Monthly Archives: December 2021

LAS VEGAS – When the 2021 ProRodeo season came to a close with the 10th round of the National Finals Rodeo on Saturday night, Richmond Champion bowed his head a bit. He realized that placing in just three rounds wasn’t what he expected at this year’s NFR, the sport’s championship event that has a purse of more than $10 million. He’d hoped for better. He’d trained for better. He also knew that’s the reality of rodeo. His final ride – 83 points on Pickett Pro Rodeo’s Uncapped – was out of the money and turned into a reflection of his 10 days in the Nevada desert; he didn’t win much in the go-rounds, but he rode strong each night. “I came here to give it everything I had, and I really believe I did that,” said Champion, 28, of Stevensville, Montana. “No, I didn’t have the greatest finals, but I really have nothing to complain about either. I would have liked to have placed more, but that’s the way things go. We are getting on 10 of the greatest bucking horses in the world, and my friends are tough to beat. “There are 15 guys here that ride bucking horses very well, and it’s going to be a fight every night for 10 nights. I think my theme this week has been consistency.” Yes, it has. He scored 841 cumulative points on 10 rides and finished fourth in the all-important NFR average. That was worth nearly $33,000 and bolstered his Sin City earnings to $89,793. He finished the season with $188,739, good enough for eighth in the world standings. That’s actually a pretty strong way to end his seventh NFR. “This is just an awesome rodeo every year,” he said. “I get to come in here and compete for a world championship. Sure, I wanted to be in the mix to win the gold buckle, but it was still fun to be part of this event and to be in that locker room with those 14 other guys. You get to do what you love, and you get to hang out with some great friends.” Champion’s best go-round came early in the NFR, placing as the runner-up in the third go-round and pocketing $21,000 with an 88.5-point ride on Stace Smith Pro Rodeo’s Mr. Harry. He followed with a check for nearly $10,000 by tying for third place with three other bareback riders. When he placed, he earned good money; that included his third-place ride in Wednesday’s seventh round on Hi Lo Pro Rodeo’s Wilson Sanchez, which was worth $16,000. “I really feel like I rode good all week,” Champion said. “I had a few good horses, but there were just some match-up issues with what I had. There were some nights that I felt like I rode better than the scores showed, but that’s also part of rodeo. You deal with it and move on. You can’t look back at it and worry about it, because that won’t change anything. “Overall, I’m happy with my week here. I won $90,000; that’s a pretty good week.” Yes, it is.

LAS VEGAS – Coleman Proctor had a message for his supporters after closing out his seventh qualification to the National Finals Rodeo. “Enjoy not being stressed on this 10th round, because it’s not going to be that way next year,” he said, pointing to his goal of being in the world-championship hunt for 2022. “This year did give me a lot of confidence from the finals. To be able to go that fast and not feel like I was trying to go that fast is absolutely big. I felt comfortable being able to go that fast.” It showed for six nights. He placed that many times, including at least a share of two go-round wins. He and his heeler, Logan Medlin, failed to secure a time in four rounds but more than made up for it the other nights inside the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. They won the fifth round outright, the third time in his career that Proctor earned the title on Pink Night, when the cowboy culture wears pink at the NFR in order to raise money and awareness for cancer research. He and longtime friend and heeler Jake Long did it in 2014 and ’15, and it was the last time Proctor had a round win until this year’s run. He and Medlin also earned a share of the ninth-round victory, stopping the clock in an event-best 3.5 seconds. In all, the Pryor, Oklahoma, team roper collected $106,231 over 10 nights in the Nevada desert. He ended the season with $198,986, good enough for eighth in the world standings. His last payday came with a 4.3-second run to finish in a tie for third place in Saturday’s final round. “We had a great finals,” said Proctor of Pryor, Oklahoma. “You can look at it that we went 0-4 in some rounds, or you could look at it that 60 percent of the time it worked every time.” It proved that the partnership between him and Medlin is solid. They didn’t let the no-times slow them down, and they built on the good runs. “Our chemistry is everything when we practice our run, because it fits in the Thomas & Mack really good,” he said. “We can bring a lot of consistency moving forward. This is his first trip to the Thomas & Mack. It’s a different go for a heeler. The last quarter of the NFR was like our season; in the fourth quarter, we came back strong.” By finishing among the top 10, he and Medlin have secured their spots in big rodeos that begin the 2022 calendar year, including The American, a rodeo Proctor won in 2019 with then-partner Ryan Motes. It offers a $100,000 payout to the winners of each event, half of which will count toward the PRCA world standings. “If you’re not winning the world, you’ve got The American accomplished,” he said. “This is the most money I’ve won in the go-rounds; I won about the same amount before, but we finished second in the average. We didn’t get an average check. To win $106,000 in the rounds, you find a lot to build off of. I think the toughest thing for a team roper is how to be fast enough. When you’re trying to beat the other guys, it’s a significant question.” That’s the case inside the Thomas & Mack Center, where the arena is about the size of a hockey rink. The slowest winning time was 4.2 seconds, which is lightning fast considering all that goes into team roping. There are two horses, one steer and two ropers, and it all has to come together flawlessly. “The gold buckle is always on the table,” Proctor said. “That’s what I told my partner (Saturday) night. We shook hands and agreed that a lot of positives came out of this week. Logan is that kind fo heeler; he not only excites me about roping and team roping, but he’s a special guy with a special talent and a really special horse. It makes it a lot easier to grind through the season with that. “It feels like we’ve got a pretty sweet mix.” The last 10 nights have proven that.

LAS VEGAS – If he could go back in time, tie-down roper Ryan Jarrett would love to have figured things out at the National Finals Rodeo a little sooner. He started off hot, finishing third in the opening round to collect more than $16,000. Then things went cold. He wasn’t getting a good start out of the timed-event box, and it slowed his chances of placing at the always-difficult NFR. Things go fast in Las Vegas, and the only way for Jarrett to earn money was to finish among the top six in the rounds. After placing in Round 1, he failed to earn a payday the next six nights. He recovered, though, to close out the 10-day championship, placing in each of the final three nights. He closed out his NFR with an 8.7-second run to finish sixth, worth another $4,354. “I was hoping for more (Saturday) night,” said Jarrett, 37, originally from Summerville, Georgia, but now living in Comanche, Oklahoma. “I was just late on the barrier, and I was just glad to hang on for a sixth-place check.” He ended the NFR with $46,577 in Las Vegas money, pushing his 2021 salary to $138,510. He’s a veteran who understands that every day provides lessons that he can use in the future. He’s had fantastic NFRs, including his first in 2005, when he walked away with the all-around world title. Then there have been years like this one, where he placed in four rounds but on the lower end of the pay scale. “You have to take the good with the bad,” he said. “You plan for a little better, hope for a little better next time. I’m not real impressed with 2021.” He will change his focus a bit for next season. He will compete at the big rodeos that kick off the new year and see where that takes him. His primary focus will be competing while his wife, Shy-Anne, and daughter, Jurnee, with him. It will allow his wife an opportunity to compete as well. “I’d love for the winter to go real well and come summertime not have to rodeo like a wild man,” Jarrett said. “I’d like to ease around and just go to the ones I want to go to. I’ll also do a little breakaway roping and barrel racing in between with Shy-Anne and Jurnee.” Family time is special, and he plans to have more opportunities to have it soon.

