ProRodeo Sports News - May 1, 2020

the RAMNational Circuit Finals Rodeo in Kissimmee, Fla. With the RAMNCFR postponed, however, he’ll have to wait to make the Kissimmee trip. But his success during the season was evident. He also carried that momentum into the 2020 season, where he finished third at the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver, his best performance there. He’s also back on top of his circuit standings. “From that day forward, I did everything they told me,” Docheff said. “It helped so much. It was all little things but made a huge difference. I’d say that got my ball rolling with those two guys. It got me sharp, got my confidence a lot higher. Those days really set my summer up with what I learned.” SINGLE SHOT TO THE TOP Docheff also points to his horse as a key ingredient to his recent success. The 22-year-old Single Shot fits well with Docheff. “I wasn’t winning on him (a younger horse) like I thought I should,” he said. “I decided I wanted to make rodeo fun again. I went and got a horse I knew would do the job and do great and give me a chance to win.” So, he bought Single Shot. “He’s honest, tries his guts out and is really a great horse,” Docheff said. “Everything fell into place for me, and I had a great year in all from start to finish.” Docheff turned 29 in April. With Colorado in a quarantine, he didn’t do much to celebrate. But a week before his birthday he posted a message on Facebook that was worthy of celebration. In the message, Docheff encouraged his fellow competitors to realize how much sponsors do for rodeo and individual rodeos. “They (the sponsors) do all this because we are rodeoing,” Docheff said about his post. “In all honesty, we need to be a lot more conscious of that. We aren’t the ones out there; they are working their butts off for that money and putting it into rodeos for us. We just need to pay attention to who they are and support them any way we can. If that’s a café you could have breakfast at in the morning just to show your appreciation, then do that. They (that café) doesn’t have to do that (sponsorship).” Working on the farm is Docheff ’s main occupation. The great thing about the circuit system is that it works perfectly with his job. It also helps that Docheff is in tight with the farm’s owners, his parents. “I’m very lucky with what I do for work,” Docheff said. “My parents are very supportive of my rodeo deal. It’s nice being on the dairy and that they’re flexible as long as my stuff is done.” THE RIGHT SIZE Docheff doesn’t come from a rodeo family. His dad, Jim, did it some in high school and college, but that was it. His brother, Josh, showed cattle, including winning an award at the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo. But Docheff wanted to rodeo. He tried tie-down roping, but really wanted to steer wrestle. At 5-foot-7, 155 pounds he isn’t built like a modern-day steer wrestler. But when he told two-time NFR-qualifier Leon Vick that’s what he wanted to do, Vick never blinked. “The advantage a little guy has is that a little guy has to bulldog every steer exactly the same,” said Vick, the vice president of Rodeo, Horse and Livestock at the National Western in Denver. “It doesn’t matter if the steer is 400 pounds or 600 pounds, a smaller steer wrestler has to use the same slide.” Vick is a family friend of the Docheffs. He helped Chisum and saw the determination early. “We live about an hour and a half apart,” Vick said. “But for years he would come down almost every night to my house to practice and to get better.” All that practice, a good horse and learning from some of the best is more than paying off.

Photo courtesy Chisum Doucheff Above: Jim Docheff, left, and Chisum Docheff pose with Chisum’s nephew Kashton and niece Adley at the Docheffs’ dairy farm in Mead, Colo. Below: A message Chisum Docheff posted on Facebook reminding cowboys about the key role sponsors play at rodeos.

ProRodeo Sports News 5/1/2020

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