Christmas Money Comes Early

Fourth of July rodeos are the craziest travel time for contestants on the pro rodeo circuit. If you live in the West you saw horse trailers rolling the highways somewhere in the last few days. Two of them carrying Wyoming athletes pulled into Greeley, CO yesterday for the finals at the Stampede – the largest of the “Cowboy Christmas” purses. Both left with pockets full of cash.

Brandie Halls and her trusty steed Slim won the barrel racing average in Greeley with a total time of 52.33 seconds in three runs. The Carpenter, WY resident, and Torrington area native, ran at speeds good enough for money in each round and total winnings of over $8,400. Just to give you a thumbnail of how the travel miles accumulate during the first week of July, Brandie headed to Steamboat Springs, CO for a rodeo last night. She took her inexperienced horse, Lizzy, out for that run that really was difficult because of the fireworks and crowd noise. On top of those impediments, the wind kicked up and blew the timing eye down during the run. Back to the travel: Brandie’s been to Red Lodge, Montana and Cody, Wyoming in addition to Greeley over the last few days. She’s headed to Utah today and will return to Steamboat this weekend.

Casper team roper Jhett Johnson heeled his way to the Greeley pay window to pick up nearly $5,800 along with heading pard Keven Daniel. They took the average title with a total time of 17.4 on three head. Jhett has now moved up to 26th in the world standings and hopes to close in on the coveted top 15 within a few weeks. He has the honor of hauling a horse trailer widely, and colorfully, adorned with Wyoming scenery and a big picture of the Johnson family. They live west of Casper on a ranch that dates to the late 1800s.

Another member of the Wyoming rodeo athlete sponsorship program supported by the state tourism office is Jason Miller – a steer wrestler from Lance Creek. His year is getting better quickly after Greeley. He left the Stampede with a cool $6,000 and a startling vault in the standings, now in the 26th spot.