LAS VEGAS – Garrett Shadbolt was the odd man out during the bareback riding at the National Finals Rodeo. He placed five times, all in Rounds 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10. “Every other round, I’d win a check, then I’d win nothing, then win a check, then nothing,” said Shadbolt, 25, of Merriman, Nebraska. “It was an up-and-down roller coaster, but at the same time, I was consistent. I’d say the Shadbolt brand of riding bareback horses is consistency, don’t let off and finish every ride.” He proved that method works, riding Macza’s Stevie Nicks for 87.5 points to finish fourth in Saturday’s 10th round of the National Finals Rodeo. That was worth $11,321. He also finished sixth in the aggregate race, worth a bonus of $16,982 and left Las Vegas with $96,906. He finished his season fifth in the world standings with $192,919. Not only that, but he learned many lessons over the 10-day championship. “I’m happy with how it went this year,” he said. “I want to improve my riding. Getting on 10 head in a row is a whole different ballpark. It is a different mentality. I think I’ve got some things I’m going to be able to do next year that’s going to improve my riding. “Stevie Nicks was really the one I wanted out of this pen. There are probably some stronger buckers in this pen, but I’ve seen her before. I always wanted to be there, and I was excited to get on her tonight. She was a little more than I expected. It is a ride I am happy to hang my hat on and finish the finals out with.” The goal every year for every cowboy that makes a living on the rodeo trail is to end the season as the world champion. Finishing among the top five is a fantastic feat, especially for the Nebraska cowboy making his first appearance in Las Vegas. Collecting as much cash as he did in the Nevada desert is a fantastic bonus, but rodeo is different than most sports: dollars equal points, and the person who finishes each year with the most money will be crowned world champions in each event. “I had a couple of goals coming into the finals,” Shadbolt said. “I wanted to finish in the top 10, and I wanted to ride everything I go on. Well, by golly, this was a lot better than I thought. That is a lot of money; the money is not really real right now, because I haven’t seen it. “I’ve just been pedaling down. There are a lot of things I can use that for. I have two little ones to take care of. I’ve been rodeoing out of a Dodge Grand Caravan, but I think I’m going to try to find a rodeo rig.” With an extra 100 grand in his pocket, he can get something nice.

LAS VEGAS – For the second straight year, Jess Pope has been crowned the average champion at the National Finals Rodeo. It’s quite a feat. He scored 873 cumulative points on 10 rides, which is a difficult task in any event, even harder in bareback riding, which takes a toll on one’s body every jump. But it’s also the second-most sought-after prize in rodeo behind the Montana Silversmiths gold buckle. Oh, and he was definitely in that race. It came down the final day of the 2021 campaign, and Pope did everything he could do to be crowned the world champion. He just fell a bit short to six-time titlist Kaycee Feild. “I tried not to think about the world-title race, taking it a day at a time,” said Pope, 23, of Waverly, Kansas. “At the end of the day, it’s hard not to get past. Everybody is texting you and calling you and wishing you luck. I’m super thankful for it, but it makes your mind start to wonder. “I showed up tonight, got in the locker room and I just had to tell myself, ‘You’re the only guy to control your own destiny; you can either show up, take care of business and do your job the best your can, or you can go out there and screw it up.’ ” He handled his business, riding Frontier Rodeo’s Gun Fire for 92 points to win the final round and pad his earnings in a big way. The victory was worth just shy of $27,000.  By winning the average, he grabbed the bonus check worth $69,234 and left Las Vegas with $230,475 over 10 December nights. Feild was the only cowboy to have a better NFR, but only by $1,100. They also were the only bareback riders to win at least a share of four go-round titles, so it was a dominating performance. Pope ended the year with $340,499 and as the reserve world champion. “Like I said at the beginning of the week: The cards are going to lay where they are going to lay,” Pope said. “I’m happy for Kaycee, and I’m ready to come back next year. “It’s been a great week. He did his job. They pay me to ride bucking horses, not to write scores down. It’s all out of my control. I was super blessed to be here for 10 days and to have the finals I did.” The NFR is a goal for every cowboy that wants to rodeo. It’s a destination because of the money available, but it’s also the place where the world champions are crowned each year. Because of that, the stress that comes with the finale intensifies, and the challenges increase. Winning more than a quarter million dollars in 10 days is a major accomplishment. “It’s the longest but the shortest 10 days of your life,” he said. “It feels like an eternity, but we are at Round 10, and I feel like we just started yesterday. It flies by. “I drew outstanding, and I had a great support system behind me. I have two great traveling partners (Rookie of the Year Cole Franks and three-time world champion Tim O’Connell) that helped me all year long. Without them, I don’t think I’d be where I am. They push me to be the best. I am forever grateful to be able to call them my best friends.”

