#12 Shoot Out
Cinch USTRC National Finals of Team Roping
Tuesday October 23, 2012
Oklahoma State Fairgrounds Coliseum
By Melinda Clements
Tradition
runs deep. It is that ritual or
institution that defines where we come from and where we are going. It is the transfer of ownership of the
elders to the up and coming generation.
It is the things we deem important and why.
Tradition
is the foundation that labels us and our beliefs as we regard relevance in our
lives. Regardless of what you
perceive team roping to be it is based on the institution defined as family or
kin. We, as ropers, are that
lineage that rode horses and carried ropes because those before us instilled
the value and importance of the cowboy and ranching lifestyle. You cannot buy it, it cannot be ordered
off the Internet and it cannot be bartered. It is a blood thing bred deep inside and ingrained in one’s
inner most being.
“We
got them started in horsemanship first,” said Bryan Bray, the grandfather. “They grew up knowing how to ride and
take care of their horses. That was and still is important. You watch them grow and learn and reap
the rewards of hard work and valued traditions and it is time well spent. It fills my heart to the point of
tears. Cade’s been roping the dummy and my feet since he was a little boy. They all have. And others are coming on
behind these who are doing the same thing. That is what roping is about.”
This
story has a lot of angles. It is
about a National Finals Team Roping where a Professional Bronc Rider changes
his focus and a dad hauls his son to roping after roping because it is
ingrained deep in them both. It is
about pride and blessings, fear, frustration and working through the hardships
and looking forward to seeing and reaping the rewards.
Ninety
five thousand dollars is a lot of money in anybody’s book. It was only a portion of the #12 Shoot
Out prize line at the 2012 Cinch USTRC NFTR. Martin Championship Trophy Saddles, Tony Lama Ostrich Boots,
Gist
Championship
Gold Buckles and Western Horseman Collector’s Prints topped out an awesome
array of prizes.
Cousins
Cade and Rance Bray was the second high team back going into the short go round
of the #12 Shoot Out. Thirty teams
had come back in the short go round vying for the prizes to be awarded. The top twenty teams would get a check.
With a total payout of $381,600 it was safe to say the competition would be
fierce.
It
almost appeared the top six high call back teams were scrambling for
position. It was a tough roping
and when the fourth high call back team of Dawson McMaster and Scott VanderHamm
posted a time of 7.45 on their short go round steer the iron grew a bit hotter
with more intensity. If pressure had not been an issue it certainly was now.
Cade
Bray kept hearing his dad ask if he was nervous and he kept saying no. He had roped his thirteenth high call
back steer for partner, Jahew Thorp, in 9.52. It wasn’t a bad run but it wasn’t
good enough to take him to first.
He wanted this second steer, the second high call back steer, to roll
him over the hump so to speak.
When
the Bray boys rode into the box they knew they needed an 8.52 to take the
lead.
“This
steer is no different than a twenty five dollar jackpot run,” Cade Bray kept
thinking. “It is the same kind of run, the same roping, and the outcome can be
the same.” With that in mind and
knowing Rance would back him up Cade rode into the box and left all his
inhibitions aside. He nodded and
went to rope and knew that he knew that he knew Rance would wrap it up
right. When the dust cleared and
the numbers were tallied 8.46 was on the clock. They had taken the lead in the average and there was one
team left to go. When the high
call back team legged the Bray boys gasped. They had just won the #12 Shoot Out
and $95,200 was theirs.
“I
guess you get lucky every now and then,” Cade said. “There was lots of
emotion. It was a mixed bag of
emotion to be exact. I was so
nervous but I didn’t want my dad to know.
I just wanted to catch and handle the steer and give my heeler his shot.
The catch and the handle is the same regardless of the heeler and I knew Rance
would be there.”
“I
was so nervous,” Rance Bray the former bronc rider laughed. “I hoped to be
smart, rope smart, make it clean but actually I didn’t think a whole lot about
it. I guess I’m officially a team
roper now. I’m into that frame of mind.” His smile was contagious.
As
the prize area buzzed with family, photographers and other ropers both Rance
and Cade were overwhelmed at the family that filled the room. It just meant a lot to have your family
supporting you. It meant a lot to
see your grandfather with tears in his eyes reflecting the standards and
traditions that he had passed on in years past. It meant a lot to know the sacrifices that had been made by
those who had gone before. It
meant a lot to grasp the fact that team roping is something but family is
everything.
“There
is such a unique bond with family,” Cade commented. “Rance and I live a long
ways from each other. I knew he was kin in some way and when I called and asked
him if he wanted to rope he gave me his all. That is worth something. I guess
that is what kin folks do.”
“We
will rope together and make it work,” Rance Bray said. “I have to practice way harder in team
roping. My whole family is ropers
I was always the rough stock rider. I guess there is no way around it. I’m a
roper now and there is no escaping.
It isn’t a half bad deal.
I’ll put this saddle in the living room but I may or may not keep it off
of a bucking horse since my heel horse is a bucking horse literally.” I think
he was serious despite the grin on his face and the excitement in his voice.
We
make a lot of choices in life but we cannot choose our families. We are stuck with them. However, roping and rodeo families are strong,
committed and dedicated to carrying on the traditions, standards and morals
that have sustained them over generations. You cannot run from those either because they are bred in
you and mirror where you came from and where you are going.
Team
Roping has a tendency to become ingrained in our inner being. It, too, is a tradition that will carry
on to the next generation. It gets
in your blood and sustains you.
You learn quickly it isn’t the game that is important but how you play
that matters. It is what you walk
away with when it is all over that matters.
“We
are proud of what they do,” Bryan Bray said, “I’m always proud of what they all
do whether it is in the arena or not.” That is what tradition and family is
about.
