Ace Ashford’s death in August of 2024 shook the team roping and rodeo communities to their cores. The 18-year-old young gun, and younger brother to NFR heeler Ross, was known by everyone as a kind, humble and overall good person. But even in death God's hand is present. In this episode of The Short Score, Hill Rodeo Cattle’s Bobby Joe Hill—a longti…

Clint Summers and Jake Long took home the 2024 NFR team roping average title Dec. 14, in Round 10. Summers and Long came in second in the average, and their 4.0-second run sealed the deal with a 44.3 on nine head. They picked up fourth in the round for $14,126.88 apiece and $86,391.31 a man for the aggregate title. They join The Short Score to talk…

Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp defended their 2023 world titles, winning the 2024 PRCA team roping world championship with $361,480. Wade and Thorp sealed the deal on their consecutive gold buckles after winning second in Round 10 with a 3.8-second run for $26,623.74 a man. The newly-crowned world champs join The Short Score to talk about their world …

Coleman Proctor and Logan Medlin are back in the winner's circle after Round 9, this time with gold buckles on the line. Proctor and Medlin won Round 9 of the 2024 NFR with a 3.8-second run for $33,687.18 a man. Proctor now sits second in the world and Medlin third. After Round 9, the projected world standings have Proctor the world champion header…

The end of the 2024 NFR is in sight as Round 8 wrapped with the 2021 and 2022 world champions keeping themselves alive in the world championship race. Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira entered Round 8 needing to win the round to stay in the conversation, and they did just that, winning the round with a 3.4 for $33,687.18 a man. They now sit second…

Coleman Proctor and Logan Medlin wrapped Round 7 of the 2024 NFR in a bow as the last team out. Proctor and Medlin took the win in Round 7 with a 3.5-second run for $33,687.18 a man, keeping Proctor alive in the race for the all-around gold buckle. Proctor and Medlin catch up with The Short Score to talk about their run and their careers. __ This e…

Round 6 of the team roping at the 2024 NFR saw the fastest time of the Finals thus far. Brenten Hall and Kaden Profili took home the Round 6 win with a 3.5-second run for $33,687.18 a man. For Hall, the round win is his first since the 2020 NFR, but it's Profili's first at his breakout Finals. Hall and Profili join The Short Score to break down the…

Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp have raked in $101,061.54 over five rounds at the 2024 NFR, all coming through round wins. Wade and Thorp picked up their third round win of the 2024 NFR in Round 5 after knocking one down in 3.6 seconds. Wade and Thorp pocketed another $33,687.18 a man to also widened their lead in the world standings. Wade and Thorp on…

Round 4 of the 2024 NFR was busy in the team roping with a four-way tie for first. NFR rookie J.C. Yeahquo and Buddy Hawkins set the pace as the first team out with a 4.1-second run. Clint Summers and Jake Long followed shortly with another 4.1, and so did Dustin Egusquiza and Levi Lord and Cody Snow and Hunter Koch. All eight men pocketed $23,635.…

Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira were back with a vengeance in Round 3 of the 2024 NFR, and Dustin Egusquiza and Levi Lord were right there with them. Driggers and Nogueira took the lead in the round with 3.7-second run, and two runs later Egusquiza and Lord joined them atop the round with their own 3.7-second run. Each man pocketed $30,155.46, a…

Familiar faces took the round win in Round 2 of the 2024 NFR. Reigning World Champions Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp won the second round Friday, Nov. 7, with another 3.7-second run for $33,687.18 a man. Wade and Thorp took control of the world standings after Round 1, and they've extended their lead to $58,104.22 over season leaders Dustin Egusquiza…

Reigning World Champs Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp are back to defend their title at the 2024 NFR, winning Round 1. Wade and Thorp won $33,687.18 a man for the first-round win Thursday, Dec. 5, with a 3.7-second run. The round win also pushed them into No. 1 in the 2024 world standings. On this episode of The Short Score, Wade and Thorp break down t…

Solo Select CEO Ty Smith is one of the industry's leading horse brokers, and he's got his finger on the pulse of the rope horse industry's highs and lows. Smith has pulled together a set of superstar prospects, performers, embryos and broodmares for the Thanksgiving Select Online Sale, with plenty eligible for the roping industry's biggest incentiv…

