John Franzen of Powder River Rodeo

Full episode transcript, auto-generated from the audio and lightly formatted (verbatim, not edited).

Shang on barely hanging on. Last chance. Yes, sir. The man bumped into you.

Uh I just got done doing the opening deal at the NFR in the sacred hallway. In the sacred hallway. Yeah. Tell me about the sacred hallway.

Man, if you get to walk down it, like you either accidentally took a wrong turn and you're in trouble or you're where you're supposed to be. Well, yeah. I think I might have taken a wrong turn. Oh, I'm telling you, like that was pretty cool.

Um I watched some of your stuff. Uh you know, I think they give you a buckle and some Wasn't it some stuff that they give you? Hell yeah. Yeah.

Like it's just a it's really it's what we're all trying to do when we grow up to be cowboys is walk down that hallway and then end up at the buck and shoots and you did it all. Yeah. It definitely wasn't uh on my bingo card. Yeah.

To be able to get a buckle at the NFR. Yep. I worked hard for that buckle too, just in a different way. Yeah, exactly.

Well, that's a that's a cool thing about the you know NFR in general is like so many different ways to get here. You know, it's not just I mean, there's contract personnel, you know, people that work their whole lives playing being a disc jockey finally gets, you know what I mean? It's just a It's really cool to be able to get to walk down that hallway. Yeah.

There's so many people involved in it. Yeah. I think I was making them nervous because that little tea right there where it all comes together. Yeah.

All the athletes are walking right there and I was doing my best to just linger right there. Yeah. You know, there was a lady like cuz right when you get done with that, you have a little green room there and you get all your stuff off you and then they take you to your seats, you know? Yeah.

And then like I kind of like I was pouring a drink and I was like, "Oh, it's foaming up a bunch. Hold on. Let me like well I got to get another one, you know. I was like walking."

She was like rolling her eyes or whatever cuz everybody was walking by. I was like, "Let's go, boys." And I was high. She's like, "We got to get you to your seats."

No, I wish I had have got you down there right afterwards and we'd have go gone into where the like the back rooms. Oh yeah. Yeah, that would have been sick. Yeah, it's awesome.

There's a certain kind of like pressure that completely leaves everybody when you go back into the locker room. They're just all chilling. Yeah, we're just all guys like the TVs are going and like they turn it all off. Like it's going so we can see where they're at, but like they don't want to hear all the commentating and all that.

They're just sitting there. The Canadians are smoking cigarettes and you know there's other guys taking shots of whiskey and Yeah. Like I'm a friend of mine that hurt himself the first Perf. Like he's just slamming beers because it's the only thing that makes him feel better, you know?

Hey, it's better than doing some other stuff. And then he goes out there and kicks butt. Like it's not it's not hurting him anymore. It is fascinating to like ask different people how they handle pressure and handle nerves.

I think it's just different for everybody. Yeah, it's really cool. Like in the bearback riders room like you got Tilden Hooper. He's just like stoic.

He's just never He's just chill like nothing bothers him. And then like you like pan around the room and you see rocker and he's got his headphones on and he's just a I mean like his eyes are wide open like you can feel electricity coming off him and like it's just everybody's different. It's really cool. Yeah.

It seems weird to try to like tell people you need to handle pressure in this certain way. Like I've noticed commentators regardless of sport, they're always ironically some of them have even like been in the position before, but like you could be watching golf or something and they'll talk about like it just seems like he wasn't focused, wasn't taking it serious. I'm like at this level, what do you mean not focused and not taking it the for me like the focus regardless of what you're doing if you're doing it like a super high level, the focus and the taking it serious happens months and years in advance. Like to judge somebody based on how they're handling nerves is so odd to me because everybody's so different.

I'm like I like to joke around and granted what I'm doing is far different. Like I'm not going to go out there and you know get stomped. But you're keep you're keeping it your mind off of it. I'm trying to be loose and like jovial.

Like I cannot stand like just sitting it just in a pressure cooker in a green room and everybody's just tight and like looking at you like what are you doing? And it's like secondhand nerves you know. It's like let's freaking relax. Come on.

Like let's joke. But sometimes people take that as you're not taking it serious. Yeah, it's not that I agree with you. It's the preparation that you had for years to, you know, and that, you know, like Stson, you know, he's just in there laughing and giggling and whatever.

He's just a just a kid having fun, you know, and then like you said, you can just look across the room and somebody's like working on his saddle like and he, you know, changing this and changing that every Well, you can just tell like he's fighting his head. like you know he's fighting his head but like it's just a it's a really cool room to be in and like being able to do that and I missed the finals wasn't able to make it you know in the bulldog and that was kind of always my dream to flank a buck and horse then walk down the arena and run a bullogen steer but um being able to still be in that building and work like said work hard really hard to get there just in a different way. Yeah. So you were a bulldoger.

Yes sir. Yeah. Yeah. 20 some years.

I still enter once in a while, but I'm semi-retired. Like I'm very choosy on uh where I enter, you know? I'm not like Where do you normally like to enter? Well, now I really need to be entering the small rodeos because I don't practice anymore.

But like the small rodeos, there's not a lot of horsepower. So like it's kind of tough. I all the guys that I rodeoed with that are making the finals, Rowdy Parrot and you know Tai and everybody and Stson Jorgensson and they're still going but like the their best horsepower is usually at the rodeo where you got to go against the top 20 in the world which that still work at it every day and every once in a while I just it just kind of depends on like all intercal well for sure like that's a great road like good rodeos that you know you got good cattle good horsepower good hazers like yeah there's nothing like that's so sick. You're still you're still getting in there.

Yeah, I think that um you know, I've always said being a stock contractor, there's so much more than just taking care of the stock. There's a lot of it. Uh most of it is uh production and you know, committees and how it all fits together along with the stock. And uh when I was rodeoing, I didn't realize it, but like I'm going to 120 rodeos a year as well as Powder River rodeos.

And uh I didn't realize at the time like I'm figuring out what works and what doesn't at all these different rodeos, you know, from the west coast, the east coast, s down south, what works in buildings, what doesn't, you know, far as the little things like parking for contestants and their hospitalities and you know how their opening acts, you know, play to towards our crowd, you know, or how like alcohol sales are huge thing in rodeo, you know, you get into Utah, they don't have any beer at their rodeos. Like it's like nothing. But then you cross the line into Idaho and one night the beer sales alone will pay for all the contract labor like at Caldwell. I mean they'll make three 400,000 in beer sales like the first PF family night.

I wonder what state what state what rodeo do you think well I guess that's not fair because they're all kind of like different time frames. I wonder who has the record for a day like on taking out like the NFR or something. I'd absolutely say Pendleton. Yeah.

