Ep. 37 - January 2020 Rodeo Updates Part II
(January 22, 2020)
Rodeo Update
Circuit Finals Round Up
If 2019 was Matt Cohen’s year of the breakaway roper, is 2020 going to be the year of the roughstock all around cowboy? We have seen a unique conglomerate of cowboys competing in a variety of event combinations resulting in those all around cowboy titles from these circuit finals at the professional level. One of those was Gerald Each who won the Montana Circuit Finals with monies won in both the saddle bronc riding and bull riding and another was the Columbia River Circuit’s Caleb McMillan who had monies won in Steer Roping, Tie Down Roping and Bull Riding.
Permits are a unique situation when it comes to the circuit finals because you can qualify for the circuit finals on your permit without those monies counting toward your world standing as you aren’t an official PRCA cardholder. Houston Brown, the winner of the Montana Saddle Bronc Riding average, is the contestant that pulled this into question in this episode of the podcast. He’s currently a college athlete that is still competing at the collegiate level - he may be riding on a permit throughout his collegiate career to prepare himself for his rookie year in the PRCA where he can rodeo full time.
Another Montana Circuit contestant, who finished second in the steer wrestling, is Ross Mosher who is an amazing nature and portrait photographer.
The Columbia River Circuit Finals just wrapped up as well and has a lot of names you might recognize; Trenton Montero, Blake Knowles, Jesse Brown, Riley & Brady Minor in the team roping, and Jordan Spears.
The First Frontier Circuit had an all around cowboy of Ty Rumford (the brother of Justin Rumford, the host of another one of our favorite podcasts RumpChat) in the tie down roping and steer wrestling.
National Western Stock Show
An unofficial kick off party to the 2020 season, the National Western Stock Show is off and running as well as the numerous other events that happen in correlation with it, such as the Bud Light Cowboy Downhill. Miss Rodeo Canada joined numerous cowboys in competing in the fun event, created by legendary bull rider and Oregon cowboy Larry Mahan, but also got to sing the Canadian National Anthem at the stock show. At the event contestants have to wear their cowboy hat and chaps, slalom three times, take a jump, three more slaloms, rope a person and saddle a horse. Colin Wolfe won it in his first time competing last year and he was good to go for the two-peat! Will he make it three in 2021?
Every year, at the NWSS livestock show, the National Champion steer gets to have a tea luncheon at the Brown Palace with fans. They also have APHA, AQHA, reining shows, Mexican rodeos, and more at the event to really give an amazing experience.
Kory Koontz Accident
Involved in an accident, Kory Koontz lost his great horse Rudy. The photo that surfaced on social media showed the trailer crunched. Katy Lucas chatted with STephanie, Kory’s girlfriend, who explained that he was turning down a rural gravel road, a car went to pass from oncoming traffic and would have hit him head on. His reaction was to veer towards the drivers side to create a glancing blow which caused the branches of a tree to wipe out the top of the trailer, crunching it, and was the reason that Rudy died in that accident.
The other horse in the trailer was Remix who had a fracture in his skull and lacerations on his face and is expected home within the week. For what it could have been, it is fairly minor injuries. The saddest thing is that he was two miles from home and that his insurance had lapsed on his trailer, truck and horse. They are looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars that were not insured. Life changing in the worst way - if we see anything surface to help them financially we will share below.
Please contact our team in the comments, on social media or at Rachel@thatwesternlife.com to let us know if you have heard of anything.
Lari Dee Guy Inducted into the Texas Cowboys Hall of Fame
An eight-time Women’s Professional Rodeo Association world champion, Lari Dee Guy was inducted into the Texas Cowboys Hall of Fame and, in attendance, was Trevor Brazile who had looked up to her growing up. Today they are partners in rope horses, training horses, and training rope horses. Guy credits Brazile a lot for lending his name to hers and helping showcase her horses and her talents to the next level. Brazile is also an inductee.
Guy has been a push behind the entrance of breakaway roping into the professional rodeo sphere on top of being a great horsewoman. She also started the Rope Like A Girl Campaign.
WCRA Finals
Coming up at the end of February is the WCRA Finals after they’re semi-finals event in Oklahoma this January. World Champions like Tyler Pearson, Birttany Pozzi-Tonozzi, Trevor Brazile, Jade Korkill, JJ Hampton (18-time WPRA world champion) and many more. There is also a decorated line up of unknowns and young guns.
Kylie Conner at 16 years old will be competing in the breakaway and her friend, 16 year old Josie Connor, will be competing in the barrel racing.
International Finals Rodeo & Miss Rodeo USA Pageant
The 2020 Miss Rodeo USA was crowned during a pageant held in correlation with the IPRA’s International Finals Rodeo. Kansas-native, Brooke Wallace, who is fresh off a Top 5 at the Miss Rodeo America Pageant won photogenics, written test, personality, speech and horsemanship.
You can find a whole list of the international line up of winners from the IFR here.
Upcoming Events
The American in Arlington (TX)
The semi-finals have been split from the finals so it will encompass two weekends. The semi-finals will be February 27th through March 1st, a few days off and then the finals March 7th and 8th.
Houston Rodeo - Music Lineup
The entire Houston Rodeo Music line-up has been announced. A unique marketing aspect, concert line ups with rodeo’s are becoming more and more popular to help sell out arenas. Katie’s selection was Dierk Bentleys, Rachel chose Chris Stapleton and Katy’s was a toss up between Willie Nelson and Maren Morris.