Two-Time WNFR Saddle Bronc Horse Spider Passes Away

Saddle bronc horse Spider, a two-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo selection out of the Bailey Pro Rodeo stable, passed away July 26. He was 26.

“He had coliced after he bucked in (Nampa, Idaho),” said Brandee Moore of Bailey Pro Rodeo. “I don’t know if his out did it and it just intensified. We treated him and did everything we could do, but we lost him.”

Spider’s last two outs were at the Snake River Stampede in Nampa. Dawson Dahm had an 81.5-point ride on July 20, and Tegan Smith had an 82.5-point trip on him July 23.

Spider’s two outs at the NFR came with Isaac Diaz (2015) and Jacobs Crawley (2018) aboard. Spider also was the 2017 Badlands Circuit Saddle Bronc Horse of the Year.

“Spider had a huge rear out, every trip he would come out he would have a huge rear out,” Moore said. “If a cowboy could get past that rear out and ride him through that he would get you to the pay window every time. He had the same trip every time. He went to Houston and Denver every year. He was super healthy, and he never had any stress. We tried to retire him twice. We held him off a bit and left him at home and he got depressed. We put him back on the road and he was phenomenal. He never missed a trip.”

Spider has lived on a ranch in Karlsruhe, N.D., for the last several years with Moore and Shane Gunderson. The horse is owned by Shane Vaira.

“These horses, I feed them apple treats and they love them,” Moore said. “There are some that will come and some that will not and some that will take them from you and some that will not, and Spider would not. But he would stand two feet from me, and I would have to drop them on the ground because he would not take them from me. He would get close to me, and he was super pleasant.”

Courtesy of PRCA