The 5-year-old stallion Pride And Joyy now has $313,423 in QData earnings, with his latest win at the 2024 AQHA World Show in the Junior Heeling with the Relentless Remuda’s Miles Baker Nov. 4, 2024. The win—worth $25,703 for their final score of 231.5—was Baker’s first AQHA World Championship, and it was Pride And Joyy’s second heeling globe, havi…

It's not every day The Team Roping Journal's videos break the internet, but when we catch J.D. Yates stacking coils over his saddle horn heeling to save a placing at the 2024 AQHA World Show, we sort of can't help ourselves. But–more importantly—Yates won the AQHA Junior Heading World Title on Tearney Ranch's Sue C Royalty. The 2020 mare by One Tim…

Circuit finals season is in full swing as November 2024 marches on. Eight circuit finals are in the books, and the stories continue to intrigue and inspire, from overcoming accidents to going neck-and-neck with family in the standings. On this episode of The Short Score, we introduce two circuit stories we've enjoyed so far: Jared Fillmore's Wilder…

Tate Kirchenschlager won the 2024 AQHA Senior Heading World Championship on the stallion Starlight Oak 017, while his cousin Dakota Kirchenschlager won the Senior Heeling on DT Hickorys Playtime. Both men helped each other to win the title in Oklahoma City Nov. 3, with Dakota, 33, winning in a rope-off against Cade Rice and Roll Your Nickles, in wh…

The 2024 Riata Championships crowned numerous winners who all took home their share of a pretty penny. On this episode of The Short Score, we continue our Riata series with the #10.5 and #9.5 champions. Tauna Alcorn and Taylor Pettigrew won the #10.5 on SJR Diamond Metalica and Call Me Mr Jonez for $109,600. Alcorn had a huge week inside the Lazy E…

The new ProRodeo team of Andrew Ward and Jake Long survived the pressure cooker of the CoJo Roping high-stakes short round, walking away with new Bill Fick Ford F-350s and stock-combo Bloomer Trailers, plus $60,000 in cash. In a roping that had seen sub 5-second times all day long, Ward and Long just had to be 8 to win it all at high back. Ward got…

Kunzler and Celtic Tuff, owned by Bri Wells and by Woody Be Tuff out of Sucha Smartlookn Cat, won the Limited Heading title for $7,500, followed by the Intermediate Heading title for $20,000. On this episode of The Short Score,Kunzler joins us to talk about his win. Episode presented by Fast Back Ropes Fast Back Ropes is thrilled to unveil its late…

Travis Graves has roped at 14 Wrangler National Finals Rodeos, and when he and Luke Brown ride into the Thomas & Mack in December, they'll have 30 qualifications among them. His road to the 2024 Finals wasn't easy—but Graves' veteran mentality got him there at crunch time and helped the team win when it mattered most. In this episode of The Score, …

Solo Select Founder Melanie Smith joins host Chelsea Shaffer to talk through the new Solo Select Stallion Incentive, which promises hundreds of thousands in new added money annually to the rope horse industry. Plus, they preview the Solo Select October Yearling Sale—the premier online yearling sale, offering the industry's top Western performance p…

The 2024 ProRodeo season may have come to an end, but the team roping action hasn't slowed down. The final weekend of the ProRodeo season we also crowned champions at the 2024 Riata, and Oct. 6, the Clay Logan Open named its victors. On this episode of The Short Score, we hear from the Riata #14.5 champions, Reed Boos on Yes Im Sassy and Cord Forza…

The Team Roping Journal's Chelsea Shaffer sits down with Cindy Perez of Cat5 Resources, and owner of up and coming stallion, The Animal, to discuss the horrifying impact of Hurricane Helene on the East Coast region. They discuss trusted nonprofits and how the roping community can offer aid, donations and more to the devastated areas.…

With the regular season over, the top 25 heelers will now vote on who deserves the award for AQHA/PRCA Heel Horse of the Year. The Score tapped Logan Medlin, Jake Long, Wesley Thorp, Levi Lord and Paul Eaves for their opinions on who deserves the coveted bronze and the $5,000 prize that goes with it.…