LAS VEGAS – Cole Franks is pretty reserved on a daily basis. He doesn’t have a lot to say, but even the news he learned at the National Finals Rodeo left him virtually speechless. “Wow,” he said after learning that he finished his rookie season with $227,422 in earnings. “That’s crazy.” He sat stunned after earning $150,029 over 10 nights in the Nevada desert, aided in large part by finishing third in the aggregate race after riding 10 horses for a cumulative score of 860 points. It was an incredible way to conclude his inaugural season in the PRCA. “I don’t have the words to put to it,” said Franks, 20, of Clarendon, Texas. “It is definitely not what I expected when I started the year. It is life-changing money. It sets you up for years to come.” He was just talking about his NFR earnings. It’s all gravy for the cowboy that almost didn’t get to compete on the rodeo trail after a rough winter and early spring because he didn’t have much money earned. If it hadn’t been for a big payday in San Angelo, Texas, he might not have had the success he had: Rookie of the Year and third place in the final bareback riding world standings. He finished his first trip to ProRodeo’s grand championship with an 85.5-point ride on Pete Carr Pro Rodeo’s Dirty Jacket. Though he didn’t place, his score helped him maintain his spot in the average, which paid him $44,414. His traveling partner, Jess Pope, won the average title and just shy of $70,000 by having the best cumulative score. Franks grew up idolizing some of rodeo’s greats. His father, Bret, is a three-time NFR qualifier in saddle bronc riding, but he also has handy friends who own bareback riding world championships: Mark Gomes in 1998 and Jeff Collins two years later. But money has changed considerably in the last two decades since those men were awarded their gold buckles. Gomes finished his world-title campaign with $143,000, which is less than Franks earned over the last 10 days alone. “I’ve always said it would be cool to compete against those guys back in the day,” he said. “Looking back at that, I’d much rather be now. “It’s crazy how much it has changed. We are athletes, not just rodeo cowboys. Tim (O’Connell) and Jess said that a lot this year. That really hit home. Rodeo has turned into rodeo athletes, not just cowboys anymore, and it shows.” The money will spend, but the memories made will last a lifetime. Franks is still in awe of his experience in Las Vegas and his magical season that included three college titles – bareback riding, all-around and part of the champion’s men’s team at Clarendon College – and enough money to buy a nice place in his hometown. “It sets up everything for here next year,” Franks said, referring to another NFR qualification. “That’s the top goal for next year. Once I get here next year, the first goal is to get a gold buckle. I want to get that and more will come after that.”

LAS VEGAS – The pressure to win at the National Finals Rodeo is intense, and a field of the 15 best bareback riders doesn’t make it easy on any bronc buster, even if he owns a world championship. Clayton Biglow can testify to that. He’s struggled at his sixth straight NFR, and he’s not afraid to admit it. He earned his biggest paycheck of his week after an 86.5-point ride on Frontier Rodeo’s Painted Smoke to finish in a tie for third place in Friday’s ninth go-round, pocketing $13,716. “It felt good to do that,” said Biglow, the 2019 world champion from Clements, California. “I’ve seen that horse a bunch. She’s a good one. I knew I had a good shot to win some money and had a good horse to make a good ride on.”  It was just the fourth time he’s placed, which isn’t the norm. Two years ago, he set records in winning the Montana Silversmiths gold buckle. But each year offers something different. It can take a bit of an attitude adjustment, and he may have received it when he bucked off Hi Lo Pro Rodeo’s Pretty Woman in Thursday’s eighth round. “After I got bucked off, I realized I had nothing to lose,” he said. “I just need to go and have fun these last two rounds and leave it all on the table. “I’m not riding to the best of my ability. There are so many factors that play the whole week. I just tried to forget everything that happened. I tried to have fun. The only thing I was worried about was having fun. I was not thinking about money or anything else. As long as you’re having fun, the rest will take care of itself.” He has earned $43,456 so far and is seventh in the world standings with $185,460. He will close out his campaign during the final round of the NFR on Saturday night. This 10-day championship isn’t for the weak. There are tremendous challenges that come with competing at this level. Contestants are matched with the horses they ride by a random draw, and Biglow hasn’t drawn quite as well as others. He’s also watched two cowboys, Kaycee Feild and Jess Pope, earn at least a share of seven go-round wins combined. “I just stay as positive as I can,” Biglow said. “Things haven’t gone the way I planned; sometimes that’s just the way it is. You just have to roll with the punches and keep striving for greatness. “When you’ve got Jess and Kaycee taking off with everything, you feel like you’ve got to win every round. You start putting that on yourself. The more weight you put on your shoulders, the harder it is. I was trying to make things happen.” Then he remembered just why he rides bareback horses. “Once I decided to have fun, I think that changed the way I thought and gives me a better chance to win,” he said. “I’m looking forward to (Saturday) night.”

LAS VEGAS – With one night remaining in the 2021 ProRodeo season, Tim O’Connell has a realistic look at his run through the first nine nights of the National Finals Rodeo. “It hasn’t been that tough, but it hasn’t been that good,” said O’Connell, a three-time world champion from Zwingle, Iowa. “At my first NFR (in 2014), I bucked off three of my horses, so this is a little bit better than my first NFR. “I haven’t drawn that great. I haven’t ridden that great. I’ve been fighting equipment all week. My first major rodeo coming off the surgery plays a little bit into it. I’ve been trying too much too soon. A lot of factors play into it. It’s still the best rodeo in the world to be at.” His surgery happened in August after he suffered a broken coccyx, and doctors removed his tailbone. He had to rehab for weeks and only got on a few horses before arriving in Las Vegas for the most grueling 10 days of the season. He’s placed just four times, which is atypical run for the former college champion now living in Marshall, Missouri, the home of his alma mater, Missouri Valley College. He’s earned $36,852. “In my mind, I’m upset about not making any more than that, but it’s still $36,000 at the end of the day,” said O’Connell, who won Montana Silversmiths gold buckles in 2016-18. “You just get used to doing what you do. It’s been one of those years, and it’s OK. Me and my family are going to be just fine.” On Friday night, he rode J Bar J’s Blessed Assurance for 84.5 points to finish in a three-way tie for sixth place. That was worth $1,451, and he moved his season earnings to $192,908. It’s down a bit from what he’s used to doing at the NFR. A year ago, for example, he finished the season with $271,000 and as the reserve world champion. “With what happened last year, I had a lot of growing up to do that I didn’t realize I had to do,” he said. “I feel like I’ve matured as a human and as a bareback rider. I’m able to handle disappointment with a different outlook. “This is not my best NFR, and I’ll put that on me. Those horses’ jobs are to make me look stupid, and I felt stupid on the back of them. I haven’t felt totally in command until tonight. This is the third time I’ve switched riggings this week. It wasn’t until about the five-second mark that I felt like I was in command of a ride for the first time in 72 seconds.” He has one more night to earn whatever money he can, and he’s going to make a run at it Saturday night. “I’m still excited about coming over here (to the Thomas & Mack Center),” O’Connell said. “I’m still excited about getting on bucking horses. (Saturday) is the best bucking horses in the world. These the best guys in the best locker room in the world.”   Still smiling and staying positive through the troubles life and rodeo throw at someone is a gift, and there’s a reason why he’s a champion.

