Ep. 38 - February 2020 Rodeo Updates
Let’s get political!
I mean why not? Super Bowl LIV just happened and the world seems to have lost their mind over the halftime show featuring international Latina pop stars Shakira and JLo! We thought we’d give them a shoutout considering one of our favorite barrel racing horses has the same name (Ivy Conrado-Saebens).
From legislation to the new rodeo formats that are being introduced, hosts Katy, Rachel and Katie, chat about what this means for rodeo, why these formats may be adopted and, as always, our rule adaptations that we think should be included!
Legislative Updates
Whether you like politics … or don’t. Whether you are out there fighting fake news (God Bless you!) or you’re avoiding political rants on social media like the norovirus - like it or not, you’re going to have to deal with politics in 2020! There are so many things that are happening that are SO big!
Whether it’s abroad with Brexit wrapping up or in your state with the session coming up or the Presidential Election OR the upcoming 2020 Olympics - you’re going to have to face a lot of politics in the coming months and we think that you need to not only pay attention but that you should start preemptively preparing to get involved.
Unofficially, most state sessions will be between three and four months in length, happening sometime between the the months of January and May depending on your state. You can go to places like Ballotpedia.org to find out more information about your specific state OR, what we highly suggest, is that you reach out to your local state House Representative. Especially if you are voting age, they would really like to hear from you!
Being proactive and building relationships with your local representatives is huge as we move into some of the bills that are currently being introduced that really impact not only the sport of rodeo, but our way of life!
States like Washington and Colorado are facing some intense legislation in this form of a House Bill and a Senate Bill, respectively, that have been introduced to each of these state legislatures. House Bill 2824 in Washington State, introduced by Representative Sherry Appleton, would make it so that anyone caught transporting performance animals to one location from another would be subject to pay $200 to $2,000 in fines per animal. This includes animals performing for the circus, fairs, petting zoos, carnivals, or any other type of performance. This last line is where rodeo falls into play, as does horse shows for everything from show jumping to cutting.
On February 13th there will be a hearing in Colorado for Senate Bill 125. This bill was introduced at the end of January and wants to prohibit traveling exotic animals that would also impact educational outreach programs not accredited to AZA or GFAS. It has been assigned to the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee - if you’re from Colorado, the home of the PRCA headquarters, we highly recommend seeing how you can get involved.
Passing a law that has a lot of gray areas can be really confusing with the umbrella overreach. In the podcast, Katie discusses how ag exemptions can work and how different bills can have overreaching impacts onto the ag community. Protect the Harvest also outlined the most recent bill signed by President Donald Trump and how it can affect giving your horse banamine to save their life before the vet can get there. The verbiage is so vague that it can be very dangerous.
“It’s the same thing, too,” adds Katy, “about the transportation law.” It is totally different when transporting livestock - in fact, it is actually very unsafe to follow those laws with our animals. “If they don’t think about … people who are around animals all the time … are not the ones writing the laws … and we can be forgotten, which can be dangerous.”
“From my time in the Capitol in Oregon, I was surprised at how little horses and the equestrian world were represented in the state legislature,” says Katie Schrock. “There are all these different commodity groups with hired lawyers, but horses didn’t. This is why it’s so important that we stay involved and, if you can’t stay involved, find an association that you pay your dues too to make sure that they do.”
Rodeo Updates
National Western Stock Show and Rodeo (Denver, Colorado)
Wrapping up just a few days ago, those winners are off to such a good start! Denver really pads the winter for those competitors. Here is who is leading now:
Bareback: Mason Clements | 89.5 points | Cervi Brothers Rodeo | Gander Goose
Steer Wrestling: Stetson Jorgensen | 4.0 seconds
Team Roping: Clay Tryan and Jake Long | 5.2 seconds
Saddle Bronc (tie): Rusty Wright | 91.0 points | Cervi Brothers Rodeo | Ricky BobbyBrody Cress | 91.0 points | Cervi Brothers Rodeo | Avenger
Tie-Down Roping: Adam Gray | 7.2 seconds
Barrels: Carly Taylor | 14.99 seconds
Bull Riding; Brody Yeary | 83.5 points | Cervi Brothers Rodeo | Rawhide
WCRA Roughstock Semifinals (Salt Lake City, Utah)
The WCRA roughstock semifinals at the Days of ‘47 Lewis Feild Bulls & Broncs. There were two different events happening which was the qualifier for the Kansas City Royal and the qualifier for the Days of ‘47 event which is in July. It was all rough stock with saddle bronc, bareback and bull riding.
The 24 competitors split into four pools of six with two competitors from each pool moving on to the Kansas City Royal in Missouri at the end of February. There were competitors from all over the U.S., Canada, and Australia. The competitors seemed to love it with a two of six or two of three chance of moving on.
From that, the top competitor from each pool got to compete again in a bonus round. The winner of the bonus round got a bye and an entry straight into the million dollar rodeo of the Days of ‘47 Rodeo in July.
Fort Worth Stock Show (Fort Worth, Texas)
Going through February 8th, this is another exciting rodeo that is happening right now. Fort Worth is a part of the new craze of rodeo committees in putting together new bracketed formats. Contestants can enter through two bracketed rounds, a wildcard round, a semifinal round and finals.
