2022 Utah Days of 47 Rodeo Program

2022 Utah Days of 47 Rodeo Program

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4 | JULY 2021 | 800.XXX.XXXX | WWW.WCRARODEO.COM A MESSAGE FROM WCRA PRESIDENT BOBBY MOTE Where else in the sports world, can you see a full-time ICU Nurse, Las Vegas Trick Riders, a 54-year-old bull rider, and the pros in the same arena? You can’t and it just doesn’t happen anywhere else in sports. WCRA is proud of what it has built, and we only foresee continued growth in the community. W elcome to the Utah Days of ’47 Rodeo. The World WCRA’s base of athletes is larger than any one rodeo organization in the world. From schoolteachers, to minister, to retired Las Vegas trick riders mixed with the most accomplished rodeo processionals, WCRA is able to deliver the most diverse collection of athletes the industry of rodeo has ever seen. Champions Rodeo Alliance (WCRA) is proud to partner with Days of ’47 and bring athletes to the City of Saints for the fi straight year.

WCRA is the only rodeo organization on network television with over 8.6 million viewers in the last two years. Fans will be able to relive the action of the Gold Medal Round on A CBS Network Broadcast on July 31 We hope you enjoy your night at the rodeo as you witness the best collec- tion of athletes in the world who have Climbed the WCRA Leaderboard by competing in thousands of qualifying events across North America to earn a position in this event. We appreciate you and we look forward to enter- taining you in one of the best arenas built for rodeo in the heart of Salt Lake City.

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WCRA PRESIDENT - 4X WORLD CHAMPION BAREBACK RIDER - ProRodeo Hall of Famer

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Welcome to the World’s Only Gold Medal Rodeo in the heart of Salt Lake City. We are thrilled that you have joined us. The Utah Days of ’47Rodeo has become a must stop on the summer rodeo schedule for contestants from the junior high level all the way to the pros of the sport as they vie for gold, silver and bronze medals awarded to the top three, set- ting this rodeo apart from any other rodeo in the world. The 2022 rodeo will mark the seventh time in the history of rodeo where riders will have an opportunity to compete for Gold, Silver or Bronze Medals. The first two times were in conjunction with the Olympic Winter Games in Calgary (1988) and Salt Lake City (2002), when rodeo was part of the Cultural Olympiad and the other four times being the Days of ’47Rodeo in2017-2019. The medals awarded at the Utah Days of ‘47 Rodeo are produced by OC Tanner, the same company that made the Olympic medals for the champions of the 2002 Olympic

CONTENTS July 2022

2 President’s Welcome 5 Welcome to UDO47 6 UDO47 History & Board 8 About WCRA 10 Women’s Rodeo Feature 16 Who’s Triple Crown Eligible?

24 Bareback Riding 28 Steer Wrestling 32 Team Roping

36 Saddle Bronc Riding 42 Breakaway Roping 46 Triple Crown of Rodeo Feature 52 Barrel Racing 54 Bull Riding 60 WCRA Social Media 64 UDO47 Schedule of Events

Winter Games. The Utah Days of ’47 Cowboy Rodeo will once again be a stop on the WCRA Triple Crown of Rodeo (TCR). The TCR is an annual bonus that pays $1 million to any one athlete or collection of athletes who wins the Event Championship of the same discipline in any three consecutive WCRA Major Rodeos. In addition to the Gold Medal Ro- deo, fans are encouraged to enjoy the historical exhibits, commer- cial exhibitors, great food, carni-

val and pony rides and preshow activities in the area including the Young Guns Rodeo featuring the future stars of the sport. Fun Zone activities open at 4:30 p.m. daily and is free to the public. The Young Guns Rodeo will take place in the main arena beginning at 4:30 p.m., and a rodeo ticket will be required for admission. Rodeo action begins at 7:30 p.m. nightly followed by fireworks. We also invite everyone to visit the larger-than-life Lewis Feild Bronze at the Days of’47 Arena, saluting Feild’s significant impact on the state of Utah and Profes- sional Rodeo. While in town be sure to experience all the amazing things Utah has to offer like world class golf, hiking, fishing, rafting and much more. You won’t be disappointed. For more information visitwww. utahdaysof47rodeo.comand follow Day of 47 Rodeo on social media.

