ProRodeo Sports News | 2020 Year-End Edition | Dec.18, 2020

HORSES OF THE YEAR

Riley Minor rides his horse Bob during a run at the 2019 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. The heading horse took top honors for 2020. PRCA ProRodeo photo by Clay Guardipee

TOP HORSES OF THE YEAR

TEAM ROPING-HEADING 1. RK Tuff Trinket “Bob;” ridden and owned by Riley Minor 2. Gypsy Sailor “Sailor;” ridden by Charly Crawford, owned by Charly and Jackie Crawford 3. Ima Fresnos Dee “Annie;” ridden and owned by Cody Snow TEAM ROPING HEELING 1. (Tie) Nita Win Playboy “Drago;” ridden and owned by Logan Medlin Leos Highbrow “Sug;” ridden and owned by Brady Minor 3. Little Hickory Boon “Ray J;” ridden and owned by Wesley Thorp TIE-DOWN ROPING 1. Pocketful of Light “Pockets;” ridden and owned by Caleb Smidt 2. (Tie) Casanovas Cowgirl “Beyonce;” ridden and owned by Haven Meged Dualin Demon “Rambo;” ridden by Hunter Herrin, owned by Travis and Joanna Dobbs STEER ROPING 1. Lena Joe Ichi “Professor;” ridden and owned by Martin Poindexter 2. Freckles Possum Baby “Possum;” ridden by Scott Snedecor and Stephen Stransky, owned by Stephen Stransky 3. RBS Badger Tigger “Tigger;” ridden and owned by Cole Patterson STEER WRESTLING 1. Dashin Haze “Tyson;” ridden by Curtis Cassidy and Jesse Brown, owned by Curtis Cassidy 2. (Tie) Be Dun By Three “Benz;” ridden and owned by Clayton Hass Patrionic Dash “Mable;” ridden by Stetson Jorgensen, owned by Garrett Henry BARREL RACING 1. High Valor “Valor;” ridden and owned by Dona Kay Rule 2. Biddin on Fame “Beau;” ridden and owned by Emily Miller-Beisel 3. Lean Mean Blue Dean “Blue Dean;” ridden and owned by Jill Wilson

Year’s top horses honored

BY MATT NABER A lthough they can’t give an interview, ProRodeo’s finest equine athletes’ actions speak for themselves, and the Purina Horse of the Year presented by AQHA awards provide recognition to ProRodeo’s top horses. Team roping header Riley Minor’s horse, RK Tuff Trinket “Bob,” won the award for the second time and marked the fifth time the Minor family has won the award. But 2020 is the first time brothers Riley and Brady have won it in the same year. Purchased from Bob Moriarty near Selah, Wash., in 2013, Bob has proven himself in tight setups such as theThomas and Mack Center during the National Finals Rodeo as well as wide- open ones like Cheyenne (Wyo.) Frontier Days. “There are a lot of good horses out there and he’s good in a lot of different situations and tries hard every time, and that’s a big deal,” Riley said. “With the grit and toughness he has, it reminds you of a war horse. Other horses get sore and tired, and he’s one of a kind where you can ride him throughout the year.” Brady’s horse, Leos Highbrow “Sug,” tied for top honors in team roping heeling. Sug has been ridden at the NFR multiple times, first with Travis Woodard in 2015 and then with Brady in 2017- 19. Sug is Brady’s third horse to win the award, following CDS Quixote “Dugout” in 2011 and Rey Shines on Top “Rey” in 2014-15. Alongside Sug is Logan Medlin’s Nita Win Playboy “Drago.” “We’ve kind of grown together since I was pretty green too when I got him, and we got seasoned along with each other, and now here we are a little more solid,” Medlin said. “Pretty much anything I’ve won, nine times out of 10 it has been on him.”

Top bulldogging horse of the year honors went to Curtis Cassidy’s horse, Dashin Haze “Tyson.” This year marked the third straight time Cassidy rode Tyson at the NFR. Tyson has taken others to the winners’ circle of major rodeos such as the Canadian Finals Rodeo for Scott Guenthner. Haling from Elgin, Texas, Tyson started on the race track and was used in barrel racing until he was bought by Cassidy five years ago. “I’d probably be semiretired if I didn’t have him,” Cassidy said. “Once I found Tyson and realized he was a top-notch horse, it lit a fire in me again to want to rodeo and try to make the NFR. I was doing it for Tyson more than myself because he deserved to be on the world stage.” Both of Caleb Smidt’s tie-down roping world titles came on Pocketful Of Light “Pockets,” first in 2015 and again in 2018, so it was no surprise when he won the top tie-down roping horse of the year. Together, they’ve won major ProRodeo events at Houston, San Angelo and others. Smidt attributed at least 90% of his total career earnings on Pockets and estimated he’d won a total of $1.5-1.7 million with Pockets as his mount. “He does everything well and does the same thing every time,” Smidt said. “He’s a good horse but he’s as lazy as you can be, so if you don’t kick, you’re not going anywhere. He just wants to be a calf horse, there’s no other way around it. You can find some that have attributes like him, but you’ll never find one just like him.” Steer roper Martin Poindexter bought Lena Joe Ichi “Professor” three years ago from his friend Junior Livingston (Lane Livingston’s dad) in Seymour, Texas. Professor, 10, won the 2020 Yuma (Colo.) County Fair & Rodeo and earned $1,382 at the Guymon (Okla.) Pioneer Days Rodeo and $1,315 at the Sandhills Stock Show & Rodeo in

Odessa, Texas.

“I got him when he was 8, and that’s the perfect age to start one for rodeo,” Poindexter said. “It takes about a year to a year-and-a-half to get them seasoned, but he came along fast, and I knew he was going to be a great horse.”

ProRodeo Sports News 12/18/2020

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