Really? Well, mainly because their performance is so long. You got to figure on like a lot of rodeos that are only want to go two hours like at the very most but like Cheyenne Pendleton some of them like they're four or five hour performances like and they're afternoon performances which also makes a difference because like they stop selling alcohol people going home whereas if you start your performance at noon you know by the time it gets to be the other noon you know what I mean by midnight people are like that's a good shift and make No mistake, people up north. Yeah, absolutely.

All day can drink. Yeah. Yeah. They don't even act like it bothers them.

It's incredible. Yeah. I'm not that way anymore. I'm starting to starting to slow down a bit.

Starting to hurt a little bit. It's a It's such a big part of our business to be social. Not necessarily drink, but you know what I mean? Like to be social and to be out there with your committees and your people.

It makes a huge difference on how you get contracts. Totally. Yeah. I mean, just like um you know, once you know somebody and then you see them, then all of a sudden you want to know more about them and then by the time you get to know them, you know, that gives you a opens up a whole box of uh new people that can either elevate, you know, your business or whatever and then get you to the next step.

It is interesting. People will refer to like good old boys clubs and stuff like that as such a negative thing. Yeah. When it's I can understand how it can become a too exclusive and nobody can get in there and sometimes it might not be based on like merit, right?

Uh which sucks at the same time. Like there has to be part of being friends with people in like networking is knowing like I mean it's like getting a referral from somebody like hey this guy I mean that's how I kind of met you in a way. It's like at least you have some sort of frame of reference like this guy is not a total douchebag. Yeah.

Right. There's some other people I know that like him. Yeah. So it is interesting when people refer to stuff like Well, that's a the first thing that Chansancy said the other day I was like I'm not he's not a douchebag.

Yeah. He literally he literally that's what he said. He's just like dude he's just like us. That's exactly what he said.

And like when he says that it gives you a sense of oh yeah we're like we're just regular. You know what I mean? Like there's not this uh you know certain way that you got to act or whatever. You're just like we're chill dudes that work hard for a living, you know.

Yeah. Yeah. Like in our world the bar is like relatively low for just like just not a douchebag. Yeah.

It's really Yeah. Like can I or can I not get along with him? Yeah. Cuz we So many guys have just thetick, you know, and then they Well, and then a lot of them are artists, so like they're not terribly social sometimes and they're like a little bit awkward.

So, I think what helps them get out like I empathize with it cuz they're typically like really great musicians or something, but they're socially really awkward. So, they kind of have to like develop this persona to give themselves the confidence to go out there and do the thing. But then they have a hard time like shutting it off or they don't know when to and that starts to get dicey, you know, that and you know, I can't say it like really resonates with me because I'm just like am who I am. like I just am the same on stage as I am off and and so that sometimes it's hard to find people to connect with because you're just like whoa and people's perception of you like on social media and behind a camera is so much different than like hey man I like I would like to meet like the is it um I don't know the guy's name the red clay strays or yeah like yeah so I like I think his music's cool like and everything like that but then you see him kind of behind a camera like not do singing music you're Hm.

I'm not sure what he would be like to meet like until you'd actually meet him. Sure. Sure. Sure.

Sure. Yeah. He's kind of like I heard on stage. I haven't seen one of their shows, but apparently he's like I've only seen videos where he's like kind of spat doing the Elvis thing.

Yeah. But apparently he's kind of like pretty stoic. Yeah, that's And that's I don't know until like I sat down and had a conversation with him like you, I don't know what I would think. But like if you knew somebody that knew him and told you like, "Oh, dude, like once you once you break the ice, like once you sit down and chill with him, like he's way cool."

But I don't know that. Be really weird. Yeah. So I would imagine there's Do you think the competition between stock contractors is um too much at times or do you think it's like positive competition?

The best way to put it is there's only so many rodeos to go around. Yeah. And there's only so many contractors and for me to get a contract, someone else has to lose one. So, it's a zero sum game.

Yeah. And there, man, it's tough. It's tough. I mean, any type of man, I don't care if you're the local dry cleaner, you know, in a small town.

if there's another one popping up like and that's the biggest problem is everybody expects you to not like go get go get that contract, you know what I mean? Like it's almost like oh he got that so I just don't like him anymore. You know what I mean? And then the competition between like my horses are better than his horses and it's just like that all the time.

Like there's people and then they're very clicky like uh you know you'll have a group of four or five contractors and then like they only sub with those guys and they only bring their them to their rodeos you know and then vice versa. And then what's really not a lot of fun is you get hired by a committee cuz they you know we really you know John we really want you to come to this rodeo. Well when they say that's great. I'm excited to go, but in the same sense, I know that somebody else is going to get fired for me to go.

And then when you get there, you might get throwed in a click that you're not necessarily everybody wants you to be there. So, it takes a while. And same kind of deal like once you get to know them and everybody realizes I'm just in the business to buck my horses and put my rodeos on and get better and make a living, like everybody pretty much understands we're all doing the same thing, you know? world, but uh there's a lot of hatred in the stock contracting world.

Like if you go in the stock contractor room, like there's all there's 20 30 chairs or whatever and they all just sit there and stare at the TV. Like there's no like very seldom like is there nice conversations going on like just because and then the people that kind of get along like I don't even go in there and I'm pro but I go in the bearback rider and bron riders room but those are my buddies like I'm still at an age where like they still like we're pals you know and I they think of me maybe as a stock on tractor but I mean they know that I've rodeoed for a long time like I'm a contestant as well like I've went through the same trials and tribulations as they I wonder if do you even think like guys get shitty for you even talking about how there's not very much camaraderie. Oh yeah. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. So that's something that people don't even talk about. Oh, there's so many things that like it's like forbidden to talk about the stuff that actually goes on and um you know to talk about how Cowboys are calling you want to know you know what performance is the best performance to get the best chance like all that stuff happens.

Like there's so much politics like and they're the worst politics cuz there's nobody governing them, right? You know what I mean? So I mean there's some shady [expletive] going on. I ironic too cuz like the cowboy rodeo world you'd think is like all uh I don't know.

Well, you know, we just tell it like it is and we are who we are and we don't, you know. Yeah. And there is there's a bunch of us like that. Exactly.

I I don't apologize for anything that I've done. That's how I was raised. I'm, you know, from the north and that's kind of how we do things. If you actually do something that's worth apologizing for.

Well, yeah. But, you know, Exactly. But like, you know, there's plenty of shady stuff that goes on that uh doesn't get mentioned or, you know, and it's just kind of the way they do stuff. I mean, there's like for example, like there's bulls here at the finals that contestants own that they run underneath other contractors cards.

Like that's like a huge no. But like we all know it happens like and we all know that it's happening but uh you know it's kind of like well you know we know it's happening but we're not going to say nothing. You know it's just uh you're exactly right. People think that it's just straight up like nobody's doing which some of this stuff I don't I don't think is like actually that shocking.