FEATURES 10 WCRA SWINGS DOOR WIDE OPEN FOR WOMEN IN RODEO The World Champions Rodeo Alliance lives up to its #AllForRodeo hashtag. Based on the belief that talented rodeo athletes deserved better than the same old status quo, Team WCRA set out to raise the rodeo bar in a big way. Since its debut 46 A MILLIONS REASONS TO LOVE THE

TRIPLE CROWN OF RODEO There aren’t many cowboys or cowgirls who’ve won $1 million or more in their en- tire careers. Considering the stats on how rare that really is, the World Champions Rodeo Alliance’s $1 million Triple Crown of

Rodeo presented by the Lazy E Ranch and Arena is borderline mind boggling. The $1 Triple Crown of Rodeo is an annual bonus that’s up for grabs to any rodeo ath- lete, or group of athletes, who manages to win three straight WCRA majors. To date, two contestants—tie-down roper Riley Webb and breakaway roper Tacy Kay Webb, Published by: Cowboy Publishing, a Morris Communications Company Magazine Group John Lunn / Publisher & Vice President, Morris Enthusiast Group mobile/text: 512-470-7447 | office: 817-569-7116 | [email protected]

16-24 Triple Crown of Rodeo Eligible Athletes

Kyle Jones / Editor / Director of Communications World Champions Rodeo Alliance Phone: 512.306.3310 Email: [email protected]

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Setting the

in Banking and Rodeo

~ Nearly 150 years of experience ~ Utah’s oldest financial institution ~ Only local bank with a statewide distribution of local branches ~ Understands how to guide the financial reins ~ Staff of experts eager to help you make the 8-second whistle and reach your full financial potential. A longtime partner, Zions Bank has contributed well over $1 million to the Utah Days of ’47 Rodeo helping to keep Utah’s pioneer heritage alive and well in the Salt Lake Valley.

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S ince launching in May of 2018, the World Champions Rodeo Alliance (WCRA) and its partners have awarded over $13.0 million in new money to rodeo athletes. Qualifying is based on points, rather than dollars won, through our world ranking points system. T he WCRA is a professional sport and entertainment entity, created to devel- op and advance the sport of rodeo by aligning all levels of competition. In part- nership with PBR, WCRA produces major rodeo events, developing additional opportunities for rodeo industry competitors, stakeholders and fans.

WORLD CHAMPIONS RODEO ALLIANCE

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didn’t barrel race.

young girls and everybody else,” Guy continued grateful- ly. “The WCRA gives us all the same opportunities, and I think that’s awesome. The WCRA will succeed because the people who are behind it are going to do everything they can to make it work for the cowboys and cowgirls—all cowboys and cowgirls.” Texas ICU nurse Tacy Kay Webb lit up Utah State Fairpark last summer. After helping this great nation navigate a world- wide pandemic from the front lines, Webb used a few days of well-deserved time off to make the trek to Salt Lake and take on the world in her signature event of breakaway roping. Webb is yet another example of why the WCRA works for talented rodeo athletes from all walks of and stages in life. “Working three days a week and my team at work being su- per supportive is what lets me make it work and balance my

job at the hospital with rodeo,” Tacy Kay said of her work fam- ily at St. Joseph Health Region- al Hospital in Bryan, Texas. “My co-workers have been really nice about trying to help me out, so I can rope some. I try to pay them back in small ways, like working Sunday nights when I get back from rodeos, so they can have the night off. “When I think back on that night (she won the 2021 Days of ’47 Rodeo), it still makes me smile. To get a standing ova- tion with so much emotion was amazing, because I know there were a lot of nurses, doctors and front-line workers in the crowd there that night who know what we went through.” Webb is from a well-known rodeo family, but her parents raised Tacy Kay and her pilot brother with the philosophy that there’s more to life than rodeo. And their daughter was born with a passion for helping others. She left Salt Lake City—

