Shali Lord

Shali Lord – Lamar, Colo. ($111,776)
2-time WNFR qualifier

A lot of things have changed since Shali Lord qualified for her first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in 2005.

While the competition is essentially the same, the NFR payout has nearly doubled going from $5,104,424 to $10,000. Each of the 10 rounds is worth about $12,000 more for winners and the overall NFR champion will earn $27,000 more than the 2005 winner did.

When Shali, from Lamar, Colorado, qualified in 2005, she rode a little bay rocket, SX Docs Slider “Slider” that either got her to the pay window or hit a barrel. It was exciting to watch and that duo stole the hearts of many fans. She ended up third in the world with $143,348. This year she enters the competition fourth in the world with $111,776, just $31,572 less than she won during the whole 2005 season.

Shali and her husband Phy’s family grew during the absence as well. They had a son, Slade, who is now eight and a daughter, Stealy, three. She has ridden different horses and competed in the Mountain States Circuit. Then she started riding Freckles Ta Fame, “Can Man” and her goals changed.

She saw Can Man’s potential and last year made up her mind that they needed to win enough to qualify for this year’s building rodeos. That was a goal accomplished helping in her quest to get back to Las Vegas. She finished second at San Antonio and before the summer run, she was inside the top 10 in the world standings.

Then, she got some money at Reno, came back to her home state and won the rodeo in Greeley. She had an outstanding Fourth of July and capped off the month being crowned co-champion at one of her favorite rodeos, Cheyenne Frontier Days.

While her NFR qualification was secure, she kept going till the bitter end winning two rodeos the last week of the season – Stephenville, Texas and Kansas City, Missouri. The win in Stephenville came aboard a nine-year-old mare, Frosted in Fame that Shali calls CeCe.

When she enters the Thomas and Mack this December, she will be riding Can Man, a 10-year-old stallion. It will be his second time at the NFR. He was there with Brittany Pozzi-Tonozzi in 2017.

Shali’s primary traveling partner has been her mom, Leslie Nichols. Leslie takes care of entering with advice from Shali’s dad, Jim Nichols. Steely has made most of the road trips with them. Last winter, Slade stayed home with Phy during school and in the summer they all played a part in Shali’s success.

Phy also finds time away from their cattle ranch to do some rodeoing of his own. The Lord Ranch, with Phy at the helm has won several ranch rodeos. And while those rodeo’s don’t see Shali’s barrel prospects participating, young horses get plenty of time behind cattle and wet saddle blankets at the ranch.

The ranch is still home to Slider who is enjoying retirement at 27. If horses could watch video, he’d probably be watching every round in Las Vegas wishing he could be turning barrels with Shali on his back.