It's actually more weird to like try to cover some of cover it up. Honestly like that seems more weird to me. It was I mean bodacious he one of the most you know known bulls ever. He was never owned by the guy that the cardi run under you know what I mean like he was owned by another guy and that's happened all over for years you know so but being straight up about it.

We have a partner with D&H Cattle you know and everybody knows that we I mean we tell we like make sure everybody know you know what I mean like kind of went about it differently rather than hiding it. explain the mechanics of that. Why is that why is that frowned upon? Why is that shady?

Well, like far as somebody else uh owning the animal, well, in the PRCA, the rule is that you have to own 100% of your animal for him to come to the NFR or he has to be owned 100% by your partner. And the way they got around it forever is I've got the card and I'll buck your animal, but you know, I'm not going to pay you for it because I can't, you know. And then when you started getting all these partners, uh, then it was kind of legit. And then now, well, yeah, I'm owed what that bull makes or horse makes because I'm a partner in this deal rather than you having kind of the blanket uh blanket permit to get him to the rodeo, I guess.

So, yeah. Yeah. So, how does that work out with y'all partnering with DNH? Yeah.

So, um 20 years ago, we started a partnership and uh just a handshake deal. And um I was uh they out of Oklahoma. Yes, sir. Yeah.

Yeah. They're um well, they're well known as the best bull breeder in the world. And you know, they're raising 750 to 800 bulls a year. and um that was kind of why we got out of the bull business is I'm trying to do all this, you know, with the horses.

And then I'm sending bulls down to him that are going to the PBR and they're sending bulls to us to try to get some bucked. And I'm like, first of all, Wyoming's not a great spot to raise bulls. Like, it's just it's a colder climate. It's really tough to raise a bull like they're raising.

and they're raising all of these and winning fertuitities and doing all the stuff like they needed a place to buck them at PRCA rodeos. And so I just was able to concentrate on the horse side of things and let them concentrate on the bull side of things. They had already won, you know, PBR stock contractor of the year numerous times and you know, they're the best at what they do. Absolutely.

You know, I mean, any person that has bull genetics this day and age has page breeding. Like, no doubt. I mean, that's just is what it is. So, being able to bring that to my rodeos, you know, like bring Sweet Pros Bruiser to your PRCA rodeo, like that's a big marketing deal for my rodeos.

They can say that they seen the world champion bull so many times on TV. That was before Cowboy channel, you know, it was big to see a bull on TV because PBR was about all there was. Yeah. And then when you could bring them to them rodeos and people could start, oh my goodness, like that's Bruiser and that's Flapjack and all of them.

Yeah. So that was that was big for our company. Uh did people kind of get weird about y'all doing that? Yeah.

Well, they actually tried to get us out of the PRC. Like there's people trying to sue us. Y'all are good. Are you sure?

Yeah. No sweat, man. Yeah. No sweat.

I appreciate it, though. Yeah. Yeah. I know they um there people I mean they knew if you opened it up all the people that had been bucking their animals uh kind of I guess you could say illegally.

They were they were getting them qualified and stuff and didn't own them and stuff. They knew that if we started doing these partnerships like everybody was going to have to start doing it and they just didn't they didn't want that to happen. So how many more of those types of partnerships have came out of it? Everybody.

Okay. Like there's maybe only two or three contractors even left and I don't even know if that I can't even think of one right now that doesn't have a bull guy or a horse guy depending on who owns the card. Like everybody um Benny Butler, the Butlers, uh they may be one of the only ones I could think of off the top of my head, but I mean Stace and Pete and everybody's kind of got a guy that's their bull guy or you know, everybody hates the person the first person through the door. Oh yeah.

Yeah. No, they didn't like it at all. And then and then now it's like well beat them or join them. Common place.

Yeah. Isn't that funny? Absolutely. Yeah.

Yeah. And like you said that was 20 years ago and uh it was frowned upon at first but like after people realized like wow I can really start concentrating on bulls or I can start concentrating on my rodeos and horses and I mean just elevated rodeo for sure. Sure. Yeah.

So, we've been uh my biggest deal is stock contractors are like this is how we've done it. This is how we've done it for a hundred years. It's how we're going to do it. Like my granddaddy did it and that's how and like I've been completely opposite of that.

My dad's been my folks have been really good about uh allowing me to like social media presence and um you know my wife's always getting content and people don't this I for example two three days ago I went out and took some footage of the feeding process of the NFR nobody knows that like how it works and we posted this video and like just an hour ago like somebody else posted like what actually goes on where we can't feed our own animals and can't take care of them. they do it and it's like blowing up. So being a trends setter in our industry is like cool and it's good, but then it's also like you catch a lot of flack like right away because it's just not talked about. Like nobody knows how the stocks taken care of and but that's also what needs to be talked about.

People should know about it. I know, man. That's what I'm saying is some of the stuff that's scandalous they act. I'm like, dude, you're talking about feeding your why is this a big deal?

So, and I posted that video or the whole point of like I don't know that to me is like the actual freaking they should have already been doing it. They should have had a segment on Cowboy channel about how it is. I mean, it's not like they're doing anything wrong or bad. I mean, obviously I'd like to feed my own feed rather than switching it and stuff like that, but they're not doing anything wrong.

Well, I took that footage. I didn't realize it, but I guess we're not supposed to video out there. And I just got an email 20 minutes before I got here. It says, "Remember, no videoing out at the pins."

Like, I'm probably going to get slapped with a fine. Well, yeah. I'm out of the uh obviously I can't get fined or anything like that. I mean, granted, yeah, they can.

I already got my buckled. No, I'm just kidding. I'm not kidding. I don't want to be disrespectful at all, but yeah.

I mean, yeah, absolutely. There's uh Yeah, there is goofy stuff that uh I just don't I just don't understand why it's like it's a big deal. Yeah. uh and to like shroud stuff in such secrecy and like and to focus on like some sort of like especially with the animal stuff with like the animal rights activists and all that kind of stuff like the idea of cow towing to some of these people like uh like shark or the ASPCA and stuff where their ultimate goal it's like in their mission statement is to like you're not allowed to own an animal like any like not even a dog that's their goal.

So if that's their goal, why do we even worry about them complaining? Yeah. Why? Their ultimate goal is to completely shut it down.

So there's no winning with them. So why are you even trying to appease them in any Yeah. And I don't know if that's where some of that stuff comes from is that Oh, it does. I mean, that's something we fight all the time in our business.

Um, and I'm the same way. I don't think that we're doing anything wrong. So there's no reason to hide it. If anything, we need to exploit what we do, you know, like show that it's all good, you know?

So, it's happening with everything like whether it's music or just anything that's media driven or entertainment based. People just want to see the kind of just the raw unfiltered. Yeah. Just somebody to sit there and talk about.