Justin Mass had a tweet about this and Shane Hanchey joined in on the fun with some sarcasm of his own. It seems as if the cowboys don’t seem to be that happy about that which led to our co-host conversation about the procedure a rodeo committee must go through to change a rodeo format within the PRCA. The cowboys seemed very surprised by this and we are curious as to why this seems last minute?
The argument from committees seems to be that they think it is easier for the fans when there is a winner every single day. We have to find a happy medium and, as we get more rodeos on television and livestream, we have to understand that those fans at home may have an easier task of understanding it.
“Training the fans - maybe there is a great opportunity … whatever that might be … to have clearer rules for … contestants, rodeo committees and fans,” says Katie.
To a degree - what level of fan are we willing to cater too? Do fans just want to be there and have the experience? Do they care who wins?
San Antonio Stock Show (San Antonio, Texas)
Happening February 6th through 23rd, we are in the heart of the big winter Texas rodeos! And, once again, we have another new format that impacts steer wrestling, tie down roping and team roping.
“Shane Hanchey actually commented on the PRCA’s website on the latest press release and they went in an explained those formats, “ Katy
Basic format is that it’s the Top 45 from 2019 and the Top 5 from 2020. If a contestant qualifies in both, only their 2019 qualification will count for them and they will roll down into the 2020 standings to fill those spots. With that, some competitors don’t love qualification rodeos because it limits so many people. You have to be the best 50 in the world to go so, what San Antonio did in the SW, TD, and TR is add a Wild Card opportunity.
For the other events they are split into five brackets with ten contestants and 3 go’s each back-to-back-to-back. The top four money earners in each bracket will move on to the semi-finals so that there will be twenty contestants.
The ten roughstock riders that don’t advance out of the semifinals make the Wild Card Round. In the timed event, instead of the ten that don’t make it through the semifinals, they are holding a “slack-like” qualifier. A two-head qualifier, the top 10 on two head will move into that Wild Card Round. We will be seeing SW, TD, and TR that we have not seen yet in that Wild Card round to get a part of that big pay day at the finals.
“It’s the best of both worlds in my mind because you are rewarding those competitors that have done well the privilege of competing for a lot of money but you’re also giving someone just out of the qualification or way down in the qualification a chance to change their fate for the rest of the season,” says Katy.
“As long as you know you’re event,” says Rachel, “you’ll be goood!”
Current World Standings
All Around: Tuf Cooper
Bareback: Tim O’Connell
Steer Wrestling: Stetson Jorgenson
Team Roping - Header: Cody Snow
Team Roping - Heeler: Jake Long
Saddle Bronc: Wyatt Casper
Tie-Down Roping: Shad Mayfield
Bull Riding: Dustin Boquet
Barrel Racing: Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi
Other Rodeo Industry Updates
Matt Cohen Photography School
You may remember “Rodeo’s Greatest Photographer,” Matt Cohen, who joined us on Episode 19 of the That Western Life podcast and, guess what? He’s hosting his annual rodeo photography school with the Flying U Rodeo’s rough stock school. It’ll be April 20th and 21st and you can learn more about those photography schools in Matt’s episode of the That Western Life podcast.
Flying U Rodeo School
A great opportunity to get out and learn about rough stock events from the best it is FREE for attendees! That’s right! All you have to do is pay your way there and for housing! The instructors are all PRCA contestants that range from NFR qualifiers to World Champions!
With the goal of “safely instructing the stars of tomorrow,” this is a unique rough stock school that doesn’t use this schooling opportunity to test out new rodeo broncs. They have a wide variety of animals for interested participants of all levels!
The school is also sponsored by The Reno Rodeo Foundation, Flying U Rodeo and Rosse Rodeo Company so thank you to all of those amazing groups for keeping the sport of rough stock alive!
The Cowboy Journal says “Goodbye for Now!”
Fresh off a 2019 PRCA Journalism Award, the legendary Cowboy Journal announced on social media that they are going to be no more! It seemed very surprising with the amount of success that they seemed to have in the past year as a direct insight into the heartwrenching and awe-inspiring stories of the western lifestyle.
“I liked that he put in there that, ‘obviously people really want these in-depth stories,’” says Rachel.
“It caught me off guard, it seriously did, because, the best way of saying it, is that the Cowboy Journal was the vein to the real inside scoop,” adds Katie. Matt Cohen and Shane Hanchey had the connections to the people who were willing to share the stories with someone who could communicate it.
The ability to sell ads in the digital versus print world may be reasons as to why it went under but we can only hope that someone steps into the void!
“I feel like this was such a labor of love … and when you care too much about something it’s always a lot of work!” Adds Katy Lucas, “I love what Shane said about competitors trusting him to tell their stories - it takes a lot for a competitor to open up and trust that you’ll share their story in the best light possible.”
PRCA Bullfighter Blue Jeanes Announces Retirement
Stating in the PRCA press release, Blue Jeanes felt like it was the right time as he was in his prime and hitting some great milestones with some good rodeos that he’s been working with for a long time. Getting his start with his father as a rodeo announcer, it’s crazy to think of what the bullfighters go through in the physicality of it!
“I think that he probably made a good decision - get out while you can!” Says Rachel.
There is a lot of great bullfighting schools that are starting to pop up around the country, specifically Bull School hosted by Cody Webster. We are thankful for Blue Jeanes’ time and are excited to see what the next generation will do!
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