To say it’s a long way to Las Vegas is an understatement.
The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association sanctions nearly 600 events in 37 states and three Canadian provinces every year that pay out nearly $40 million in total prize money. Thousands of cowboys and cowgirls — there are more than 7,000 members and 5,300 active competitors — enter upwards of 100 rodeos and, in some cases, drive as many as 100,000 miles in hopes of being among the Top 15 contestants in each of the disciplines.
check out our premium collection
Reigning world champion barrel racer Fallon Taylor averages 93,000 miles a year in her truck — 75,000 of which she personally drives herself — pulling her horse behind in a trailer. Taylor says she averages “two blowouts per month.” In a typical year, reigning tie-down roping champ Tuf Cooper covers 65,000 miles of blacktop. He saves time by flying to some events if his horse can hitch a ride in someone else’s trailer.
For Taylor, Cooper, and the other reigning world champions — Kaycee Feild, Luke Branquinho, Clay Tryan, Jade Corkill, Spencer Wright, and Sage Kimzey among them — the miles are worth it. Because the payoff is to be among the top athletes who reach the pinnacle of rodeo, which is the chance to compete at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, held every December at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
The Midnight Troubadour
Tough and timeless, this polo is built for the long ride. Featuring a crisp, non-collapsing collar and a rugged, stretchy fabric, it's the perfect shirt for any cowboy's wardrobe.
“The history of the Wrangler National Finals is traditional,” says PRCA Commissioner Karl Stressman, “but it continues to create this great excitement every year. Even during the year, when people are either attending, competing in, or producing rodeos, that brass ring in the conversation always seems to get around to the Wrangler National Finals and what it means.
“The ultimate goal is to leave the Wrangler National Finals with a gold buckle on,” Stressman says. “Those rodeos [leading up to the NFR] claim those moments, where the tie-down roping champion had a win at their particular rodeo. It creates an atmosphere that pushes the competitors toward [the world championship]. When you look at the rodeo industry — fortunately or unfortunately, I’m not sure which — it’s 365 days a year.”
Along the way are plenty of other memorable rodeos with a century or more of history, tradition, and pageantry. From Denver to Fort Worth and Cheyenne to Pendleton, the PRCA sanctions some of the most prestigious rodeos in the world. But some of the top-rated rodeo athletes also log miles traveling south to RodeoHouston and north of the border to the Calgary Stampede — two world-renowned independent rodeos.
The following is a mini-guide to some of our favorites that deliver the romance of rodeo to everyone from dyed-in-the-wool loyalists to casual city slickers.
National Western Stock Show
Next One: January 9 – 24, 2016
Venue: Denver Coliseum
Established: The rodeo came about in 1931, 25 years after the livestock and horse show began in 1906.
Noteworthy: The PRCA stock contractors have included none other than Gene Autry.
“I always looked at Denver as the first rodeo of the year,” says nine-time world champion Ty Murray, who admires rodeos like the National Western that are steeped in tradition. “That was the first big one that started every year off. It was usually snowy and cold. We rodeoed for a living and we were going to go no matter what, and I remember Denver was the place that was like a New Year’s resolution. That’s where everybody was starting out the New Year and that was the year they were really going to go for it. Everybody and their dog went to Denver because they were all going to see what kind of luck they could have, but, for us, it was just the first in a year of rodeoing. It’s always nice to go do good at Denver because that just meant you had a little bit of a head start in the race.
“[Denver’s] always a knowledgeable crowd and a nostalgic crowd,” Murray says. “With the livestock show and everything connected to it, it felt nostalgic. When you’re competing there, it’s one of those things where you feel like all the greats that have come before you have been there, and you feel that in the building. In music, you could compare that to the Austin City Limits Music Festival or the [Grand Ole] Opry. It has that feel. You know there’s people that you looked up to that have been there before you.”
Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo
Next One: January 15 – February 6, 2016
Established: 1896
Venue: Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth, Texas
Distinguishing Characteristic: The “World’s Original Indoor Rodeo” hosts seven “specialty rodeos” along with 29 PRCA competitions.
“My husband [Billy Minick] used to have a rodeo company,” says rodeo personality and 1973 Miss Rodeo America Pam Minick. “He was born and raised in Fort Worth, so when he got the contract and came back, he said his proudest moment was leading the grand entry when they said, ‘Produced by Billy Minick.’ So my proudest moment at the Fort Worth Stock Show doesn’t even involve me, but it makes me so proud for him because I can only imagine how proud we would have felt having grown up as a kid watching the Fort Worth Stock Show and then riding in it.
“They used to have entertainment, and [Billy] remembers Gene Autry riding his horse up on the piano, so the history goes deep,” she says. “They still have zero signs in the arena — no sponsor signs in the arena at all. That arena wall looks the same now if you were to compare it to 1966. The only difference is, it was in black-and-white.”
Make sure to walk through the livestock barns, where there are 28,000 head of world-class livestock on exhibit. The Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show 60th Annual Select Breeders Quarter Horse Sale will take place on Saturday, February 6. In addition to the barns, everyone has 23 days to experience Western history, tradition, and heritage spread out over 4 acres of exhibition and shopping space.
Rodeo Houston
Next One: March 1 – 20, 2016
Established: 1932
Venue: NRG Park
Most Memorable Moment: George Strait drew a crowd of 80,000 fans for his concert in 2013.
“In 1997, I was 14 years old and I won that rodeo,” says reigning world champion barrel racer Fallon Taylor. “It was my first major rodeo win, and it was actually in the Astrodome. It was the most exciting thing I had ever accomplished in my career, at that time.
Source: https://www.cowboysindians.com/2015/10/the-romance-of-rodeo/