I've never sat down at a dinner table somewhere where I don't get asked the most random questions that you'd think would be common knowledge, you know, not even really about the NFR, just stock contracting and like how we how we get the animals there and all the things that we do every day. It's really not something anybody knows about. So, doing these uh podcasts and stuff or and talking about it is a I think it's great. I think it's what we needed in rodeo.

Like, yeah, I had Flint on uh I don't know. I guess that was like a month ago or something. We had Flint on and we were talking about the one where uh everybody thinks you wrap the plank strap around their balls or whatever. I mean, the amount of times that I've heard that, it's nuts.

It is nuts. It is nuts. But I it I'm telling you like since I was a kid like I've had to say that to people in my schools like when I went to college, you know, and like just people have no idea. I was like, "Do you realize most of them are female?"

Like most really other than the actual bulls, but like on the bucking horse side of things and stuff like most the best bucking horses in the world a lot of times are female, you know. Just u Yeah. What? What?

Thought it was a big old stud. Yeah. You know, I mean, they're not stallions, dude. Nope, they're not.

That one hits. Yeah. I mean, it's just It's crazy that which Okay. No knowledge of it.

Yeah. And I mean, I Yeah. I guess it's not their Yeah. It's nobody's fault.

It's not actually making fun of anybody. The only time I make fun of somebody is if they're like really acting like they know what they're talking about. Yeah. Trying to tell you.

No, that's not how that works. Oh, that's what But somebody just not knowing. Yeah. Okay.

Cool. Yeah, that would be awesome. I would actually make an event out of that if you could watch somebody try to do that. That'd be like extreme sports rap.

That's the true extreme sport. I mean like Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.

Well, Lord knows I mean half the stuff going on at those like ranch rodeos and stuff like that, dude. I went to a uh Chuck Wagon race for the It was like my first one basically that I went to. I mean, I've seen him and stuff. Uh but uh Chase Outlaw Yeah.

Uh he does one out there in Arkansas. Oh, they do that big one. And then he had a first year one at his house and then he they bucked a bunch of really nice PBR bulls out there, too. I bet it would be wild, dude.

Um Yeah, the one where they just drag people on like a like a rubber mat like a And then, dude, the track they had was like huge. Yeah. Yeah. And just dragging people out.

I almost did it and then I was probably not a good man. They paid me really well to go out there. Still sore. Well, yeah.

I freaking break a leg or something. Uh and dude, it was just wild. And then uh yeah, setting off all those like they got, you know, five-year-old kids out there running those wagons, those little ones. Yeah.

They're shooting off fireworks in the back. And dude, it was wild. Yeah. That's a I some of the stuff that we've done, and that's why I kind of look at it differently, too, is like when we uh buck two buck chuck out on the salt flats and all that stuff, like that's what rodeo needs.

Like we can elevate this sport like way higher than it is. I if we get it out there of how cool it is. Yeah. And I can appreciate uh respecting tradition and history.

Yeah, for sure. Yeah. And you don't want stuff to just get completely out of control. Really, it's just getting it out there of what we already do.

It's really not changing anything. It's just talk about it. Show people, you know, that I think that would go a long ways in our Why do you think there is a resistance to that? Well, no.

Uh most of us old stock contractors, they don't I mean still flip phone in it. I mean honestly there's not a lot of younger generation coming up because you can't get in the business. You have to buy somebody out to get a card. So it's not like a young guy is going to come in these you know businesses that are worth three, four, five million.

You know what I mean? Like and it's built up and the only young guys coming in are the ones that are second, third generation, you know? So like there's just not a lot of young younger generations coming up that do a lot of I mean Tik Tok and Facebook and all that and then like our generation started to do that. I started uh doing highlight videos of my animals you know 10 years ago when people didn't I mean and it was tough like I used iMovie like it was like it was not easy and then now with all this like it's just kind of got so much easier to do and everybody's starting to do it.

They're like realizing we need to get that out there because you know a committee might not know who you even are. But like social media presence, I got people that know all of my young horses and how I do everything and like they want to know more and be a part of our deal just because they see it. Yeah. What was the buck and horse deal?

What is it? One night ago, two nights ago. Uh I don't remember which one it was uh that they were honoring. Oh, no.

No. It was freaking Virgil. Yeah, Virgil. Yeah, Virgil and then Lunatic Heaven.

They, you know, for winning horse of the year, they had to turn them out in the arena. And Yeah. And like I saw people posting videos just of uh those horses and uh they went crazy on TikTok. Yeah.

So it's like people even want that. And I Yeah. The amateur viewer like just doesn't even realize how the part of the animal like they really don't like in general. No.

No. Unless like we one of our well Tuck Chucks got a huge following. Um especially after the Casey Fields uh um unbroken docu documentary we did with him and but like Craig at midnight um he was a 2016 um world champion bearback but he's like 1,700 lb. Like he was bigger than Virgil and like had this like everybody knew Craig at Midnight.

like I mean Facebook page like a whole deal for him and like people come to the rodeo when they realize like they'd follow Powder River rodeo and come to a rodeo where he was at so they could watch that particular horse buck. I think that's just like the coolest. Yeah. Well, that's what I'm doing.

Like I'm so fortunate to be able to be their voice. That's all I'm doing is I'm putting them in a position to be successful in that in that business. You know what I mean? Like I put the stud together with the mayor and then I f them and then you know I groom them from two three years and then get them in the right place at the right time with the right cowboy to get them here and then have them have a chance to win somebody a gold buckle like and that's why I become so such good friends with a lot of the cowboys, you know, the Wrights and Bruno and all those guys.

I'm really good friends with them, but like they know how much time and effort I put into getting that horse just right. So when they come here, Bruno was 87 and a half on Miss Valley the other night. Like that's my one of my best buds and on my horse. And like I had to have her in sh, you know, I'm just her coach basically.

And then to see him go be successful at the highest stage of rodeo. There's no bigger stage. Like this is all we do all year, every year. That's years in the making.

Yeah. 40 years. My family uh this will be our 40th year. And that breeding program like we really hang our hat on a one brand animal, you know, like that's big to us.

We don't have a bunch of different brands. Like we raise them and like kind of like a franchise, you know? you're putting this these small rodeos on trying to figure out where them horses and animals need to be and then you start picking and you start putting together your lineup, you know, and then hopefully you got them in the right spot when it's time to go to uh to the big show. You ever gotten [expletive] from cuz like the uh you're talking about stuff getting passed down from generations and there's not a lot of new people that can really get into it.

Yeah. Uh you ever get [expletive] from people for having like a successful I guess family that you like stepped into the business where it's like a we had everything handed to them. Yeah. I mean that there is a general consensus of most people that think that stock contractors are just making a lot of money.

Oh yeah. You know what I mean? They're just like well he's a stock contractor. And nearly every good most guys have other Absolutely.

