Round-Up Records, Special Horses

By: Ruth Nicolaus

Wyoming cowboy sets new bareback riding record at Round-Up on acclaimed bareback horse

Red Bluff, Calif. – A new arena record was set during the Saturday performance of the Red Bluff Round-Up.

Bareback rider Donny Proffit scored 90 points on the horse Virgil, owned by C5 Rodeo Co. in Lac La Biche, Alberta, to best the old record by one point, set in 2004 by Royce Ford.

The Diamondville, Wyo. cowboy was glad to match up with Virgil, a two-time Pro Rodeo Cowboys Association Bareback Horse of the Year (2017-2018), a big gray gelding.

Proffit was excited when he saw he had drawn Virgil.

“I saw the draw (the listing that shows which horses a cowboy will ride) and spent a lot of time thinking about it,” he said, “a lot of sleepless nights. I was excited and a little nervous.”

The ride on the big gray gelding was good, Proffit said. “That horse has a lot of power. He gets up in the air so much and has a lot of timing to him. I knew I had to have my feet up towards his neck when his front feet hit the ground, and it worked out pretty good.”

Virgil has a long “hang-time” when he jumps, Proffit said. “He gets up in the air and hangs there, because he’s so big, and he drops so hard. He gives you a chance to win it, but you dang sure don’t want to be late in getting your feet at the end of the spur stroke, to the neck, or he’ll make you pay for it.”

The feeling of setting a new arena record on Virgil was “outstanding. I’m on cloud nine.”

Proffit is a senior at the University of Wyoming, majoring in agricultural communications.

The check he’ll win tomorrow, when the rodeo ends, goes to pay for an airline ticket. But it didn’t matter how he got to Red Bluff.

“I’d have hitchhiked, if I had to.”

This is Proffit’s second trip to California; he competed in Brawley last November, winning a second place check.

“I might have to come to California more, I guess,” he said. “They treat me pretty good.”

In the barrel racing, a horse with an eagerness to work is getting a share of the winnings.

Sissy Winn and her ten-year-old sorrel gelding named Scoop have the fastest time, so far, in the barrel racing, after a 17.22 second run on Saturday.

Winn not only leads the second round but leads the average as well (34.80 seconds on two runs).

Scoop loves his job, and gains confidence with each run he makes, Winn said.

“He’s just a big horse that loves to run barrels,” she said. “I’ve never had a horse that loves a job like this. Every time he goes in there, he wants to give it all.”

Yesterday, during slack, he clocked a time of 17.58 seconds, and Winn knew he’d get faster on his second run.

“I knew, today, he was going to run so much faster. He gets more confident, like ‘Ok, I know what I’m doing now, I’ve seen it, stay out of my way, Sissy,’” she said.

His name fits him well, she said. “He acts like a scoop,” she laughed. “He’s scared of things, he’s got a big head and his eyes are huge. He has a knot on his head because he scooped at something on the trailer.”

Winn is ranked sixth in the Women’s Pro Rodeo Association world standings, and she’s ready for the summer rodeos because bigger arenas fit her horse better. “He has the big stride, he can stretch out (in the bigger summer rodeo arenas) and he can focus on the barrels and not the people in the stands.”

She does everything she can to keep him healthy and happy. “He comes first. I bathe him, I massage him, he gets laser and massage treatments, and last night I checked on him four times, to make sure he was sleeping.

“I’m a worried mama. (The horses) are our babies.”

Winn qualified for her first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo last year, riding Scoop.

In other events, the top saddle bronc rider for the Saturday matinee was Q Taylor, Casper, Wyo. (85.5 points), and top bull rider was Ky Hamilton, Mackay, Australia (86.5 points).

The third rounds of the steer wrestling, tie-down roping and team roping wrapped up today, with the round wins going to steer wrestler Bridger Anderson, Carrington, N.D. (3.8 seconds); tie-down roper Blane Cox, Cameron, Texas (8.5 seconds); and team ropers Jake Smith, Broken Bow, Okla./Rance Doyal, Hartshorne, Okla. and Andrew Ward, Edmond, Okla./Buddy Hawkins II, Stephenville, Texas (6.3 seconds for each team).

