Jan. 17, 2010 – We are in Denver. Ran our first one today. I ran a 15.36
which is placing 6th right now. Didn’t have a great third barrel. Amigo
started to step in and I had to pick him up and move him over which kept us
from hitting it, so I am thankful. Jeanne had a good run but caught the
first leaving it.
I’m scheduled to meet with a bunch of school kids in the morning, I keep
trying to talk Jeanne into going with me, but she is resisting.
On our way up to Denver, we stopped in Monument and met all the great
people who work at MAXX Sunglasses. I am so pleased to be partnering with
such a wonderful group of people. They just became the official sunglasses
of Major League Baseball. The glasses are high definition and very
lightweight, great to ride in and they really cut the glare!
I’m a little behind on my updates but just got 2 more for 2010. After Oak Grove I entered Kearney, Missouri. This is usually the last rodeo of the season for the United Rodeo Association so I entered it to have a little bit more of an edge going into the URA finals. When I got to Kearney I realized it was going to be like the last few rodeos I had been too, muddy muddy muddy. We had to park a half mile from the rodeo arena and ride in a Gator to get there. The arena was a muddy mess with standing water. It was an afternoon perf so at least the sun was out trying to help matters. The horse I drew was a big bay horse from the Grand River Rodeo Company out of Grand River, Iowa. I had seen the horse at some of their rodeos in the back pens but had never seen anybody get on him. A buddy of mine had him drew a couple weeks proir and turned him out because the general consensus of all the guys he asked was that the horse was no good. He supposedly run off and didn’t buck, so my buddy didn’t waste his time and left and went home. Well knowing this, I wasn’t to motivated to get on the horse. On the other hand I had a couple thoughts that were in my favor, it was muddy and deep so if he did run off he couldn’t do it very fast. Sometimes horses buck different in the mud. They are unsure of their footing and don’t cover much ground. I also had the idea to lower the halter on his nose to maybe tuck his head up under himself causing him to buck without running off.
Well it was time to load the broncs and saddle them. They run the big guy in the chutes and he most definitely took up all of the chutes, leaving me with not much room to work with. I pulled my saddle and climbed in, anxious to see how this would turn out. I nodded and he came blowing out. My mark out felt strong which makes for a good start to a ride. He definitely noticed the mud and the lower halter. He blew up and started throwing what we call a wild horse fit. Jumping and kicking and throwing his head, belly rolling and not coving much ground. My spur ride felt great, I was setting my feet high in the neck. After a few seconds of this he decided to move on down the arena jumping and kicking, which was fine with me. I was riding good and felt great. Shortly before the buzzer, he was jumping pretty high and when he came down he slipped in the mud. He didn’t go down but instead, he gathered his footing and had this weird blow up sunfish head throwing thing. It caught me off guard a little bit and my leg ended up on top of my swell. When he came down from the jump the buzzer went off so on his way up I decided that since I was out of shape that I would just bail of and land on my feet making for a good show. Well that was my plan, I actually bailed off and got caught in the stirrup and it flipped me upside down and I landed face first in a huge puddle of standing water. I was completely covered from head to toe in muddy water and sloppy mud. The silver belly had I had on quickly became brown. I was frustrated at first but then played it off and had fun with for the crowd. The score was good enough for second which I was thrilled about. The Lord has Blessed me with several wins and lots of placing in 2010. I haven’t rodeo’d as much or as hard or traveled as far as I have in years past but I still Give the Glory to God for giving me the talents and opportunities and the success.
The next update will be from the United Rodeo Association Final in Topeka, KS, then bring on the rodeos of 2011 . Until next time, God Bless and be safe On The Rodeo Road.
