Monthly Archives: December 2021

LAS VEGAS – A mad scramble in September set up something big for team roping header Coleman Proctor. As the summer rolled into early autumn, Proctor found himself on the outside looking in. He was doing everything possible to secure his sixth qualification to the National Finals Rodeo. He needed to finish the regular season among the top 15 in the heading world standings to do so, and he wasn’t there yet. By the time the dust settled, he had secured his spot by earning $72,755. He sat 14th in the all-important standings and was Sin City bound again with his wife, Stephanie, and their daughters, Stella, 4, and Caymbree, 2. There’s a bit of magic dusts that falls around the Nevada desert, and Proctor found it Friday night. He and his partner, Logan Medlin of Tatum, New Mexico, stopped the clock in 4.2 seconds to finish as the runners-up to the round winners, pocketing $21,336 each for doing so. “We made the same run we’ve been making all year,” said Proctor, 36, of Pryor, Oklahoma. “I came to Vegas this year really excited about us making our runs here.  Our run is really smooth, and I think our timing and our rhythm may be the best I’ve had with a partner I’ve had here. “It’s always frustrating when you bobble like I did in the first round, but better for that to happen in the first round than the last round.” In his first shot, Proctor’s loop got caught up in the steer’s legs, and he and Medlin were saddled with a no-time. In looking at things positively, he even found a way to celebrate the mishap. “I was really excited for that first round, then chaos hit,” he said. “I headed him, I heeled him, and I made the whistle; who hasn’t triple-crowned on the first night at the NFR? “A lot of people have made a lot of money on nine steers,” he said, referring to the fact that teams have been able to find ways back into the aggregate race even with a no-time because of all the circumstances surrounding the events at the NFR. The good news, as he and Medlin proved Friday, is there is an opportunity every day for 10 straight days while they’re in Las Vegas. “That’s a double-edged sword, though,” Proctor said. “You get to run another steer, but you have to wait until the next night to do it, and if you’ve bobbled, then you’re chomping at the bit to get back to it. The good news is I’m a lot busier in Vegas this year with the pregame show for Purina. I don’t just mope around the room. “There are times you just want to crawl under a rock sometimes; you listen to a lot of naysayers, and you get out of your rhythm and out of your game. By being busy, it makes you get your sucker out of the dirt really fast.” In six qualifications, he’s roping with is fourth heeler in Medlin, who made 2020 NFR roping with Charly Crawford. “He called me last year, and we talked for quite a while about everything,” Proctor said. “I’ve watched Logan for a long time. He was a two-time college champ. He has an amazing horse. He’s an awesome heeler and a great guy to be around. “The main thing was getting our timing down, and we’ve been able to do that. I’ve proven to the world that he’s absolutely amazing, because he got here. He was trying to get to his second NFR, but his first NFR in Vegas, and his partner is fighting for a back number. Imagine the amount of pressure on him, but he handled it like a champ.” Now that he’s arrived in the City of Lights and has his daily routine set, all that’s left is putting together a performance to remember and enjoy this special time with his wife and daughters. “I got a little emotional that first grand entry,” Proctor said. “Looking up in the stands and seeing my baby girls, it got to me, and I realized that I don’t know how many more of these I’ll get to enjoy. “We may as well enjoy it now while we can.”

