole Edge and Brunner’s hazing horse Slick. Their collaboration is paying off, and he hopes it continues. “I’m just out her going after a go-round victory every night and see where I end up from here,” Brunner said. “There is a sigh of relief and kind of finding a groove that you can get it. I’m going to try to blast the barrier (the start) every night and make a quick run.” It happened in Rounds 7 and 8, so two more should work just fine.

ARLINGTON, Texas – The smile on Jess Pope’s face won’t be leaving anytime soon. On Thursday night, Pope matched moves with Calgary Stampede’s Xplosive Skies for 89 points to win the sixth round of the National Finals Rodeo, pocketing $26,231 in the process. It was his first go-round victory at his first NFR qualification, and he realized early how special that moment is. “It is pretty awesome to win a round here,” he said. “It makes you smile 24/7, and it’s just humbling and makes me grateful. “My main goal going into the victory lap was to not fall off the horse. That’s what Tim (O’Connell) yelled at me right before we went around, ‘Just don’t fall off.’ It was really fun, and I can’t even put it into words.” Thursday’s list of horses was the “Eliminator Pen,” the hardest-to-ride broncs in the game, and they proved it. Six cowboys failed to make the whistle, which is uncommon in bareback riding, even for these types of horses. But Pope and Xplosive Skies got along very well. With the big score, the Kansas cowboy moved into the No. 1 spot in the average with a cumulative score of 681 points on eight rides. He is 5.5 points ahead of O’Connell, his traveling partner who sits second in the aggregate but first in the world standings. “This put me in the race for the world title, and I’m leading the average,” Pope said. “God’s got a plan, and I’m just glad the plan is this. It’s positive and going to be great for me.” He pushed his NFR earnings to $82,417. If he maintains his spot in the average, he’ll pocket a bonus of $67,269. For now, though, he’s sitting at $132,029, which is good enough for fifth in the world standings. It’s all thanks to a powerful Canadian bucking horse. “Xplosive Skies is a great horse,” he said. “I’ve been on her once in the short round of Fort Worth. She really bucks, and she’s really electric. She wants you off your rigging really bag. It’s like a big ol’ fist fight. She really wants to back you in the corner, and you really got to fight your way out of it. “If she hits you, you’ve got to hit her back.” Pope landed the haymaker.

ARLINGTON, Texas – There have been frustrating times through the first seven nights for bareback rider Mason Clements. When things don’t go one’s way, there are two reactions that are common: A person can pout and consider all the negatives, or that same person can look at ways to improve the situation. Clements chooses the latter. “The only thing that is really frustrating is we’re heading to Round 8, and I haven’t done what I’ve needed to do,” said Clements of Spanish Fork, Utah. “I caught good momentum right off the bat, and I’ve not kept up my end of it and rolled with the momentum. I’ve got way more to offer, so I’m not letting it get me down. “It’s motivating. Things aren’t going your way, so it just fuels the fire. It’s good, positive, constructive criticism. I can find good things I’ve done in my rides, and I’m going to keep building off that. It’s not rocket science; it’s bareback riding.” He has earned $34,538 at the National Finals Rodeo, and part of that came after an 80.5-point ride on Prairie Rose of the Sankey Pro Rodeos & Phenom Genetics string. He finished in a tie for sixth place and earned $2,115 in the process. “It’s nice to get a piece of it,” he said. “I still didn’t just capitalize how I know I can and what I wanted to good. It’s always good when you’re placing and even better when you’re placing at the finals.” He’s also going to make some minor adjustments to his equipment before he makes his eighth straight ride. That’s probably a smart thing since Thursday’s round features the second coming of the “Eliminator Pen” at this year’s finale. Clements is matched with another Sankey bronc, Mental Illness, which has yet to buck at this year’s NFR. That could be a good sign for the Utah cowboy. “After Round 6, I didn’t feel my feet a whole lot, which wasn’t allow me to squeeze and make a snappy spur ride,” he said, indicating that he’d like to get a better feel for how his feet are working when in contact with the horse. “(Wednesday) night solidified that I needed to fix my equipment. I’m not squeezing with the handle of my rigging, which, in turn, plays into how you squeeze with your legs. “I’m healthy, and I’m glad for that. I’m starting horses really good, but there’s something between the start and the finish that’s not working.” It’s part of being a cowboy, because bareback riders can actually help horses perform better. That’s something he hopes will change in the final three nights of the season. “You’ve got to help them out, keep them kicking, keep them going and keep their timing,” said Clements, now a three-time NFR qualifier. “I need some more horsemanship. After I make these adjustments, I know my performance will be a lot better. “It’s like (ProRodeo Hall of Famer) Louis Feild told me: The easiest thing you’ll ever do in your life is run your hand in the rigging and ride bucking horses. I’ve got the best job in the world, and I’m here at Globe Life Field. I get to compete against the best guys in the world and the best bucking horses.”

ARLINGTON, Texas – There’s nothing quite like feeling rushed when a world championship is on the line. That was the case for steer wrestler Jacob Edler, who felt a little pressure prior to his 3.9-second run during Wednesday’s seventh go-round of the National Finals Rodeo at Globe Life Park in Arlington. His steer wasn’t cooperating in the chute, and Edler was waiting him out. It paid off, and the State Center, Iowa cowboy, pocketed another $8,885 by finishing tied for fourth place in the round. “I sat in the (timed-event) box for about a minute and a half because that steer would not look straight out the chute,” he said. “He kept turning his head back and forth; the steer has to be down for the stopwatch to stop. Time was running out, and they were about to turn the steer out. Right at the last second, I nodded. “Everything else worked out pretty good.” Yes, it did. Not only did Edler earn money for the fifth time in seven nights at ProRodeo’s grand championship, he also moved up a spot to No. 1 in the all-important average race, which will pay a bonus of $67,269 when the NFR concludes Saturday night. He has wrestled seven steers to the ground in a cumulative time of 30.7 seconds and owns a six-tenths-of-a-second advantage over the previous leader, Stetson Jorgensen, with whom Edler shared the Round 6 title. “I don’t pay any attention to that,” Edler said. “I’m just going to keep bulldogging.” That approach has worked out well. When his horse, Ditto, started to veer away from the steers during his runs, Edler made some risky jumps and still earned money in three rounds. He made a horse change prior to the sixth round, and he’s pocketed more than $32,000 in two nights since. More importantly, he’s in position to claim the most coveted prize in the game, the Montana Silversmiths gold buckle awarded to the world champion. “That’s why I came here,” he said. “It’s been a heck of an experience so far. I’m just going into the next three rounds like I’ve approached the last seven. I know I’m riding a great horse, so I’m going to go and do my job.” The NFR competition is always tough, but there’s something special going on in steer wrestling, where there have been no repeat champions and 12 men have earned at least a share of a go-round win. In most years, some cowboy has separated himself from the pack by the later rounds of the event. “I think everybody’s excited we’re even having an NFR,” Edler said. “Everybody here is a competitor and can win on any given day. These are the 15 best athletes in the world as far as steer wrestling goes. It’s been an incredible bulldogging to watch.” Edler has a front-row seat, and he’s doing quite well. Of course, whatever earnings he can take from Arlington will be grand as he sets off to plan a wedding and a life with his fiancé, Moriah. “It’s nice knowing we’re going to be able to have a start in life,” he said. “We’re going to leave here with a bunch of money and make down payments on a bunch of stuff we’re going to need for the future.” That future looks pretty bright inside Globe Life Field.