So the last few months have been full of changes for me. After the rodeos in September were over, the chances of making the IFR were VERY slim. I was making money but so was everyone else that was ahead of me. I had been staying in North Carolina to go to the last few rodeos and was given the opportunity to stay and ride some outside horses for a few people including Jeanette Nelson who owns and operates Triple N Ranch. Jeanette has had owned some of the top futurity colts over the years and many have gone on to become great rodeo horses. She also stands two great stud horses both of which are making names for themselves as well: Deep Sixum and JL Turn Ta Fame. We currently have 5 of her great open horses to ride and sell for her (Heza Grand Sixum, NNN Sixums Top Gun, LL Blind Faith, Famous and Lucky, & Page of Fame)
The month of October brought the IBRA National Finals in Wilmington, OH as well and I allowed my mom to run JB Absolute aka Abby. Mom had qualified on her before I bought her and was missing her, so I let her run her all week. Mom and Abby won the Sponsors/ Directors Race, placed in the $10,000 Guaranteed, won the long go of the Masters, & won the 2-D Open National Championship for over $4,000 in earnings along with a Buckle, Saddle, and other awards 🙂 GOOO MOM! I headed back South and ran Abby in Williamston, NC to win 3rd! I decided with all the horses I had to ride to give Abby some time off and quietly advertise her for sale. I got a call from a friend in Indiana who had been watching Abby closely and wanted to try her. I headed to Indiana in the middle of December, she tried her, loved her and I headed back South without Abby. Abby and I have been through alot the last few years and she always seemed to find her way back to me, so it was a very emotional day. Congratulations Rikki Morse on the purchase of this amazing mare.
I had an awesome Christmas with my mom, little brother, and other family in Ohio, but had to be back to North Carolina so we could head out to the rodeo December 28th in Memphis, TN. It was the first IPRA rodeo of the new season and I was running a horse I had only been on one other time. His name is Justa Easy Routine aka Rudy and is owned by the Kerr Family in Huntersville, NC. The rodeo was only $400 added but I had to take a horse back that I had been riding for a customer near Memphis so we figured we would be killing two birds with one stone 🙂 Teresa Kerr Tyner, Memphis (my dog), & I headed out the night before to make the 10 hour drive and arrived in time to watch the 10:00am slack Tuesday morning. The rodeo is held at the Shelby Show Place Arena which is the same arena that we used to hold our IBRA National Finals at from 1999-2004. (Fun Fact: It is also the same arena that I purchased “my” Memphis at back in 2003) Teresa and I were both in the performance so it was nice being able to watch all of slack to see how the ground was holding up. Ground looked to be getting a little deep but I knew that at 16.0 hands Rudy would be able to get through it! He warmed up really good for me and I was anxious waiting to run. I rode him a little cautious to the first barrel, but tried to make up for it riding hard to the 2nd…he really shut down for the 2nd barrel and I barely got around it! We had a good 3rd barrel and ended up running good enough for a 6th place check! Last hole but we will take it!!
Next on the schedule…Asheville, NC December 31-January 1st SEBRA Bulls and Barrels which is my last ditch effort to make the SEBRA finals! Stay tuned!
Quote of the day: “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.”
Up the road from here a bit is Oak Grove, MO. Six Crowns Rodeo Company from Lincoln, MO puts on a rodeo there. I was looking forward to having a day off but decided to enter it. Its just too close to not go. I had gone to it 2 years ago and didn’t have any luck but was feeling confident about this year.
The night before I was entered, it came a down pour, and they had to postpone the show for a little bit. I heard it was pretty bad and the arena was not draining well, and it was a muddy mess. I was being positive and kept thinking it would be a dry arena by the time I got there the next night. It rained the next day and my positive thinking didn’t work this time, the arena was a swamp. I kind of started thinking I should of gone with my first notion of having a day off instead of rodeoing. It seems like I’ve done nothing but clean my muddy gear all year. I found my draw, it was a sorrel mare with no name or brand. They have hauled her but I didn’t remember her. I started to get discouraged with all the mud, water, mess, and not knowing my horse. I started thinking how blessed I am to be at a rodeo, and riding broncs, no matter what the weather or horse. I quickly changed my outlook on the whole situation. I was glad to have that mare, and I was glad to be at a muddy rodeo, at least I was at a rodeo.
