About: Ted

LAS VEGAS – The two years he spent at Clarendon (Texas) College taught bareback rider Weston Timberman a lot about life, gave him experiences to cherish and prepared him for a career in professional rodeo. He continued his education over the past two weeks during his inaugural qualification to the National Finals Rodeo, where the sport’s elite play for the biggest pay in the sport. He also figured out a way to ride bucking horses while in considerable pain and still earned nearly $140,000 for 10 days of work in Las Vegas. Timberman wrapped the championship with an 88-point ride on J Bar J Rodeo’s Damn Straight to place for the sixth time during Saturday’s 10th round. He finished in a three-way tie for third place, pocketing $14,308. He also finished fourth in the aggregate race with a 10-ride cumulative sore of 848.5 points, worth another $41,000. Early in the go-rounds, he began experiencing pain in his left arm, the same one in which he wedges his hand into a bareback rigging to secure himself onto a bucking bronc. Diagnosed with forearm splints (similar to shin splints), he received treatment from the Justin Sportsmedicine Team. After opening the NFR with a win in the first round, Timberman failed to snag a check on the second and third nights, then placed fifth in Round 4. He reached the pay window again in the sixth round with a sixth-place finish, then jumped up to third in the seventh round. Round 8 was another turning point for the Wyoming-born cowboy now living in Columbus, Montana. His horse went down in the chute after he’d put his hand into the rigging, torquing Timberman’s wrist. The animal then failed to perform well one the chute was opened, and judges awarded him with a re-ride opportunity. Despite the pain in his forearm, wrist and hand, Timberman took the chance, scoring 84.5 points on Championship Pro Rodeo’s Hooey Rocks and scored another sixth-place payday. Learning to play through the pain can be a valuable asset for cowboys, especially those that compete in bareback riding, the most physically demanding event in rodeo. When his time in Las Vegas came to a close Saturday night, he had accumulated $38,410 in NFR money. He finished the regular season seventh in the world standings with $292,509. It was a great conclusion to an incredible inaugural season in ProRodeo, one in which he was named the Bareback Riding Rookie of the Year.                                                  

LAS VEGAS – There’s a lot to being a rodeo cowboy. It’s not just riding or roping. It’s being a businessman, knowing how to plan a schedule and take care of all the little things that come with it. It’s being a driver, someone who travels tens of thousands of miles to get from one event to another. For Brody Wells, it’s all part of being a saddle bronc rider, those men who ride equine sticks of dynamite to make a living. For the first time in his career, the 23-year-old man was shown on ProRodeo’s biggest stage, the National Finals Rodeo. It was a chance to shine, but it was also an opportunity to learn. “The biggest thing I did this week that helped me was just ignore some of the big stuff and just keep it simple,” said Wells of Powell, Wyoming. “It’s just bronc riding at the end of the day. I’ve learned so much about the other stuff, to not let your schedule get so packed. There are so many little things, like trying to make sure you try to eat good a couple of times and do all the things to try not to get sick. “There are so many little factors that come into play. I’ve just been watching the guys that have been here a bunch of times and dominated here, but at the same time, I just had fun and rode broncs.” He finished the 10-day championship with an 86.5-point ride on Summit Pro Rodeo’s Cat Walk, which resulted in a four-way tie for sixth place worth $1,358. He earned $94,761 in Las Vegas and ended the 2024 season 10th in the world standings with $230,546. “That’s a sweet horse,” he said of Cat Walk. “It’s nice to get on a Wyoming born and raised bucking horse, and it was awesome. “It’s been a great 10 days, and I’m super pumped for how it went. It makes me want to be back here a bunch. I’m just getting rolling here, just getting started.” Wells was one of five cowboys who attended Clarendon (Texas) College. Combined, Wells, fellow bronc rider Wyatt Casper, bareback riders Weston Timberman and Cole Franks and bull rider Wacey Schalla earned nearly $673,000. “Wacey picked it up there at the end, and he’s one of the best bull riders here,” Wells said. “He struggled for whatever reason, but he ended up riding great. Everybody was riding great and getting checks.” He plans to utilize the momentum he gained during his first venture to Las Vegas as he prepares for next year. “Coming here made me realize how much potential I have, and it’s a boost to my confidence,” he said. “We have the Chase Hawks (Memorial Rough Stock Rodeo) next weekend, so I’m rolling right into it. I’m going to keep rolling, because I want a gold buckle.” Those only go to world champions, so his sights are set high.

