The Team Roping Journal

Dear Roper, I don't mean to brag, but I have a superpower. It's one that matters not at all to most of the rest of the world, but it serves me well here in this very specific job as editor of this magazine. I have an uncanny ability to remember every

| Scottsdale | Guthrie | ■

| association news | industry news | Global Handicaps is the arm of the Global Event Management System (GEMS) that analyzes performance data to set team roper handicaps. This system analyzes over 350,000 teams per year on $100 million in prize money.

at home with | Jake Barnes | Clay O | military salute | other gig | big break Q: The Jr Ironman Championship is three rounds in four events—tie-down roping, steer wrestling, heading and heeling. What's your favorite event? A: Probably the heeling. Q:

We all love to rope, and it's the greatest time ever to be a team roper. As always, recreational ropers—as in, people who rope for fun—make up the majority of team ropers in the world. Guys who rope for a living are gunning at more money than ever be

There are lessons to be learned about life all around us, if we listen. Golf and roping are hard games that teach you humility, patience and self-control. Both are about managing your thoughts, making a game plan and sticking to that plan. One of the

It's no secret at this point that this year's The Patriot Event in Fort Worth was a screaming success—and a feat of impressive magnitude by the new team behind the event, which was only acquired by the Equine Network in October 2023. Not only did the

Aborn-and-raised Coloradan turned Utahn, Ben Jordan and his 13 brothers and sisters grew up under the roof of his father, who ran a repair business. “I worked in the business all growing up,” said Jordan, 32. “My mom died when I was really young … so

Luke Brown was on the National Finals Rodeo bubble for the first time when he pulled into Pendleton, Oregon, in September 2008. It was the first year the South Carolina header had gutted it out the whole way to the Northwest run, and the then-34-year

Kory Koontz has made some of the best-ever heel horses. And he did it without an arena at his house for 19 of the 22 NFRs he made. As a little kid, I got to where I could rope the horns. I could get to where I needed to be, or I could make it work by

Logan Medlin won the College National Finals Rodeo in 2013, but he didn't make his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo until 2020. Along the way, he learned a lot of lessons about horsemanship. Here's a before and after of Medlin getting to the next

Freeze Frame with Hunter Koch Photo by Jamie Arviso Copy by Taylor Vollin SITUATION: 2024 The American four-man round TIME: 4.94 seconds PAYOUT: $100,000 a man We were first out, so we couldn't really strategize too much. We knew the steer we had, an

Do you worry about the horse market in election years, and what do you think we should expect with 2024? You know, honestly, I think since COVID and all that crap, I think people just gave up on politics totally. And said, ‘You know what, I'm going t

Cory Petska has earned a career-long reputation for riding good horses. The 2017 world champion heeler, who roped at 15 Wrangler National Finals Rodeos between 2003 and 2018, has a wife who shares his passion for raising, training and riding great ho

Justin Davis (the former NFR header from Texas) told his 15-year-old son Jace to “just have fun” before the 5 header rode into the heading box for November's Riata Buckle #14.5 short round. After all, Jace and longtime family friend Colby Lovell were