Monthly Archives: May 2010
Team roping champions at Redding Rodeo may owe wives dinner out
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Before Clay White and John Chaves could become the surprise team roping champions of the May 13-15 Redding (Calif.) Rodeo, there first had to be a fine bit of teamwork involving Melanie White and Marcey Chaves.
The ropers’ wives are long-time friends who went to university together at Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo and had waged what John Chaves estimated was a six-month campaign “of bugging us” to team up for the spring rodeos in California.
Marcey Chaves ultimately put the partnership in play by buying her husband’s PRCA card in mid-March – without letting him know.
The guys started roping together at Red Bluff, Calif., and it took eight rodeos before they earned their first checks together a week ago with a second-place finish at Woodlake, Calif.
At the Redding Rodeo Grounds they had what was, for both men, a career-best win, claiming the two-head average in the Wrangler Million Dollar Tour rodeo, presented by Justin Boots, and earning $4,296 each.
A surprise? The Redding team roping field had four world champions and 31 competitors who have qualified at least once for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.
“Those guys rope well, and they do it for a living,” Clay White said. “It’s neat to beat them, but they definitely had shots at knocking us off. After slack in the morning, there were four-to-six teams in position to win it, but nobody could put it together.
“We didn’t know we’d won until we called (two-time World Champion Steer Wrestler and Chaves’ lifelong friend) Luke (Branquinho) on the cell phone,” Clay White said. (read more)
Posted in Rodeo News
Leave a comment
Amber Mostoller….BACK IN THE GAME!!
BACK IN THE GAME!!
So we all head to Marion, AR. Kalah and Reed had traveled with me before but Kalah’s friend and the Reed’s friend Cody hadn’t so it was a little bit of a shock to their system I think the fact that when I drive I DON’T stop for anything except fuel lol. Cody tried to be a co-pilot while I was driving but was passed out by oh about 3:00am 
We arrived in Marion at 5:30am and I had forgotten how retarded the side roads are to get to the place….people exiting off the highway have the right away and you have to yield to them crossing over traffic…its completely ridiculous…anyhow we got there, got horses unloaded and Memphis and I jumped in the backseat of a friends truck to make enough room for everyone to sleep and layed down for a few hours. The next day I was on the hunt for someone to put a shoe back on Beea. I was dead last in slack but from the looks of the arena it was REALLY REALLY deep and I wanted to run Beea. She has a freeier running style and I wasn’t sure that I could hustle Chunky enough around the barrels to get out of the ruts. Well NO ONE had shoeing stuff with them or shoes (which ended up being a blessing in disquise) Soo Chunky got the call. I took him in the arena for grand entry and loped a few circles and man was it DEEP. They didn’t have a real drag either just a chain link fence dragging a log so I knew by the time they got to me in slack the ruts were just gonna be filled in with sand and not very well at that 
After the perf they were winning it with a 15.1 and then it jumped to a 15.6 so I knew it was wide open. Most of the “IFR girls and regulars” were in slack so I knew the times were gonna closer and tougher. A girl ran a 14.9 in slack and a couple of the girls that are setting good in the standings were in there with 15.2′s and 15.3′s. Chunky was riding around awesome and I don’t know if could feel me getting distracted or what but during the drag for my run as I was walking him up the alley way (which mind you I had done 3 or 4 times up to this point with no problem) he lunged and TOOK OFF with me into the arena and he was hauling ass. The tractor was in the arena and I was pulling back with everything I had and then it was like he suddenly realized it wasn’t our turn and hit the breaks, which totally caught me off guard…lost both my stirrups and it took everything I had to not go over his head. I jammed my forearm into the saddle horn which caused a huge lump almost instantly and started cussing Chunky under my breath for making me look like a complete GUNSEL. (OK EYE OF THE TIGER… EYE OF THE TIGER) LOL He must of known he was in trouble too…he waited patiently outside the gate for our name to be called and ran hard into the arena for our run. He smoked the 1st barrel, stumbled a tiny bit coming out of it and had a perfect line going to the 2nd…great second barrel and I leaned a little bit away from it to not hip it coming out. We were a little close coming into the 3rd and I got my weight to the outside stirrup and he made more of his pocket coming out, but ran hard home…I heard my time and was immediately overwhelmed….a 14.749…we had just won it by 2 tenths!!