I ask around and found that the mare had been OK in the past, and it had been awhile since she was bucked so she would be fresh. This was good news. It came time to saddle broncs and I found her and got her saddled. She stood OK, but wasnt a very big horse, and with me being a bigger bronc rider (5’11” and a little over 200lbs.) this wasnt to my advantage. I slowly climbed in and sat down and put my stirrups on and nodded my head. She blew out of the chute into the muddy, standing water, arena and she went to bucking. She felt a little light and not much power. I felt great on my markout and my spur ride was going good too. She jumped across the arena towards the fence. My saddle felt weird, like it was going to go over her head. This made me set my feet harder in her neck. Well after a few jumps of thinking my saddle was coming off, I realized she was bucking up under herself, almost felt like she was going forward but when she jumped and bucked, she felt like she moved backwards a bit. It was weird and cool all at the same time. The buzzer sounded and I got off on the pickup man (and it just happened to be right by the bucking chutes, so I didn’t even have to walk in the mud, I actually didn’t even get muddy at all, which made me happy). They announced my score and they had me leading the rodeo thus far with only a couple guys to go. The last guy to go was a good friend of mine so I jumped up to help him. He went out and got thrown over the horses head and stepped on. And with the mud and water combination, he was literally stuck in the mud and couldn’t move. I rushed to help him. We got him up and helped him out of the arena, which is where I suddenly became not clean anymore, I was covered. I joked around with him saying that I can ride a bronc and win the rodeo in a water covered arena and stay perfectly clean but I got covered in mud getting him unstuck, so I was sending him the bill from the cleaners. 🙂 All in all it was a great night, I won the rodeo and my buddy didn’t end up with any serious injuries. I have been blessed to win 3 out of the last 4 rodeos and give all the Glory to God.
Until next time God Bless and be safe On The Rodeo Road.
Boy do I miss the rodeo road….seems like just yesterday during this time of year all of the girls were getting ready for the World Toughest Rodeos. The things I don’t miss about rodeoing in the winter: a 5 hour trip taking 12 hours to get home due to a freak blizzard in St. Charles, MO…..sleeping in the horse trailer with no living quarters and a ceramic heater duct taped to the blanket bar in Rockford, IL…… and having to say things like “yes this truck has 4wd, but NO I don’t have chains for it.”
However, there is nothing like the thrill of an indoor rodeo. You can almost feel the thunder in your chest as the crowd screams inside a coliseum. Behind the scenes all of the girls would have their horses brought inside to keep warm, all huddled in the one spot that was covered in dirt outside the arena. Each of us praying that they let us into the arena to ride during intermission because there was no where else to ride! Oh the days….
But here I sit, waiting on the next jackpot. The joys of seasoning a colt! Atticus has been consistently running in the 4D with mistakes here and there but for as little as he’s been hauled, I’ve been tickled with that. However he really pulled one out of the hat last weekend, running the 13th fastest time out of 104 entries and winning a 2nd place check in the 2D! Knowing that a horse has it and seeing it shine through is the best feeling in the world. One thing I know about Atticus is he has the most consistent and fluid first barrel, which I think is very important for a great rodeo horse, especially in our circuit of short pens.
My plan for Atticus is to keep him consistent, because I think that is another key factor in a great rodeo horse. I’m hoping that next year I can take him to a few local rodeos and see how he handles the atmosphere and ground, then go from there.
Until next time….make sure you wear your ear thingys before you go outside, brrrr it’s cold!
Dec. 20, 2010 – Home never looked better. As excited as I was about qualifing for the Wrangler National Finals, I also knew that the timing wasn’t great for me. I, and my horses, weren’t ready. It’s one thing to be competitive in July, but to try to get your “game” to its highest level in just thrre or four weeks wasn’t realistic. I was extremely hopeful, and knew our potential, but to think that you are going to compete with the best riders and horses in the world, well, that’s another thing. I was disappointed, but not overly so. I know we have a lot of work to do before the season gets rolling again in January.
