Monthly Archives: December 2023

LAS VEGAS – It wasn’t much, Stephen Culling was able to exhale just a little. It was a sigh of relief, and it matched the intensity he has felt over the first two nights of his first National Finals Rodeo. Culling wrestled his steer to the ground in 4.4 seconds to finish in a tie for sixth place in Saturday’s second round, pocketing $2,476. “The nerves are a little bit higher than your normal rodeo, and the heart’s pounding pretty big in there,” said Culling, 30, of Fort St. John British Columbia. “I’m excited to get in there and get a little better start tonight. I didn’t know that a 4.4 would be good enough to hold on for a check on this kind of steers. “This was supposed to be our softer pen of steers, but I was fortunate enough to sneak in there and grab a check.” Each contestant earned a $10,000 bonus just for qualifying for the NFR, so Culling has pushed his season earnings to $116,502. He’ll have eight more chances to improve upon his annual salary. He just missed out on a paycheck in the opening round. “I’m just happy right now,” he said. “To go out there and be making good runs and win a little bit of money here, then after Round 3, we can have a little more of a game plan and go at them a little more and hopefully win a few bigger checks. “At this point, you always want to be going after it every round, because the rounds pay so good, but getting 10 qualified times is very important, too. My game plan is to try to win in the rounds and just be happy with getting good times and staying consistent.”   Consistency is the key to success in just about any sporting endeavor. Culling has an advantage in Eddie, the 2023 Steer Wrestling Horse of the Year owned by Canadian bulldogger Tanner Milan. “Tanner and I talk a lot, but the game plan never really changes,” Culling said. “You’ve got to go at the barrier; missing the barrier is your biggest enemy.” The start is vital, but steers are allowed a head start. A barrier line is placed in front of the steer wrestler and is released when the animal reaches the point necessary. The right start is having the horse’s chest hit the barrier line as it is released. “You want to know if the steer is going to step right or left or pick his head up, and that’s where you game plan with your hazer. I just want to blow out the barrier every night and try to get as good a start as I can. “ That horse is amazing. I don’t have any confidence problems with him. I know that if I get the start, he takes care of everything else and tries so hard, and he makes it pretty easy.”

LAS VEGAS – For steer wrestlers at the National Finals Rodeo, it’s all about the start. In order to post fast times, they need to time the beginning of their runs in conjunction with the steer leaving the chute. The better the timing, the better the run. In Las Vegas, it also is important to get the ball rolling early in the 10-day championship. J.D. Struxness did that, knocking down his steer in 4.6 seconds to finish in a tie for sixth place in Friday’s opening go-round. “I didn’t think that a 4.6 would catch a check, but it hung in there and we got the ice broke,” said Struxness, 29, originally from Milan, Minnesota, but now living in Perrin, Texas. “I’m glad it did.” For his feat, the 6-foot-2 cowboy earned $2,476 and maintained his sixth-ranked spot in the world standings. The first-round steers were strong, and the evidence came in the times. At the NFR, bulldoggers need to be closer to 4.0 seconds or faster to be in the money; only two cowboys managed to have runs less than four seconds. They will see this grouping of steers three more times over the course of the final nine rounds. “This pen of steers is more of the middle-of-the-road pen,” he said. “I think there were some jitters in the first round and a couple of guys struggled, but once everybody gets that lined out, that pen will be more of a 3.5-second or short 4-second pen.” While riding Crush, a horse owned by fellow steer wrestler Ty Erickson, Struxness has found the comfort necessary to compete at a high level inside the Thomas & Mack Center, the NFR’s home since 1985. “That horse works great,” said Struxness, the 2016 national champion bulldogger while competing at Northwestern Oklahoma State University. “That’s the reason I picked him.” There are 15 steer wrestlers competing at this NFR, but there are only a handful of horses they will ride. The cowboys rely on the best horses in the game to give them the best opportunity to cash in each night. Go-round winners will pocket nearly $31,000 for 10 nights. Crush will have just two jockeys, Struxness and Erickson, the latter of whom was 4.3 seconds to finish in a tie for third Friday. “Having just two runs a night on that horse is just about right,” Struxness said. “Any more than two, you start dealing with fatigue and the horse getting wound up, so I think two runs helps with that.” Now competing at the NFR for the fifth time, the Minnesota man has gained a keen understanding of what it takes to be successful in Las Vegas. “Catching a check in the first round is awesome, because it seems like you need to break the ice out here,” he said. “If you can’t get that ice broke in the first round, it just add a little bit of pressure. I feel like that weight has been lifted off. “We’ve got that first one out of the way, and it went good, so now, we’ll just keep rolling from here.”

