#12
Shoot Out
2015
Cinch USTRC National Finals of Team Roping
Tuesday
October 27 2015
Britt
Smith and Dylan Payne
Regardless of how you look at it the
Smith family from Broken Bow, Oklahoma has a lot of history at the Cinch USTRC
National Finals of Team Roping. Dylan
Payne has tapped into that history and coupled with Britt Smith there has emerged
a phenomenal roping pair that cannot and will not be denied as the future of
team roping unfolds.
Britt Smith and Dylan Payne rope well
together. The young men have capitalized on their talent and worked hard to
hone their skills. They have paid their
dues, so to speak.
“It involves muscle memory,
horsemanship, practice and hard work,” Payne commented on the pair’s success.
“We’ve worked hard to get here. We’ve
worked hard to make all this count.”
Smith and Payne won the average in the
#12 Preliminary at the 2015 Cinch USTRC National Finals of Team Roping to
pocket $14,300 and Championship Martin Trophy Saddles. Focused on a mission the pair hit another
gear and set out to conquer the #12 Shoot Out.
They left the prize area of the #12 Preliminary saying, “Let’s do
another interview.”
There is a lot of money involved.
Winning the average in the #12 Shoot Out would pay first place in the average a
whopping $106,200. It was overwhelming.
It was mind boggling. Both Smith and Payne planned to finish up the week ahead in
OKC and they wanted to finish it all up with a win.
The pair was the fourth high team back
going into the short go round of the #12 Shoot Out.
“I wasn’t nervous,” Smith said as they
prepared for the short go round. “We’ve been preparing for this our whole
lives.”
Payne concurred. “If you practice
enough, do it enough, it becomes second nature, instinct, reflex. I call it
muscle memory. You hear the music, you hear the rattling of the gates and then
suddenly it is silence and muscle memory kicks in and it is reflex. It is instinct so nerves were not really an
issue.”
The pair waited patiently for their
turn after the fifteenth high call team of Wyatt Bray and Kirby Blankenship
took the lead in the average with a time of 31.62. The top twenty teams would get a pay check. The
roping would pay back a whopping 134% for a total payout of $404,540. First
place would take home $106,200 and an awesome prize line of Martin Championship
Trophy Saddles, Gist Championship Gold Buckles, Tony Lama Full Quill Ostrich
Boots and Western Horseman Collector’s Prints.
“The last steer was just another cow,” Payne explained. “We
were roping well. I wasn’t worried about
anything changing. The hard work and practice was beginning to pay off.
When Smith and Payne rode into the box
there were three teams left to rope. For
Payne muscle memory kicked in and there was no doubt Smith would connect. The pair needed a time of 7.80 to move Bray
and Blankenship.
The air was hot and electric. As one knows, anything does and will happen
in team roping. That is the appeal. Smith knew what to do and he was on a
mission. Losing was not part of his
vocabulary. Smith nodded, roped and
turned off to give Payne his heel shot.
Payne connected and stopped the clock at 7.73. It was exactly what they needed to take the
lead in the average. “Give it your best
shot,” seemed to echo from Smith and Payne.
They had done what they set out to do.
The last three teams made good runs
but they were not enough to upset Smith and Payne. Some things cannot be denied or ignored.
Smith and Payne was one of those things.
They would take the win in the #12 Shoot Out. They would pocket $106,200 and collect an
awesome prize line. What a finale! It
absolutely left one speechless.
“I’ll put some money back into my
roping,” Payne said. “And bank the rest. It’s my future,” he grinned.
“My dad gets the money,” Smith said.
“I like to rope. My dad pays the fees, hauls me and provides the horses. He
helps me rope. He will take care of the money too.”
Asked what he had learned in the last
day or two Smith elaborated, “If you practice, practice, practice and practice
eventually it will pay off. You have to
practice and work hard even when you don’t feel like working hard and
practicing. Most people, kids at school, kids my age don’t understand. I think the only one at school that understands
is my coach at school. He understands, he is supportive and that makes a
difference.”
Smith has a huge support system with
his family involved. His grandparents, Vernon and Betty Smith, follow the
grandkids everywhere. His dad, Mark won
this roping in 2005 and brother, Clay, qualified for this year’s National
Finals in Las Vegas. The entire family has a long history with the USTRC and
with the NFTR.
The family hauled eleven head of
horses to the Finals to make sure all bases were covered. The family knows what team roping involves
and has been committed for a lot of years to insure each of the boys got an
opportunity to let their talents and hard work show.
Both Smith and Payne plan to relax and
just rope for fun the rest of the week. Now that money is not an issue they can
go rope and continue to have a good time.
“I’ll be here through the #11 Shoot
Out and Preliminary,” Payne said. Smith will rope through to the #9 Shoot Out.
One could say roping runs deep in the
bloodlines of Britt Smith. One could say
Dylan Payne has it figured out when he relies on muscle memory. Bottom line, both young men can rope, they
love to rope and they rope well. They
are committed to discipline, the practice involved and the time it takes to be
the best. This is only the beginning. Don’t forget the names of Britt Smith and
Dylan Payne. They have only just begun!