Thanks to Wrangler, Dodge, Las Vegas Events, the WPRA, the PRCA and the NFR crew for all their hard work and support for the NFR. The barrel race was extremely exciting, and the fans loved it. Thanks to the WPRA for all the awards, and to Circle Y Saddlery for the saddle.
Thanks to all of you who cheered for me and support me in the good times and the not so good. You’ll never know how much your encouragement means to me. Thanks to Professional’s Choice, Total Health Enhancement, EquiPride, Cowboy Rigs, SpurRadio, and now, MAXX Sunglasses for their support. My family does so much for me, especially Marty. I couldn’t do this without him. Well, as I said, I have a lot of work to do, so I better get to it.
Remember God gave us the greatest gift, His son, Jesus; so that we could have a relationship with Him. If you don’t know Him, this season would be a great time to get to know Him. We are here because of His love, share that love with someone else. Merry Christmas.
The week after Eskridge I entered Warrensburg, MO. I haven’t entered this rodeo in many years but I had an excellent reason to do so this year. In the weeks prior to the rodeo Brandy’s oldest daughter, Jillian, had been doing interviews and horsemanship and riding for a Little Ms. Queen contest for Johnson County, Missouri, which is for the Warrensburg rodeo. They were going to announce the winners of all the queen contests including the Little Ms. Queen, during the middle performance of the 3 day rodeo. I figured since all of her family and my parents were going to be there, that I might as well enter and ride.
As I mentioned last time I wrote, at the rodeo in Eskridge I lost a stirrup during the ride and got disqualified. After I rode I sat in my saddle to make sure the length was right on my stirrups (this is one reason why stirrups some off). Everything seemed fine so I packed my gear up and went home. I hadn’t touched my gear all week until I threw it down behind the bucking chutes in Warrensburg an hour before I rode. I was helping Jillian get ready for the queen contest, and getting ready myself, when I sat in my saddle and something felt weird. I looked at my stirrups and realized that I my stirrup was about to fall off. At the top of the stirrup is a bolt that holds the stirrup to the leather, the nut had fallen off the bolt and was missing. I was kind of in a bad way, I was about to ride in a few minutes, they were getting ready to announce the Queen winners, and I desperately needed a 1/4″ nut. I asked a few people, knowing that finding one was unlikely. They were about to announce the Queen winners so I directed my attention to the arena and put my panic on hold. They announced Jillian as the 2010 Little Ms. Johnson County Rodeo! We were all so excited and happy for her. I went out in the arena and congratulated her and took some pictures, then it was back to franticly trying to find a nut for the bolt. Without the nut there was no way I could ride. I had one last place to look. In my gear bag I keep a little bag of spare leather and some tools. I dumped the bag out knowing that the chance of there being a nut in there was slim. Well to a surprise to me there was one lonely nut rolling around. God Is Good! I hurriedly put it on and finished getting ready cause they were about to load broncs in the chute.
During the entire Queen commotion and me looking for a nut, I found out what horse I had drawn. I hadn’t been to this stock contractor (Outlaw Rodeo Productions) in several several years so I had no idea about the horses. I made a few calls and found out that this horse wasn’t rode very often and he actually injured a buddy of mine in the chutes a few weeks prior. They said that when he bucks, its hard and fast and he has a few moves to go with it. He was a bigger paint horse that looked like a bronc should. I made my way to the chutes and saddled the paint. He was a little skittish in the chute but noting to bad. Just as a precaution I had a friend tie the horse in. I crawled in the chute ever so gently, once he felt me he started leaning on me. Some fellow cowboys helped me out and I got to a position where I could nod. When I nodded and the gate came open, he bolted out of there hard. He had a move to the left then right all the while kicking over his head. He bucked down the arena and felt like he was changing lead with every jump. My swells were moving from side to side making it hard to ride. I was spurring him pretty good considering he was doing all that. The buzzer sounded, I got off and was walking back and heard a score of 77 which was good enough to win the round and eventually win the rodeo.
It was a good night for me and Jillian, we cleaned house at Warrensburg and it’s a memory I won’t soon forget. We are blessed and give the Glory to God!