I mean building skyscrapers and own I mean oil field everything. We are actually one of probably two or three of the stock contractors and may and I don't know I you know don't quote me on that but like this is what we do for a living. Like we don't do anything else like I'm driving a truck like to try to make stuff meat and stuff like that's we've built it from the ground up. My dad, he was a shoeing horses and my mom was working at insurance agency and like they went tried to get a loan.

They wouldn't even like two young kids trying to buy a rodeo company and it just like the right people were at the right time and got lucky and got into the business and then it's been, you know, paying off debt their whole I mean, you know what I mean? We're just we're just trying to make it. the thing that keeps you going is the success of your animals because otherw I mean it's not we don't make a lot of money. Yeah.

We're just here working hard to try to you know enjoy kind of our kids doing what doing what they love and what we love. You know that's I was thinking the other night you know talking about that hallway like how many my dad's walked down that hallway you know 40 years in a row like and for me to be I mean I'm 38 years old. I don't know any different. But, you know, going back to your question, there's a lot of people, yeah, they think that it's just, you know, sun sunshine and rainbows, man.

And it's definitely not. I mean, there Yeah, there's lots of rodeo companies that have money and stuff, but that if you ask them um, you know, about the rodeo business, they probably have the same feeling of how hard it is and how hard you work to just have that one moment. uh you know on the back of the bucking shoots. There was a kid that just had a for the first time had a bucking horse here.

Never had been. And like I could just see it like how nervous he was. Like he's asking me questions cuz there's so much stuff going down there. Like there's a certain way you do things and like timing of when they roll the horses in and you know when Viva Las Vegas goes off you've got X amount of minutes before they roll them again.

And you know, if you've got a big horse, like you got to like there's certain fines, you know, you got to make sure you're at the horse that you're going to flank one horse before you get there or whatever. Like there's just a lot of little things that people don't realize that goes on here at the NFR, but um yeah, I mean I wouldn't say that. So did you that kid in particular like did you try to Absolutely. Like I guess is that uncommon?

Oh yeah. and he could he could tell I'm like his age like and you he's one of the younger contractors that you know are coming in and like I could see he was nervous and there is a lot of things that you don't know so I was like super happy to help him like and I didn't do anything but I answered all his questions and told him all the thing like for example uh you have to get a hold of a certain guy if you if you have a horse that stalls you know that they might need help out of the shoot like you got to ask a certain guy that tells the other guy to be there You know, cuz it's all like it's like the secret menu at In-N-Out Burger like because we need to make it as difficult as possible. Yeah. Absolutely.

Yeah. Yeah. There is an attitude that's bred out of that I don't like that uh I've dealt with it cuz I didn't I didn't get into any sort of like rodeo horses, nothing like that until I was getting out of high school. I mean, I grew up in Decar, so everybody I grew up around I mean, obviously it was like Yeah.

You know, I was around some freaking G's out there. Uh but I just wasn't into I didn't come from it. My family wasn't into it. And so like I started shoeing horses and my brother-in-law was into all that.

So he taught me everything. So it wasn't until later in life, but you know I dealt with uh you know some people that were not very welcoming, right? When you're just trying to learn and like I was always you know I didn't never just try to put on something I wasn't. I would ask people and be like I mean you had to I had to ask somebody like will you teach me how to rope?

Will you teach me how to swing a rope? Like I didn't have somebody put a rope in my hand when I was three years old. Yeah. So, I had to learn it, which I empathize with some people that have the I mean, I guess like, you know, it takes a level of humbleness to put yourself in uncomfortable situations where you just don't know what you're doing and you're a little nervous and you're just like you look like an idiot and uh and you know, it kind of sucks because there are some people in this world that like if you if you don't, you know, if you weren't raised with it and you're a little unsure, they're going to like make you feel like [expletive] Even though you're like sitting there hating hand, I don't know what I'm doing.

I don't know what I'm doing and you don't know what you're doing. I know I just said that. Yeah. You don't have to freaking shame me for and that is like I can't imagine course and I was I grew up differently like I'm on the other side of it.

Like I grew up a horseback in the arena like not just a cowboy like and not only that but the bucking horse side of things like people want to come a lot of times and work for us and do you know how hard it is to teach somebody to work and be around bucking horses rather than a regular horse or being around you know oh well I grew up on a ranch and we run a bunch of cows. I'm like that's great man. This is absolutely nothing like that. Like not even close.

It's and the only way you get better at it is being around them like every day and knowing each one personally because they all have a different uh persona. They got all different personality. Like it's so they come and they're like, "Well, heck, I'll load your bucking horses for you." I was like, "No."

Like I mean, and no offense, but like no, I can't I can't teach you today. you want to be around for a year, two years. Like I one of my best friends and hired man is uh Craig Row and he's been with me for like 19 years and like he's still to this day like there's certain things that I do that he's like no that you do that, you know what I mean? But like uh you know pushing the horse out of the shoot like that's a huge job.

It's not just a flank man. You got to know that horse and know his tendencies to be, you know, like tell the cowboy, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Just give it a second." Like she's, you know, fixing to spring out of here, like just hold on just a second.

Take a deep breath and then, you know, you can just feel them kind of relax and step up and then go. You know what I mean? It's no different than a racehorse in a in a you know, in the starting gates. like there's certain feel to it where you know that they're ready and it takes a really long time and it's not necessarily if you've done it a thousand times with other horses that's great but if you don't know that particular horse like sometimes you get down to the NFR a lot of contractors or big money guys that like don't actually work with their stock and they'll just have whoever flank them or whatever.

Well, yeah, that guy's flanked 30 years. He knows what he's doing. Yeah, but he doesn't know that particular horse like and exactly what flank he takes. Like there's an art to it if you've done it a long time.

And same way with a, you know, turning horses out, like running a neck rope, you know, like telling the cowboy, take a deep breath. Like I can feel the energy coming off of you. Like as soon as you get in that saddle, like things are not going to go well. Like just take a deep breath and then get in.

You know what I mean? Like cuz horse, you know how horses are. I mean, they can feel a fly on their back. You don't think they can feel a cowboy when he's nervous?

Like especially that episode the other night, the e- pen, like there's a lot of It took longer for the performance to go, but like they were the rankest horses alive and those cowboys know it. You know what I mean? Like things had to be just right, but they were also like on edge. Everybody was.

The horse was, the cowboy was, you know, so there's kind of took longer in the performance just because of that. Sure. Yeah. So it's wild, man.

There's so Yeah. There's a lot on the line. Take your time. Yeah.

You know. Yeah. The idea of feeling the energy of a of a horse. Uh I haven't been around like buck and bulls a ton.

Yeah. Uh but yeah, horses, man. There's a lot of people that think that whole kind of when you start talking about like the energy and they can feel it and all that. People sometimes get a little bit I don't know.