LAS VEGAS – Garrett Shadbolt knew he wanted to start his first National Finals Rodeo with a bang. Instead, his first-round ride was more of a thud. Refocused and re-energized, Shadbolt turned things around in a big way Friday night, riding Calgary Stampede’s Yippee Kibitz for 88 points to finish as the runner-up in the second round. “Yesterday didn’t go the way I wanted it to,” said Shadbolt, 25, of Merriman, Nebraska. “I don’t know if it was first-round jitters or what, but I was being really aggressive and was coming with everything I had. That horse threw a dirty move at me, and I spurred over her neck for two jumps. “Today I figured I needed to be a little more cut and dried, a little more precise and a little less wild gap and slap. The horse I got on today was a little stronger, and it worked out for me.” It also helped that his mind was a bit more organized when he nodded his head for his second-round ride. “Believe it or not, it’s a little easy for the NFR to get in your head when you’re on the back of the chutes,” he said with a smile, acknowledging that the atmosphere inside the Thomas & Mack has a special reverberation among those playing at ProRodeo’s grand championship. “There’s a lot of activity going on, and you’re trying to get on a bucking horse, and you’re like, ‘Holy smokes, are we ever going to ride?’ “I’m really happy to make a good ride, and I feel like I’ve got my game plan figured out and my head on straight. I’m really looking forward to the next eight rounds.” That makes for the final eight nights of the ProRodeo season and his last eight chances to cash in as much as possible. By finishing second on Friday, he collected $21,336 and has pushed his season earnings to $127,349; he has moved up two spots to eighth in the world standings. Saturday’s third round will feature the most difficult to ride horses in bareback riding, dubbed the “eliminator pen.” That doesn’t matter to the cowboy from the Nebraska Sandhills, though. “They’re all buckers here, and you can bet anything I’m getting on is going to buck its hardest because I’m about the lightest guy who’s going to get strapped on them,” Shadbolt said. “I’m not worried about it.  I’m just going to show up here and put the iron to whatever I get on.” He’s talking about the spur stroke. Each cowboy is scored based on how well they spur from the horse’s neck back to the rigging in rhythm with the horse’s bucking motion. When each night is over, he’ll return to the house he’s rented for the two weeks he’s in the Nevada desert and spend it with his wife, Katie, nearly 2-year-old son and 10-day-old baby girl. “I get to spend a lot of time with the, and that tickles me, because I’m not working every day like I would when I’m at home,” he said. “I just have to focus on riding one really good bucking horse a day, and the rest of the time I get to spend with my family.”

LAS VEGAS – It took all of 16 seconds, but Jess Pope has earned a small fortune in Las Vegas. It wasn’t at the blackjack table, no was it rolling craps. He did it the hard way by riding bucking horses at the National Finals Rodeo, and doing it better than every other bareback rider competing at ProRodeo’s grand finale. On Friday night, he won his second straight go-round with an 89.5-point ride on Big Stone Rodeo’s Fired Up. Along with his $10,000 bonus for qualifying, he has pocketed $63,994 in short order. He has moved four spots to No. 2 in the bareback riding world standings, trailing the leader, Texan Tilden Hooper, by just $2,300 with eight nights left in the ProRodeo season. “It’s exciting to be in Vegas,” said Pope, 23, of Waverly, Kansas. “I’ve dreamed about it my whole life. I’m ready to keep it rolling. I like Vegas. A lot of electricity really gets me pumped up to do my job, and I’m enjoying it.” He should. He won the average title a year ago by having the best cumulative score through 10 nights of competition. But that was in Arlington, Texas, the one-time home of the NFR because of the pandemic. It’s a different atmosphere in the City of Lights, and it’s got the young cowboy believing. Walking into the Thomas & Mack Center, the championship’s home since 1985, is something special for Pope, who competed in intercollegiate rodeo at Missouri Valley College in Marshall, Missouri. “It’ll make the hair on the back of your neck stand up,” he said. “This is what you’ve dreamed of since you were a little kid to ride in the Thomas & Mack. When you walk down the tunnel and see all those bucking horses standing down the alley, you get pretty excited. Then you’re standing on the back of the chutes, and they run the NFR flags in, there’s not another experience like it.” Still, he knows what he needs to do to handle business. He makes each day work toward each night, maintaining a simple approach so things go smoothly once he arrives on campus. It helps, of course, that the animal with which he’s drawn is having a good night, too, since the horse accounts for half the score based on a 100-point scale. “I saw that horse one time at Walla Walla (Washington) with Caleb Bennett this year, and I remember leaving there thinking, ‘Oh, my golly, that thing bucked.’ When I saw (the horse’s) name by my name, I was pretty excited. I knew he was going to be one of the stronger ones in the pen. “I just hope to keep the drawing and keep rolling, because it’s working out.” Yes, it is.

