About: Ted

Munsell found a passion in breakaway roping and is breaking barriers Taylor Munsell may as well have been born carrying a rope. When one is raised in the western Oklahoma hamlet of Arnett and in the Munsell clan, it’s just a way of life. “Team roping is what my family’s known for,” said Munsell, a 28-year-old Cinch endorsee now living in her intercollegiate hometown of Alva, home of Northwestern Oklahoma State University. So, she roped, and she got pretty good at it. It wasn’t just team roping, either. She roped just about everything, but she expanded her punch while in school. Athletes tend to do that, especially at a small school where there are fewer young men and young women to field teams. The Arnett High Wildcats needed someone, anyone like Munsell, but she was having issues that affected her work in roping and basketball. It was her right shoulder, the one she used to shoot balls and catch cows. Her right hand would go numb; doctors diagnosed her with thoracic outlet syndrome, a condition in which the nerves and blood vessels pinch off between the top rib and pectoral muscle. She had MRIs and X-rays, injections and physical therapy. She worked at everything experts offered, but the trouble reared its head during her second year in high school. Surgeons removed the top rib and conducted rotator-cuff surgery More than a decade later, Munsell’s medical issues seem to be resolved. She’s proven it over time, from winning the 2019 intercollegiate breakaway roping title to her four straight qualifications to the National Finals Breakaway Roping. As of mid-July, she was the No. 1 lady in all the land with nearly $120,000 in the bank. “The year’s been pretty good,” Munsell said. “I definitely can’t complain, but I’ve let some slip away. I should have probably executed a little better, but I feel that’s always the case.” It is, because that is sports. Baseball players can win Gold Gloves with errors, and football players are still elite after dropped passes. Even the greatest to have ever played a game have failed to execute from time to time. Munsell has succeeded more times than not, and she has some big wins in 2025 to account for her financial windfall. The first came in March, when she took advantage of the tournament-style format to win the lion’s share of the RodeoHouston money. She finished in Super Series 1 to advance to the semifinals, where she placed in a tie for third to sneak into the 10-woman field for the final day. There, sheposted a time of 3.9 seconds to be one of four ladies chasing the biggest prize with just one run each. Munsell stopped the clock in 2.7 seconds to win the championship and the $65,000 first-place prize, accumulating more than $70,000 over her run inside NRG Stadium. “It took me a while to figure (tournament-style rodeos) out,” she said. “I struggled advancing at first. In the first couple of years I rodeoed, I never made the semifinals at the winter rodeos, so it took me a little bit to figure stuff out. I do like them now. It’s just a little different format, and you just try to advance, then it’s a one-header at the end. “I’ve been working really hard on figuring out how to be smart at those things but still make the best runs I can so that I’m winning enough to advance but also putting myself in a place where I feel like I was competitive enough to win at the end, too.” It’s safe to say she’s got it figured out, but she’s still able to rope in a consistent manner throughout a multiple-head rodeo. Take Reno, Nevada, where she’s won the last two titles and collected a couple sets of spurs in the process. This past June, she placed in the second round, won the championship round and took the aggregate crown with a three-run cumulative time of 8.0 seconds to pocket just shy of $12,000. Yes, that means Houston and Reno have accounted for $82,000 of her 2025 earnings. That’s a nice average. “Winning Houston is very important,” Munsell said. “I think it’s on everybody’s bucket list and one of the biggest rodeos of the year. To start your year out that early and that well, it’s definitely huge.” And Reno? “I will say that averages are the rodeos I tend to do good at,” she said. “Last year, I went the first half of the summer, and the only rodeos I placed at were average rodeos where there are two head are more. Those are definitely more my strong suit.” Consistency plays a role in how she performs. She won the average titles in Reno with the same aggregate time of 8.0 seconds. “I actually didn’t realize that until after I’d roped that it was the exact same time both years,” Munsell said. “I was like, ‘That’s crazy.’ Reno’s been great to me. The BFI in Reno was the first big roping I ever went to, and I won it and made The American the first year they had breakaway roping at The American. “I’ve made the short round every year they’ve had breakaway roping at the ProRodeo at Reno.”  Big rodeos mean the big time, and Munsell has left her mark. While fellow Cinch endorsee Shelby Boisjoli-Meged rightfully owns the crown for being the first $50,000 breakaway roping winner at her hometown Calgary Stampede, Munsell was the first to win the title in Calgary, having done so in 2023, when Canada’s biggest rodeo featured team roping and breakaway roping in a special section separate from the actual performances. This year changed, and Boisjoli-Meged won the showdown round to claim the big bucks. It’s another grand opportunity for the women who rope calves for a living. The Canadian-born cowgirl pocketed $64,500 in Calgary. Munsell, though, settled for $9,625 but didn’t advance out of her pool. The opportunity is something, though, and she’s hoping  Continue Reading »

