Ep. 35 - January 2020 Rodeo Update; Part I
Season 2 | Episode 1 | Total; 35
January 8, 2020
2020 Podcast Format Updates
Thank you so much for a wonderful 2019 podcasting year with the That Western Life team! We are going to use our Instagram stories more often, asking questions similar to the ten days of questions during the National Finals Rodeo.
You can join us weekly for a podcast where we will have two rodeo updates with one having a deeper dive into a specific niche topic such as futurities, non profits, special events, etc. We will also have two guest interviews a month as well with a stronger focus on impactful conversations with the movers and shakers of the rodeo world and the western lifestyle.
“Shooting your shot is terrifying, especially when you are reaching out to your idols to come onto a passion project like this,” says Katie as a teaser for some of the upcoming guests that we have already secured for season two.
Rodeo Update; January 2020
Circuit Final Rodeos
Kicked off on October 1st, there has already been 50 rodeos in the 2020 season. A variety of circuit finals rodeo have already happened, are happening and are coming up here shortly to wrap up that season. Some quick facts about the circuit finals are 12 regional U.S. circuits with two national circuits with Canada and Mexico.
California Circuit - Already Happened
Columbia River Circuit - January 10th through 12th
First Frontier Circuit - January 10th through 12th
Southeastern Circuit - Already happened in November. Bradley Harter won the saddle bronc average.
Texas Circuit - January 2nd through 4th. Jake Brown Bareback. Matt Reeves Steer Wrestling. Brody Cress Saddle Bronc. Trevor Brazile Steer Roping. Jeff Askey Bull Riding.
Turquoise Circuit - Shad Mayfield won the tie down roping average in October 4th through 5th.
Mountain States - Garret Uptain is one of two who won the all around in the rough stock.
Wilderness Circuit - Halloween Weekend. Stetson Wright All Around. Stetson Jorgensen Steer Wrestling. Josh Frost Bull Riding.
Prairie Circuit - Tanner Brunner Steer Wrestling
Maple Leaf Circuit - No All Around Cowboy which was interesting. Shoutout to KT Industries’ Katy Lucas’ little brother Kyle Lucas for a competitive finals.
Great Lakes - Upcoming.
Mexico Circuit.
Circuit Strategy
Cowboys select their circuit or it’s assigned to them by their address from the PRCA if they don’t declare. There is strategy when you look at circuits for how you can win more money. This changed for the few years that the regional circuit finals and the Ram National Circuit Finals Rodeos counted towards next year’s world standings.
Who goes to a circuit final?
The year end winner for the circuit after the regional circuit finals rodeo gets the first nod. The second goes to the average winner of that regional circuit finals rodeo. In the case of it being the same person, the second place contestant in the year end for the regional circuit will be selected to go.
Kassie Mowry and Futurities
Odessa, Texas is happening right now and Kassie Mowry is leading the rodeo right now and we wanted to highlight her as a futurity trainer. Last fall she passed the three million dollar mark, she was the 2008-2018 winningest decade trainer, and she won the year end championship. For the year end, she was over a quarter of a million over second place.
Kassie says that the horses she is riding now are horses made for her! She’s a dominating barrel futurity trainer so we wanted to highlight how awesome she is!
See more about futurities and derbies in an upcoming episode.
Latte’s Clone Army
The first clone, Ditto born in 2016, and Junior born in January of 2019 are already on the ground. They have two more clones due this month in 2020 but Ditto will be hitting the competition pens. What are your thoughts on cloned horses competing and breeding?
We talked about this a little bit more in our John Franzen episode about cloned bucking horses. You won’t see some breeds, such as Thoroughbreds, do cloning or even artificial insemination. In the quarter horse world, you can clone them but you can’t breed them for registration eligibility. The polo world has capitalized on the world of cloning and even give it away as an award.
Bronc Riding Nation Gives Back to the Australian Wildfires
Happening since September, it’s a horrific situation. Over 1.5 million animals have been killed, people have been killed and people are still unaccounted for. The Australian government wasn’t prepared for a natural disaster and so the entire country is scrambling. The Australia Zoo and Irwin family are working really hard to save species.
For every Bronc Riding Nation t-shirt purchased, $5 will go to relief efforts for Australia.
Top Rides of 2020
American Changes Barrel Pattern Layout
Shifting the arena to a diagonal entrance, there is a full sized alley versus a fifteen foot alley that was previously used. It’ll be a bit different, turning in a big pen with no walls, but safety wise it’s a plus.
Celebrity Updates
Dwayne The Rock Johnson
Remember when we talked about how excited The Rock was when Hailey Kinsel broke the Thomas & Mac Arena? Turns out, he has a horse farm in Virginia that is designed by Will Coleman, an Olympic equestrian, where they train eventing horses! He uses the farm to relax and recharge!
PETA Buys Shares in Starbucks
Announcing that they were a shareholder in Starbuck, the western world lost their minds claiming on social media that they were going to boycott Starbucks. PETA’s mission is to convince Starbucks to stop using dairy products in their business. Please keep in mind that Starbucks is a publicly traded company and shares can be purchased by anyone. PETA purchased enough shares to be able to have the floor during a Starbucks business meeting so that they could push their agenda.
On the flip side - why hasn’t the dairy industry, already under so much heat, not doing something similar when it comes to strategy?
If you boycott Starbucks - PETA will win. Why? Because if you stop going to Starbucks and ordering dairy-based products, the dairy usage will decline and PETA will have proven their point that they don’t need it.
Read more here!
Upcoming Events
The American
March 7th & 8th, 2020
AT&T Stadium (Arlington, Texas)Rodeo Houston
Month of March
Houston, TexasVarious Circuit Finals
See above.Ram National Circuit Finals
April 2-4, 2020
Kissimmee, Florida
Teaser for our next episode …
With RFD-TV taking the bid for the National Finals Rodeo in 2020, what does this mean for the world of rodeo when you’re watching at home? Our next guest can answer this question!