Soo all season long we all look forward to St Tite. The added money, the crowds, the go cart tracks (video here) and really just the overall experience of it all. I made the short go in 2007 on Mighty Mouse and in 2008 on Rookie and REALLY wanted to make it on Abby. In 2009 I was all geared up to go and Abby got hurt at the McDonough rodeo the weekend before St Tite so I had to jump on something when I got up there and it was a train wreck…Anyway 2010 was a new year…Abby worked AWESOME at Dalton, Lagrange, & McDonough and my confidence was UP. I was going to St Tite with a bareback rider (Josh Cragar) 2 bronc riders (Eddie Parlier & Austin Joseph) & 4 bull riders (Jon Mastrangelo, Tj Smith, Cody Holladay, & Allen Pippen) so it was sure to be an interesting week lol. Josh, Cody, & Allen & I left from McDonough and headed north. We picked up TJ, Jon, & Eddie in TN and then Austin we were picking up at the airport in Quebec. It was a 24 driive straight through and we made it up there in one piece sometime in the middle of the night Monday. St Tite is 2 go rounds and a short go with the top 10 in the average advancing to the short go. My first run was Wednesday morning slack and all of the boys would compete in their first round Wednesday night. The barrel racing draw is a complete reversal so it is luck of the draw whether you end up getting one of the performances or not. There were 99 barrel racers entered and i was in the 20’s which meant my second go would be Friday night (YES)!! I was very excited to get a perf for my second go instead of my second go being Thursday morning slack. The ground is always great in St Tite but its a long run to the first barrel. Abby and I went down the pen a little bit at the 1st barrel but she ran hard and we clocked a 17.0 which was somewhere around 20th in the 1st go…not too bad for our first run. In 2008 I made the short go with a 17.0 & a 16.5 and this year was shaping up to be the same way so I knew what I had to run in the 2nd Go.
Amber and Abby 2nd Go
Friday night rolled around and there is nothing like hearing that crowd up there…its insanely loud, fireworks, great music, and it just gets your adrenaline going. Abby had a great run and we stopped the clock with a 16.7. I knew I had just missed making the short go and was disappointed but was very pleased with the way she worked. The rig did make a little money with Jon, Josh, & Austin all drawing checks. I knew that without making money in St Tite that I was running out of rodeos to make the IFR, but still wasn’t ready to throw in the towel yet. We made the long trip back to TN and got home Monday night. I cleaned the trailer and repacked everything to turn around and head to Benson, NC on Thursday for an IPRA & SRA rodeo. Dusty Myers (rodeo clown extraordinaire) Josh’s dad Em, & another bareback rider, joined Cody, Josh, & I on this trip. Benson Mule days here we come…
Nov. 15, 2010- Wow, the people in Allen know how to throw a party. The TexasStampede has a new home in Allen, and they really made us feel at home.Thanks to all the committee people for their hard work, especially FrankCucharillo (I hope I spelled it correctly). Frank was the barrel racersliason, because he is married to a barrel racer, Jodi Rush, he knows what’simportant to us and he took care of everything for us.
My ribs felt pretty good, and let me tell you, Goose tested them. He isfeeling really good, and because we haven’t had a lot of practice, I’m alittle behind. Goose and I need more work before Vegas, but I was happywith Amigo. He made two nice runs. I clipped the third barrel leaving it todo well in the first round, and won third in his next round. Goose and I arespending some quality time in the practice pen this week, and I’m probablygoing to hit some jackpots if I can.
Brodie has shoulder surgery Wednesday. Dr. Tandy Freeman did thehandiwork. Brodie is doing well. Our sport is so blessed to have such awonderful gifted man like Dr. Tandy to help our athletes out. He isamazing. Surgery during the week, then rodeos or PBRs on the weekends.
Today is the Talking with Tana show on SpurRadio.com at 1 pm (centraltime). We will be doing a couple of shows from Las Vegas, so stayed tunedin.
All Images property of On The Rodeo Road, please do not download or save any images found on this site. Images may not be used without photographers permission.
On The Rodeo Road 