LOVINGTON, N.M. – Amber Groves smiles a bit as she reflects on the past two years at the Junior Livestock Sale at the Lea County Fair and Rodeo. The emotion comes from watching the children succeed, seeing their parents’ pride and everyone on the fairgrounds knowing that a bunch of hard work has been justly rewarded. She can feel the sense of accomplishment in the youngsters’ hearts as they show their pigs, goats, steers, etc. She’s been there before, but she was never part of something this big. The auction has produced million-dollar sales each of the past two years, and that’s a reflection of the kids, their work and a society celebrating the fruits of that labor. “We have absolutely wonderful support from our community,” said Groves, a Lea County Fair Board member and chairwoman of the livestock show committee. “It seems like everybody wants to come out and make sure these kids are successful in their showing careers, and I just think that’s wonderful.” Can those records be broken at this year’s sale, set for 9 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 9? “I sure hope so,” she said. “We’re very appreciative of all our buyers that show up, and, hopefully, we’ll get some new buyers that didn’t know about it before and will make it even better.  “That would be awesome.” Yes, it would. While the last two years have seen a financial windfall for the youngsters, the support for the children showing livestock has been prevalent for years. Groves was raised around it, showed herself and was part of the livestock judging program at New Mexico State University. She has felt frustration of getting an animal ready to show. She has sensed the rush of walking into that ring. She has experienced the highs of winning and the lows of losing. Through cleaning out stalls to grooming her animals, she’s grown and learned and understood the importance of work ethic. “Showing livestock is just so rewarding,” said Groves, now in her third year on the fair board. “It is hard work. These kids get up every day and go out and feed their animals and work with them. They spend their entire summers working very, very hard to get that reward at the fair. “Whenever they get rewarded and they go into that sale ring and somebody buys their animals, that just gets them money for next year to keep continuing it. It teaches responsibility, which is why it’s so rewarding.” Groves spent 11 years of her youth showing. Over that stretch, she obtained friendships, and she always loved those August days in the show barn. It’s a sense of family and kinship that is highlighted by passion to care for something other than oneself. She’s been part of the growth in local livestock showing, with more animals coming to the fair this year. She wants to see the sale continue to grow and the children rewarded. “I love the entire fair, but I’m going to be a little biased and say the livestock showing and what we give back to these kids is the best part of the fair,” she said. “I’m excited to see the human beings that they’re able to be and the adults they become and be successful in their lives. That’s hard to beat.”

Local, regional, national supporters help bring top talent to Gooding Pro Rodeo GOODING, Idaho – Maybe the most difficult question to answer in southern Idaho is this: What makes the Gooding Pro Rodeo special? Sure, there’s incredible action with ProRodeo’s elite in the mix. There are incredible bucking athletes and timed-event horses. Those things stand out, but there are a lot of rodeos across North America that feature superstars, those National Finals Rodeo qualifiers and world champions. “The only way to answer that is to just experience it for yourself,” said Don Gill, manager of the Gooding County Fair and Rodeo. “It’s hard to explain, but I think once people have seen it for themselves, they realize what we have here in Gooding.” The Gooding Pro Rodeo presented by Idaho Ford Dealers is set for Thursday, Aug. 14-Saturday, Aug. 16, with a special “Beauty and the Beast” performance set for Wednesday, Aug. 13. All performances take place at 8 p.m. at Andy James Arena. In fact, it’s sponsors like the Idaho Ford Dealers that have seen the magic happen, which is why they support the rodeo so intently. “We’re very blessed to have some incredible partners, whether they’re in the community, in the region or national,” Gill said. “Our sponsors have helped us improve our rodeo across the board. They support us, built us and helped us increase our added money so that we’re one of the premier rodeos in the country.” That’s true. Hundreds of contestants will make their way to Gooding in mid-August with hopes of securing their fair share of Idaho cash. It’s in their nature to be competitive, but there’s something else that attracts them to town. “I think everyone who comes to our rodeo comes to interact with and see that crowd,” Gill said. “There’s just something about it that I don’t think any other rodeo has. Our entire crowd is electric for four nights.” The combination of an enthusiastic audience and superb competition is why so many sponsors have elected to be part of the spectacle. This is the first year that Idaho Ford Dealers has served as presenting sponsor, but there are others that prove to be community supporters: Burk’s Tractor, Glanbia, Magic Valley Milk Producers, Pendleton Whisky, Quanta, Watkins Distributing, Valley Wide, Sliman & Butler Irrigation and Northwest Livestock Buyers. “We have a fantastic community that supports this rodeo, but the sponsors are the ones who really make this thing happen,” Gill said. “Without them, we don’t draw the top cowboys, we don’t have three great stock contractors and we don’t have our ‘Beer Worthy’ section. This rodeo is amazing because of the sponsors.”