Cinch teams with Rodeo Performance Network to help NFR athletes Injuries are just part of any athletic endeavor, whether it’s football or the sport of rodeo. The Rodeo Performance Network has been built to try to stop that pain before it happens. It’s a matter of building the body in intricate ways to help athletes perform at an optimum level while developing the muscles, ligaments and tendons so they are more versatile and able to handle the duties assigned to them. Take barrel racer Taci Bettis, a two-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier from Waller, Texas. In January 2022, she suffered a back injury that was hampering her ability to compete professionally. She reached out to Andrew Shea, owner and operator of Shea Competitive Edge in nearby Brenham, Texas, and quickly found ways to alleviate the pain while also building strength. That collaboration resulted in the foundation of the Rodeo Performance Network, which is working closely with Cinch and its endorsees during this week’s National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. “We got a plan to get me better, but as we worked, we talked a lot,” Bettis said. “He said, ‘I have this idea of coming up with a virtual program, and I wanted to make it like a network of things.’ ” A few months later, Shea reached out to Bettis about creating the network with rodeo event-specific activities. “I thought, ‘Is this God telling me that I need to branch out a little bit and try something new?’ ” she said. “So, we came up with Rodeo Performance Network. We have the workout programs, and we have coaches for each specific event.” In addition to Bettis, who establishes programs for barrel racers, other coaches are 2013 world champion tie-down roper Shane Hanchey, NFR steer wrestler Rowdy Parrott, NFR bull rider Cole Fischer, Shea and Sarah Duval, who focuses on the mental game. All understand the necessities that need done in order to perform at an elite level. “When Rowdy tore his peck a few years ago, he came to me for a few months trying to do non-surgical rehab and see if he could get back to bulldogging,” said Shea, who has an extensive sports medicine background with a doctorate in physical therapy and is also a certified strength-and-conditioning specialist. “He ended up having surgery anyway, but I got to know him really well because were spending almost a year together with his rehab. That got me much more involved in the rodeo world. Rodeo athletes are different for a number of reasons, which is why I really got interested in helping that group of people.” Shea has been around the more traditional sports like football, baseball, basketball, soccer, etc. He competed in track and field in college, and much of his work was centered around the ball-type sports until he found his passion for helping rodeo athletes. While professional baseball players, for example, are still paid when they are on injured reserve, cowboys and cowgirls have no guarantees and only earn money when they are finishing better than most in the field. “I’m not saying (traditional-sports athletes) are less motivated, but when your paycheck is completely contingent on you performing, there’s a little bit more of a motivation,” he said. “Getting to work with that caliber of athlete – just from the mindset of saying, ‘I’ve got to go, so I’m going to do whatever I need to do to get myself back.’ – makes my job a little easier because they are in the right mindset. That is pivotal to having a successful rehab in general. “Some of these injuries are unique, because it is basically car accidents without seatbelts. That’s how I got into the rodeo side of things.” The preventative medicine is doing some little things a little differently than the athletes had done before. That may mean adjusting the way they ride the horses and planning a workout to help push the muscles and tissues that power those adjustments. “It’s a lot of core work, but it’s also a lot of hip movements,” Bettis said. “I hurt my lower back, and a lot of us sitting in the saddle for so long, you have your hips closed. We just started doing a lot of hip work. “I workout three days a week, so I thought I was strong, but Andrew pointed out I could hardly move because my bigger muscles are strong, but the little muscles that you need while you are riding aren’t as strong as you need. We started working on strengthening my core more than I even thought I needed. I’m working all the little muscles that get overlooked, because we start to work the big muscles so much.” That changed the way she was riding and the way she was teaching others in the way they ride. “You just start to see how weak they are in those places, so I’m starting to point out things like that,” she said. “It’s actually coming from you physically not being strong enough to move right there in the saddle and opening your eyes to fitness.”   