The Arena

By Kyle Partain

There’s a lot of money to be won during the Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association’s winter run. The association’s two best paying regular-season events are in Houston and San Antonio, Texas, in the winter. The success of a cowboy’s season often depends on how he does during the snowy months in places such as Denver, Colorado; Fort Worth, Texas; and Rapid City, South Dakota. If you don’t believe me, see what the cowboys say about in Cold Sweat from our January 2010 issue.

I understand the importance of the winter run for cowboys, but I’d just as soon skip ahead to late June. Because of my position at Western Horseman, I don’t often spend money to attend rodeos. In fact, I get paid to travel to some of the biggest and best events all over North America. But if I had to spend my own money, I’d wait until the summer run to start heading to the rodeos.

From a spectator’s perspective, there isn’t a big difference between the indoor rodeos. Sure they’ve got a canaverous stadium in Houston that makes it different from the basketball arenas in Denver, Fort Worth, Rapid City and San Antonio. But still, you’re inside a building—where things just aren’t going to look all that different. Give me an outdoor arena anyday.

Sitting in the stands at the Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo in Colorado Springs, Colorado, I have a mountain backdrop for the rodeo action. I can see the clouds roll over Pikes Peak and know that the contestants are in for a long afternoon—as is often the case at the rodeo. Cowboys have battled everything from rain to hail to snow at the rodeo which is usually held in either July or August.

Give me the trees in the arena in St. Paul, Oregon, and the little PVC-pipe fence around the infield at Pendleton, Oregon. So many of the PRCA’s great outdoor venues have these types of quirks—which often lead to unexpected events for spectators.

Give me the hot sun, the cool rain and the howling wind any day. Ranch cowboys work in these elements every day. Rodeo cowboys should be able to do the same.

Maybe I just like the fact that during the summer I can find a rodeo on just about any given day. Cody, Wyoming, offers one every night during the summer tourist season, in fact. Whatever the reason, there’s nothing like kicking off your summer with a trip to Reno, Nevada, and ending it at Pendleton. There are thousands of other rodeos—some PRCA-sanctioned and some not—in between. And I can’t wait to make my way to a few of them this season.

By Ed Knocke

Trevor Brazile finally pulled off a feat Saturday at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo that only one other rodeo cowboy ever has been able to accomplish.

The Decatur, Texas, cowboy eventually staved off Josh Peek to earn his seventh world all-around championship to equal rodeo icon Ty Murray in the record book.  In the process, he passed Larry Mahan and Tom Ferguson, who both had won six all-around titles.

After a lackluster start, Brazile not only earned the coveted all-around title, but he also captured his second tie-down roping championship in three years.

The roping crown also came down to the final round, where Brazile beat his brother-in-law, Tuf Cooper, by $13,994 for the title. Brazile needed a 13.2-second run in the final round to gain the championship.  Although he didn’t earn money in the final round, he did a lot better, roping and tying his calf in 8.8 seconds to wrap up the honor.

All totaled, Brazile finished with $346,779 in earnings to beat Peek by $101,712 for the all-around championship.  He ended up beating Cooper, $188,342 to $174,348, for the tie-down crown.

“The only day better than the 10th round is the day after the 10th round,’’ Brazile said. “It’s a relief. It’s been a tough week. If there’s a lesson for anybody out there, confidence is good, and there’s no room for cockiness in this sport. You can get set back really easy.  This is the quickest serving of humble pie you can get in any sport.’’

Other world champions crowned on Saturday night were Bobby Mote of Culver, Oregon, in bareback riding; Lee Graves of Calgary, Alberta, in steer wrestling; Nick Sartain of Yukon, Oklahoma, and Kollin VonAhn, of Durant, Oklahoma, in team roping;  Jesse Kruse of Great Falls, Montana, in saddle bronc riding; Brittany Pozzi of Victoria, Texas, in barrel racing; and J.W. Harris of May, Texas in bull riding.

In bareback riding, Mote earned his third world championship with an 88.5-point ride on Beutler and Son Rodeo’s Wonderland in the final round, finishing with $310,219 in earnings for the year and beating Clint Cannon for the title by $43,634.  Cannon, who had recorded a season record $233,504 en route to the first-place spot entering the NFR, strained his left groin in the second round and never was able to showcase his outstanding riding style.

Graves earned his steer wrestling title after Luke Branquinho missed his steer in the final round. Branquinho, the two-time and defending world champion, had been leading the average, but after his miss, Graves took over the leadership and earned the $43,954 first-place average check which moved him to the world title.