LAS VEGAS – Ryan Jarrett is feeling a little more comfortable in the saddle. He started off this year’s National Finals Rodeo in fine fashion, placing third in the opening round. Then things went downhill after that. He failed to catch a check for six nights before returning to the pay window on Night 8. He kept adding to it in Friday’s ninth round, stopping the clock in 7.9 seconds to finish fifth. That was worth $6,967. “That horse is just getting with it a little now,” he said of Poppy, a bay mare owned by Cody McCartney and Bailey and Tia Moore. “I had some doubts in my mind. I got some better starts at the barrier the last two nights, and that played a big difference. It just feels a little better, and I’m getting more in a grove. “I think when I came here for the first round, I had been practicing on her, and it was pretty good. Then after a couple rounds into it, things weren’t panning out.” Maybe it was the horse, or maybe it was the jockey, but Jarrett placed the blame strictly on himself. He just needed to figure out what was wrong. In doing so, he became more confident in Poppy and himself. In fact, he’s earned $42,222 so far in Las Vegas and has one more night to cash in even more. “I wasn’t doing my job,” said Jarrett, a 14-time NFR qualifier from Comanche, Oklahoma. “I wasn’t using my left hand correctly, and that got her to quit running. We changed bridles, so when I do pick up, she doesn’t really feel it and just goes on. (His wife) Shy-Anne and I discussed it a little bit. I just made a move. I needed to something, so let’s change it up.” Jarrett has increased his 2021 earnings to $134,155 and has another night to prove the changes he made will work. He will make a run at everything he can on the final night of the 2021 campaign come Saturday.   “Everything felt good (Friday),” he said. “Hopefully they draw me a good (calf Saturday), and we can finish strong. We could get us another check and call it a win-win.”

LAS VEGAS – Most Canadians celebrated their special night at the National Finals Rodeo on Thursday at the Thomas & Mack Center. Bareback rider Orin Larsen, a seven-time NFR qualifier from Inglis, Manitoba, opted to wait 24 hours. He rode Calgary Stampede’s Arbitrator Joe for 85 points to finish fifth in Friday’s ninth go-round, pocketing just shy of $7,000 in the process. It was his fourth-straight round in which to place. “Man, it was a nice horse,” said Larsen, now living in Gering, Nebraska. “I’ve been on him before. For a great big horse, he is really quick. You have to do a lot of spurring in a short amount of time.” It worked. Only the top six places win money each night, and Larsen pushed his NFR earnings to $59,640. More importantly, he is fifth in the aggregate race with 762.5 points on nine rides. If he stays there when the NFR concludes Saturday, he will earn a $23,513. “I knew I had a chance for a decent check or at least a check of some sort,” he said. “It just worked out really well.” Larsen struggled to start this year’s championship. He didn’t earn a paycheck until the sixth go-round. Now, he’s on a roll that he hopes doesn’t end soon. “I honestly haven’t paid any attention to how much I’ve won or the average,” he said. “That’s a new approach I’ve looked into. I know when I start counting money and looking at dollar signs, I don’t perform as good as I should. That’s when I say, ‘To hell with it.’ I’m just nodding to have fun. If I make a check, then I make a check. “I don’t want this rodeo to end. I say this every year, but I’ve never been dreading to load up the car and go home. It is fun. This is an addicting rodeo, and it is what we all strive to be.” What every cowboy dreams about is collecting a Montana Silversmiths gold buckle awarded to the world champions this year. It’s out of Larsen’s reach in 2021, but everyone knows he’ll be a contender again next year.

LAS VEGAS – The winter and early spring were a bit dry for bareback rider Cole Franks. As a PRCA rookie, he was trying to make a name for himself but wasn’t having much luck. He had entered the rodeo in his birth home in Guymon, Oklahoma, but he didn’t get to ride because he didn’t have enough money won to be included in that ProRodeo Hall of Fame event that takes place the first weekend in May. It seems strange to look back upon now, because he’s been named the 2021 Rookie of the Year and this week is playing on the sport’s biggest stage, the National Finals Rodeo. May was seven months ago, but it may as well be a lifetime in Franks’ season. “I don’t know if something clicked or if something changed,” said Franks, 20, of Clarendon, Texas, who placed for the seventh time in night nights in Las Vegas. “I was so broke, I was going for broke. At San Angelo, I had $20 to my name after I paid my fees. That’s all I had. I knew I had to win money there, or I’d be stuck at home working all summer.” Instead, he won the first round, placed in the championship round and finished fourth overall. He pocketed nearly $8,300, and his financial troubles were over. From there, he went on to win bareback riding at the College National Finals Rodeo, claiming national crowns in it and the all-around. He built on that, then jumped in the rig with Tim O’Connell, a three-time world champion, and Jess Pope, the 2020 NFR average titlist. “Everything really built up after that,” Franks said. “The college finals is when it burst and exploded a little more. I think that was another big step on the year. “Tim and Jess are a huge help. They are both really strong-minded and pretty positive. That helps boost you up. It’s hard being down when you are around them.” He rode Cervi Championship Rodeo’s On Your Own for 86.5 points to finish in a tie for third place in Friday’s ninth round. He earned $13,716. Just as importantly, he held on to third place in the average race. If he remains there when the NFR concludes Saturday, he will pocket a bonus of $44,414. Already, he’s earned $105,614 in Las Vegas cash and moved up to eighth in the world standings with $183,008. Friday’s ride marked the second time he’d been on the Cervi horse; he was 82 points on On Your Own in Cave Creek, Arizona, in 2020. Many things have changed since that ride. “I was pretty confident I could place on him,” he said. “I had a little better ride today, a little more stuff going on. I felt like I rode him a lot better than I did when I had him last time.” It showed.