Dustin Egusquiza and Levi Lord have take 2024 by storm as the world standings leaders with $187,771.70 won on the year. Saturday, Sept. 14, Egusquiza and Lord also added the Pendleton Round-Up to their resumes. Egusquiza and Lord roped three steers in 17.9 seconds and pocketed $12,223 a piece between the rounds and the average. The win also locked …

Which horse deserves to be named the 2024 PRCA/AQHA Head Horse of the Year? And why? We get Brenten Hall, Coleman Proctor, Dustin Egusquiza, Tanner Tomlinson and Tyler Wade to weigh in on who's the best of the best over 80 rodeos in the PRCA. --- This week’s episode of The Score is presented by Fast Back Ropes’ Hombre. Fast Back Ropes is thrilled t…

Jake Smith has been toiling away in his arena in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, training horses and paying his dues in anticipation of this moment. Smith, 31, is sixth in the PRCA World Standings with $110,777 won on the head side after spending most of his career a heeler. Smith is a Wildfire Open to the World Champion as a heeler, and in 2023 he won the R…

Kory Koontz qualified for 22 Wrangler National Finals Rodeos, won the NFR average title in 1997 and won every major jackpot along the way. But when he stepped away from professional rodeo—after seasoning iconic reacher Dustin Egusquiza—Koontz found himself re-creating his life from the ground up, learning how to budget and to manage a teaching busi…

It was a weekend for the "underdogs" with teams outside the Top 15 raking in and climbing in the PRCA world standings. Tanner Tomlinson and Patrick Smith have been fighting tooth and nail to climb in the standings, and they’ve landed themselves both at 21st in the world after a $14,064-a-man weekend. Tomlinson and Smith won the Farm-City Pro Rodeo …

JoJo LeMond roped at four National Finals Rodeos before heading back to his family ranch in Andrews, Texas, to raise his kids with his wife, Blair. But the move home wasn't sunshine and rainbows for LeMond, and he's as real as it gets with how he made the transition out of full-time rodeo and into life as a cutting horse trainer. --- This episode i…

Leaving the box flat not only affects your start, it also plays a role in setting up the entire run. If your horse is squatting, their skewed balance can get you off balance. In this bonus Roping.com tips episode of The Short Score, Trevor Brazilegives three tips for leaving the box flat. Riding the famous stallion The Darkk Side, Brazile explains …

We're still not over the highest-paying rope horse futurity in history, the ARHFA Old West Rope Horse Futurity. In this final feature of the Old West futurity, The Short Score brings you conversations with Clay Smith and Joseph Harrison after their wins. Clay Smith was the first $100,000 winner of the weekend, taking home the win in the Open Futuri…

The Team Roping Journal was all over the place this weekend, from the ARHFA's Old West Rope Horse Futurity in Wallsburg, Utah, to the Cheyenne Frontier Days short round. Miles Baker kicked off a historic weekend at the Old West Rope Horse Futurity, winning $50,000 in the Pre-Futurity Heading Thursday, July 25, on Relentless PYC. Baker talks about t…

Kenzie Mayer of Elite Equine Promotions is a master marketer in the team roping game, and our partners at The Money Barrel Podcast sat down with her to talk through the way the rope horse industry has stepped up their game in horse promotion. With The Money Barrel host Kayla Jones, Kenzie discusses how the rope horse futurity business has impacted …

With the heart of the ProRodeo season in full swing, there's some catching up to do. Erich Rogers and Paul Eaves picked up their second California Rodeo Salinas titles Sunday, July 21, 2024, with a 46.5 on five steers. All in all they pocketed $10,946 a man to push to No. 15 and 16 in the world standings. Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira added a …

Martin Lucero had a storybook career, with 16 National Finals Rodeo qualifications and an NFR average title. He was a master of strategic entering, and he's still a resource for the young guys of the game. Lucero stepped away from full-time rodeo slowly, though, over the last decade, and in this episode of The Score, he explains why he called it a …

From Cowboy Christmas, to the NFR Open, to Tate Kirchenschlager—we talk it all on this episode of The Short Score. Cowboy Christmas 2024 is officially in the books, and Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira came out on top as team roping's top money earners. They crushed the record they set in 2022 of $35,152 a man by raking in $47,275 each this year.…