The win meant a lot to me…it wasn’t a huge rodeo but I needed it physically and mentally to get me back to where I needed to be. This win was extra special b/c I won this rodeo on Mighty Mouse back in 2007…I am hoping to start a trend with that…I plan on running Chunky in Altenburg, MO which I won on Mighty Mouse by 3 tenths that same year
The OTRR Crew was there, so there is a pic of us, with Memphis the mascot of course!
Scotty NeSmith, Amber Mostoller, Spencer Turner and of course MEMPHIS!
When I got back to the trailer Sherry was working on Beea and holy crap it was painful to watch…Beea tried to decapitate Sherry on more then one occassion and was out EVERYWHERE….ribs…pelvis…hip…I knew something was a little off but for her to run half as good and she has been and to be out as much as she was just proves how much grit and heart she really has…She is a rodeo horse through and through!! I feel truly blessed to be hauling Chunky and Beea right now and I am very grateful to the Yurko and Leavitt family for putting their faith and trust in me with their horses
Quote of the day: “Sure I am this day we are masters of our fate, that the task which has been set before us is not above our strength; that its pangs and toils are not beyond our endurance. As long as we have faith in our own cause and an unconquerable will to win, victory will not be denied us.”
Posted in Amber Mostoller, Rodeo Updates
Leave a comment
World champions find success at Redding Rodeo
The world champions stole the show in the final performance of the 62nd annual Redding Rodeo on Saturday.
While there was some local Cottonwood flavor here and there at the Redding rodeo grounds, the likes of Luke Branquinho and Taos Muncy were the ones taking home event rodeo titles.
Branquinho, a two-time world champion in steer wrestling, delivered a pair of strong runs. After opening with a 4.4-second time in Saturday morning slack, Branquinho was the last bulldogger out of the chutes in evening with a chance to catch Blake Knowles’ combined 9.6 seconds in the aggregate.
Branquinho laid down a 4.5 to claim the Redding crown with over half a second to spare.
“He tends to step to the left on his runs,” Branquinho said. “So I gave him some room and let my hazer steer him to me. I knew once I got him, he would be a good one to throw down.” (read more)
Posted in Rodeo News
Leave a comment
Spencer Turner…Transmission problems continue.. Part 2
Catch up with Part One
Spencer Turner, Winning Ride at IFR 2009
As soon as I was done riding in Marion, I jumped in the Jeep and headed for Stilwell, OK. It was after 3:30 and Stilwell started at 8:00 and was about 320 miles away. As I mentioned before a few miles before I got to Marion, my transmission started acting a little funny. I was hoping that whatever was wrong would hold out until after I got to Stilwell. Well my hopes didnt last long when, after about 15 miles on the highway my transmission started slipping and then it started jerking the Jeep. It would drive okay for few miles then it would act up again. I just kept on trucking cause I knew it was goin to be close to get to Stilwell before the bronc riding started and either I was gonna make it or I was gonna break down trying. There wasnt much I could do. After an hour of the transmission acting up, I needed fuel and while I was getting off the highway I found an auto parts store. I ran in and got some transmission fix, slip stop additive, I added this hoping it would be a quick, non-expensive fix. My Jeep Grand Cherokee has over 320,000 miles on it, and I have have had it for 4 and half years and put over 200,000 miles on it and havent had any real major problems. I knew this day was coming but didnt really want it to happen now. The additive I put in didnt really help (even though the bottle said immediate results). I continued to drive on to Stilwell the next several hours with the transmission acting up.