The moment came when she and Shea were working on her rehab for her back injury. “I hurt for about four months before I called him because I just kept ignoring it,” Bettis said. “It got so bad that I couldn’t even lift my leg to get in a vehicle anymore. I was terrified somebody was going to say I needed to have surgery, but he said, ‘This is a pretty easy fix as long as you do your homework.’ “I was doing my homework every single day, and I was 90 percent better in probably three sessions. That’s when my eyes really opened to quit being hardheaded and do these workouts to stay healthy.” From specified workouts to having a mental-performance coach, the purpose is to give cowboys and cowgirls the opportunity to not only avoid injuries but to also help them excel at  Continue Reading »

LAS VEGAS – When Richmond Champion arrived the Nevada desert to compete at his eighth National Finals Rodeo, he just wanted to keep climbing. He snuck his way into the top 15 in order to compete at the 10-round championship and wants to make a statement about his place among the elite bareback riders in the sport. He’s off to a good start, riding Andrews Rodeo’s Cash & Carry for 83.5 points in Friday’s first round to finish in a four-way tie for fourth place. That was worth $6,438 and moved him up one spot to 14th in the standings. “I was just so excited to get this thing started off electric and fun for all the guys, especially after missing this for a year,” said Champion, who had neck surgery in March 2022 and missed the rest of that year. “I was just pumped to be back in the locker room and on the yellow bucking chutes again. “This was the first time for that horse, a younger one that Cole Reiner rode a couple of times and won a pile of money on her. She’s got a really good head on her, and she handled the fireworks and everything really well. We figured we could still trust her, and, yeah, she was awesome.” There are a lot of emotions that go into playing the game at this level. It takes talent, hard work and a little bit of luck to earn qualifications to the NFR, which features only the top 15 contestants in each event at the conclusion of the regular season. Champion first qualified for Sin City nine years ago when he was just 21 years old. Returning to the world’s richest rodeo brings back all those feelings. “There were nerves, but they were all good nerves,” said Champion, 30, of Stevensville, Montana. “There was definitely part of my brain that was wanting to make things more complicated than they needed to be for a minute, but being the first guy out … there’s no time to think. There’s no time to be really nervous.” A bulging disc in the middle of his neck had been causing problems for Champion for longer than he realized. Once surgery repaired the ailment, he had to learn how to ride in a way that not only gave him a good shot at winning, but also helped him keep his neck healthy. The result was a return to Las Vegas and renewed energy. “I didn’t know how much I was hurting before, but I feel really good and am just excited for the next nine,” he said. There’s been a lot of pain in Las Vegas this week. Two days ago, a man walked into a building on the UNLV campus and fired shots. He killed three members of the faculty and injured another before police ended the rampage by killing the shooter. All 119 contestants and many others were at the Thomas & Mack Center just a few buildings away form the shooting when it happened. They were all placed on lockdown for nearly two hours. The first NFR performance was delayed by a day, and officials opted to add morning performance next Wednesday to make sure there are still 10 rounds of competition. “It seems selfish to say it robbed a little bit of the excitement of check-in day, but this was just a bad thing that affected a lot of people,” Champion said. “Something on a massive scale had just gone on outside of where we were. The first-responders made sure we were safe and the building. We’re thankful for that.”