Sounds a little hocus pocusy, but uh it's about as real as it gets. Oh man, it like I can tell you like with Miss Valley K Bruno, he's been on her like this might have been fourth or fifth time and we've changed some few things here and there or whatever and like she's got this thing where's like she's going to blow up in the shoot once for sure. Like it's going to happen. So like once he gets her pulled like I'll always rub on her shoulders and try to get it out of her a little bit.

That way he's good when he gets in there. And the other night, like I could feel like she was tight still. And I told him I was when he got in the saddle, I was like, "Kate, be ready. She's gonna try it."

Like, and as soon as he got in there, and he caught the swells right in the chest and but he knew it was kind of coming and like it knocked the wind out of him. He just knocked the wind out of him. It did. Yeah.

And which is crazy for cowboys like you know how hard it would be to just get the wind and then everybody being like all right there he is nod and you're still you know crazy. I mean it happens all the time. How quick after that did he nod? Uh probably 15 seconds just Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let's go.

But like he knew it. We knew it. But like if you don't know that horse and you get you get caught by it like if he wouldn't have known it was kind of coming like it could be bad. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah. It could get some you know and that's just that's her thing. But like you're also I mean she was a high marked horse that night. Like you want her like you absolutely need her but she's I don't want to just get all of that out of her.

Does that make sense? Like she's a bron. Like I don't want to break her spirit. Like she's got her thing and like how do you judge that balance?

Yeah. I mean, if it's gonna if it's if it's detrimental, like if I feel like the Cowboy is going to be unsafe to a point, I'll really work with him and try to keep him from which is a funny that's a funny statement to make. Yeah. If he's going to be if it's going to be unsafe for him.

Yeah. Right. It's like, well, yeah. I mean that and some of it's going to be unsafe anyhow, but like you can't just take it all out of them.

Like you breed them to do this. Like I mean 40 years of breeding program to make sure that's what she does and then be like ah that's a little too much now we need to knock it back. Yeah. Well hell like those I mean the barrel racers man.

I mean cuz like I shot like mostly like fraternity barrel horses so it's like they were freaking wild. Yeah. And I mean half of these things like they were I mean damn near I mean that's like borderline like not halter broke you know. Yeah.

They're fraternity in these things. Yeah. and big money. And I honestly that like most of them gals they were like I just want it to run off with me like straight up.

Yeah. Like I'm going to just controlled chaos. Yeah. You know, controlled runaway.

So they don't want to get it out of them. No. Like you want it to just go for it. Yeah.

But still have a low but at some level that's genetics, right? Yeah. So uh one thing we like Craig's at home right now breaking my yearland colts like shootute breaking them and like for two weeks that's all we do is just get them gentle. How what's that process of shoot breaking them?

It's I try to show them everything that may or may not happen which I can't especially like this is an elevated uh experience here at the NFR. Like it you can't really mimic. But um you know we'll turn on the boom box and be running around. We'll kind of flip our flags around and walk over them and then we're rubbing on their bellies.

And I mean I'm just trying to get them to where they not afraid of humans. Like they know that we're cool. like everything. Like I want you to know that.

But I also I don't want to get them to where they're a lot of people like it to where they're even coming up and eating grain out of your hand and stuff. And I just in my opinion, I don't like to do that. I want we have a mutual respect and I want you to do your job when the shoot gate opens and like sometimes I feel like you can get them maybe a little too gentle like to a certain point obviously. It's our super slick our super slick Zed over there.

But so is that does that go the same way for bucking uh bucking bulls? You know, the buck and bull deal is a lot different. You know, in the boine uh any sort like moving cows and everything is different than that. And that's a like I said, the deal about the bucking horses is the only way you get better at it is doing it.

But where do you do it at? Like at what level do you go to a guy stock contractor's house and say, "I want to get better at being around bucking horses, so I'm gonna like they'd all be like, "No, no." So, I mean, just because it's like it's certain way to work them to where they're not worked up, but you're quiet and they do what you ask, but like you don't pressure them or push them. And so there's not there's only 80 or 100 people in the world that have a bunch of bucking horses.

I have a theory. Our mutual friend Chansy Williams, um whenever we go to Nashville together, uh we like there's this like one bar we go hang out at like every night or whatever. We got our little cowboy hats on and stuff. We stand in the corner and like we stick out like a sore throat.

And fortunately in the last few years like cowboy is cool now so people aren't quite as like aggressive towards us but uh there's usually like some people that come up at some point are you real cowboy and chances like I'm just a little sheep farmer little sheep rancher you know and uh and I'm like oh no you know I ain't no cowboy and stuff and they give us a hard time and all that but we were trying to figure out like what it is that like pisses people off about it because I think I have noticed that people that have been around livestock and more specific specifically horses like have this sort of uh I think if you're around them enough it becomes like muscle memory to like move in a certain way and you do have like a like I've seen people tell me that or I've had people tell me that I kind of like it like I guess have bad posture, right? and I and I sort of like slink around and it's like kind of slow and but spending so many years with horses that are like not broke and like I got to find a way to get around them and drive a nail through their foot, you know? I don't know, man. It's like even like coming up to one, you know, and you're just sort of like, you know, like not really.

And like when you're in a bar sort of doing that, I don't know, man. It's like it almost it looks weird to people. And I think they you're exactly right. like being around him and getting around an animal that like he sees everything.

He feels your energy, everything. Like it changes you. Like it teaches you how to how to like be present but like not be pressuring, you know? That's the best way of describing it.

Yeah. Being present but not pressuring. But yet you still are in a way. You are like I'm going to I'm going to walk to that corner to get you to walk to this corner, but I'm not going to walk over there.

I'm going to wait till you say I'm going to go over there for you and I'm willing to make sense. Like for sure and I'm willing to like back away and give you all the time you need to do. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. That is interesting. And I think you do it enough it becomes muscle memory. So yeah, that's probably like an a different energy.

And that's what we have to teach the horses when we're shoot breaking them is like even in the back pins like to be okay with people that don't know how to be around them to just walk right up to the fence and be staring at them and that horse just like doing that and them have no idea what they're doing. People are just like man that cool horse or whatever and he's just about to crawl out of his skin. It's just like for me I'm just like would you would you mind just stepping back just one step please like trying to be the knife cuz I want them to know I want them to know that these horses are so cool and this and that but let's do it over here like Yeah. I guess that's the thing is they'll they teach you so much about yourself like if you're willing to observe it.

Yeah. Yeah. like it has way more, but most people go through their whole life and never I mean like with like training horses or you know uh you know you can sit there and get as mad as you want but at some at some level you're going to have to sit there and go okay all right let's clearly I'm not communicating right like this thing doesn't know what it wants you to do and like at some but there's people that go through their whole life and never it's always something else's fault right somebody else's fault and they never like have that self-awareness of like maybe I need to operate a little differently. Yeah, it's an experience that it's like I said, somebody can't tell you like, hey, like do you feel that because you do you got to feel that you're in the wrong spot to tell yourself and most people don't have that feel for them.