LAS VEGAS – Ryan Jarrett is glad to be back in Las Vegas. He won his first world championship in his first National Finals Rodeo qualification here in 2005. Five years later, he married his wife, Shy-Anne, in the City of Lights. After a one-year hiatus because of COVID restrictions, he returned in fine fashion, roping and tying his calf in 8.3 seconds to finish third in the opening round of the 2021 NFR. “I love it,” said Jarrett, 37, who pocketed $16,111 and pushed his season earnings to $118,044; he has moved up four spots to eighth in the tie-down roping world standings. “Winning something the first night lets off a lot of pressure. To win something on the first nod is just super exciting, especially with my wife and daughter here to see it.” Their daughter, Jurnee, is just a couple months shy of her third birthday, and she’s at an age to enjoy all the goings-on in Las Vegas. The sounds of slot machines go off in about every casino across this city of 635,000 people, but it’s also ringing a little bit in the Jarrett household after a brilliant kick start to his 14th NFR qualification. “I was pretty excited to get started,” he said. “I liked my calf going into the night and riding a different horse, I have a lot of confidence. It feels good to be rodeoing in Vegas.” He’s riding Poppy, a bay mare owned by Cody McCartney and Bailey and Tia Moore. The animal has a strong breeding line, which is important when it comes to performance horses of this caliber. “My wife and I used to own one of her half-sisters a few years ago,” said Jarrett, the 2005 all-around world titlist originally from Summerville, Georgia, but now living in Comanche, Oklahoma. “I showed this horse’s dad some at the AQHA show. “Cimarron Boardman put this horse on the map, and I rode her at the (Prairie) Circuit Finals and said, ‘I’ve got to have some of that.’ ” It continues to work in his favor. After going a few rounds without cashing in a year ago in Arlington, Texas, it was vital for Jarrett to kick off his week and a half in Las Vegas on a positive note. He’s got great confidence heading into the final nine nights of the 2021 ProRodeo campaign. “This is how you lay it out, and you just want to get on that roll and see where it takes you,” he said. “Sometimes it doesn’t go this way, but you for sure appreciate it when it does.”

LAS VEGAS – Throughout his first regular season in ProRodeo, Cole Franks looked like anything but a bareback riding rookie. He rode well, and did it often, and he pulled off some big wins along the way. He won the bareback riding and all-around national titles at the College National Finals Rodeo in June, helping his Clarendon (Texas) College to the men’s team title. He finished the 2021 regular season 12th in the world standings and the bareback riding Rookie of the Year. “I was very nervous when I realized I was gunner (first out), and I knew it was either going to be really good or not good at all,” said Franks, who rode Hi Lo Pro Rodeo’s Midnight Kid for 87 points to finish in a tie for third place in the first round of this year’s NFR. “Everybody knows I’m a little slow in the chute, and I was really thinking about that. “Then I realized I was gunner at San Angelo (Texas): First performance, first guy out in the long round, so I was like, ‘Maybe that’s where I need to be.’ I changed my mindset to start off and got some of the money.” Just like he did when he won the first round in west Texas, Franks found his way to the pay window. He pocketed $13,716 and moved up one spot to 11th in the world standings. But winning is nothing new to Franks, whose father, Bret, was a three-time qualifier in saddle bronc riding and his son’s coach through his first two years of college. Cole Franks is now a junior at Missouri Valley College in Marshall, Missouri. While his father was an NFR veteran, the younger Franks looked like one in his first ride inside the famous Priefert gates wrapped around the arena that hosts ProRodeo’s grand championship. Only the top 15 contestants in each event at the end of the regular season advance to the NFR, which is a pressure-packed situation no matter how many times a cowboy has been in Las Vegas. Add into the fact that Franks is still in college, and it’s a small wonder he’s in position to make some big-time money over 10 days in the Nevada desert. “It was surreal when I got here the other day,” Franks said. “There are so many emotions that I don’t even know what I was feeling. It was like a big boom.  I don’t even know what emotion it was. It was just incredible.” It was also incredible that he was matched with a horse that fit his style pretty well in Midnight Kid. “I’ve seen that horse a few times, and from the very first time I saw him, I knew I wanted to put my riggin’ on that thing,” he said. “There’s no better place than to do it than here.” He may be new to the City of Lights, but he looks pretty comfortable already. He’s pushed his season earnings to $101,110. “Yeah, I like it here,” Franks said.

