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News & Notes From the Rodeo Trail, April 21, 2014

by ProRodeo.com | Apr 21, 2014

Big Tex, who holds a share of the bareback riding world record and the Wrangler NFR arena record, had surgery April 12 at Oklahoma State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine after a bout of colic. Doctors expect Big Tex to recover completely, but say he will be sidelined for four to six months. The Pete Carr’s Classic Pro Rodeo horse, which was scheduled to perform during the final round at the Ram National Circuit Finals Rodeo, received life-saving treatment at the Lazy E Arena from Dr. Grace Richter of Oakridge Equine Hospital, and the surgery was performed at OSU by Dr. Chase Whitfield. He corrected a displacement of the colon between the spleen and the kidney. Big Tex earned a share of the world record in 2010 – the year he was voted PRCA Bareback Horse of the Year – when he took Tilden Hooper to a 94-point score in Silver City, N.M. Bobby Mote’s 91.5-point ride on Big Tex in the fifth round of the 2008 WNFR tied the arena record …

Two-time World Champion Team Roping Heeler Jade Corkill will be one of the Hometown Heroes coming back to Fallon, Nev., June 21 to help celebrate Nevada’s 150 years of statehood, along with PGA golfer Scott Smith and Paige Sauer, captain of the 2000 NCAA champion University of Connecticut women’s basketball team …

Dr. Wayne Merhoff, D.V.M., was presented the Top Hand Award on April 12, the highest honor given to volunteers by the Red Bluff Round-Up. Dr. Merhoff, who owned the Red Bluff Veterinary Clinic, has been the Round-Up’s veterinarian since 1977, providing care and services to stock contractors’ and contestants’ horses, bulls and cattle every year since then. “I enjoyed working with the guys who put on the Round-Up, and enjoyed working with the large animals,” Dr. Merhoff told the Red Bluff Daily News. “There’s a strong camaraderie with the guys who are volunteers.” The Top Hand Award is given out annually to a volunteer who has gone above and beyond the call of duty, giving his or her time and talents to the rodeo …

The 2014 Reno (Nev.) Rodeo will celebrate its 95th year in June and 56 of those years have included the production assistance of ProRodeo Hall of Fame stock contractorCotton Rosser and Flying U Rodeo. Guests and celebrities at the April 16 Reno Rodeo Legacy Dinner, including PRCA Commissioner Karl Stressman, paid tribute to Rosser’s legacy in front of a sold-out audience at the Livestock Events Center. The Reno Rodeo has commissioned Buckeye Blake, a renowned local artist, to create a bronze statue of Rosser to be placed on the rodeo grounds. Funds raised from the dinner will assist in developing a Reno Rodeo Museum, and officials estimated they had raised nearly $100,000…

The Reno Rodeo has also launched its annual Reno Rodeo Reading Roundup, cooperating with firefighters from the Bureau of Land Management to distribute books and other goodies to more than 1,800 kids at largely at-risk schools in the region. “They all get books and a gift bag from Smokey Bear,” Francine Donshick, chair of the Reading Roundup Committee, told the Reno Gazette-Journal. “We talk about the importance of reading, one of our members gives a brief history of rodeo and then we have some of the firefighters talk fire safety to the kids, stressing responsibility.” …

Neal Gay, who co-founded the Mesquite (Texas) Championship Rodeo with Jim Shoulders in 1958, will be the guest of honor and host the “Neal Gay Cowboy Reunion” at the Mesquite Arena, June 27-28. Cowboys, cowgirls, bullfighters, specialty acts, barrelmen, stock contractors and PRCA members are all invited guests for the weekend. The June 28 tribute evening includes a cocktail reception, famous Mesquite Bar-B-Q dinner and VIP rodeo seating. The price is $28 in advance and $35 after June 25. The rodeo features Stace Smith ProRodeo livestock, barrelman Jim Bob Feller and specialty act Tomas Garcilazo. Three-time World Champion Saddle Bronc Rider Monty “Hawkeye” Henson will provide the musical entertainment. To reserve tickets and dinner reservations, callBrother Van at 972.285.8777 or e-mail him at brothervan@mesquiterodeo.com. A block of rooms has been reserved at the Hampton Inn, next door to the Arena. Call 972.329.3100 and ask for the Neal Gay Cowboy Reunion’s $69 rate …