I called a buddy that was already at the rodeo to see what horse I had drawn and to see if the rodeo was running on time. He said that I had a horse branded 14, a little mouse colored horse that was OK. I havent really been to any of Rolling B rodeo company’s rodeos that much over the years, so I didnt really know any of the horses. by the time I limped the Jeep into Stilwell it was 8:30. That was plenty of time to get ready, the were in the middle of announcing the queen, which takes a while. We had about 20 minutes or so to get ready. I found my horse and waited for them to load it in the chute. It was a little squirrelly in the chute and the tied it in, just to be safe. The horse was a little hard to set my saddle on, it kept leaning on which ever side I was trying to work on. I finally got pulled and climbed in and nodded. When the gate opened the horse stalled and wouldnt leave. My buddy Jim had just rode and was hurrying back to help me. When the horse stalled, Jim was running to help me and jumped up on the chutes to make the horse leave. When he jumped up on the back of chutes it spooked the horse and it reared up and smashed me and turned on its hind legs and reared out hitting me on the corner post. After all that, the horse bucked alright across the arena, and I finally did my part and got things rolling and spurred pretty good. The horse came to the fence and threw its head up in the air and then turned back and the ride became very Un-fun, but only lasted a couple seconds before the buzzer went off. I was 77 points and that was good enough for a 3rd place. I definately thank the Lord for his Blessing of getting me to the rodeo without breaking down and then riding well and placing.
So I left as soon as I could after I rode so that I could try and start getting my Jeep home. I was planning on making calls or getting a tow somewhere once it finally did quit for good on me, which I figured would be on the way home. After several hundred miles and several hours of driving with it slipping, jerking and other things on the way to Stilwell, I was expecting a long ride home. Well I kept it under 70 miles and hour for most of the trip home then when I got with in 60 miles of home, I drove a little faster, I was very surprised that the whole trip home of 6 hours that my Jeep did not mess up once. That really blew my mind. Im glad I got it home, and now I am going to have to find out whats wrong for sure and try and fix it. It was a very long day, I left at 5 a.m. saturday and drove 1100 miles went to 2 rodeos in 2 states, helped a traveler, I had Jeep problems and made it home my 8 a.m Sunday to spend Mother’s Day with Brandy. Lots of Fun!
Im off to Tennessee this weekend and possibly Oklahoma, Check back for updates… Have a Great Week and God Bless!
Posted in Rodeo Updates, Spencer Turner
Leave a comment
Amber Mostoller… Turning Things Around
TURNING THINGS AROUND
May 7-8th * Elizabethtown, KY & Marion, AR
OK so I went home after Speedwell, TN… BOUND AND DETERMINED to get my head right. Beea and Chunky felt great all week and I got mom to enter Elizabethtown with me!! Mom has been running JB Absolute aka Abby who is the mare that I ran last summer to qualify for the IFR. After Abby got hurt mom bought her back and she has been 100% sounds and running STRONG!! Kalah also entered and I was going to be jumping in with her at Elizabethtown to go on down to Marion (mom didn’t want to go that far when there was a horse show 10 miles from the house she could go to) My little brother had been in town all week so I was excited about getting to spend some time with him as well…we went to the midnight premier of Iron Man 2 on Thursday night…got home at like 3am I got up for work Friday morning…worked half a day…had the farrier out at 2:00pm to reset Chunky got everything loaded and we were on the road by 4:30 to Etown. We had moms Hummer pulling their 3 horse trailer with Mom her husband (Gary the driver)…my little brother (Jacob) Memphis and moms dog Peanut! Needless to say I was glad it was only about an hour down the road lol. When we got there mom and I headed up to the arena to decide on the best plan of attack The arena was long and narrow with the 3rd barrel in the middle of no mans land. The ground was clumpy clay and was a little unlevel. I knew Beea could handle it trashy so i decided to run her…she warmed up horrible…strong and just being a bully and I was really starting to think she was in need of a chiropractor…I got off of her and let her chill for alittle bit, put a different bit back on her and just took it easy with her and she was great. Mom ran before me, had a good run from what I could see and ran a 14.9. Beea went in the arena HARD and snapped back to turn the first barrel and I felt her kind of go down in the front end…she had a decent 2nd and 3rd but I knew our first barrel cost us. We ran a 15.2 and when I got out of the arena she was lame on her left front…she had tore her new shoe off I knew I was gonna have to find a farrier in the next 12 hours or so to shoe her or else I would not take a chance on running her at Marion. Mom left pretty quickly after the rodeo and she ended up 4th overall for her first of many rodeo checks to come on Abby!! I jumped in with Kalah and one of her buddies and we also had two bullriders jump in with us for the 5 hour drive to Marion, AR
* Note from Memphis….Kalah got a new truck so I got thrown in the front of the horse trailer!! Can you believe it?? Someone needs to have a serious talk with mom and let her know MEMPHIS IS NOT A HAPPY CAMPER!