LAS VEGAS – The Thomas & Mack Center can be an intimidating place. Those yellow bucking chutes hold thousands of stories that explain rodeo’s history. It’s been a lot like home for Jess Pope, the defending world champion bareback rider from Waverly, Kansas. He’s won the National Finals Rodeo average title at all three of his previous qualifications to ProRodeo’s grand finale. He’s back for a fourth straight year, and he got a good start during Friday’s first go-round, riding Wayne Vold Pro Rodeo’s True Grit for 85 points to finish third. That was worth $18,325 and moved up two spots to eighth in the world standings. In 31 NFR rounds, he’s earned more than $650,000. “It’s comfortable, but it’s still nerve-wracking,” said Pope, 25. “I still had the first-round jitters, but the nice thing is now we’ve got one round knocked out of the way, and it’s time to get in a routine and do our job. “Getting jitters is the way it’s supposed to be. If you’re not nervous and don’t get wound up for this, then you probably ought to just go ahead and hang it up. When you first walk down the hallway here, you see the panels stacked up there, and it just has this smell. When you get here for the first round, all the horses are standing there, and they’re looking at you. The hair on the back of your neck stands up.” That kind of excitement pays off when matched with a top bronc. “They’ve won piles and piles of money on that horse,” Pope said of True Grit. “I think they’ve probably won a round or two on it here, and I know they’ve won multiple rounds at the Canadian Finals. That’s just a really solid horse to have drawn, especially in this pen. It’s like having an old faithful.” There have been plenty of emotions in Las Vegas this week. Two days ago while the contestants were in the Thomas & Mack Arena at UNLV when a man shot four people, killing three. The shootings happened just a few buildings away from the arena, so the 119 contestants and several other personnel were in lockdown for nearly two hours. NFR organizers opted to delay the start of the 10-day championship, and that round will be made up next Wednesday morning and will not be open to the public. The contestants will still have a chance to battle for nearly $31,000 for 10 performances. “One thing about rodeo is no matter what our circumstances are, we’re going to find a way to make something happen,” he said. “We’re going to do the job. It’s heartbreaking to even think about, especially where we were so close. You see these things on TV and think about how horrible those things are, but when you’re this close, you can feel all the emotions. It’s quite scary, to be honest, and really intimidating. “I think Las Vegas, their police, their SWAT force, has done a great job. They do an amazing job and prepare for it, and I’m confident we’re safe.” The show continues, and Pope will make his second-round ride Saturday night. “This will be my third time that I’ve been on that horse,” Pope said. “It’s another old, solid faithful. It probably won’t win the round, but it’s going to give me a good opportunity.”

Canceled first-round performance will be made up next Wednesday morning While Thursday’s performance of the National Finals Rodeo was canceled because of the shooting that took place on the UNLV campus, the show will go on. The PRCA and Las Vegas Events boards met Thursday morning to hammer out the details, which are: The first performance of this year’s NFR will take place at 5:45 p.m. Friday, Dec. 8, and continue for nine days. The sixth round will take place at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 13, and will be closed to the public. Full refunds for the Thursday performance will be issued by LVE. If tickets were purchased through StubHub, a refund will be issued directly to the buyer by StubHub. A moment of silence will occur at the start of Friday’s first performance. “The PRCA is saddened by the tragedy that happened yesterday, and our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their friends and families,” PRCA CEO Tom Glause said in a statement issued by LVE and the PRCA. “We have worked closely with our partners in Las Vegas and the Thomas & Mack Center to work through the NFR schedule, while maintaining sensitivity to the events that took place. We will bring our fans together on Friday evening to share our support for this community.”

Cinch has seven newcomers eager to show off talents in Sin City The 2023 National Finals Rodeo will again have an international flavor. Rodeo isn’t just America’s game; it’s been established on a worldwide stage. This year’s grand championship will feature a hefty dose of Americans, but there are also contestants from Canada, Australia and Brazil in the mix for those elusive world championships. Among them are seven Cinch-endorsed cowboys and cowgirls all competing in Sin City for the first time. From 20-year-old bareback rider Keenan Hayes of Hayden, Colorado, to 30-year-old Stephen Culling of Fort St. John, British Columbia, the NFR rookies are making their mark on ProRodeo. “It’s pretty cool just making the finals,” said Bradi Good, 21, a National Finals Breakaway Roping qualifier from Abilene, Texas. “We go all year, and we get to compete with everybody else, so it’s just cool to make the finals because breakaway hasn’t been included in the ProRodeos for as long, and it just started getting added four years ago. “It’s great to be part of something that’s still continuing to grow and we’re just trying to get better.” In many cases, Ryder Sanford would be considered a veteran. He’s 25 years old and has been riding broncs for several years. He just held off becoming a full-fledged member of the PRCA until this season, and it paid off in a big way. He’s not only qualified for the NFR for the first time, but he’s also clinched the Saddle Bronc Riding Resistol Rookie of the Year award. “That was a knife fight the entire year to win that,” said Sanford of Sulphur, Louisiana. “Q Taylor gave me a run for my money, and I was able