LAS VEGAS – Coleman Proctor has a way of finding the bright spots on cloudy days. His attitude toward his job as one of the elite headers in ProRodeo has served him well, and it was magnified over the first nine nights of this National Finals Rodeo. He and his heeler, New Mexican Logan Medlin, have suffered four no-times, but they’ve still earned more than $92,000 so far. “We’ve been making our run all week, but we’ve just had some bobbles here and there,” said Proctor, a seven-time NFR qualifier from Pryor, Oklahoma. “We’ve had four no-times, so that’s the killer. I’ve missed two; Logan has missed two. Other than that, every time we’ve come together tight, we’ve won a lot of money.” They stopped the clock in 3.5 seconds to tie for Friday’s ninth-round win, pocketing $24,167. It was their second go-round win of the week, and it marked a first for Proctor. “That is the first non-fifth round buckle to win,” he said with a laugh, noting that he’d won the fifth round in 2014-15 and earlier at this year’s championship.   That’s the reality of rodeo. It’s a roller coaster of emotions and outcomes. He scrambled at the end of the regular season to earn a spot in the field, and he and Medlin have made an impact. Proctor has increased his annual earnings to $155,271 and sits seventh in the world standings. “I’ve come out here and struggled (before),” Proctor said. “I’ve come out here and not won that much money. You get to searching for answers throughout the week. It’s a long stretch out here; we are out here for two weeks. You start trying things you’ve never tried in your life. “At the end of the day it’s proven on paper that what we do is fast enough, especially in this building.” It’s because of that reality that he has remained confident. He looks for the good things in life, and he smiles through every bobble and every gem. “I’ve had a lot of confidence all week,” he said. “My horse has been working great. Logan is an amazing heeler; he has the heel horse of the year. We’ve got a lot more things going for us than we do against us. Honestly, it’s been good fortune for everybody else that it has been this rocky for us.” They have one more shot to collect more Las Vegas money during Saturday’s 10th round. They’ll battle until the last loop is thrown. “I’m looking forward to the opportunity (Saturday) night to right that ship,” Proctor said.

CLARENDON, Texas – Wyatt Smith has always been an athlete and a winner, and he’s taking that characteristic with him to his new post as the women’s rodeo coach at Clarendon College, where he also will be an assistant for the men’s program. Smith won national titles at the high school and college levels, and in 2015, he qualified in steer wrestling to the National Finals Rodeo. He joins a program that just won the men’s team national title at the College National Finals Rodeo under coach Bret Franks. “I’m hoping I can learn a bunch from him,” Smith said of Franks, who also has coached cowboys to four national titles over the last few years. “We’ll see how we can be successful and go back and win the nation again.” Clarendon has three cowboys that have earned the intercollegiate titles under Franks: Saddle bronc riders Wyatt Casper (2016) and Riggin Smith (2019) and Franks’ youngest son, Cole, who won the bareback riding and all-around national titles this year. There are three former members of the rodeo team who competed at this year’s National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, Casper, Franks and bronc rider Tegan Smith. “I’ve been looking for a college rodeo coaching job for quite a few years,” Smith said. “It’s always been a dream job for me that I’ve always wanted to have. I was looking around and talking to people, and they directed me to this place.” For the last several years, he has served as a police officer in St. Johns, Arizona. It’s close to where his wife’s hometown, so it was a nice fit. He had just started as the school resource officer. When Franks called, Smith accepted the position. “I was on board 100 percent,” Smith said. “It was a little longer process than I was hoping, but I’m here and super happy to be here. I’ve been here about four weeks, and I get to go back to doing things I love to do.” That sets up well for Smith and for Clarendon College. The rodeo team will be coached by two men who have played on ProRodeo’s biggest stage, the NFR; Franks was a three-time qualifier in saddle bronc riding. “It’s going to be great having Wyatt with us,” Franks said. “He’s got a lifetime of experience, and he has a passion for coaching. It will be a good thing for our program to have him here.”  

LAS VEGAS – Jess Pope had to get on two of the hardest-to-ride horses in the PRCA during Thursday’s eighth round. His first, C5 Rodeo’s Black Eye, didn’t perform up to its typical style, so Pope was awarded a re-ride on Five Star Rodeo’s Deep Springs. The big gray also didn’t have a great trip, but Pope spurred the horse enough to score 83 points to finish sixth. “I was glad to catch a check,” said Pope of Waverly, Kansas. “Money’s money, and we’re out here to try to take what you can get, try to take all of it you can. There are two more rounds, and I’m looking forward to it. We are going to forget about (Thursday) and all the irritating stuff in it and rock and roll tomorrow.” He’s had an excellent NFR.  He’s placed in all but one round so far and earned more than $130,000. He is second in the aggregate race with a cumulative score of 698 points on eight rides and trails the leader, Kaycee Feild, by just one point. “There’s a lot of stuff that is out of my control,” he said. “All I know is that I showed up and did my job, and I got on two of them when everyone else got on one. It’s alright with me. “It’s a fistfight when we come into it. It is a no-mercy kind of a deal; kill or be killed. This was our (‘Eliminator Pen’), so I knew coming in it was going to be a fistfight. I just got to do it twice. I like getting into fistfights with them.”   Pope is second in the world standings, and he’s working hard to move up to the top spot. His season earnings sit at $244,268, and he needs as much cash as possible to move past Feild, the standings leader and a five-time world champion. The NFR is a rugged test of ProRodeo’s biggest stars over 10 December nights in Las Vegas. It’s oftentimes hardest on the bareback riders, who cinch their riggings tightly to the horses they ride, then use specially designed gloves to wedge their hands into the rigging. They are locked onto the horses they ride, and the pressure builds from the wrists to shoulders to neck and all over by the time the rides are done. “This is definitely the hardest thing there is on your body,” Pope said. “To tie to 10 or 11 of these (horses) in 10 days is super hard on you. You’ve got to be fit. You’ve got to be working on those muscles all week, trying to get them to loosen back up. “My elbow is a little bit sore, but it will be good to go come tomorrow.” He’s in great shape … both physically and in the race for the Montana Silversmiths gold buckle.

LAS VEGAS – Beutler & Son Rodeo’s Cimarron Jack has been a winner over the years. The big bay has helped cowboys win rounds at the National Finals Rodeo before. That didn’t happen with Wyatt Casper during Thursday’s eighth round, but it worked well enough for the Texas cowboy. He and Cimarron Jack matched moves for 82 points to finish sixth, worth $4,354. “He was a lot more rider-friendly for this pen,” Casper said, noting that the eighth round featured the “Eliminator Pen” of bucking horses, the ones that cause havoc. “I don’t think he fit this pen. He is usually better than that. It just wasn’t his night. “If I was in the average, I’d be happy about it. I’m not in the average, so I’m just trying to go for the rounds. When you don’t have the horse to do it, it is a little upsetting.” Casper had no-scores in each of the first three rounds and is 10th in the aggregate race; only the top eight cumulative scores at the end of the 10-round championship will earn bonuses. But for all the trouble he had to start the NFR, he has bounced back, pocketing $67,000 in Las Vegas. He is sixth in the world standings with $151,990. “He was probably top three rider-friendly horse in that pen, but I knew it wasn’t going to be a huge score,” said Casper of Miami, Texas. “I tried to ride him as good as I could, just as I do every horse. It worked out, and we won some money.” The NFR features a purse of more than $10 million, and he wants to collect as much of that pot as he can over the final two nights of the season. A year ago, he pocketed nearly $176,000 at ProRodeo’s grand finale. Rodeo isn’t always rose pedals and ice cream sprinkles though, and he realizes he’s done some good things this year. “I wouldn’t make that driving a truck at home, so I’m excited to be here,” he said. “It’s still going to be a good 10 days after this. It’s hard to compare it to last year. I just haven’t had a good go of it. After this week’s over, we are still going to be pretty happy.” He’s placed in four rounds so far, including the Round 7 victory. He has two more nights to catch as much cash as he can before he leaves Las Vegas. He’ll have good opportunities, thanks in large part to the livestock that’s been selected to buck at the NFR. “It’s the top (100) horses they bring here, so they are the best,” Casper said. “They deserve to be here just as much as all the bronc riders.”