LAS VEGAS – Jess Pope started the 2021 National Finals Rodeo the same way he closed out the championship a year ago: No. 1. Pope, the 2020 NFR average champion for having the best 10-round cumulative score, rode Pickett Pro Rodeo’s Night Crawler for 90.5 points to win the first go-round of this year’s finale. It was a great way to kick start his second trip to the NFR, his first in its natural home of Las Vegas. “It was a great horse I got on, which is exactly what I planned when I left the house, to come do that right here and win the first round,” said Pope, 23, of Waverly, Kansas. It worked out. She fit my style and had a lot of up and down. I really enjoyed it, and I’m ready for the next nine days.” He’d better be. He entered the NFR fifth in the world standings. He also earned a $10,000 for qualifying for this year’s championship and has pocketed $36,997 in just one day of work. He has moved up one s pot to fifth in the world standings with $147,021. Bareback riders selected top 100 horses in the game to be in Las Vegas, so he will be matched with some of the greatest bucking horses over the next nine night. “This is our super bowl,” he said. “This is where we make our money. I’m going to take it one horse at a time. We get on these horses all year long. My goal is to try to win every night. I’m going to look at each one as the same and see where everything ends on the 10th night.” The horse has a great history. Richmond Champion was 91.5 to win the opening round in 2019, the last time the NFR took place in Las Vegas before its one-year, COVID-induced hiatus to Arlington, Texas. “I knew I had a good shot to win,” Pope said “I watched two videos of him in the hotel room before I came over here. Everybody was telling me how nervous the rookies are supposed to be, but it’s just another rodeo. It pays more and it’s the finals, but my job is to ride bucking horses, and that’s what I showed up to do, and I’m going to continue to do that.” During his first qualification, Pope competed inside Globe Life Field, which seated more than 40,000 people but was limited to just 20,000 because of the pandemic restrictions. There’s definitely a different feel inside legendary Thomas & Mack Center. “To win a round here was so electrifying. Texas was so big, and the fans were far away, and you don’t feel the electricity that you do here,” he said. “It benefits me and is going to work out for me.” And winning on his opening night in Sin City? “It’s a big deal,” Pope said. “I’m excited to be here.”

LAS VEGAS – Riley Duvall has experienced the highs and lows that come with competing at ProRodeo’s grand finale. He had all the emotions that come with a fantastic start at the 2021 National Finals Rodeo, knocking down his first steer in 3.7 seconds to share the first-round victory with Idahoan Dirk Tavenner on Thursday night. “It’s crazy, because there’s so much pressure off now, and I don’t know why,” said Duvall, 29, of Checotah, Oklahoma. “I’ve always wanted to win money right off the bat and have a fun week. This year, I snuck in toward the end (of the season) and didn’t think I was going to be here. “I told my wife and myself that I’m having fun every night win, lose or draw. You never know how many times you’ll come back here, so I’m not taking anything for granted. Every steer I run, I’m excited and am just going to go at it. Hopefully it works like it did tonight.” Duvall, who used some late-game heroics by winning the California Rodeo Salinas on the final weekend of the regular season, earned his fourth NFR qualification this season. He is the fifth member and third generation of his family to have earned trips to the world championship, following in the footsteps of his great uncle Roy Duvall, cousin Tom Duvall, father Sam Duvall and uncle Spud Duvall. Even before he earned his first NFR bid, Riley Duvall had made a name for himself in steer wrestling. He hazed for a number of cowboys over the years, including four men who performed at the 2013 NFR. Having been around the game all his life, he knows what to look for when it comes to good bulldogging steers. “I watched that steer at Hunter (Cure’s) house three times when we picked them, and I liked him from the start,” he said. “The one I really wanted to draw got taken out today because he was sore, but it still worked out.” Yes, it did. With his $10,000 qualifying bonus, he has pocketed $34,167 in Las Vegas and pushed his season earnings to $100,887. He has moved up from 13th to fifth in the world standings in one fell swoop. Riding Dr. Pepper, a horse owned by Trever and Cierra Nelson that he rode much of the season, Duvall leans on the assistance of his longtime friend, traveling partner and hazer, Shane Frey, and Kirk, the hazing horse owned by fellow bulldogger Matt Reeves. “We practiced all fall with my hazing horse, and his foot got bruised really bad and he wasn’t going to work,” said Duvall, who hadn’t won in Las Vegas since the ninth round of the 2016 NFR. “Matt called and offered his horse and said he’d let Shane haze. Shane’s stuck with me for nine years now, and I didn’t want to cut Shane. I’m thankful Matt and his wife let it happen. Trever and Cierra’s horse is awesome. It should be a fun week. I had never had over $20,000 won before the sixth round, so I’m pumped.”