You know what I mean? So, do you think that can be developed or do you think that there's some people that just have a better intuition? The more you do it, you can you can develop it. Absolutely.

Some people have a gift for it, you know, and like I said, if you've been there and been with them your whole life, you don't know any different, you know, and the other ones that don't, like it's going to take longer, you know, like Craig uh has worked really hard on learning it, you know, cuz he was a he was a cattleman, you know, been around bulldoging horses and stuff like surely so different. And like he would tell you like the first time that he started sorting bucking horses like he didn't realize it was so different. Like you can't tell somebody how different it is cuz it's nothing worse than trying to like move a saddle horse around like you would a bucking horse. Like they won't move forward.

They're not like it's I swear it drives me up the wall just because they won't like but the saddle horse just go up there and lead him out. That's how he's taught and that's how like a bucking horse it's like a mix between like trying to hurt a wild deer, you know? Like you're just trying to get him to move, but like I know I don't want to get like you're working him, but like you're working him even though he's 20 foot away and six inches to the right. I can make him move to the left.

Like he's is such a small movements, you know? Yeah. And making all that fluid. Yeah.

And effortless. Yeah. You know, you're at this point. Yeah.

You're not even thinking about it. It's just like second nature to you. Yeah. And like for the rodeo, it makes such a big difference.

Like people don't understand that if I don't get that horse to the shoot and in a really calm manner where he's not sweated up and everything and then get it to where he understands once I'm in the shoot and I've got kind of his safety blanket of the neck rope on he now he's comfortable and how he roll. Because if you don't have them to where all of that doesn't bother them, they won't have their day. Like it you can take you can take the best day out of a bucking horse in 2 minutes, you know, like it doesn't take long to get them sweated up and then they're thinking about something else. So behind the scenes, is there have there been some moments where you've like had to get after some people and Yeah.

gotten pretty angry? I'm not known as the guy that keeps my uh mouth shut at all. Wished I'd do it better. Um I guess everybody kind of knows me as like if it needed to be said, it was already said.

Like and I wish that I'll be honest with you, I wish I'd bite my tongue a lot of times. But yeah, there's times loading livestock or working livestock is no different than being out at a branding and the head guy starts chewing your ass because you're in the wrong spot. Like it's just like that. And I've had mine chewed a lot when I was younger.

So knowing where to be and where not to be is a good thing. And it's not because I'm upset with the person. Like, I'm upset with the situation. And I've I don't know how many times I've had to apologize to people and be like, I just want to let you know that wasn't personal.

I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at the situation. We need to do this differently. So, and there's a there's an urgency, too, that there's no time to had to happen right now.

So, that's how your voice and everything gets elevated. I struggle with I struggle with I mean, I would say I do a relatively I don't have like a super dirty mouth or anything like that. Like I don't curse a ton, but yeah. I mean there's definitely times Oh, Skeer's gotten it.

Yeah, for sure. Over there. And like you got to apologize afterwards. Like it's more about I think most people can take raising your voice or like being direct, but cursing cursing at him.

And I'm terrible. I'll be honest with you. And I don't know how many times that Craig's had to apologize for me and just be like he didn't mean it towards you. just give him like five minutes and everything's good, you know, cuz I'll explain this is why this happened and this is but it they don't understand that like letting a horse go by you when you didn't ask him to taught that horse that he can do that and he'll never stop.

Like you know how hard it is to get that back to get that back out of them. And then once they do that off more and more often, now all of a sudden they're harder to work, which gets everything kind of wild and riled up and then they don't necessarily have their best day in the arena. And my job as a stock contractor to come in that committee wants me to bring my very best horses and I do. But if something happens in the back pins and I get that horse out of his element, he doesn't have his good day in the arena, the final product's only thing that they care about.

And the and the crowd themselves, gosh dang, that horse wasn't very good. I can't believe you'd bring him when, you know, the week before everything went perfectly and there are 89 points on him. But like things don't do that. And I will say setups are crucial for us, you know.

um they don't handle the same. And if you have a really good setup, you know, we sell a lot of preferred arenas and a lot of back pins and it matters which way you work them and uh which way your gates swing and which way all I mean all of that matters. It's funny because people will just be like, "Oh, that's cool. Yeah, you got some new pens."

You're like, you don't realize how much it's going to elevate your rodeo to have a good backp. Yeah. What do you what do you think are some of like the main like bullet point action items for a good setup? Well, the main thing is to be able to sort them without making them move much.

Um, you know, not making them run a whole lot or, you know, get sharp corners, like anything like that. You just want, you want to be able to go in and have enough pins that you don't have to go into a pin of 10 to get the one you want because all of our stuff is very structured on our buck order. So, I give a buck order to the cowboy channel, uh the announcers, the video board, the sound tech. Everybody understands exactly how I'm going to buck every horse and that way they can build that performance, right?

So, we're building to get to the, you know, final guy on the final horse. I mean, that's why they have the best five guys go last at the NFR every night. Like, that we got to we got to still put on a show. So, and like competition level obviously matters, but we still got we got to make sure that those people get what they want.

So, when they come back, they're like, "Man, that was a great show." And it all starts with the backp. Um, I want to be able to go in and that day earlier that day at two o'clock when we when we sort them, I want to be able to have everything stacked exactly how I'm probably going to load them and enough pins that, you know, when I go to get my first horse, he's there in a pin, either by himself or with his buddy or next to his buddy. And when the only time that he's ever pressured away from his buddy is as soon as he goes into the buck and shoot.

And as soon as we get that neck rope on, he's back to okay, I know what's going on. Like this is what like I'm cool. And not having those pins or having them split up or not, you know, like you said, going into a pin of 10 head to try to pluck out one and you get them all riled up and they're, you know, bunched up and by this time usually national anthem, everything banging music. So, you got to really have things set up prior, too, you know, and having a good back pin set up to where they walk from the their pin, go around, they've been loaded the exact same way since they were a yearling.

Now, at 10 years old, walk from my pin into the chute, I'm in the correct delivery because this is, you know, what I'm comfortable with, and then they have their day. But you get all of that out of out of sorts of sorts. And that's why the NFR is so hard. See, we don't we don't work our own stock.

They work them at different times, you know. And I understand why it has to be that way. Like this is a different animal compared to our other rodeos. But And then do you all is there something different with feeding them out here, too.

Yeah. Yeah. So, um they don't allow us to feed our own feed, and they have a feed crew feed them. Um you can go out and look at them.

Um but really, you're not supposed to do anything, which I understand why they have a feed crew. I mean, there's a lot of us that want to see them every day and are very strict on their feed program. And I mean, that's I feel is other than their genetics, the only thing I can do to help that bucking horse is to be in the right shape. But it does seem a little crazy to me to think that like they don't do that to the team ropers and barrel racers.