Posted in Amber Mostoller, Rodeo Updates
Leave a comment
Update: Flint Dahl signs Plea Agreement…. Justice for Dually**
Dahl, 23, signs plea agreement
By David Montgomery
Capital Journal staff
Published/Last Modified on Thursday, May 13, 2010 – 12:27:18 am CDT
FORT PIERRE — The Fort Pierre man facing charges in multiple incidents including an alleged horse theft will plead guilty to some of his charges this week in a bargain with the prosecutor.
Flint Dahl, 23, has signed a plea agreement, Stanley County state’s attorney Thomas P. Maher told magistrate judge Mark Smith on Wednesday.
Several points still need to be ironed out, but Maher said he expected to have the agreement filed before Friday morning, when Dahl was scheduled to have a hearing.
“I think between now and Friday this will get resolved,” Maher said to Smith. “Probably we’ll be in touch with you quite soon to cancel Friday and schedule an arraignment or sentencing.”
Maher and Dahl’s attorney Bernard Duffy declined to specify the terms of the agreement Wednesday.
The deal will encompass four separate incidents.
The first, and most serious, is an incident from July 2009 where Dahl is accused of stealing a rodeo horse named Dually from the Stanley County Fairgrounds and causing significant injuries to it while riding it through town.
From this incident he faces a felony grand theft charge and a misdemeanor count of inhumane treatment of an animal.
Dahl also faces misdemeanor charges from three other Stanley County incidents.
An August run-in with a sheriff’s deputy left Dahl charged with threatening a law enforcement officer, obstructing a law enforcement officer and disorderly conduct.
A September incident saw Dahl allegedly crash his pickup truck into a pole and then leave the scene without reporting the accident. He’s charged with hit-and-run property damage, reckless driving and failure to report an accident.
Finally, in November, Dahl was pulled over driving a tractor trailer and having a blood alcohol level of .077 percent, above the .04 percent limit for driving a commercial vehicle. Dahl was charged with driving a commercial vehicle under the influence and lacking a commercial driver’s license.
A drug test after his November arrest resulted in an additional charge of ingesting marijuana.
To learn more about the backstory of this case, please click here
Posted in Justice For Dually
1 Comment
Tana Poppino… May 7th Road Report
We just arrived at Bridgeport, TX, and put up the hotwire so my horses could eat grass till the rodeo starts. We don’t run till in the morning in slack. Goose will get a chance to redeem his self. Then Amigo and I will run at Mineral Wells tomorrow night. We were so blessed this week to draw up so we didn’t have to do any backtracking or late night driving.
We ran yesterday at Jasper in the slack. Why I smooched to Amigo going to the first barrel I’ll never know. Of course he ran by it. He slipped a little on the second, too, so I’ll be lucky if I get even a little check. We were up in the perf last night at Crockett. Great ground! Best I think I’ve ever seen. Sandy, but wet and it held so well. Thanks to the committee for such a great job. Unfortunately, I sat too early on Goose and we got the first barrel, then he got lost and couldn’t find the second. Sooo, we stayed after the perf to work. They had several rerides so it took a while. Goose made two smokin’ runs, I guess the green horse still comes out every so often. That’s rodeo!