LAS VEGAS – In his 12 years riding bareback horses in the PRCA, Orin Larsen is known for riding rank broncs. He proved it Thursday with an 84.5-point ride on Stace Smith Pro Rodeo’s Mr. Harry to finish fourth in the eighth go-round. That was worth $11,321 and proved that when the Canadian cowboy gains momentum, he just lets it roll. He placed for the third straight night and has collected $52,673, most of which has come in Rounds 6-8. “I may not win the (‘Eliminator Pen’) every year, but I seem to place and do fairly well,” said Larsen of Inglis, Manitoba, now living in Gering, Nebraska. “I just really love those really strong horses that are going to test you and make you earn it. When you are 90 points, it feels like a 90-point ride. “Any time you can place in the E-pen at the finals is a pretty great feeling.” Larsen is fifth in the aggregate with an eight-ride cumulative score of 677.5 points. If he stays in that position when the NFR concludes Saturday, he will add a $23,513 bonus. If he moves up one spot to fourth, the bonus increases to nearly $33,000. He could use any money he can get. He sits 11th in the world standings with $150,516. “I got on Mr. Harry in this round two years ago, and it felt the same way,” he said. “It is just a fight. From the time you nod your head, it is just a constant battle the whole time. Richie (Champion) got on him earlier this week and said the same thing, so I knew what to expect. “I’m ready for fun. I love getting on E-penners and kind of showing up and showing out on them, but the locker room gets more lively when the “Hoppers” come back in.” That’s what’s going to happen Friday. Bareback riders take a bit of a break after getting on the rankest horses. They’ll have horses in the ninth round that allows them to be a bit more flashy with their spur strokes. It makes it a bit more fun. He doesn’t really have time to fret about his draw either. Between meeting sponsorship responsibilities and other things he takes care of during the day, he also takes the time to focus on his body. “My chiropractor from back home, Advantage Chiropractic & Acupuncture, flew down to watch the last few rounds,” Larsen said. “He came down and worked on me before I went to the rodeo, and that has helped a lot. “Knock on wood, I haven’t been really sore. This is the first year I haven’t been sore. I don’t know if I was just prepared more than ever before, but I never have had that stiff soreness feeling. We have bumps and bruises along the way, but that’s just part of it.” It all helps him perform the best each night, and that is a big reason he’s rolling in the second half of this year’s championship.

LAS VEGAS – With every ride he makes, Cole Franks is becoming more of a bareback riding veteran. He takes the good with the bad, which is what happens in rodeo. He found a lot of good with an 87-point ride on Beutler & Son Rodeo’s Anything Goes to finish a close second in Thursday’s eighth round of the National Finals Rodeo, pocketing $21,336. “I didn’t really know much about that horse,” said Franks, 20, of Clarendon, Texas. “I went back and watched a couple videos; Tim and Jess have both been on him before last year. He looked pretty good, looked like you’d rather get on in the (“Eliminator Pen”). He’s a pretty good pluck for that pen.” The random draw matched the young bronc buster with the horse, which wasn’t quite as rank and hard to watch as most of the others that bucked Thursday. That worked out to Franks’ benefit; he pushed his NFR earnings to $91,898. He is third in the aggregate race with a cumulative score of 688 points on eight rides. Anything Goes didn’t buck the first time the “Eliminator Pen” was out last Saturday, so he was a fresher than the others that have performed already. The animals are bred to buck, and they can anticipate the opportunities to do their jobs. “I knew he was going to be pretty strong, and he was every bit of that,” Franks said. “I just had to keep gassing it. I wanted to quit halfway. It hurt really bad, but I just closed my eyes and kept going.” He’s glad he did. He moved his season earnings to $169,291 and has moved up six spots to sixth in the world standings. Riding rank bucking horses isn’t easy, though. Riding the rankest horses in the world is even m ore difficult. He had to work harder Thursday to make she stayed in the middle. “You just bury your feet in the horses and lift on your rigging like you’ve never lifted before,” he said. “You’ve got to put 110 percent out. If you’re only putting 100 percent, it’s not going to be good. “They’re going to try to keep getting away from you, so you keep your feet in their neck.  It drives you back up on your rigging and keeps them from leaping away from you. It keeps you there. I was just trying to get back to the front. I knew if I didn’t beat him to the ground, he was going to sit me up. He hits the ground really hard and leaves really hard. If you don’t beat him to the ground, he’ll get you.” He has two nights remaining to collect as much Vegas cash as possible. If he can stay third in the aggregate, he will pocket a bonus of $44,414. He’s already had a huge week at the NFR, and the future looks bright. “It has been really good, awesome actually,” Franks said. “It’s very special. I’m just ready to get a (go-round) buckle. There is going to be no reserve the final two nights of this thing. I’m going to ripping my feet to the sky. My boots are going to be flying.”  