“When I was growing up, I was told to go to school and get my degree, which I did,” she said. “After college, there wasn’t much a woman could do roping when it came to actually making a living. But I always loved to rope and make hors- es. There was no way anyone could tell me I couldn’t make a living with my rope.” She refused to take no for an answer. And when Texas-na- tive Guy took home $79,000 from the 2021 Women’s Ro- deo World Championship at the South Point in Las Vegas, including the team roping title she won with Colorado’s Jimmi Jo Montera, Guy was blown away when millions of main- stream sports fans watched the women of rodeo work on CBS. Yes, for the first time in history, a women’s event be- came one of the most viewed rodeos of all time. “What’s so great about the WCRA is the opportunity that it brings to all women—pro- fessional cowgirls, stay-at- home moms, career women,

By: Kendra Santos WCRA SWINGS DOOR WIDE OPEN FOR WOMEN IN RODEO

The World Champions Rodeo Alliance lives up to its #All- ForRodeo hashtag. Based on the belief that talented rodeo athletes deserved better than the same old status quo, Team WCRA set out to raise the rodeo bar in a big way. Since its debut in May of 2018, ro- deo contestants have cashed checks totaling more than $12 million—and counting. No one has benefitted more from the WCRA movement than women, and they could not appreciate it more. breakaway roping here at the $562,500 Utah Days of ’47 Rodeo at Utah State Fairpark, is the perfect poster person to prove this point. With an im- pressive showing that earned her all-around cowgirl honors Texas cowgirl Hope Thomp- son, who’ll compete in the

at the $750,000 Women’s Rodeo World Championship in Fort Worth in May, Thompson is now the winningest rodeo athlete in WCRA history—man or woman—with $207,200. “The day a girl can rope for a living is here—the WCRA is why,” Thompson said. “That I’ve won more than $200,000 at these events alone is unbe- lievable in one way. But on the other hand, it’s totally believ- able, because this opportunity is for real. The WCRA made this possible. None of us will ever forget that.” Thompson dragged down a whopping $99,660 at the in- augural Women’s Rodeo World Championship, which was held in 2020 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

“This is life-changing money,” she said, visibly stunned by the size of the windfall win. “It’s a great time for women in rodeo. It’s literally exploding, and the WCRA has everything to do with that.” Thompson travels with a living legend Lari Dee Guy, who has as much perspective as anyone on the monumental progress and growth set in motion by the WCRA. “When the WCRA got going, huge things happened,” said Guy, who’ll also be breakaway roping here in Salt Lake City. “People started looking differ- ently at women in rodeo.” The National Cowgirl Hall of Famer grew up in a time when there wasn’t much financial future for women in rodeo who

“The day a girl can rope for a living is here.” - Hope Thompson

TACY KAY WEBB AT RODEO CORUS CHRISTI

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good to take for granted.”

lives, dreaming that the day would come when their dedica- tion would be rewarded. “I’ve had this dream that wom- en can rope for a living, and it’s here,” said Crawford, who’s the mother of two young children. “This is big money, and it’s real money. You can win enough at one of these major WCRA rodeos (including Days of ’47) to compare to maxing out in a couple good years in the past. What’s not to love about what’s happening here?” So appropriately, Crawford was the all-around champ at the WCRA’s inaugural Women’s Rodeo World Championship. “It’s such an exciting time to be a part of this sport,” she said. “To get to raise another little girl (Jackie and cowboy husband Charly’s baby girl, Journey) who gets to take advantage of what these girls—the women who

came before me, and the young girls now—have paved the way for just makes me so proud. I want women to know they can have it all. It’s hard, and it’s challenging. But I can do it, and so can they.” To think of what women pio- neers of eras past would give for what the WCRA has done for women today is awe-inspiring. The Jackie Crawfords and Lari Dee Guys have seen enough to get that. “Watching what the younger generation is getting to do and where our sport’s headed from here gives me joy,” Guy added. “Where will this all be when I’m sitting on the couch watching? I remember when having 15 girls show up to rope at a rodeo was pretty good. Now we’re roping for hundreds of thousands of dollars. For that I am very grateful.”