to get into the finals. I wouldn’t have minded if he would have made the finals, too. It would be just like bareback riding, and we would have had to have waited until the 10th round of the NFR to see who’d win the rookie.” Instead, Sanford concluded the regular season with $125,388 to finish in that magical 15th spot to earn the trip to Sin City. NFR veteran Isaac Diaz was just $2,000 behind but missed the finale by one spot. Taylor, who finished second in the rookie race, was $9,300 behind Sanford. “I don’t think I could have planned it out any better,” said Sanford, who waited to start his rookie season while obtaining his civil engineering degree at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana. “I had a lot of big wins, wins in some places that guys go their whole career without achieving, so it’s been quite a blessing.” The biggest was at the Cheyenne (Wyoming) Frontier Days, one of the most storied rodeos in the sport’s grand history. “That’s just an iconic rodeo,” he said. “Even people who are not involved in rodeo know about Cheyenne, and to not only get the win but to set the arena record while doing it is pretty special, too.” Hayes has set a new standard in bareback riding. A year ago, he set the earnings record while competing on a permit with nearly $109,000. This year, he more than doubled his annual income, finishing with $265,896; that is a new bareback riding regular-season earnings record. He not only leads the bareback riding rookie race, but he’s the No. 1 man in the world standings. He has a $103,000 lead over the field of the top bronc busters in ProRodeo. Nothing is set in stone, yet. He’ll have to battle through the final 10 nights of the year during the NFR, set for Dec. 7-16 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. He leads the pack, but there are other rookies in the mix. Sanford is joined in bronc riding by fellow Cinch endorsee Damian Brennan, who won the rookie title last year and is making his first NFR. Brennan, of Injune, Queensland, Australia, is 13th in the world standings. In tie-down roping, Beau Cooper of Stettler, Alberta, and Brushton Minton of Witter Springs, California, will make their debuts roping inside the Thomas & Mack. Cooper is 11th and Minton 12th in the world standings. Stephen Culling’s rookie season in ProRodeo was seven years ago, but he is involved in likely the most competitive event in all of rodeo. He’s been climbing the charts the last few years and has launched himself among the top 15 steer wrestlers for the first time. He will enter the competition 10th in the world standings. “Making the NFR is a dream come true, something I’ve been working on since I first started bulldogging in high school,” said Culling, who won the National High School Finals Rodeo and the Canadian High School Finals Rodeo in 2010. “I feel like in the early days, I was almost just doing it for fun. As the years went by, I just kept working at it. “This is a huge accomplishment for me. That was one of the things I set out to do, and I’m really excited to show up in Vegas.” For Good, she’s a third-generation roper. Her grandfather, Billy, and father, Shay, have competed in steer roping. She’s not just carrying on a family tradition; she is taking her game to a different level. “I’m looking forward to the environment and everybody that’s going to be out there,” she said. “We’re going to rope five (calves) a day, and I’ve never really been in a situation like that unless it was a jackpot. “The (officials) are stepping it up a lot. We get to sign autographs for people, and we get the luncheon for our back numbers. There are just a bunch of things that really make this exciting, and most of all, we get to back in the box and run five a day for two days.” While still a big part of ProRodeo, the breakaway finals is separate from the NFR. It will take place Tuesday, Dec. 5-Wednesday, Dec. 6, at the South  Continue Reading »

HEMPSTEAD, Texas – When the right ingredients are packaged correctly, big things happen. That’s been the case for the Waller County Fair and Rodeo since it teamed with Dallas-based stock contractor Pete Carr to produce its annual ProRodeo. It’s a formula that will continue; the Waller County Fair Board has voted to extend its contract with Pete Carr Pro Rodeo for four more years. “We’ve had great partnership with Pete Carr over the last 10 years,” said Paul Shollar, the board’s vice president. “The organization is extremely excited to continue to see what’s to come with our great rodeo.” The popularity of Hempstead’s rodeo has continued to blossom over the years. Much of that has to do with how local organizers plan their events through the nine-day exposition. The fair board has increased its rodeo’s purse over the years and has always brought in top-flight contract personnel. Whether it’s award-winning entertainers like John Harrison or Justin Rumford or the world-class animal athletes Carr brings to town, the rodeo has been a major attraction at the fairgrounds. This year’s rodeo – as well as other Western-sports events – took place under the newly covered arena with revamped bleachers and specialized suites for major contributors. Carr is a 14-time nominee for PRCA Stock Contractor of the Year. This year, 20 Carr animals have been selected to buck at the National Finals Rodeo, which begins Dec. 7. That includes Bayou Bengal, which was named the PRCA Bull of the Year, the sixth animal from the company to have won a world championship. “Year after year, it seems our rodeo tops the previous year’s expectations, from attendance to contestants,” said Clint Sciba, president of the Waller County Fair and Rodeo. “Pete’s production and rodeo stock, paired with our newly covered arena and cowboy/cowgirl hospitality building, has helped build the board’s support and the community’s support. “We can’t wait for the next four years of rodeo in Waller County.” The 2024 rodeo will take place Thursday, Oct. 3-Saturday, Oct. 5, at the Waller County Fairgrounds in Hempstead.