LAS VEGAS – For eight seconds of Garrett Shadbolt’s bareback ride on Pete Carr Pro Rodeo’s San Angelo Sam, everything went great. At 8.1 seconds, all hell broke loose. He spurred over the paint horse’s neck, got tossed away from his riding hand, which oftentimes results in a nasty hang-up, and crashed to the ground. The end result was a sore shoulder, a bloody nose and a concussion. “It was just a blur,” said Shadbolt, a first-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier from Merriman, Nebraska. “That horse was bucking so hard.  He was trying me every jump, and I was feeding him back to him for a while. I was beating up on him, and when he made that right corner, he came around putting that shoulder forward.” The cowboy tried to counter, and did for the most part. But San Angelo Sam is one of the hardest-to-ride horses in the world, which is why he was in the “Eliminator Pen” at the NFR. The two combatants matched for 86 points, which moved Shadbolt into a tie for third place in the round. “Eventually he led me to whiffing his neck with my right foot,” he said. “That’s when the ride fell apart in spectacular fashion. I hit my nose on the back of his neck. I was bleeding out of both nostrils, got blood all over everything. “I’m glad I didn’t do it earlier. That horse was not letting up. I didn’t know when he was going to quit or if he was going to ever quit.” Shadbolt earned $16,111 Thursday, expanding his NFR earnings to $68,602. He is eighth in the aggregate race with an eight-ride cumulative score of 661 points. If he holds on to that spot when the season concludes Saturday night, he will earn a bonus of $6,532. As of now, though, he has increased his season earnings to $164,615 and sits eighth in the world standings. He’s been on an even keel this week; he’s managed paychecks in Rounds 2, 4, 6 and 8. “It’s such a roller coaster,” Shadbolt said. “I’ll go no money, place, no money, place.” Such is the life of a rodeo cowboy. They all put their entry fees in the pot, but only the top scorers will walk away with cash. “We have two rounds left, and I made it through the second round of e-penners alive,” he said. “I don’t know that it will be too bad. My hand is a little boogered up getting flipped like that. I’m glad my hand did come out and didn’t hang up. I feel blessed. God’s got some angels looking out for me, because it could have been worse.”

LAS VEGAS – In a couple of months Jurnee Jarrett will turn 3 years old, but she wants everyone to know she can do big-girl stuff. The biggest thing she’s doing in Sin City this week is keep her daddy, tie-down roper Ryan Jarrett, content through each day as he prepares to compete at his 13th National Finals Rodeo, his 14th qualification – he also qualified in steer wrestling in his inaugural run in 2005, the same year he won the all-around world championship. “It’s tough,” said Jarrett, 37, originally from Summerville, Georgia, but now living in Comanche, Oklahoma, with Jurnee and his wife, Shy-Anne. “The first night, I thought, ‘Heck yeah.’ It’s gone downhill since then. I didn’t make a great run tonight by no means, and I just got lucky that I placed. I will take it.” Yes, he will. He stopped the clock in 8.3 seconds to finish in a tie for fourth place in Wednesday’s seventh round, pocketing $9,144. It’s just his first paycheck since the opening round, when he finished third. In all, he has earned $35,255 in eight days. It’s not bad, but it’s not what he came here to do. No matter what happens inside the Thomas & Mack Center, he has a small section of people that are always in his corner. Jurnee has a wide grin and a big hug for daddy when he makes his way from the arena floor to the seating area inside the longtime home of the NFR. “I focus on the roping some throughout the day, but we are busy doing stuff with her and enjoying it,” he said. “It has been fun.” She’s growing up a cowgirl much like her mom, who went to college on a rodeo scholarship and is still a barrel racer. “She’s getting to the point she will help you,” Jarrett said of his daughter. “She is figuring out she wants to feed and give horses hay and put them in the stalls.” It’s for her and his wife that he wants to have a little better luck at the National Finals Rodeo. This is his primary business, and he hopes to do well every year to provide for his family. So far this year, he’s pocketed $127,188. That’s great, but considering the expenses that come on the rodeo trail, it’s not a great profit.   “I just can’t get tapped off,” he said. “I’ve been late at the barrier. Usually, I can get pretty close to the barrier out here and feel confident. I’ve just been a little late. I’d take a chance a reach a little bit, missing. I roped a leg one night. Just one thing, then 10 more. “You just have to think about, ‘I’m ready for tomorrow night.’ He’s running out of “tomorrow nights.” There are just two rounds remaining in the ProRodeo season. He’s been down this road before. He’s experienced all the highs and lows that come with the sport, especially on its grandest stage. “For 10 nights, you are going to have a little bit of everything thrown at you,” Jarrett said. “There’s nothing like rodeoing in Vegas. The crowd is on top of you, and they are way into it. It’s just a different feeling.”

LAS VEGAS – Clayton Biglow doesn’t have to worry about his place in ProRodeo history. At just 25 years old, he’s a six-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier. He’s not had the run in Las Vegas that he’d like, but he keeps plugging along. That, in an essence, might be the definition of a cowboy. Sometimes the horse doesn’t cooperate or the steer is elusive. In rodeo, cowboys make a living eight seconds at a time. For bareback riders, it’s a rough-and-tumble game that features a roller coaster of results and emotions. Biglow won the 2019 bareback riding world championship in record-setting fashion. He rode 10 horses for a cumulative score of 886.5 points to set a new standard. He also earned nearly $245,000 in a week and a half in the Nevada desert. On Wednesday night in Las Vegas, he rode Calgary Stampede’s Yippee Kibitz for 86 points to finish in a tie for fourth place in the seventh round. That was worth $9,144, and it pushed his NFR earnings to $29,739. He had earned $110,000 by this point two years ago in that magical campaign. But rodeo is a humbling sport. In a short span of time, a cowboy can be riding all highs that come with the sport, then see the underside of the horse. But none of that has bothered Biglow of Clements, California. It’s all part of the game he plays. Still, he’s fifth in the world standings with $171,743 in season earnings. The best part for him is that there are three nights remaining in this year’s NFR, meaning he has three more opportunities to cash in. He’s won at least one round in each of his five previous trips to the championship, so the odds are in his favor to continue that at some point this week.

LAS VEGAS – Orin Larsen virtually blanked in the opening half of the National Finals Rodeo, earning only the $10,000 bonus for qualifying that every contestant gets. He’s made up for it in the two nights since the second half has started. He’s collected $31,351, most of which came with his win in Round 6. He rode Big Stone Rodeo’s Fired Up for 85.5 points to finish sixth in Wednesday’s seventh round, collecting $4,354. He still has three nights to add to it, and that’s a good thing. The first time he experienced this phenomenon in 2016, he had suffered a rib injury that hampered his spur stroke; it took the first five nights to figure out how to ride through the pain. “I think about that every year,” said Larsen of Inglis, Manitoba. “I think about getting an earlier start from Oct. 1 to Day 1 of the finals. It will happen one day. It will happen one year: next year.” The cowboy from Inglis, Manitoba – now living in Gering, Nebraska, with his wife Alexa – battled through it and earned more than $71,000 in five nights. He’s on pace to do that again this year. There are so many things that can happen in this 10-day rodeo, the highest-paying event of the season in the PRCA. The purse is more than $10 million, and go-round winners earn just shy of $27,000 per night. That’s what Larsen claimed in the sixth round. The reality for the Canadian is that he has a chance to collect $80,991. That’s all he needs.