Joseph Harrison is an undoubted force in the futurity game, now having $476,934.27 in American Rope Horse Futurity Association earnings, as of June 28, 2024, making him the richest roper in the ARHFA game. Harrison joins The Short Score to talk about what it means to be the richest roper in the ARHFA and how to ensure a successful future in the rop…

There comes a point in every professional team ropers' career that the sacrifices rodeo demands don't quite feel worth it anymore. For three-time World Champion Jade Corkill, 2024 was the year he decided to step away from the ProRodeo spotlight and focus on his family. Corkill, however, has won nearly $80,000 in his time away from full-time rodeo i…

Kolton Schmidt has added a new mount to his horse herd in 2024: a bay mare they call Rhianna. Registered as Carters Won Time Out, Rhianna comes to Schmidt from A&C Racing and Roping, Rhen and Kaden Richard's top-notch training program. Carters Won Time Out spent 2023 on the rope horse futurity scene with Rhen, picking up wins like the 6-&-Under Hea…

Preston Burgess is teamed up with eight-time NFR qualifier Cody Cowden on the 2024 California Circuit front, and they've made some recent money moves to climb in their standings. Burgess, a Hilmar, California, native, and Cowden have steadily climbed to fifth and third in the circuit standings after pocketing $6,718 a man between their average win …

Memorial Day weekend is a time for us to honor and remember those who selflessly sacrificed their lives for our freedoms, and it's also a major jackpotting weekend in the team roping world. The best of the best enter across multiple Open ropings in the South, such as the Windy Ryon Memorial Roping, Cody NesSmith Memorial and the Danny Dietz Memoria…

Kenna Francis and Whitney DeSalvo had a huge week in Texas at the 2024 Women's Rodeo World Championship, pocketing $71,000 for Francis and $84,000 for DeSalvo. Francis and DeSalvo were one of three teams who made it through the WRWC tournament throughout the week inside Cowtown Coliseum and put an exclamation point on the week with a 6.62-second ru…

Champions were crowned May 11, 2024, at the WCRA Rodeo Corpus Christi. Winners of Corpus not only took home $15,000 and the coveted Rodeo Corpus Christi surfboards, but they also grabbed a spot on the WCRA Free Riders team in Kid Rock's Rock N Rodeo May 17, at AT&T Stadium. The 2023 Rodeo Corpus Christi champions Riley Kittle and Jace Helton return…

Dustin Egusquiza and Levi Lord took home the 2024 Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo win May 3-5, after roping three muleys in 22.6 seconds for $3,596 a man. Between the rounds and the aggregate, Egusquiza and Lord left Oklahoma with $5,298 each to push Egusquiza to No. 1 in the world standings with $70,234.22 won on the year and Lord to No. 2 on the heel s…

Andrew Ward and Jake Long won the Yeti US Open at the Cinch USTRC National Finals of Team Roping April 21, 2024, roping five steers in 29.14 seconds to win $32,300. On this episode of The Score, DruStew sits down with the duo after their US Finals win to talk about the state of open ropings and what it takes to win at the highest level. --- This ep…

Resistol Rookie of the Year contenders were making waves across ProRodeo all weekend, from Clovis, California, to the Lone Star State of Texas. The third-annual Resistol Rookie Roundup was at Cowtown Coliseum in Fort Worth, Texas, April 26-27. Utah cowboys Ben Jordan and Scott Lauaki took home the 2024 win with a 4.5-second run in the four-man Roun…

Sydney Ball is headed to her fourth Women's Rodeo World Championship, this time with the 2023 Challenger world title to her name. The 23-year-old Virginia native, now living in Texas, leads the 2024 WRWC Challenger leaderboard on the head side heading into the WRWC May 13-28 in Fort Worth. Sydney, 23, and her twin sister Sally didn't start roping u…

Though the ProRodeo spring run is in full swing, The Short Score is reflecting on Luke Brown's Pendleton Round-Up in 2008. Back in 2008, Luke qualified for his first NFR where he would place in seven of 10 rounds. But his trip to Las Vegas wasn’t really punched until September that year when he won the Pendleton Round-Up with his regular season par…