12 Cinch contestants would love to add more gold to their resumes The National Finals Rodeo and National Finals Breakaway Roping are not just the grand championships for the sport; they also are host this year’s greatest ProRodeo stars, who will play the game at the highest level. There are a dozen Cinch-endorsed cowboys and cowgirls who epitomize that as well as anyone; they are world titlists and cumulatively account for 25 Montana Silversmiths gold buckles. Five of them will defend their 2022 championships, and the others will try to add to their trophy cases. That’s what makes the National Finals such a special event to those elite athletes. “I grew up watching all my heroes and dreaming about having one gold buckle,” said Louisiana steer wrestler Tyler Waguespack, who last year tied Everett Bowman, Jim Bynum and Ote Berry for third place in the record books with four world championships; only Homer Pettigrew (6) and Luke Branquinho (5) have more. “Ote Berry is one of my biggest role models and biggest supporters and helped me out so much.” Waguespack will enter this year’s NFR third in the world standings and will be in contention to repeat during this year’s finale, set for Dec. 7-16 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. He will be joined by four other reigning champions, tie-down roper Caleb Smidt, who also has four gold buckles; saddle bronc rider Zeke Thurston, who has two; header Kaleb Driggers, the two-time defending titlist; and breakaway roper Martha Angelone, who snagged her first title last December. “I wasn’t going into the finals trying to win the average,” said Angelone, who will compete at the breakaway finals Dec. 5-6 at the South Point Equestrian Center and will be joined by another Cinch titlist, Erin Johnson, a three-time WPRA champion. “Since our finals pays $5,000 a go-round, I was going in there to see how much money I could win in the rounds.” That’s some impressive money, but it’s even greater across town. Inside the Thomas & Mack, the NFR’s home since 1985, go-round winners will earn nearly $31,000 for 10 December nights. A year ago, Thurston won more than $256,000 to not only secure another world title but also win the RAM Top Gun Award, given to the contestant who earned the most money in a single event in Las Vegas. “Just coming in here, I knew I was in the world-title hunt,” he said. “There’s so much money to be one; anything’s possible here. “I knew if I just aced every horse that I got on and rode them as good as I could that at the end of the week, I’d give myself a chance, and that’s just what I did.” Driggers earned his second straight world championship and will return to Sin City as the No. 1 header in the 2023 world standings. He leads a contingent of five Cinch team ropers that have claimed rodeo’s gold who will be in the mix starting in just a few days: Clay Smith, a two-time champ in heading; Erich Rogers, the 2017 titlist; heeler Paul Eaves, who won his titles in 2018 and 2020; and Jeremy Buhler, a heeler who claimed the crown in 2016. Shane Hanchey, the 2013 tie-down roping world champion, and Haven Meged, who won the buckle in 2019, round out a solid class of Cinch world titlists who will have excelled again in 2023 and will have another shot at winning the most cherished prize in rodeo. There are many factors that go into winning the crowns. Whether they ride bucking animals at rodeos across this land or travel North America with athletic horses in their specially designed, living-quarters trailers, it takes fortitude and skill to make it through the rigors of the regular season and earn a spot in the exclusive field at the National Finals. All 12 have proven that multiple times. Combined, they account for 102 qualifications to the greatest two weeks in rodeo. Once they arrive in Las Vegas, the pressure mounts, and the competition level increases. The timed events will get fast, and the roughstock cowboys will score high. That’s what it takes to win rodeo’s gold in the Nevada desert.

