Ryan Motes

Ryan Motes – Weatherford, Texas ($109,166)
5-time WNFR qualifier

Ryan Motes joined the PRCA in 2001, qualified for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in 2001 and is headed back to Las Vegas again this year in second place.

He’s had the best regular season of his rodeo career earning $109,166 before he ever rides into the Thomas and Mack Center. His father, David Motes, roped to a world title (heading) in Oklahoma City with Ryan’s uncle, Dennis Motes. David qualified for the NFR a total of 22 times.

Ryan’s first appearance in the Thomas and Mack arena was long before he ever competed there. In 1989, four years after the event moved to Las Vegas. The openings were being coordinated by the Flying U Rodeo Company and one of them centered around rodeo kids. Ryan Motes was one of those kids and at nine years old, he rode his horse into the arena like a champ.

Thirty years later and he will be representing the state of Texas in the grand entry and roping behind Coleman Proctor. They started competing together in August of 2018, missed last year’s NFR but got into the building rodeos. The blessing in disguise of the disappointing season was that they had to come through the qualifier system to compete at RFD-TV’s The American.

That worked to their advantage as they ended up winning the event last march and each pocketed over $400,000. The bonus this year was that $50,000 of that counted towards PRCA world standings.

Ryan was well on his way back to Vegas after four-year absence. His ultimate goal, like everyone else’s is to win a world title. He came close in 2015 roping with Aaron Tsinigine. Aaron got the gold. Ryan finished second behind Kollin Von Ahn.

Ryan was born in California and spent much of his youth there before moving to Texas. His mom has a breeding horse operation with an emphasis on cutting horse bloodlines. His stepdad is an acclaimed cutting horse trainer.

All of their horses start with cutting horse training. It’s worked well for Ryan who will take full brothers CD Starbucks, who is 21 and CD Rockstar, who is 16, to Las Vegas in December. These horses are out of CD Olena and half-brothers to the family’s standout stallion CD Lights.

All of the horses and their potential has Ryan and his wife Courtney excited about the future of raising and training team roping horses. Courtney also ropes and trained Luke Brown’s horse “Joseph.” The addition of rope horse futurities and competitions is helping them plan their future.

No matter what happens at this year’s NFR, the Motes family will be cheering for their favorite heeler and the horses that they hold near and dear to their hearts.