No, we can't we can't even say I mean we have to put it on our feed records beforehand if we want to give him some eloxxicam or you know if I know that horse gets sore it'd be really nice to go out there and magna wave him like but not here like it's just it's tough like I understand what they're trying to do. I understand there's a protocol and there's a lot of guys that probably wouldn't take care of them and stuff, but like for me at this level. Oh yeah. The amount of stock contractors that have absolutely no animal sense that are like complete just pig farmers and it you would it's more prevalent than I would think.

Yeah. And I mean, I'm probably going to I'll probably catch, you know, some hell for saying this, but like out of 80 contractors that get here to go to the NFR, there's like six of us that go out every morning and look at our stock. And then that seems so insane to me. And I we used to all the time and then I'll skip once in a while, you know, if I got something, but I also know the superintendent really well and he'll tell me if something looks off or whatever.

But that has to the proof is in the pudding. like, well, they got they got here on a certain feed regimen and they competed a certain way all year and then they get out here and everything's different. It's like telling an Olympic athlete that I'm so happy that you made the Olympics, but now when we go to China to the Olympics, I'm going to make you eat Snickers for 10 days and and I'm going to expect you to have your best day and I'm going to completely change how you've done everything. And not to mention just stress.

I mean, the environment and being out here and you're here. We're on a soccer we're on a soccer field and they're pinned with a horse, you know, or pinned by themselves. Like Miss Valley is a mayor, so I didn't put her with the two gildings I had out here. And she's, you know, been here and done that.

So that's what's so cool about a horse that does well in the NFR is because like they have to be special. They clearly had something different going on. Absolutely. Like they've got it down.

It is. Yeah. It's just so insane. It's the exact same animal as any roper barrel racer.

Yeah. But yet like we're somehow going to treat them like it's a different treat them differently and it's a different species. Like you said like I don't want to I don't want I guess I don't want to say that they're not taking care of them cuz that's not the case. Like they're doing it's a matter of the change.

It is. Yeah. Like I'm big on feed. Uh you know I've feed Equilixs.

I you know there's no sugars or starches in their diet. like and then you know when we get out here and not saying that the feed that we have to feed out here but it's all because of money you know it's a sponsorship and they take care of the feed so that's what we're feeding and I'm like I'll gladly bring my own feed and I'm not saying you can't be the ones that take care of them. I just when you get to my pin would you feed my bag of feed or whatever rather than the one that you're telling me I have to feed. That's all I'm asking.

You know what I'm saying? I totally get it. So, it's tough because and that's another deal. I've fought with the stock contractors numerous years.

Like I've been on a lot of boards and I've fought with them a lot out here for quite a few years. And uh like being a steer wrestler and feed my like that's super important to me. And uh the one stock contractor uh he's a southern guy. He said, "John, I don't know what you're worried about.

They're feeding them, aren't they? Feeding them for you." I was like, "Try saying that to any horse person." Oh, yeah.

Like even the random like you know jackpot barrel racer like oh no you know what I mean they'd probably be worse you know they actually might be the worst actually might be the worst and there's lots of stuff that I disagree with a lot what people do you know as far as nutrition and stuff but I take care of my horses a certain way and that's how they competed on you talked about magnum wave right yeah so my wife we got a mag into the acu scope stuff uh haven't yet no Um, and it's different because same deal like how do you do that on a bucking horse? True. And everything does everything changes a little bit on how it which the Magnaway has been good because you can do it and be kind of away from them. You know what I mean?

Like for sure you know you don't have to have them uh halter broke or whatever. So yeah, but it's big and you'll see a horse when they're off like I said for a horse to have his day he's got to feel the best. Yeah, they don't perform when they're sore. How do you Yeah.

How does how does Magna waving them? How do you actually set like how do you get I just put them in the buck and shoot and we got the we got the big the big deal and then I'll like a lot of times I'll work on their withers and their shoulders and you know something gets out their lower back cuz when they kick so hard you know um and like even on their hips you know all you got to do is like chiropract them. Yeah. Yeah.

Just get after it. Yeah. I mean I've seen we've done a lot of it actually. Oh yeah.

We've done the, you know, kind of the rubber mallets and find where they're out and do them and they do that. You can tell immediately they'll go to licking their lips. Really? You do that in the shoot, too.

Yeah, man. The chiropractic thing is one that I've and I still to this day I know I've seen one lady really good. I've seen her do it um for the longest time. I was like, "All right."

Yeah. I wasn't real I wasn't real sure about it, but I had seen some pretty sketchy stuff go down with it, too. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, I think it's kind of like way I look at it is does it help me and to a certain point if it helps me like I think it could help them to a certain point as well. Like there's also a lot of voodoo BS that probably goes on that you know but I really think that you know I Magnum Wave like my shoulders get sore my I've had numerous knee surgeries and shoulder surgeries throughout the years and stuff and it really does help me. So I and I've seen it work. Like obviously I've put it on bucking horses and you know they didn't have a very good day a week before so I did it for you know a couple a couple weeks before their next trip and then they were really good again.

You know it just got them back to feeling good. Yeah. Sick man. Uh we're going to have a good night tonight.

Yeah. You've had you've had a good uh week so far. Great week. Like I said, uh, Miss Valley, they were 87 and a half on her, and we won, uh, we won the first round with Stson on Big Shasta and the bull riding.

So, yeah, we've had a great week already. And it's tough. And, like I said, it's tough to come out here and everything go completely right, you know, and, you know, you need to have the right cowboy. You need to have the right, you know, he needs to be in the right spot.

You don't want him to be first out. And if it is, if he is first out, you definitely want Stson. He's about the only guy that wins if you're first out. You know what I mean?

like takes a lot if they your draw the animals draw of the cowboy is just as important to us as them drawing the right animal. It makes a huge difference on what guy you have. Yeah. Well, we'll get a go around tonight.

Yeah. And then uh you like how I say we? Yeah. Heck yeah.

No, you definitely have to come up and then the nice thing is when Chancey's playing there. I know. Like then it just like my the partying just kind of goes to a different level. you get the go round buckle and then he's already back there and then you just kind of stay in the stay in the back there and then it just for some reason he can't get out of there.

It's like all right. So if it goes down tonight Heck yeah. We're going to go watch Chansancy play. Yeah.

And then and then we'll have we'll party. Be awesome. Yeah. It's good.

And like you said, thanks for having me on, too. It's like it's good to just BS about the stuff that people don't understand in our deal. So Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. For sure, man. Yeah. Totally.

Well, thanks for doing it. Yeah. And we'll get you out of here. Yeah.

Cool, man. See y'all crash and leave them putting back the pieces. She don't need him. No.

Mama said these men ain't built right. Only good at leaving after one night. Yes, ma'am. They might seem polite, but Mustangs run wild.

It's another jackpot. Living life like a heathen. Everybody knows ain't no rest for the wicked. She's doping his ass like a s