Big checks at RNCFR meant a couple long-time world standings leaders lost their No. 1 positions, Canadian rodeos are warming my heart and soul, and the bareback riding world lost a special equine athlete this past weekend. 

RNCFR Wins Shake Up The Leaderboard In The Bareback And Tie-Down

The world standings leaders have held pretty steady for a while now, but big checks at the 2018 RAM National Circuit Finals have unseated two leaders from their spots at the top. Both Caleb Bennett and Blaine Cox have dropped from their No. 1 positions in the bareback riding and tie-down roping, respectively, after the weekend.

Mason Clements is the 2018 RNCFR bareback champion and new bareback riding season leader by just $52.87 over Bennett. Clements had a stellar RNCFR, placing in both rounds and the two-head average, winning the semifinal, and splitting the final with back-to-back world champion Tim O’Connell to earn a total of $19,238 and nudge him ahead in the standings. 

Youngster Blane Cox, who made his WNFR debut just last year, was passed by two tie-down roping veterans this weekend. Tuf Cooper, who won the RNCFR, earned $18,006 and now sits in the No. 1 position in the tie-down. Tyson Durfey, who recently also had a crucial victory at Rodeo Austin, earned $16,016 at the RNCFR and now sits in No. 2. 

Find full results from the RNCFR HERE. 

Canadian Rodeos Defrosting My Frozen Soul 

I certainly haven’t been enjoying this unusually long winter my country has been having, but the fact that the Canadian pro rodeo season is starting to fire up warms my winter-hating heart just a little bit. 

Corny line, right? 

For me, Medicine Hat’s Broncs and Honky Tonks rodeo mean spring is just around the corner and hopefully here to stay, with rodeos almost every weekend until the end of the CPRA rodeo season from here on out. CPRA competitors are now starting to venture out of the calving barns and feedlots, or the lucky ones that fly south for the winter are starting to migrate home after a winter full of practicing and competing south of the border. 

Photo by Randy Feere, provided by the Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede

Due to our weather, many Canadian rodeos this time of year occur in small indoor pens—often converted from hockey rinks and other indoor multi-purpose facilities—and the indoor arena at Medicine Hat is no exception. Those arenas come with their advantages and disadvantages: barrel racers with smaller, short-strided horses excel when they only have a handful of strides between barrels, and heelers better be ready for a quick shot, especially if their header reaches a little and gets the steer on a long line. 

It’s heaven for bull riding stock contractors when bulls generally perform better in a smaller pen, while steer wrestlers need to make sure they are sharp on the barrier or they risk hitting the bucking chutes at the back end of the arena. 

Rising to the top this weekend were these athletes:

*Results courtesy of the CPRA. 

Pete Carr Pro Rodeo Horse “Outa Sight” Lost To Colic

The love western people have for their animal athletes is proven time and time again during the lives and unfortunately, the deaths, of both our equine and bovine athletes. Pete Carr Pro Rodeo lost one of those special equine athletes on April 4 when 579 Outa Sight succumb to colic while she was in Florida to buck at the RNCFR. 

Pete Carr Pro Rodeo reported on the death of the talented mare that had bucked at the WNFR five times previously, the first time as just a 5-year-old. 

“We saw that she was in distress, so we drove her two hours north to Gainesville last night for surgery,” said Billy Jones, who was overseeing operations for the Carr team while in Florida, on April 5 in a press release for petecarrrodeo.com. “She died as they were preparing her for surgery.”

The powerful 13-year-old paint who was out of the legendary stud “Night Jacket” was one bareback riders liked to see next to their name on the draw for any rodeo around. 

“I talked to guys about her this morning, and they were all dumbfounded,” said six-time WNFR qualifier Caleb Bennett in the press release.

“When you bring her to the RAM finals, she was in our four round every time because that round features the showiest horses we’ve got. That’s just the caliber she was. She was a phenomenal athlete, and a lot of us are really going to miss her.”

According to the press release, Outa Sight brought Bennett to the pay window at the WNFR, Guymon, Oklahoma., Lovington, New Mexico, Fort Worth, Texas, Eagle, Colorado, and Kissimmee, Florida.