Kinsel is a renowned minimal- ist when it comes to how hard she hauls her horses. A blonde bomber she calls Sister is her headliner horse. But Hailey had only ridden Sister at four rodeos when she stormed the WCRA’s 2022 Women’s Rodeo World Championship earlier this year on another palomino wonder horse, Jules, whom she bor- rowed from special friends and fellow Texans Donna and Da- mon Hodges. “Donna and Damon thought maybe Sister needed a backup,” Hailey grinned in the Fort Worth winner’s circle. “Jules deserves this success, and I’m proud to be a part of her family. Jules is the story of a horse people believed in.” The same can be said for her four-legged superstar Sister, who started as a moth- er-daughter project for Leslie and Hailey Kinsel. For Hailey, the beauty of the WCRA is offering contestants big money on big stages minus the miles of tradi- tional, full-tilt travel. Jackie Crawford is a 20-time world champion cowgirl with a miles-long resume and a little bit of gypsy blood. She’s also the only rodeo athlete never to miss a WCRA major. Like Lari Dee, Jackie’s spent most of her career competing for the love of the game more than the monetary compensa- tion that was so sorely lacking. They’ve worked hard all their

and hurried home to be right on time for her next shift at the hospital—with $27,800 jingling in her jeans. It’d take a lot of shifts at the hospital to make that much money, but Webb considers rodeo her outlet, not her income. “Nothing compared to my win here in Salt Lake City last year,” Webb said. “Money-wise, that win was in a league of its own. I knew I wanted to be a nurse, because I’m such a people person. Taking care of people and comforting them and their families in hard times makes me happy. “We all travel at different paces, and I’m not one of the hard-core girls who stays gone all the time. I just try to pick and choose and get to some of the best rodeos. My parents have always told me that rodeo will always be there and can always be fun. They

said, ‘Rodeo’s a great lifestyle, but it doesn’t need to be your livelihood.’ It makes it more fun for me not to have to win to eat. I never want to look at it like that. I want it to be fun. I love that the WCRA gives us all a chance to compete at the highest level, whether we want to burn up the roads and hit it hard or not.” Webb is one of the hottest hands in the sport right now, and yet she’s made up her mind when it comes to priori- ties. “I love to rope, but my job and helping people mean so much to me,” Tacy Kay said. “I see really sad stuff all the time at the hospital, and it makes everything else seem smaller. I enjoy helping people with their battles and when life is really hard. My background in rodeo helps me be a better nurse, too. You have to be able to think

fast on your feet as a nurse. Rodeo has taught me to react quickly to whatever’s thrown at me, and that comes in handy at the hospital.” Three-time World Champion Barrel Racer Hailey Kinsel of Cotulla, Texas, has basically done it all and won it all in her professional rodeo career. The two-time Days of ’47 titlist will be back at Utah State Fairpark to battle it out with the best in the business, and the relative latecomer to the WCRA party likes what she sees. “I feel so fortunate to have come along in the bloom of rodeo,” Kinsel said after her $63,400 win at the 2022 Women’s Rodeo World Cham- pionship. “I got so lucky with the timing of my career. A win like this will pay for a lot of fuel this summer. We all need to be thankful for opportunities like this one. They really are too

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THE SPUR STROKE The athlete displays his abilities and control of the ride through his spurring motion. The spur stroke starts above the shoulders and rolls back to the riggin. Timing is everything. The athlete wants his feet set above the shoulders, before the horse’s front feet hit the ground.

THE MARK OUT It all starts with the Mark Out. The athlete must have the heels of his boots in contact with the horse’s neck, when the horse’s front feet hit the ground on the first jump. Not doing so will result in a score deduction of five points per side.

