The Team Roping Journal

Team Roping Journal educates and entertains readers who actively participate in the sport. We help you to obtain the best results with step-by-step instruction in how to perform at a higher level and win more often. After all, we all know that while the heart is in the land and on the ranch, the ego is alive and well when it comes to besting your friends in the arena.

Dear Roper

The Team Roping Journal

THANKS, BLUE BOY • Apache Blue Boy long held the No. 1 position as team roping's top earning horse—having won six AQHA world titles and six reserve world titles. Owned by Mike Row, Apache Blue Boy amassed 1,719.5 points along the way, Notably, he's the sire of Apache R Hali, the gray mare that helped both Kollin VonAhn and Junior Nogueirae to gold buckles. He passed away on Jan. 11, 2023, at 28 years old.

JACK$ONVILLE • East Coast standouts Clint Keller and Adam Plyler won the Open at the NTRL Finals produced by JX2 Productions in Jacksonville, Florida, with a time of 31.95 seconds on four head, worth $4,900,

3-PEAT • Clay Smith and Jake Long both won their third National Western Stock Show and Rodeo title in Denver in January, worth $6,821 a man for a 4,3-second semifinals run and a smoking 3.9-second final-round run.

USTRC NEWS: LEADERSHIP, SPONSORS, & LADIES

SELECT GENES GIVES BREEDERS FIRST-EVER ACCESS TO WORLD-CLASS MARES • Founded by Solo Select's Melanie Smith, Select Genes offers an online home for custom ICSI aspirations to the horse industry's best mares.

ARHFA ANNOUNCES TOP GUN STALLION INCENTIVE

NTRL Finals

|At the Barrier | new products

(At Home With) • Wade Wheatley is a second-generation Wrangler National Finals Rodeo cowboy from Hughson, California. The son of fellow six-time NFR header Jim Wheatley and his Tough Enough to Wear Pink Founder and business boss wife, Terry, is 46 now. Wade and his wife, Lacey, have taken a rather unconventional approach with the next generation. They're raising recreational ropers by design.

IMPROVING YOUR ROPING IN THE INFORMATION AGE

GETTING WHERE YOU NEED TO BE

BUILDING A LEGACY • Construction engineer James P. Hicks has two goals: Giving away $1 million by the 20th anniversary of the Wiley Hicks Jr. Memorial Roping and finally winning a Wiley Hicks Jr. trophy saddle.

THIS A&P HEADS & HEELS • When he's not tuning on aircraft as an Airframe and Powerplant mechanic, retired Marine Omar Benally is tuning his shots on both ends.

NEW YEAR BEGINS WITH NEW HEELER IN THE TOP 5 • Georgia heeler Trevor Miller is the new name gracing the Top 5 standings as the new year kicks off on the USTRC Resistol Jr. Champion race.

HEADING ACTION LEADS TO 2-WAY TIE FOR NO. 2 • Alabama's Rachel Kittle put 2022 to bed by catapulting from a three-way tie for seventh place in the heading to a two-way tie for second in the USTRC Cinch Ladies Standings.

5 FLAT with Kory Koontz • 5 flat|game plan| Brazile| freeze frame| fix it| next level| horsepower

Game Plan with Jake Long

THE PROCESS: PACING OF PROSPECT DEVELOPMENT • With the growth of the futurity business, will rope horses suffer by being pushed too hard too soon? Only in the wrong hands.

Freeze Frame

Fix It: with Dakota Kirchenschlager • MANAGING THE MIND OF POWERFUL, TALENTED HORSES

Next Level with Ryan Motes • Using Slow Practice Cattle for Position and Control

MARES AND MOMMAS • The Beauty of Working Rope-Horse Moms

Some of Us Learn in a Different Way • Aldo Garibay—one of roping's top instructors in Mexico and South America—was stalled out as a 3 heeler until something clicked. His personal journey battling what he calls a "below-average" level of coordination is a lesson for the roping masses on how to overcome...