Posted in Rodeo Updates, Tana Poppino
Leave a comment
Spencer Turner….Spanish GPS,1100 miles, 2 rodeos, Temperamental Transmission… All in one Day
I haven’t been rodeoing much this year yet, so I thought I would make up for that and enter two rodeos in one day. The only catch is that they were on opposites sides of a state. I decided to enter and IPRA rodeo in Marion, Arkansas at 2 p.m. and then another IPRA rodeo in Stilwell, Oklahoma at 8 p.m. It was gonna be a long day of traveling by myself but I was looking forward to it. I left my house at 5 a.m. to head to Marion which is near West Memphis. As I was heading down I-70, I stopped at a rest area. As I was getting out of my Jeep, a Hispanic guy in his late 20′s approached me. He proceded to tell me that he had this GPS that he did not know how to use it. He wanted to get to Dayton, TN. As I was handed the machine I realized that he had it on the Spanish language settings. I didnt change it to English cause I figured it would take too long to get the map set and then change it back to Spanish, and I thought that I could figure it out, I mean I did take Spanish class in High School (which was 16 years ago haha). So after several minutes of trying to figure it out and occansionally pointing and asking Him “whats this mean?”, I finally got the GPS set for him. He Thanked me and left in his car for Tennessee. As I got back in my Jeep I couldnt help but laugh and think about all the funny and weird things that happen on the road. Later that morning (after I knew Brandy would be awake), I called her and told her the story, She laughed and told me that I should pay more attention when her Girls are watching Dora the Explorer, so I can keep up on my Spanish.
I rolled on down the highway headed to Marion and excited to get on some broncs. Universal Rodeo Company had the stock at this rodeo. I have been to several of their rodeos over the years. They put on both IPRA and PRCA shows and put on good rodeos and have good stock. As I was nearing the end of my 7 hour drive to Marion, AR, I noticed that my Jeep was acting a little funny but it wasnt to bad, and I was only a few miles from rodeo so I just went on to the show.
Once at the show and settled in I found the horse I was to get on. It was branded 24 and was a roan paint. The Contractor Mark Johnson said that the horse was going to be pretty good. A buddy of mine Ty Atchison was there watching and taking a weekend off from rodeoing hard, he is ranked in the top 5 in the PRCA world standings right now, Ty said that he has seen the horse a few times and it was gonna be a good match for me. I was pretty happy with the draw and just plain happy to be rodeing again and especially seeing all my rodeo buddys and the other OnTheRodeoRoad guys and girls, like Amber and Scotty.
OTRR Crew...Scotty, Amber, Spencer and of course our mascot, Memphis
When the horse was in the chute he stood really well. It was a bigger horse and when I climbed in the chute He started leaning on me and squating. Ty helped me get him over off my leg, but we just couldnt get him to stand up. So I called for the gate and nodded my head even though he was squating. When the gate was opening he stood up and reared out and started bucking pretty good. He was bailing high in air but not really kicking really high. I was trying to spur him but I just couldnt get things rolling. My feet were “trapped” in the back and I just couldnt get them to the front. Since my feet were in the back, when he was bucking he kept gettin my chin, (which means he kept throwing my head back). All in all, I was very Dissapointed in my preformance. I should have spurred that horse and won the rodeo, but I didnt and I didnt place. I climbed on the chutes disspointed and sayin how I was still rusty from not goin hard like I usually do, Ty then said that everybody get rusty after time off like I have had and that it will all come back soon enough. I realized He was right and stayed positive and kept my head up and started looking forward the next rodeo (which was over 300 miles away and started in 4 and half hours). I left as soon as I was done riding so I could head to the next rodeo, but the rodeo in Marion is a good one. They have a lot of fair, carnival things to do there and tons of food vendors. but I couldnt stick around, maybe next year.