Cinch endorsees make up more than a third of breakaway-roping field The top dogs in any sport always wear the biggest targets. In breakaway roping, Cinch cowgirls Shelby Boisjoli and Martha Angelone have everyone else’s sights set directly at them. Both have qualified for every National Finals Breakaway Roping since the event was established in 2020. But Boisjoli is the No. 1 roper in the land, having wrapped up her regular season with $164,549 in earnings. Angelone is the defending champion; her Montana Silversmiths gold buckle is the shiniest of all who wear one. That’s why the bullseyes are on their backs, and the other girls have their rifles aimed The shots will be fired during two days of competition, set for 2 p.m. Pacific Tuesday, Dec. 5, and Wednesday, Dec. 6, at the South Point Equestrian Center in Las Vegas. Just like the National Finals Rodeo, which begins Thursday, Dec. 7, the ropers will compete through 10 rounds. When the dust settles on the two-day competition, the newest WPRA world champion will be crowned. “I wanted to go in No. 1 again ever since 2021,” said Boisjoli, originally from Langdon, Alberta, but now living near Stephenville, Texas, with her husband, tie-down roping world champion Haven Meged. “That year I went in No. 1 and felt like I had a chance to win the world. I messed up. Ever since, I just wanted to come in No. 1 and prove that I can correct those mistakes and do it. “At the beginning of (this) year, I didn’t see me going into the finals No. 1, but it’s crazy how it happened. Now, my goal is to not beat myself when I get to the finals.” She’ll have 14 other ladies waiting in the wings for their opportunities. Go-round winners will earn $5,080, and the aggregate champion will collect $13,866. There are plenty of opportunities to increase their 2023 salaries while in Las Vegas. While Boisjoli leads the Cinch contingent, Angelone, also of Stephenville, is third with $132,885. Taylor Munsell, the 2022 reserve world champion from Alva, Oklahoma, is seventh with $108,458. Of the top 15 in the world standings, seven earned more than $100,000 in the regular season. First-time NFBR qualifier Bradi Good of Abilene, Texas, enters the finale eighth in the standings, followed by Cheyanne McCartney of Kingston, Oklahoma, in ninth. Johnson, who won three world titles before the breakaway finals was established four seasons ago, is from Fowler, Colorado, and hasn’t missed the finals yet. “I ended up making it hard on myself to make the finals this year, but I’m really excited to be going back,” said Johnson, who finished fifth in the world standings each of the past two years. “I know everybody goes through slumps and fights their way through. I was fighting my head and fighting my desire not to be gone from home. “The mental game comes into play all the time. When you’re craving it, loving it and having fun, that’s when you perform your best.” Her key to making it back to the championship? “It was just sheer determination,” she said. “I am not a quitter, and I hate to lose. I was desperate to make it because if I didn’t, then all the sacrifices I made to be gone from home all year were for nothing. I’d been away from the kids and away from home and all that strain that comes with it, so I felt that if I didn’t pull through, it would be such a waste. “My husband, Darnell, pretty much dropped everything for the month of September to go along with me and help me because I really needed it.” It paid off. Having a strong support system is vital for people who travel a good portion of every season in order to make the rodeo life work. Brandi Good understands that as well as anyone. Her father, Shay, is a four-time qualifier to the Clem McSpadden National Finals Rodeo, and he’s been passing along his knowledge to his daughter. Good realizes there is something special about earning a spot among this elite field. “This is going to be super tough,” she said. “There were a lot of breakaway ropers this year at every rodeo, and I think the cream rose to the top. It was a really tough year. Shelby had the most fun; she set the season-earnings record, but it was fun to be around that. There was a lot of money that we won this year, and it’s pretty cool that I get the chance to rope with all these girls.” While Good is one of four newcomers to the finale, Johnson is a veteran who first won WPRA gold in 2011. She will be roping against cowgirls who are two decades younger. That’s where the mental approach gives Johson a bit of an edge. “I feel like you just have to take it one calf at a time, one round at a time, and you can’t get ahead of yourself,” she said. “You just have to do the best you can with every single calf you draw and see where you land from there.” It comes down to making sure all the fine details are covered and understanding the basics of roping calves. “I think horsepower and consistency are going to be the keys just because we have to go five in a row back to back,” Good said. “You don’t want your horses to get tired or make us do things where we can’t do our jobs. “As for my game plan, it’s just to go out there and try to win the average because that pays the most.”   In a year that featured unprecedented earnings, Boisjoli came out on top. She has a $20,000 lead over the field and can just extend that advantage while in Sin City. To have so many ladies earn six figures indicates some big things are happening in breakaway roping. “It shows how  Continue Reading »