Going into the final round, five teams had a chance to claim world championships in team roping. In the end, it was Sartain and VonAhn who emerged as the world champions, beating Luke Brown and Martin Lucero. The Oklahoma pair gained the advantage after Brown and Lucero got a no time in the final round and relinquished their average lead.

Kruse had been leading the saddle bronc standings for almost all of the season and he finished it off with an 84-point ride aboard Flying 5 Rodeo’s Spring Blues in the final round. He beat Cody DeMoss by $24,726.  It was the fourth time that DeMoss, who has yet to earn a world championship, has finished as the runner up to the world champion.

Pozzi ending up winning the barrel racing title after Sherry Cervi defeated Lindsay Sears for the average title.  Pozzi entered the final round leading the world championship race, but was third in the average while Sears was leading the category. Then came the final round where Cervi placed second with a 13.79-second run and Sears finished with a 13.94 that was good for fifth place. Pozzi placed third in the round with a 13.81 run and when Cervi moved ahead of Sears in the average, the title was Pozzi’s.

Harris became the first repeat champion in bull riding since Utah’s Blue Stone in 2001-02. A broken right (riding) hand prevented Harris from adding to the $219,275 total he had when he arrived in Las Vegas, making him the first bull rider to win the world championship without winning any money at the NFR since Bill Nelson won the gold buckle in 1971 in Oklahoma City. He also was the first to manage the title without a qualified ride in the NFR since Freckles Brown in 1962.

By Ed Knocke

The heat that was generated at the ninth round of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo Friday night was created by the team ropers.

Chad Masters of Clarksville, Tenn., and Jade Corkill of Fallon, Nev., smoked the field with a world record performance of 3.3 seconds, leaving JoJo LeMond and Randon Adams shaking their heads.

You see, LeMond and Adams had lowered the world mark to 3.4 seconds just moments earlier. Then it turned out that their outstanding run was no better than second place in the round. The original world mark of 3.5 seconds was held by four teams.

“That performance was extremely big for us,” said Masters. “We kind of got ourselves in a bind earlier in the week, and we might not still have much of a chance, but to have any chance at all, we figured we’d have to win the last two rounds. To have to be 3.3 to do it, you almost think it isn’t possible, but we lucked out and it turned out it was possible after all.”

Corkill said he couldn’t believe what had transpired. “No matter what happens tomorrow, this has been the greatest year I could ever imagine having,” he said. “It means everything to me to hold that record, and after having something like that happen tonight, if it’s meant to happen, it’s going to happen.  We knew we had to win both rounds to have a chance, and get some help in the average, which I think we might have gotten from a couple teams tonight.”

You could say that the action inside Las Vegas’ Thomas and Mack Center was hotter than an asphalt highway in Texas in July. This kind of roping had not been seen since the 1997 NFR when four tie-down ropers broke the world record in a span of two days.

Ronnie Hyde started that parade in the eighth round with a record breaking 7.1-second run.  The next day, Blair Burk followed with a 7-second run, Fred Whitfield with a 6.9 before Jeff Chapman recorded a 6.8 that stood as a world record until 2003.

With their victory, Masters and Corkill improved their first-place standing in the world championship race.

However, Luke Brown and Martin Lucero lead the average, which pays the winner $43,954 at the end of the rodeo.  Brown trails Masters, who leads the world standings with $167,003, by $20,924 for the header title and could overcome Masters with a strong performance on Saturday.

Lucero, who had not been Brown’s partner all year, owns $157,532 for the lead among heelers, $17,222 better than second-place challenger Michael Jones.

By Ed Knocke

Things are starting to break for bareback rider Clint Cannon, but he can’t seem to shake two-time world champion Bobby Mote, who is continuing to stage a fierce charge of his own.

Cannon, who set a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association single-season earnings record for any event with $233,504 this year, suffered a concussion in the second round and has had a hard time getting his act together since.

But, the last two nights the Waller, Texas, cowboy has been riding like he has been most of the year, splitting first place money in consecutive rounds.

“Right now, I feel like I’m getting my groove back again, where I can get on anything and just ride it,” Cannon said after his 84.5-point ride aboard Carr Pro Rodeo’s Real Deal. “It took a bucker to get it and all I can do is just pray for two more good ones and see where the chips fall.”

Unfortunately, his Thursday night score in the eighth round of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo was matched by Mote, his chief challenger.

Cannon still leads Mote by $33,599, but Mote is leading the average with 672 points on eight horses.  The average pays a $43,954 bonus to the winner after the rodeo.  Cannon at this stage would be out of the money in that category, currently standing in 10th place.

