After a good three days at the Calgary Stampede, where she won $19,500, Cheyanne McCartney roped herself into the money during Thursday’s fourth performance of Rooftop Rodeo.
(PHOTO BY PHILLIP KITTS)

 

ESTES PARK, Colo. – A pretty good week has a good chance to be a lot better for breakaway roper Cheyanne McCartney.

By the time she backed into the roping box  at Rooftop Rodeo, she had earned $19,500 over three days of competition at the Calgary Stampede. Inside Granny May Arena on her fourth straight day of roping, she opened the door to pocket more cash. She stopped the clock in 2.3 seconds and is in a four-way tie for third place with just two nights of Estes Park’s rodeo remaining.

“It started off good in Calgary,” said McCartney, originally from Lecompte, Louisiana, but now living in Kingston, Oklahoma. “I won the first two rounds and won second in the third down and got to fly down here. My husband picked me up, and I’m really just thankful  for a great team of horses this summer and Rotel.”

That’s the horse she rode at Estes Park, a community of 5,800 that plays host to millions of visitors every summer. Thousands of them attend Rooftop Rodeo, which is also an attractive home for hundreds of rodeo’s biggest stars. McCartney is certainly one of those. She’s a four-time qualifier for the National Finals Breakaway Roping, which features only the top 15 cowgirls in the world standings after the conclusion of the regular season.

Not only has she played on the sport’s biggest stage, she’s done well there, too. She won the aggregate championship at the 2023 finale. Rotel is part of the team of horses, but she has a solid team involved in the operation. Her husband, Cody, is the top dog in that group, and he was in the tie-down roping field at Rooftop Rodeo.

“He brought Rotel up here for me to make a couple rodeos between the short round (at Calgary),” she said, referring to Championship Sunday in Alberta. “I love this rodeo. I love this place. Any other time I’ve been here, I’ve only had an hour or two before the rodeo started, but my husband picked me up at the Denver airport this morning, and we got to hang out and go kayaking and got to do some fun stuff in this beautiful town.

“This rodeo adds $11,000 (in local dollars per event, which are mixed with contestants’ entry fees) and is a tour rodeo, so I just wanted to make a good run and get myself on the board to check in some tour points. It’s really a dream come true to get to rope for a living at beautiful places like this.”