Posted in Rodeo Updates, Spencer Turner
Leave a comment
Amber Mostoller – A Rough Couple of Weeks
So my last update left off at Lebanon, TN April 17th with Chunky and I pulling a check in spite of my riding like a moron. The following weekend was potentially a HUGE weekend with Paris, TN, Greensboro, GA & Evans, GA (which was the biggest rodeo of the year thus far)
April 23-25th * Paris, TN – Greensboro, GA – Evans, GA
I ran Chunky at Paris as I had Beea reset at the rodeo with new Nikes all the way around…(Thank You Stacy Belt) This arena is always tricky as the ground seems to be different at every barrel and there are sink holes all over the place. Chunky warmed up good and he really worked like a champ. He stumbled a little behind the first and at the 3rd but I was really happy with how he worked…we were sitting 4th when we left (ended up getting bumped out of the money but were just out of it) I had planned the weekend with just Me, Memphis and the ponies, but once I got there a bull rider and couple bareback riders asked to jump in with me so I figured why not…
We headed to Nashville to drop of their cars and then onto Greensboro, GA. I drove from midnight till about 8:00am in the morning before I let one of them drive the remaining hour. We got a good parking spot, I got the horses unloaded, got the generator plugged in and the air going in the trailer and decided to ride a little bit before it got too hot while the guys slept haha…I was in slack at this rodeo and the ground looked HARD AS A ROCK…they didnt have a real drag and it was sure enough HARD. I unplugged the generator at around 4 in the afternoon and waited patiently for the trailer to get HOT and run the guys out so I could attempt to get a few hours of sleep before the rodeo started.
I ran Beea here and she warmed up like her normal ornrey self. She took off hard into the arena and I think the ground kind of shocked her…when she went to set for the first barrel it was just hard and she had nothing to get into so we ended up way past our first barrel with her wheels spinning the entire time trying to get some footing. She figured it out for the 2nd and 3rd, saftied up, and took care of herself but we were way off the pace We left the rodeo pretty much immediatley after I ran and headed to Evans which was only about an hour away. I had heard a couple horror stories about the ground that night and wanted to check it out. We pulled in at about 2 in the morning and got the trailer plugged in (thank you to the rodeo committee for the free electric hookups) It was quite a walk to the arena so I jumped on Chunky bareback and Memphis and I headed up to the arena. I could see the ruts around the stakes and it looked like it got VERY deep. It was supposed to rain that next day as well so I was still unsure of who I wanted to run. The next morning turned into a VERY long day..it was just a weird day for me… I went through two main emotions and they were at opposite ends of the spectrum…I would go from wanting to strangle someone to having that total safe happy feeling…either way not the mind frame I needed to be in before a $3,500 added rodeo. I decided to give Beea another try..I know what she is capable of as she was the one I placed on at the All Region Finals…she warmed up awesome but right before the barrels she started to act a little “off” just stubborn and not wanting to listen. I didn’t know if it was just being stubborn or sore…it was raining when we ran and she was just not a happy camper at all. She FLEW to the first barrel and completely stiffed me on the first barrel Needless to say it was a VERY long 9 hours home. All 3 of my traveling partners for the weekend drew a check at Evans soo not all was lost there
April 30th-May 1st
Well my original plan this weekend was to go to Speedwell, TN on Friday and Lafayette, IN on Saturday. I got in 15 minutes after books opened and Friday was FULL and they wouldn’t take slack unless Saturday filled….well Saturday never filled and this was one of Lonestars Incentive Rodeos soo I decided to just go there on Saturday. Newbie, Kalah Welch entered with me and we decided to hit a horse show on Friday night in Richmond, KY and then we were staying at On The Rodeo Road founders Anne & Leigh Walkups in Lexington, KY Well long story short the horse show was a train wreck for me…Kalah placed 3rd in the 1D though so at least one of us made a little bit…we headed to Lexington to crash at the On The Rodeo Road pad…we got there..put the ponies up for the night and sat on the back porch, talked for a couple hours and just enjoyed the night. We all went to bed around 3am and by 5am the MONSOON came… I think we all jumped out of bed when we heard lightning strike the tree in one of the pastures…I think from that point on it pretty much never stopped raining. We drove through rain to get to Speedwell and it sprinkled on and off all day right up until the rodeo started and then it POURED on us again. This was a covered arena but there was no where to warm up and we do not get in the arena at Lonestar rodeos to warm up. By the time I ran I was completely soaked all the way through…I was on Beea and she was PISSED about being out in the rain…she went in there and worked good, but I over rode her and I was starting to think my problem was not a horse problem but a head problem with me Kalah however kicked ASS…in only her 3rd rodeo with her 5 year old mare she WON IT!! It was a tough rodeo too with some of the top girls in the Lonestar standings there!!. Congrats girl….she has the rodeo bug now and I think she will be going some with me this year
Quote of the day: “Each difficult moment has the potential to open my eyes and open my heart”
Posted in Amber Mostoller, Rodeo Updates
Leave a comment
Lets hear from TANA POPPINO…..