Cannon said he’s had considerable success on Real Deal, a horse he had drawn four times this year.  “The first time I got on him, he about killed me and I was 60 points, but ever since then, I’ve had his number,” he said. “I’ve been 88, 91 and 84.5 points on him, so give him to me and I’ll take care of him.”

Both riders brought their A-game to the arena on Thursday night, since the rodeo featured the eliminator pen.

“It was a real challenge and it’s the toughest pen that we have,” Mote said. “These are the 15 hardest-to-ride horses in rodeo, but you can still be a lot of points on them. If you do things just right, you can be a lot of points.

“But if you make even the tiniest mistake, they will put you on your ear. Even ones like the one I had today (Western Rodeo’s Big Easy), you can still win on them and they still beat you up.  My left (free) arm went numb about halfway through.  They get after it. So, I’m glad we’ve got hoppers tomorrow, because it’ll be a good day to take off.”

Cannon agreed that the pen of horses presented quite a problem.

“The eliminator pen is, by far, the meanest, rankest pen in pro rodeo. I usually shine during the ‘E’ pen because I condition myself for those types of horses, so it seems to work out for me,” he said.  “I started out the week slow, but the last two days have been really good, and all I can pray for is two more good ones to give me a shot against Bobby because he’s having a really good NFR right now.”

Check back later for more NFR news from Western Horseman columnist Ed Knocke.

By Ed Knocke

Saddle bronc rider Billy Etbauer may be 46 years old, but he is still riding like a 20-year-old. Etbauer, from Edmond, Oklahoma, showed the young guys in the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo field on Wednesday that age has nothing to do with ability when he turned in a 90-point ride to win the seventh round.

The only guy to come close to Etbauer’s performance was 23-year-old Jesse Kruse, who turned in an 86. In fact, Kruse was 2 years old when Etbauer qualified for his first of 21 NFRs.

Other than that, everyone on Wednesday had to look up to Etbauer, who joined the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association in 1988 and has won five world championships.

He garnered the first-place check, his first at this year’s NFR, aboard a high jumping Son of Sadie out of the Bar T Rodeo string.

“He kind of stood me up there pretty bad,” Etbauer said of the horse that went high in the air early in the ride. “He threw me up out of there and cocked me over.  But, I was adjusting all the way. He really bucked.

“He was really good. Horses are like people, they have good days and bad days. Thank goodness he was awesome tonight. I was just glad to be there when the whistle blew.”

After having been bucked off three times earlier in the week, he said he tried to make some changes on Wednesday night. “I just needed to relax and try to ride,” he said. “I talked to (my brother) Robert and basically one of my biggest things was not handling my rein. He’s a good outsider looking in. It was just one thing that he saw on TV.  He said just relax, have fun and pick up the rein.”

Etbauer is not in serious contention for the world title this year, but nevertheless he put on a clinic of how to ride a bucking horse on Wednesday night. He is out of the average and stands fourth in the world standings with earnings of $121,550.

Kruse, who ranks fourth in the average that pays a large bonus at the end of the 10-round rodeo, leads the world championship race with $169,308, and has the inside road to the title at this point.

But, Etbauer says he’s not discouraged.

“You always want to do good, but I’m going to try to ride as good as I can ride,” he said. “Sometimes it seems like you can’t do anything right and then it seems like you can’t do anything wrong.  I’m just going to keep working at it. Thank God, I’m able to be here.”

Well said, for a guy who is twice the age of most of his competitors.

Check back later for more NFR updates from Western Horseman columnist Ed Knocke.

By Ed Knocke

You had to be fast or you were left out in the cold in the steer wrestling competition at Tuesday’s sixth performance of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. If you were four seconds or more in this fast-paced round, you did not cash a check.

The top honor went to two-time world champion Luke Branquinho of Los Alamos, California, who smoked the field with a sizzling 3.2-second run, two-tenths of a second off the arena record. Matt Reeves rounded out the money winners with a 3.9-second performance.

Branquinho, riding Curtis Cassidy’s horse Willy, stormed out of the box to earn the $17,139 first-place check and move into second place of the world standings, $13,987 behind leader Lee Graves.

Graves holds an edge on Branquinho at this stage since he leads the average with 22.5 seconds on six steers. Branquinho stands in third place. The winner of the average earns $43,954 at the end of the 10-round event.

It was quite a challenge for Branquinho after Graves had recorded a sizzling 3.3-second round just before he backed into the box. How did that affect his approach?