LAS VEGAS – Slowly but surely, bareback rider Richmond Champion is getting to where he wants. He just wanted to do it a bit faster. After all, the National Finals Rodeo has a payout of more than $10 million, and he wanted his fair share of it. “I’ve just been building,” said Champion, 28, a seven-time NFR qualifier from Stevensville, Montana. “I feel really good. My body feels good. They just need to keep putting good horses under me. I’ve been happy with all my rides so far, so that’s a good thing. I’ll just keep plugging away. There are three rounds left, and there’s a lot of money left out there.” He collected another bit of cash with an 87-point ride on Hi Lo Pro Rodeo’s Wilson Sanchez to finish third in Wednesday’s seventh go-round. He pocketed $16,111 and moved his NFR payday to $57,136. He is eighth in the world standings with $156,081 in earnings. “It is my third time on her here,” Champion said of Wilson Sanchez. “It’s kind of funny: The last three rounds in a row, I’ve drawn my third trip at the NFR on all three of them. I was equally excited for all of them. “Wilson Sanchez had a better trip than we’ve ever had. When I went out there and put my rigging on, she was pretty amped up and jittery, and I was like, ‘OK, she might really do it today.’ Back in the day, she was the one. She was a ‘TV Pen’ horse. I got on her in the 10th round and the fifth round. She’s gotten a little harder as she’s gotten older.” That’s why she’s not mixed with the most electric horses at the NFR and fits more into the “Bucker Pen,” which bucks in the second and seventh rounds. With just three nights remaining in the 2021 ProRodeo season, Champion has worked through the soreness that comes with riding bareback horses for 10 straight nights in December. He’s developed a routine over the years, and that has served him well. “You constantly adapt as the rounds go on,” he said. “You might get sore; you wake up sore in a place you weren’t sore the night before. You’ve just got to pay attention to that and listen to your body. This is probably the best I’ve ever felt out here. “You get whipped back into bareback riding shape, and when they put you on the buckers, they stretch you out a little bit and you’re fine.” He seems fine now, and he has an extra $16 grand to account for that.

LAS VEGAS – In his fourth trip to ProRodeo’s grand finale, steer wrestler Riley Duvall is officially having his best National Finals Rodeo. He’s placed in four of seven nights, including a share of two go-round wins. His most recent came in Wednesday’s seventh round, when he dropped his steer in 3.9 seconds to finish fifth. That was worth $6,967. More importantly, it pushed his NFR earnings to $81,411. He is now fourth in the world standings with $148,132. “I didn’t like my last two steers, but I knew tonight’s was OK,” said Duvall of Checotah, Oklahoma. ‘They had been 4.2 and 4.5 on him. The goal was to hit the barrier and see how fast we could be. Anything you get on one you don’t like is a bonus.” It’s been a great week. He’s made more money in a week than most people in Checotah make in a year. That helps make it even better. “I’m having fun,” he said. “I’m taking it all in this year. Usually, I’m broke trying to pay off a bunch of debts. This year I’m having fun and taking at the moment like I never have before. It has made my attitude better.” Like many cowboys, Duvall rodeos all year long to qualify for the NFR. He counts on the money earned in Las Vegas to help sustain things at home and pay for diapers. He has a 6-year-old daughter, Chaney, and a 7-month-old son, Cruze. “I’m not going to complain about whatever I win,” Duvall said. “I would have liked to finish third, but fifth’s good. It puts money in the pocket and puts us closer to the goal. I want to come in here and win $100,000, so I have three rounds left to get $20,000. “Last year was rough. I got in a bind financially. There were times this year I had to sell stuff and I had no idea how I was going to go, so coming in here I knew what I needed. I’m close to my goal. I’ve got some stuff paid off. Now we can have fun and enjoy it.” He’s also been having fun with his longtime friend and traveling partner, Shane Frey, who is serving as Duvall’s hazer, working to keep the steer lined out. The men have a game plan for action every night, and they’re making it all work. “The horses are working great, and Frey does really good,” Duvall said. “That bulldogging horse goes fast and runs to the right. Our plan is for Frey to just get out there, then get the heck out of the way and let the horse come. I just need him to block the steers and stay out of my way until Dr. Pepper gets them. It worked great tonight.”

LAS VEGAS – It may have taken three rounds, by Wyatt Casper has found his comfort zone in Sin City. He’s put together four solid rides in a row, placing in three of them and just missing out on payday on Night 6. He rode Big Bend’s Broken Camp for 89 points to win Wednesday’s seventh round of the National Finals Rodeo to collect just shy of $27,000. “I talked to my traveling partner, Jake Clark, about him,” Casper said, noting that Clark lined out the rein measurement that fit the horse. “He said (the bronc) was going to feel awesome, and he wasn’t lying. I thought he was a little stronger than what Jake put on. Every jump coming around there, he was just getting stronger. I just lifted on my rein a little harder, and it worked out good.” It’s bronc riding at the most basic level, but Casper and others who have qualified for ProRodeo’s grand finale have perfected it. Lifting on the bronc rein helps the cowboy make a better spur stroke, starting over the breaks of the horse’s shoulders and back to the cantle of the saddle while in rhythm with the horse. “It all goes hand to hand,” he said. “I think bronc riding is a real basic sport. It might not look that way, but the mental side of it is. I just try to get a good start on every horse I can: Two jumps, spur out and never miss a lick. I feel like that helped me out a bunch.” It goes with his training, first at the Deke Latham Memorial Bronc Riding School in Goodwell, Oklahoma, as a youngster, then while attending Clarendon (Texas) College while under the training of rodeo coach Bret Franks, a three-time NFR qualifier. “They all drilled that into my head,” said Casper, who was living in the Oklahoma Panhandle town of Balko as a youngster but has since moved to Miami, Texas. “When I was in high school, I’d go over to Goodwell and practice with (the Oklahoma Panhandle State University rodeo team). I was over there a bunch.” Robert Etbauer, a two-time world champion, is the coach at Panhandle State. Even though Casper didn’t attend college there, he learned a great deal at those practices. “I think Robert says if you fall off, it’s probably because you weren’t lifting hard enough,” Casper said. “Maybe that’s what I wasn’t doing earlier in the week. Finally, thank goodness, I got it figured out.”   He has pocketed $62,688 in seven nights in the Nevada desert and pushed his season earnings to $147,635. He sits seventh in the world standings, but there are three nights remaining in the ProRodeo season, and he has his eyes on the prize. “It’s been good,” he said. “I’m just trying to get as much money out of here as I can, get a little nest egg to go back to Texas with.”