BAREBACK

Bareback Riding is a judged event in which 50 points come from the horse and 50 points come from the athlete. The perfect score is 100. Horses are scored on how hard they buck, how high they jump, how hard they kick, and the strength of the drop and roll. The greater degree of difficulty, the higher the score. Highest score wins. SCORING THE RIDE

RIDING 101

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THE HEAD CATCH Reaching speeds up to 30 miles per hour, the athlete moves his horse alongside the steer which weighs in at nearly 600 pounds. The athlete then jumps from his horse to grab the steer by the horns.

TECHNIQUE With a blend of brute strength and timing the athlete stops the steer, uses his left arm to grab the nose and wrestles the steer to the ground.

THE BARRIER

The barrier is the starting line, starts the clock and gives the livestock the allotted head start. If the athlete breaks the barrier before the steer, a five second penalty is added to the time.

THE HAZER

Meanwhile this guy, known as the Hazer, runs on the other side to keep the steer moving in a straight line. STEER WRESTLING 101

When all four of the steer’s legs are off the ground and pointing in the same direction, the Official drops the flag and the time stops. The fastest time wins! FASTEST TIME WINS

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THE DALLY

THE HEELER

THE HEAD CATCH There are three legal head catches; clean around the horns, around the head or a half head. Any other catch results in a no time.

The header makes the HEAD CATCH, dallies his rope to the saddle horn and leads the stock to the left.

The team consists of a Header who is responsible for catching the head of the livestock and the Heeler, responsible for catching the back feet or heels of the stock.

THE BARRIER

The barrier is the starting line, it starts the clock and also allows the stock a head start. If the Header breaks the barrier before the stock, a five second penalty is added to the time.

TEAM

The Heeler then attempts to catch both hind feet. Not doing so will result in a five second penalty, a miss of the heels would result in a no time. Once both the head and the heels are caught and the horses are facing one another, the Official drops the flag and the time is stopped. The fastest time wins! FASTEST TIME WINS

ROPING 101

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THE MARK OUT It all starts with the Mark Out. The athlete must have the heels of his boots in contact with the horse’s neck, when the horse’s front feet hit the ground on the first jump. Not doing so will result in a score deduction of five points per side.

TECHNIQUE

The athlete uses a specialized saddle and holds on to a bronc rein with one hand. He uses his free arm for balance. Touching himself or the stock with the free hand results in disqualification.

28 | JULY 2021 | 800.XXX.XXXX | WWW.WCRARODEO.COM SADDLE BRONC RIDING 101

Saddle Bronc Riding is a judged event in which 50 points come from the horse and 50 points come from the athlete. The perfect score is 100. Horses are scored on how hard they buck, how high they jump, how hard they kick, and the strength of the drop and roll. The greater degree of difficulty, the higher the score. Highest score wins. SCORING THE RIDE

SPUR MOTION

The athlete is scored by the officials on how well he can control the ride and the spur stroke. From high in the neck all the way to the back of the saddle. That’s called the spur stroke. Timing is everything. The athlete wants his feet set above the shoulders, before the horse’s front feet hit the ground.

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THE HEAD CATCH As soon as the stock is caught, the horse stops and the rope breaks-away from the saddle horn. Anything other than a clean catch – results in a disqualification.

THE BARRIER The barrier serves as a starting line which starts the time and gives the livestock a head start. If the athlete crosses the barrier before the stock gets the head start, a penalty of five seconds will be added to the time.

BREAKAWAY ROPING 101

FASTEST TIME WINS

The Athlete’s rope is secured to the saddle horn with only a soft piece of string. When the rope breaks-away from the saddle and the Official drops the flag, the time is stopped. The athlete who catches the stock the fastest is the winner!