Four-time World Champion Team Roper Allen Bach has changed the name of his instructional program from Smart Roping to Bach Roping and has launched a new website at www.BachRoping.com to give the new branding a higher profile. The site has information about his roping clinics and the training center in Boyd, Texas, along with free instructional videos featuring him and fellow World Champions Jade Corkill and Clay Tryan …

The Florida House of Representatives is the latest state to pass a resolution to declare July 26 as the Day of the Cowboy, noting that the Sunshine State has the oldest cattle ranching tradition in the nation, dating back to Ponce de Leon’s second voyage there in 1521 …

The Champions Select Performance Horse Sale will take place May 12 on www.TheBreedersConnection.com, and will feature horses from many of the biggest names to compete in professional rodeo. The consigners include world champions Paul TierneyClay O’Brien CooperJake BarnesRope Meyers and Jhett Johnson, along with Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifiers Beau Franzen,Bill ParkerKyle LockettCody Cowden and Jess Tierney, a three-time qualifier to the National Finals Steer Roping. The preview will begin Monday, May 5, on the website …

Roughstock cowboy Dave Hopper, a 2006 inductee in the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame, died April 20 at his home in Hereford, Texas, at the age of 80. Hopper won the College National Finals Rodeo bareback riding title in 1957 and was a member of Texas Tech’s national championship team in 1955 before going on to rodeo full time as a member of the Rodeo Cowboys Association (precursor to the PRCA). As a bull rider, Hopper twice won the West of the Pecos Rodeo (Pecos, Texas) along with titles in Guymon, Okla., and Abilene, Kan. He won bareback riding buckles in Lovington, N.M., and Texarkana, Texas. Funeral arrangements are pending through the Heritage Funeral Home in Hereford …

PRCA Gold Card member Bill Combs died Nov. 9 at his Grass Valley, Calif., home with his family around him. He was 84. Combs competed in PRCA rodeos as a roper and helped his dad, Charlie Combs, raise Quarter Horses …

The artwork of former PRCA bareback rider Andrew Knudson is on display in the North Dakota Capitol Building in Bismarck through June. “My most popular work for the past several years has been my oil paintings on turkey feathers,” Knudson told the Jamestown (N.D.) Sun. “They are hand-painted with small, soft brushes, then matted and framed under glass to ensure their longevity.” This collection is being displayed in the offices of Governor Jack Dalrymple, first lady Betsy Dalrymple and Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem …

The Mandan Rodeo Days Celebration received statewide recognition at the 2014 North Dakota Tourism Conference in Fargo on April 16. North Dakota governor Jack Dalrymple presented the Mandan Rodeo Days Celebration with the Governor’s Travel and Tourism Event of the Year award for 2014. The three-day event, held around the July Fourth holiday, marks its 135th anniversary this year …

The Casey Tibbs South Dakota Rodeo Center in Fort Pierre has acquired a collection of photos, letters and Tibbs’ personal journals from a long-time friend in California. Center Director Cindy Bahe said the journals and the photos – which include shots taken during the filming of Born to Buck and one of Tibbs with his future wife, 1954 Miss South Dakota Cleo Harrington – are displayed on the museum’s main floor …

Despite thunderstorms which hit the area, last week’s Midwest Horse Fair & Rodeo in Madison, Wis., drew nearly 55,000 people – a 2 percent increase over 2013 – and had an economic benefit to the community of $8.4 million …

“A Look Back at the ProRodeo Hall of Fame and Professional Rodeo,” a historical exhibit showcasing the Hall of Fame’s journey since opening in 1979, along with artifacts from the Wrangler NFR and PRCA, will be opening in the Hall of Fame’s 101 Gallery May 1 and will remain on display through September.

Courtesy of PRCA

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