The breakaway roping lead went to Kendal Pierson, Wardlow, Alberta (2.8 seconds).

April 23 is the final performance of the Red Bluff Round-Up. The rodeo starts at 1:30 pm. The performance is the annual Tough Enough to Wear Pink day, with funds raised for the Dignity Health/St. Elizabeth Community Hospital. In the last fourteen years, the Round-Up and other community activities have raised nearly $600,000 for Dignity Health/St. Elizabeth.

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Results from second performance, Red Bluff Round-Up, April 22, 2023

Bareback riding

1. Donny Proffit, 90 points on C5 Rodeo’s Virgil; 2. Kaycee Feild, Genola, Utah 87; 3. Garrett Shadbolt, Merriman, Neb. 86.5; 4. Mason Clements, Spanish Fork, Utah 86.

Steer wrestling

3rd round results; the 3rd round is completed and the top twelve steer wrestlers in the average will compete in Sunday’s performance

1. Bridger Anderson, Carrington, N.D. 3.8 seconds; 2. Justin Shaffer, Hallsville, Texas 4.3; 3. (tie) Stan Branco, Chowchilla, Calif. and Jesse Brown, Baker City, Ore. 4.9 each; 5. (tie) Jake Nelson, Whitehall, Mont. and Brandon Harrison, Cheek, Texas 5.0 each; 7. Kalane Anders, Bayard, Neb. 5.2; 8. Cameron Morman, Glen Ullin, N.D. 5.4

Saddle bronc riding

1. Q Taylor, Casper, Wyo. 85.5 points on Bridwell Pro Rodeos Scarlet Lady; 2. Stetson Wright, Milford, Utah 83; 3. Layton Green, Millarville, Alb. 82.5; 4. Parker Fleet, Axtell, Texas 82.

Tie-down roping

3rd round results; the 3rd round is completed and the top twelve steer wrestlers in the average will compete in Sunday’s performance

1. Blane Cox, Cameron, Texas 8.5 seconds; 2. Tyler Forsberg, Fillmore, Calif. 9.0; 3. Shane Hanchey, Sulphur, La. 9.1; 4. Tom Crouse, Gallatin, Mo. 10.3; 5. Lane Livingston, Seymour, Texas 10.6; 6. Kass Kayser, Ellensburg, Wash. 11.0; 7. Brush Minton, Witter Springs, Calif. 11.1; 8. Reese Riemer, Stinnett, Texas 11.5.

Breakaway roping

1. Kendal Pierson, Wardlow, Alb. 2.8 seconds; 2. Shelby Boisjoli, Stephenville, Texas 4.0; 3. Josey Murphy, Keachi, La. 13.2; no other qualified runs.

Team roping

3rd round results; the 3rd round is completed and the top twelve steer wrestlers in the average will compete in Sunday’s performance

1. (tie) Jake Smith, Broken Bow, Okla./Rance Doyal, Hartshorne, Okla. and Andrew Ward, Edmond, Okla./Buddy Hawkins II, Stephenville, Texas 6.3 seconds each; 3. Kellan Johnson, Casper, Wyo./Carson Johnson, Casper, Wyo. 6.6; 4. (tie) Derrick Begay, Seba Dalkai, Ariz./Colter Todd, Willcox, Ariz., Cash Duty, Welmar, Texas/Sid Sporer, Cody, Wyo., and Spencer Mitchell, Orange Cove, Calif./Cody Cowden, Atwater, Calif. 6.9 each; 7. (tie) Cole Thomas, Emelle, Ala./Clay Green, Pine Grove, La., Dawson Graham, Wainwright, Alb./Dillon Graham, Wainwright, Alb. and Jr Dees, Aurora, S.D./Ross Ashford, Lott, Texas 7.1 each.

Barrel racing

1. Sissy Winn, Corpus Christi, Texas 17.22 seconds; 2. (tie) Bayleigh Choate, Ft. Worth, Texas and Jackie Ganter, Abilene, Texas 17.48 seconds each; 4. Nellie Miller, Cottonwood, Calif. 17.50.

Bull riding

1. Ky Hamilton, Mackay, Australia 86.5 points on Big Stone Rodeo’s About Time; no other qualified rides.