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Riley Webb at the 2022 Utah Days of ‘47

School Rodeo Associ- ation tie-down roping titlist put himself into Triple Crown contention by winning back-to-back WCRA majors in Guthrie, Oklahoma and Corpus Christi, Texas leading up to last summer’s Days of ’47. The stage was set. “For anybody to get to rope for a million dollars is amazing—to have that opportunity at my age is unbelievable,” Webb said. “To even be includ- ed in the talk of being the youngest millionaire in rodeo is just incredi- ble.”

pots and rodeos to earn points to get into the WCRA majors, and rope against the top guys in the world for life-chang- ing money is outstand- ing.” What does he mean by nominating events, you ask? Contestants qual- ify to compete at WCRA majors, like this week’s $562,500 Utah Days of ’47 Rodeo, by nom- inating events they’re already competing in. In other words, they earn points at events, and those points in turn punch their ticket into WCRA majors. It’s kind

He took his shot at the million, and came up short when he missed his calf. It happens, and a lot of hearts sank when his loop hit the dirt. But all the head- lines and hype that led up to that moment were amazing for the Texas teen and sport itself. Progress is not only possible—it has arrived. “The WCRA has al- lowed me to compete at the highest level at an early age,” said Webb, who lives in Denton, Tex- as. “For me to be able to nominate open jack-

BY: KENDRA SANTOS A Million Reasons to Love the Triple Crown of Rodeo

There aren’t many cow- boys or cowgirls who’ve won $1 million or more in their entire careers. Con- sidering the stats on how rare that really is, the World Champions Ro- deo Alliance’s $1 million Triple Crown of Rodeo presented by the Lazy E Ranch and Arena is bor- derline mind boggling.

Rodeo is an annual bo- nus that’s up for grabs to any rodeo athlete, or group of athletes, who manages to win three straight WCRA majors. To date, two contes- tants—tie-down roper Ri- ley Webb and breakaway roper Tacy Kay Webb, no relation—have taken their shot at the lucra- tive, ground-breaking pot of gold.

Both won two consecu- tive events, and were on the brink of breaking the bank to their benefit. At 17, Riley was the first to take his shot at becom- ing the youngest cow- boy millionaire in rodeo history, and he went for it right here at the Utah State Fairpark.

The $1 Triple Crown of

The 2020 National High

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TACY KAY WEBB AT RODEO CORUS CHRISTI

of like legal, legit dou- ble-dipping. And the $1 million Triple Crown of Ro- deo bonus is the biggest cherry on top imaginable, especially to a teenager without a long track re- cord. . Riley has roped his whole life. He also en- joyed other sports as a young boy, but opted out of baseball at 11 to go all- in on his roping and rodeo

dreams.

ple in my corner who’ve helped me get here. It takes lots of hard work and a good attitude—no matter what happens, good or bad—to make it in this world. My mom and grandma have helped me a lot with that. When you mess up, it’s over and you have to just move on to the next one.” Riley did all the right things to get ready for his

“Doing anything else but roping started to feel like a waste of time,” he remembers. “When I was 12 or 13, I started to have success and realize I was kind of good. I was at ropings and rodeos with my mom and dad all the time, and had a rope in my hand 24-7.

“I’ve had a lot of peo-

$1 million shot here last summer.

be faster than everyone else.”

“I was excited, but I didn’t feel nervous,” Ri- ley said. “A lot of people never win a million dollars in their whole career, so I knew it was amazing to even be talking about a chance like that. When we compete at any big event, we just have to have con- fidence in all the hard work and practice we’ve put in. All any of us can do is our best. “I don’t like losing, and that pushes me harder to try and be faster. I’m al- ways trying to get better at my roping. Bottom line, if you want to win, you have to figure out how to

“I practiced hard, so my horses and me showed up in good shape and prepared,” he said. “I had to look at Days of ’47 and that $1 million calf as just another run at just an- other rodeo. All I could do was my job and my best. I showed up with a good attitude, and took my shot. Everything had been clicking for me. I was ready.” He may have been too young to have the per- spective of a seasoned veteran. But the kid kept his cool.