“Oh, I just told myself to get a good start and throw the steer down fast, and if it worked out where I beat him, great,” he said. “You don’t go up just trying to beat Lee. You have to beat the steer you have drawn, and I felt like I did that tonight.”

Branquinho said the fast pace set in the round gave him an extra boost. “Everybody was running at the barrier, trying to get good starts and throw them down fast,” he said. “I think that just motivates a guy, knowing he had to do that to come out on top.”

The California cowboy has been riding the 24-year-old Canadian horse that helped him earn the world title last year.  Willy has a history of carrying cowboys to world championships starting with Rope Myers in 2001, Lee Graves in 2005 and Jason Miller in 2007.

What did Branquinho know about the steer, and how did he prepare for the run?

“I just knew he was a good steer,” he said. “Dean Gorsuch had run him, I think in the third round, and was 3.9 seconds and missed the barrier a bit, so I knew I could take a good start and have him caught up right there, and he was good on the ground.”

Check back for more updates from Western Horseman columnist Ed Knocke.

By Ed Knocke

Monday was the night of the bucking horses at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. Some of the biggest names in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association were out in the fifth round, but it was some of the lesser known horses that produced the winning rides.

In bareback riding, only Frontier Rodeo’s Delta Ship, a highly touted horse that had carried world champion Justin McDaniel to the NFR record in 2007, was able to produce a winning score when Bobby Mote recorded an 88.5-point ride on him to share the first-place check with Jared Smith, who was aboard Rafter G Rodeo’s Citation.

However, riders on hot-shot horses such as Grated Coconut, Grass Dancer and Big Tex couldn’t take advantage.

Ryan Gray had drawn Calgary Stampede’s Grated Coconut, the six-time PRCA bareback horse of the year, but could only record an 81-point ride. D. V.  Fennell, on Carr Rodeo’s Grass Dancer, finished with an 82 while Heath Ford on Classic Pro Rodeo’s Big Tex had an 85.  None of those scores earned a check for the night.

Mote said he had only seen Delta Ship a handful of times, but he knew it was a premier horse because of its history.

“This was really the first time all week that I drew at the top of the pen,” he said. “I’ve had good horses, but there was always half a dozen better ones than what I had.  That can get at you if you let it, but I just decided to keep doing my job and sooner or later they’d run a great horse under me, and they did tonight.”

Smith had drawn Citation at the Heartland Series Finals in Waco, Texas, earlier this year, but he wasn’t sure he was enough of a horse to carry him to a check at the NFR.

“But he had an amazing trip tonight,” he said. “He was outstanding, and you can’t knock him at all for it. I don’t know if it was him standing out in the rain or if he’s just better in December, but something clicked and he bucked.”

In saddle bronc riding, the great Miss Congeniality, a two-time PRCA saddle bronc of the year, and Spring Planting, the PRCA’s reigning saddle bronc of the year, were out but only Spring Planting produced a money-earning score.

Cody Wright marked 86.5 points on Spring Planting which earned a share of the second-place money with Wade Sundell.

Muncy got hung up in the chute with Miss Congeniality, and was awarded a reride. He later failed to record a score on his reride horse. Meanwhile, J.J. Elshere walked off with the top prize on Big Bend Rodeo’s Kool Toddy with an 88-point ride.

Elshere said he had a handful with the 20-year-old mare. “I felt like she was trying to buck me off on every jump,” he said. “I was just going with her and trying to keep things going.’’

Check back later for more NFR updates from Western Horseman columnist Ed Knocke.

By Ed Knocke

Tie-down roper Cody Ohl has a history of speedy runs. So it wasn’t unusual that the Hico, Texas, cowboy smoked the field here Sunday night in the fourth round of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo with a 6.6-second run.

A six-time world champion, Ohl came within one-tenth of a second of his arena record he set in 2003, winning the round by one second over Blair Burk. Ohl has had his name attached to the world mark in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association record book on several occasions. His 6.5-second run he set here in Las Vegas stood as a world record until Ricky Canton lowered it to 6.3 seconds at Strathmore, Alberta in 2005.

Prior to that, Ohl and Stran Smith tied for the then world mark of 6.7 seconds in 2001 at the Texas Stampede in Dallas.

Ohl didn’t waste any time Sunday night as he was the first roper to go.  He came out of the box at a high rate of speed, caught the calf in short order, and then had to wait out 14 other contestants for his run to be official.

“I’ve had great luck going first,” he said. “I really don’t like it, because sometimes I feel like I’m rushing into it. The first guy usually goes, and then you get a chance to get into a rhythm. Tonight everything just felt great riding in the box. Shoot, I don’t know every time I’ve been first out of 15 times, I’ve probably won that round six or eight times.