LAS VEGAS – Most of the time in Las Vegas, the smart money is on the safe bet. Don’t hit when the dealer is showing a bust hand in blackjack. Bet odds or evens, maybe red or black, instead of putting all your chips on a specific number in roulette. Sometimes, though, the rewards are greater when taking a chance. J.D. Struxness went all in on taking extra chances after he failed to secure a time on opening night. It paid off in his first Montana Silversmiths gold buckle for winning the world championship with another aggressive run during Saturday’s 10th round of the National Finals Rodeo. “We really liked my steer tonight,” said Struxness, who stopped the clock in 3.6 seconds to finish second in the round, worth $26,624; he also finished eighth in the average race, worth another $8,150. “They’d done good on him in Round 7. We knew that steer ran, though, so it wasn’t a steer you could back off or think it was a day off. We knew we needed to maximize the (barrier), and then go out there and really hang it on him and let it hang out a little bit.” His team included fellow bulldoggers Rowdy Parrott and Ty Erickson – the latter of whom owns the horse, Crush, that all three ride – and their hazer, Matt Reeves, an NFR veteran who rides Kirk, owned by his wife, Savannah. “We were talking before, and we liked him because he gave us the opportunity to open up and be aggressive all the way through the run and just go out there and see what we can do and let the chips fall where they do,” Struxness said. They fell right into his lap. He finished the 10-day championship with $151,955, which increased his 2024 earnings to $309,220. He edged Will Lummus by just $1,500. “Those horses are what gave us the opportunity to compete and do what we do this week,” said Struxness, from Milan, Minnesota, but now living in Perrin, Texas. It’s been eight years since he first qualified for ProRodeo’s grand championship. He won the intercollegiate title in 2016 while competing at Northwestern Oklahoma State University, then had a successful NFR that December. This was his sixth trip to Las Vegas, and he joins his old teammate, Jacob Edler, as world champions – Edler won the 2020 title in his only NFR qualification so far. “There are quite a few good bulldoggers that come out of there,” Struxness said. “Stockton Graves (an eight-time NFR qualifier) did a great job when he was there, and he churned out some bulldoggers. Hopefully they keep the reputation alive.” The reputation is strong, because the Steer Wrestling Capital of College Rodeo has another world champion.

LAS VEGAS – The tiny town of Altamont, Utah, has plenty of reason to celebrate. Two of its 249 inhabitants came away from the National Finals Rodeo with two major titles and a boatload of money. Bareback rider Dean Thompson won the NFR aggregate title and the world championship, while steer wrestler Cash Robb staked claim to the average crown in his first appearance on ProRodeo’s grandest stage. “That’s insane,” said Thompson, who utilized an 88.5-point ride on J Bar J Rodeo’s Straight Stick for a second-place finish in Saturday’s 10th round to earn $26,624 and added a payday of $86,391 from the average title to slip past Texan Rocker Steiner by $18,000. “That’s one of my best friends. “We grew up bulldogging together, and this kid’s a mile from my house. I just call him ‘C Money,’ because it’s Cash Money Robb. He’s the best.” Thompson placed in eight of 10 rounds and finished with a cumulative score of 854.5 points and earned $239,924. He finished the season with $412,121. “I wish I could take you back to how I felt before I got on tonight,” said Thompson, who won the Montana Silversmiths gold buckle in just his second full season in ProRodeo and after competing at his second NFR. “It was kind of terrifying again. In the first round, you get some insane nerves, and they climb until it seems like the fifth round for me. Then they waned until this 10th round, and it was like they came back with a vengeance. “When I got (to the locker room), I had gotten warmed up and was dripping sweat off my nose. The emotions now are just sheer joy.” His week was strong already, but he put an exclamation point on everything with his final ride of the 2024 season. “Straight Stick is one of the best animals I’ve ever known, one of the best I’ve ever been on,” said Thompson, who attended Western Texas College on a rodeo scholarship. “She packed me to a couple really good checks this year, and I was really tickled to have that horse. I was really tickled for her to have just a stellar day.” It was a stellar season for Thompson. He entered the NFR fourth in the world standings and rode the waves that come over that magical 10-day stretch. He would fourth heading into the final night, then he stayed steady and consistent through each ride. Now, he’s in the ProRodeo history books as the 2024 world champ.

LAS VEGAS – Wyatt Casper didn’t have a lot of time to reflect, but he knew he’d just done something special. He closed out his fifth National Finals Rodeo with an 85.5-point ride on Kirsten Vold’s Captain Hook. Though he didn’t place in the 10th round, he did finish the rodeo with a cumulative score of 853 points and staked claim to the second most prestigious title in ProRodeo: the NFR average championship. “I came up a little short on the overall goal,” said Casper, who was shooting for the world championship, which went to Utah cowboy Ryder Wright. “I knocked out one of my goals for this year, and that was to come here and be the best on 10 head. I’m excited for it.” He should be. The aggregate winners in each event earn an extra $86,391 for accomplishing that feat. It increased his Las Vegas earnings to just shy of $220,000. Casper finished third in the world standings with $439,332. Captain Hook, which helped Wright to a share of the fifth-round title with an 89.5-point ride, didn’t have the same trip Saturday night. With half the score coming from the bronc, Casper needed another point to place in the round. “I feel like I came up short on the drawing end of it, but that’s part of bronc riding,” he said. “It’s going to happen.” So are victories, and he had his share of them this year. He entered the NFR fourth in the world standings, then doubled his money in a week and a half of work. He has plenty of things from which to build toward next season. “I’ll just use this to light a fire in me,” said Casper of Miami, Texas. “Every year you come out here, you want to come back next year and do even better, so that’s what I’m going to strive for, what I’m going to push for this year. “It’s been a remarkable season. I owe a lot to my great family, my great friends and a lot of fans out there. I’m just glad to be able to get it done this year and come back and do even better next year.”