Tacy Kay Webb was just the second rodeo ath- lete—and the first wom- an—to take a shot at the $1 million Triple Crown of Rodeo when she went for all the marbles in May at the $550,000 Rodeo Cor- pus Christi. Webb first struck WCRA gold right here in Salt Lake City, when she last July won the Days of ’47 breakaway roping gold medal. She made it two in a row with the W at the $360,000 Cowtown Christmas Championship Rodeo in Fort Worth last

3X WCRA CHAMPION, RILEY WEBB

Webb took victory laps in Salt Lake and Fort Worth with only 30 per- cent of the vision in that left eye. She then had a second surgery imme- diately following her win at Cowtown Christmas last December to “get a prosthetic iris and change out the lens in my eye.” Less than 200 people in the United States have a prosthetic iris. Tacy Kay’s still super light-sensitive, so often wears sunglass- es. “My left eye is much bet- ter now, and we’re hoping to get it back to being re- ally good,” Tacy Kay said. “It’s been a running joke that I might rope better with one eye.” Like Riley, Tacy Kay chose not to focus on the money, drama or pressure that mounts with $1 mil- lion on the line. Instead, she showed up ready to rope and grateful for the chance to ring the $1 mil- lion bell.

Webb said. “I went into it trying to look at it with an open mind and an open heart. The opportunity to rope for that much mon- ey was something we all dream about. It’s amaz- ing, and I owe the WCRA all the credit for building that stage. All I could do from there was enjoy it, and if it worked out, it worked out.” She might not have won the million—yet. But she’s still as bullish as ever on the WCRA and all it stands for.

“The WCRA fits me, because I can pick and choose where I want to rope,” Tacy Kay said. “I don’t have to go to 75-100 rodeos a year, like a lot of girls do, to get the chance to rope for big money. The WCRA helps people in the working class who rodeo. The WCRA has changed the game for people like me.” Who will take the next swing at superstardom and the $1 million Triple Crown of Rodeo? We’ll find out right here at ro- deo’s end!

Webb came up one-hun- dredth of a second short of advancing to the Triple Crown of Rodeo Round in Corpus Christi. It was a heart breaker for her, but Webb’s seen enough heartache as an ICU nurse to know that a near- miss at a rodeo is nothing to hang your head about in the grand scheme of life. Though she never com- plains, Webb has had her own adversity to over- come. In October of 2020, a rope broke in the prac- tice pen and popped back hard, hitting Webb in the face, neck and arm. “It tore up my arm, but what was terrifying is that I couldn’t see out of my left eye,” Tacy Kay remembers well. “I could only see dark and light. They had to wait awhile to do anything about it, be- cause there was so much blood. I had surgery on my birthday in November, and got about 30 percent of my vision back.”

chance to get to try was amazing,” Tacy Kay said. “I thank the WCRA for letting the breakaway rop- ers come be a part of this and for highlighting wom- en rodeo athletes. All the good words in the world are still not enough for the chance I was given by the WCRA.”

December. Webb was one major away from becom- ing the first female over- night millionaire in rodeo history. Webb was overwhelmed by the opportunity.

“The Triple Crown is an amazing opportunity,”

“I knew that even if I didn’t win the million, the

FASTEST TIME WINS

For a barrel racer, communication with the horse is paramount. Using their hands and feet, the rider will cue the horse to turn in the desired direction. At speeds nearing 30 mph it’s important to maintain control to make tight turns for a safe and successful run. COMMUNICATION

SPEED & PRECISION

BARREL

Horse and Rider maneuver through a fixed pa tern of three barrels, with the goal to be the fastest to the finish line - timed to the thousandth of a second. If they happen to knock over a barrel during the run, it results in a five second penalty per barrel.

RACING 101

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Bull Riding is a judged event in which 50 points come from the bull and 50 points come from the athlete. The perfect score is 100. Bulls are scored on how hard they buck, how high they jump, how much they spin. The greater degree of difficulty, the higher the score. Highest score wins. SCORING THE RIDE

THE BULL ROPE The athlete uses a leather glove and holds on to a braided rope. The athlete holds on with one hand and may not touch the animal or himself with the free hand. Doing so, would result in disqualification.

BULL

BODY POSITION The athlete’s body should be parallel with the bull’s. Working in sync to reduce the G-force produced by the massive animal. A bull rider’s ultimate display of control is when he uses the spur stroke and is often rewarded with a higher score.

RIDING 101

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