On The Rodeo Road is so HAPPY to annouce that Tana is going to be checking in with us from the road. We will have entries letting us know what is going on with her. We will also have a “get to know Tana” interview in the very near future as well.
She captured the title at Guymon, OK and that has moved her into 3rd place in the NFR standings. The WPRA site reports:
Tana Poppino has a lot of outstanding memories of her time in the Oklahoma Panhandle.
She attended Panhandle State in Goodwell and was part of the rodeo team that has become one of the elite in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association. She can tell stories of Dr. R. Lynn Gardner, the longtime rodeo coach, and of the hours on the road just to compete in the region.
But until May 2, she couldn’t tell of winning the Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo.
“This is just a great experience,” said Poppino of Big Cabin, Okla., in the state’s northeast corner. “It feels good to come to this rodeo and do this well, but it also feels good to have my horse back working well.”
Poppino rode Perryman Star (Amigo) to the title at Oklahoma’s Richest Rodeo and nearly $7,000 in earnings. Amigo missed much of the 2008 season and part of 2009 because of an injury.
“I think my horse is back,” said Poppino, who placed in both go-rounds and won the average. “That’s as good as he’s felt in a long, long time.”
The partners finished with 34.74 seconds on two runs, four-hundredths of a second faster than runner-up Ashley Leifester of Willow Creek, Texas, who split the second go-round victory with Lisa Anderson of Moore, Texas – both cowgirls had a 17.13. 2008 WPRA Rookie of the Year Sydni Blanchard of Albuquerque, N.M., won the opening round with a 17.50.
“This is a really tough place to win because there are always so many great girls here,” said Poppino, who moved to No. 3 in the standings a day after winning the Guymon title. “It’s nice to be able to win this one.” (from WPRA Site)
Here is Tana’s report from On The Rodeo Road:
May 3, 2010 -
The committee at Guymon did a bang-up job with their ground Monday. Eventhough it started out wet & cold, the day turned out sunny and nice,and the ground conditions stayed even throughout the barrel racing slack. Steve Long and his help hosted a hamburger fry for the barrel racers between the rounds. I rode Amigo, and he made an awesome run. Syndi
Blanchard won the round with a 17.50, and we were 17.53, followed very closely by Jill Moody and Dolly with a 17.54.
The second round was run slowest to fastest, so that put us in the Sundayafternoon performance. Running 11th on the ground, I had my doubts, but girls seem to be clocking no matter where they ran, so I was hopeful. All you can do is all you can do any way. Amigo nailed the first, even rocked it, had a good second, and then his third was better than in the first run.
We shut the timer off at a 17.21 or .23 which was good for third in the round. We only had to sweat one run, and Syndi didn’t have as good of run as she did the first time. We won the average. I ran at Guymon’s rodeo while I was in college and it was just a little rodeo, so it is great to finally win it. It’s also a circuit rodeo for me, so the money all counts towards our circuit finals which makes it doubley sweet.
I just got back from a City Council Meeting in Claremore. The rodeocommittee was asking for money and support from the city to help fund their upcoming rodeo. We, as contestants, don’t appreciate what these committee people do to put on rodeos. Wow, it was an eye-opening experience for me.
See ya down the road
Tana Poppino
*Be sure and check back for more from Tana!
Also dont forget to check out our FREE GIVEAWAY, either here or on Facebook.
Posted in Rodeo News, Rodeo Updates, Tana Poppino
1 Comment