“So it’s pretty comfortable going first.  But I was to the point where I was roping really good the first three rounds, but I hadn’t won anything.  But my confidence was still high.  I just didn’t have any luck on the ground. Everything just happened perfect tonight.”

Ohl credited the calf as playing a major role in his winning the round.  “I knew I had a good calf,” he said. “I knew he started sharp, so I knew I could take the bare minimum start, and it was just flawless tonight.”

His $17,139 first-place check here was his first for the rodeo so far, and it increased his earnings for the year to $95,722, which ranks him ninth in the world.

Trevor Brazile still holds the lead in the world standings with $137,339, but his lead is tenuous since Clint Robinson is only $7,642 back and he leads the average with 31.80 seconds on four head.  The average pays $43,954 to the winner at the end of the 10-round event.

Check back for more from Western Horseman columnist Ed Knocke during the NFR’s 10-day run.

By Ed Knocke

Tie-down roper Clint Robinson is heating up the action at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. On Saturday night, the Spanish Fork, Utah, cowboy won the third round with a sizzling 7.3-second run, his third consecutive time in the 7-second range.

He placed second with a 7.7 run on Friday and he recorded a 7.8 on opening night to split third place. His Saturday night first-place check of $17,139 has given him $37,964 in earnings here after only three days.

Now can Robinson continue his sizzling pace?

“Out here, if you hit the start, you’ve got a good horse and the calves want to cooperate, you can tie them in seven pretty easily every time,” he said. “If things work out right, and there are no mistakes, you’re liable to get seven with that short score.”

Robinson, who is competing in his third NFR, has yet to win a title here, but he likes his chances this year.

After his Saturday night victory, he moved within $7,642 of event leader Trevor Brazile, who cashed his first check at the NFR this year on Saturday when he earned $4,423 for a fifth-place finish.

“I came here and I was a little back from Trevor, but I knew there was so much money to win out here,” Robinson said. “I’m just going to go at them every night and don’t do anything stupid, you know, like break a barrier or miss. I’m going to try to tie them down as fast as I can, and hopefully the average can take care of itself.”

Robinson also is in the world all-around race, but there he has a huge deficit to overcome.  He currently trails Brazile by $113,861.

He says he’s just going to keep roping and not concern himself with the standings. “If you do your part, it usually works out in the end,” he said.

He claims he didn’t change anything in his preparation for the finals this year.

“This is my third time here, and I’m kind of getting things figured out,” he said. “There’s $17,000 a night, so you’ve got to go for it.  There’s no sense in backing off. I’m taking advantage of the calves I’ve had. You’re not liable to draw 10 great calves, but the ones you get you’ve got to take advantage of out here.”

Check back during the NFR for more updates from Western Horseman columnist Ed Knocke.

By Ed Knocke

Kaycee Feild says his goal is to win the average at this year’s Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. On Friday night at the second round of the NFR, he got on the right road to accomplishing that feat

The 22-year-old son of five-time world champion Lewis Feild rode Harry Vold’s Dusty Dan for 89 points to set the pace for the evening and in the process take over the lead in the average with 171.5 points on two horses.

Feild said he was thrilled when he found out he had drawn the horse, because he had some success on her before.

“I’ve actually had her twice,” he said. “One time at Houston last year, and I won the Super Series on her, and in the short round in Cheyenne and ended up second in Cheyenne.”

And on Friday night, Dusty Dan came through with flying colors although Feild had encountered some problems in the chute with the horse.

“They said she hadn’t been bucked in three or four months, so she was antsy in the chute,” he said. “But, when she left, she fired, and I just marked her out and just let it roll. If you try muscling through it with her, she will over power you and pull you over, so you just have to kind of flow with her. Jump for jump you just have to keep going.”

The victory was his second one at the NFR after qualifying last year in his rookie season.  He won the sixth round in 2008.

With his victory on Friday night, he moved to fifth place in the world championship race, but he is still $115,926 behind leader Clint Cannon, who set a season earnings record this year with $235,900.

Feild, however, just wants to make a strong showing on the national stage here at the Thomas and Mack Center. With his talent, his turn in the championship circle is definitely in sight.

His father, who was his coach at Utah Valley State College, was present to see his performance Friday night. He said watching his son ride makes him more nervous than when he was competing.

So with Kaycee’s bright future, it appears there will be a long stretch of nervousness ahead for pop.  “I can stand that,” he said.