LOVINGTON, N.M. – It started with a query from a friend about 15 years ago. That was just the little engine that could for Shona Able and her husband, John. They jumped aboard, and the train has been rolling down the tracks for them ever since. “My friend, Lisa McNeill, was in charge of the special rodeo, and she caught me and said, ‘Hey, why don’t you come and help with the special rodeo?’ ” Able said. “That was it; I’ve been doing it ever since.” The event – which takes place at 7 p.m. Monday, Aug. 4, at Jake McClure Arena on the Lea County Fairgrounds in Lovington – is a longstanding tradition with the annual fair and rodeo to highlight children with special needs. The night that kicks off rodeo week is a perfect opportunity for those youngsters to have an evening all to themselves and learn a little more about the sport. “I just have a heart for special needs kids,” Able said. “I just wanted to do something that was just for them. I want to see the look on their faces, the smile they have when they’re happy and they’re so excited. It makes me feel good to know I’ve just helped them do something that they probably would never get to do any other place.” The special rodeo features an average of 20 youngsters between the ages of 3-21. That coincides with special education in the school districts, where students can begin pre-kindergarten at age 3 and can remain enrolled until 21. “On the first Saturday, which is just two days before our special rodeo, they open the carnival for my special needs kids,” Able said. “They get to ride all the rides at the carnival for two hours completely for free. It’s early in the morning, so it’s still kind of cool, and I’ll have a lot of the kids who want to be part of that.” That’s “special.” Every youngster wants to be involved, and that’s even more the case for the kids who face developmental challenges. Here’s the caveat: The folks who help the youngsters are beneficiaries of their own time and energy. “I tell everybody that they can come out and volunteer,” she said. “Please volunteer, but I’m going to tell you something: You’re going to get more out of this than they do. You truly volunteer because you just can’t imagine how wonderful it is to see them smile and get to experience things that they don’t ever get to experience again throughout the year. “We have all kinds of volunteers, from cowboys to ranchers and people in our community that volunteer. I have a lot of people from my church, my co-workers … I’ve got a little bit of everything. We get the rodeo clown usually and at least one of the bullfighters. The rodeo announcer, Andy (Stewart), always comes and does my announcing.” That’s a reflection of the community, whether it’s folks in Lea County or members of the family that live the gypsy lifestyle that is rodeo. Everyone involved wants to give, wants to be part of something spectacular. “We can’t do this without all the amazing volunteers,” Able said. “We can always use volunteers, because I don’t want to have to turn a child away because there is nobody to help them. I have never turned a child away, and I don’t have any intention of doing that. I’ll do whatever it takes to have somebody in the arena with every one of them. I’ve pulled people from registration, from taking pictures; I was pulling everybody, because we’re not turning kids away.” No, that’s not going to happen with Shona and John Able in the mix. They’ve seen the impact the special rodeo has on the children, the families and the volunteers, and they’ll continue to strive for greatness on a night that celebrates diversity and love. It’s the smiles, though, that bring them the greatest joy. “When you see that kid on a horse and he is smiling big and he’s running and he’s going down there on that horse and he’s picking up that flag and he’s coming back and you tell him to wave … that smile on their face is just it,” Shona Able said. “I don’t need anything else.”

DODGE CITY, Kan. – For several years, a transition has been in place at Roundup Arena. Major enhancements have happened, from bettering the electrical to adding aluminum bleachers to an upgraded entryway with a spiffier ticket booth. Every step of the process is done with the audience in mind. That includes a new food court, which will be up and running in time for this year’s Dodge City Roundup Rodeo, set for 7:45 p.m. Wednesday, July 30-Sunday, Aug. 3, at Roundup Arena; Dodge City Xtreme Bulls is set for 7:45 p.m. Tuesday, July 29. “In essence, we’re restructuring our food-vendor area and making it into a dedicated food court,” said Steve Deges, president of the volunteer committee that organizes the annual event. “We’ll have picnic tables in the middle for dining purposes.” The food court will be set up on the north end of the Roundup complex – just north of the Women’s Chamber concession stand – and will feature food options in a “U” shape. This will group all food vendors in one place, and it will include a picnic area. The construction will not only help improve the looks of the facility but will also help with the flow and functionality of the ticket-buyers’ experience.  “We’ve always had food vendors scattered throughout the grandstands side of the arena, and that was causing some issues,” Deges said. “We had two vendors situated near the beer garden, which just made for more congestion. That didn’t help with the family-friendly experience we want to provide, and it often created some struggles for some of the vendors. “Our new food court will give our vendors more opportunities because they will be centralized in one location. We’ll have a big-screen TV installed and sponsors signage, so anyone in the food court won’t have to miss any of the action.”   Much of the enhancements began years ago. Organizers began replacing wooden planks with aluminum bleachers in 2021, and those upgrades continued. In 2023, the new gateway/ticket booth were added, and the Women’s Chamber booth was updated. “We really want to make it where our guests really feel like they belong,” Deges said. “With the new food court, we want to ease some of the congestion in those high-traffic area while also utilizing spaces that were probably underutilized. Some of our non-food vendors will move to the south end.” Through each step of this process, Roundup is also opening the door to a 20 percent increase in vendor capacity. The revamp is being partially funded by $50,000 from the Kansas Attraction Development Grant; Roundup contributed to 60 percent of the costs of the project, and each phase was done with the fans in mind. “We’re creating a better experience for our guests overall,” Deges said. “We’re trying to do things that help with the flow of traffic and provide more for the fans to enjoy. We’ve had a great rodeo for years, and a big reason for that is the fans that come to the performances, so this is our way to make it better for everyone that comes to Roundup Rodeo.”