An Old Outlaw
Steer wrestling horse “Outlaw” has carried four champions to the pay window at Red Bluff Round-Up
At the 2018 Red Bluff Round-Up, steer wrestlers Timmy Sparing, Helena, Mont., Tyler Pearson, Louisville, Miss., Tyler Waguespack, Gonzales, La., and Ty Erickson, Helena, Mont., pose with Waguespack’s horse, Outlaw (standing next to Waguespack.) Outlaw has carried the last four Red Bluff Round-Up steer wrestling champs to their wins.
Red Bluff, Calif. – Outlaw is a special horse.
He’s a true champion of the Red Bluff Round-Up.
He didn’t win a buckle or cash for his work, but he carried the last four steer wrestling champions to their wins.
Outlaw was the horse that Tyler Pearson rode when he won the steer wrestling at the Round-Up last year. Chance Howard rode Outlaw when he won it in 2017. In 2016, Ty Erickson rode him, and the year before that, Tyler Waguespack rode him.
The 22 year-old palomino is owned by two-time world champion steer wrestler Tyler Waguespack, of Gonzales, Louisiana, who got him several years ago. A former barrel racing horse, Outlaw wasn’t a big fan of running barrels.
“He was a run-off,” Waguespack said. “He wouldn’t turn the first barrel.” When Waguespack’s wife, Sarah Rose, a world-class barrel racer herself, exercised him, he tried to hit the barrels.
So Waguespack and his dad tried him as a steer wrestling horse. One thing that’s necessary for both barrel racing and steer wrestling horses is they need to be able to run fast, and Outlaw could do that.
The horse loved the steer wrestling and was good at it, so Waguespack switched him to a new event.
It’s common for steer wrestlers to share horses as they rodeo across the nation. Sometimes a cowboy will fly to a rodeo, unable to take his own horse, so he borrows someone else’s, with the horse’s owner getting a cut of the rider’s winnings, if he wins.
Outlaw was so good at his job that a lot of cowboys rode him, and usually made the pay window on him. Lots of cowboys have ridden Outlaw at a lot of rodeos. Earlier this year, Pearson, another world champion, won second place at the Ft. Worth, Texas rodeo on Outlaw. Outlaw has been ridden, and his rider has won money at Tucson, Ariz.; Springdale, Ark.; Pecos, Texas, and more. “He’s won a ton of rodeos,” Waguespack said. Waguespack has brought him to California for four rodeos; Red Bluff, Salinas, Clovis, and Oakdale, and he’s carried the champion at each of those rodeos. At Clovis, he’s been the horse ridden by the champ two of the last four years.
Pearson loves riding him. “He does his job every time,” the 2017 world champion from Mississippi said. “You can put anybody on him. It doesn’t matter if they were jumping their first one or at Red Bluff.”
At home on the Waguespack’s place in Louisiana, Outlaw is the caretaker among the horses. Tyler and Sarah Rose have a lot of colts, and Outlaw “is the babysitter of the crew,” Waguespack said. “The colts will kick and fight, and he goes out to the pasture with them and keeps them straight. He’s like an old mother in the pasture.”
This year, Outlaw won’t be making the trip to California. Waguespack knows he can do the job, but the horse is getting older and he wants him to take it easy. ‘In my opinion, he could still go and (steer wrestle). We’ve had a lot of luck with him this year. But I’m watching the miles I put on him. I want him to take it easy his last couple of years.”
Outlaw has special care in his semi-retirement. “My niece exercises him while I’m gone,” Waguespack said. “He has his own time to himself.”
Waguespack has younger horses coming up that he’s working with, and he often rides Scooter, another exceptional steer wrestling horse, owned by Tyler Pearson and Kyle Irwin. But Outlaw is special.
“Everybody loves riding him for sure.”
The 98th annual Red Bluff Round-Up is April 19-21 at the Tehama District Fairgrounds in Red Bluff. Tickets are on sale online at www.RedBluffRoundup.com.
For more information, visit the website or call the office at 530.527.1000.