The Score from The Team Roping Journal

Old West paid out $1.37 million in Heber City, put some of the best rope horses in the industry on display and backed it all up with a horse sale that proved just how fast this side of the business is growing. Chelsea Shaffer sat down with Rhen Richard to reminisce on the week in Utah, from Richard winning $186,000 on five different horses to what those results say about his training program, his...

Cooper Freeman grew up in Carthage, Missouri, surrounded by roping. His parents bought an indoor arena, steakhouse and western store when he was young, and Freeman grew up in the middle of jackpot team ropings, barrel races and weekend events. By 14, he was amateur rodeoing. At 19, he bought his PRCA permit and made a run through the Great Lakes Circuit. He spent two years at Cisco College, where...

After eight years and more than 3 million downloads, Chelsea Shaffer is handing The Score’s reins to the Team Roping Journal’s newest hire, Calli Montague. Montague, known to most as “Frank’s daughter,” grew up with a rope in her hand and engulfed in the world of team roping from the beginning. A South Texas native who now calls the Texas Panhandle home, Montague came up through West Texas A&M...

Korbin Rice grew up in Hobbs, New Mexico roping calves with his brother. By his freshman year of high school, they'd switched to team roping full time. By his senior year, he'd made up his mind to rodeo for a living—even though nobody in his family had ever done it. His rookie year, he and Caleb Hendricks drove everywhere. One horse apiece, never got on a plane. He figured out the entering as he w...

Jake Smith and Douglas Rich head into the 2026 ProRodeo summer run with plenty of momentum after winning the Music City Rodeo in Nashville. In this episode of The Short Score, Smith and Rich break down their win, which moved them to No. 2 in the PRCA world standings and talk about how building confidence before the busiest stretch of the season is so important. Smith and Rich share how their consi...

Sterlin English is used to seeing his name at the pay window. Now it shows up in the cast list of Taylor Sheridan's newest project. The team roper plays Austin Lewis on "The Dutton Ranch," the latest Yellowstone spinoff. The first two episodes dropped early May 15 on Paramount+, with new episodes streaming weekly for the next seven weeks. English, who won the US Finals in 2015 at 12 with his fathe...

Texas cowgirl Kayelen Helton joins The Score's Calli Montague to talk about balancing a full-time career as a licensed professional counselor with life in the arena, while still competing at a high level in both breakaway and team roping. Helton talks growing up in Texas junior rodeo, competing through the amateur and college ranks at Tarleton State, and now a mainstay in the jackpotting scene. Th...

Winter and spring have flown by on the 2026 ProRodeo season with the summer right around the corner. On this episode of The Short Score, some of the spring's biggest winners talk about their wins. Lightning Aguilera and Wyatt Cox claimed the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo thanks to a $24,218-a-man rodeo. From there, the biggest hit of the year came in RodeoHouston, where Korbin Rice and Cooper...

This episode of The Score wasn’t planned—but it turned into one of the most meaningful conversations we’ve had. Fresh off a dominant showing at the U.S. Finals, three-time World Champion Jade Corkill sat down for an extended, unfiltered conversation that goes far beyond the pay window. After taking the #16.5 with his son Colby and the Open with Tanner Tomlinson, Corkill opens up to TRJ's Calli Mon...

The money in team roping has never been bigger—and most ropers still don’t realize how deep it goes. In this crossover episode with Solo Select , industry leaders break down the full earning potential across futurities, Riata , Old West , Royal Crown, and the Global Handicap System . From 4-year-olds with million-dollar upside to everyday ropers stacking checks, this episode maps out where the mon...

After stepping away from competition for two years due to multiple surgeries, 2020 Cinch Timed Event Champ Taylor Santos returned to the CTEC for the 2026 Ironman title for $100,000. Santos breaks down his surgeries, recovery, months of rehab and the mental battle of not knowing if he’d ever compete at the highest level again. He shares how he decided he was ready to come back, the horsepower that...

The Short Score is back in 2026 as the winter rodeo run is well underway. One of the winter's biggest rodeos wrapped up in February with the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo, introducing some newer names on top. Corben Culley and Trent Vaught took home the 2026 Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo win after a 5.4 in the clean-slate finals. They pocketed $24,900 a man and join this episode of The Sho...

In this episode, we sit down with Travis Browne , a former UFC heavyweight contender who has traded the octagon for the roping box and embraced life as a team roper. Travis talks candidly about what it’s like to go from the elite level of one sport to being brand new in another, and how quickly team roping humbled him. From missing steers at his first jackpot to learning horsemanship, pressure, an...

Andrew Ward and Jake Long  got the second NFR average titles of their careers and their first world titles in 2025. Ward and Long went 3.9 seconds in Round 10 of the 2025 NFR to split the round win and take home the average title with a 44.0 on nine steers. It also sealed the deal on the world championship, bringing them to $373,838.26 and $372,091.71 on the year.  Ward and Long join&nbs...

Lightning Aguilera and Kaden Profili topped Round 9 of the  2025 NFR  for their third round win. Aguilera and Profili pocketed another $36,667.95 apiece for their 3.4-second run. They've collected $130,846.52 a man inside the Thomas & Mack to jump from 15th and 14th in the world to sixth and fifth. Heading into Round 10, Kolton Schmidt and Jonathan Torres continue to lead the aggrega...

Kolton Schmidt and Jonathan Torres not only won Round 8 of the  2025 NFR , they officially lead the pack. Schmidt and Torres turned in a 3.8-second run for the round win to give them the lead in the average with a 28.7 on seven head  and  the lead in the world standings with  $279,074.24  and  $270,808.14 , respectively. They've raked in $159,136.03 a man to skyrocket...

Dawson and Dillon Graham were back for their second go-round win at the  2025 NFR  after winning the Round 7 team roping fight. The Grahams turned in a 3.5-second run for $36,667.95 apiece to push them to fifth in the world standings with $229,858.23. They join  The Short Score  to talk about their round win, their first solo win. ___ This episode of The Short Score is presente...

Tanner Tomlinson and Travis Graves got their first round win of the  2025 NFR  in Round 6. Tomlinson and Graves came within one-tenth of a second of the Thomas & Mack arena record with a 3.4-second run to pocket $36,667.95 apiece. The win puts Tomlinson No. 1 in the world with $276,605.71 and Graves No. 2 with $242,717.48. It also puts them fourth in the aggregate. They join  Th...

Kolton Schmidt and Jonathan Torres were back for another round win at the  2025 NFR , this time on their own. Schmidt and Torres took the Round 5 with a 3.7-second run for $36,667.95 a man Dec. 8. The win pushed Schmidt to fifth in the world with $223,776.61 and Torres to fourth with $215,510.51 on the year. Schmidt and Torres join  The Short Score  to break down their win. ___ This...

The reigning World Champs Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp joined Dustin Egusquiza and Levi Lord atop the Round 4 team roping leaderboard at the  2025 NFR . Wade and Thorp and Egusquiza and Lord turned in 3.8-second runs to split the round for $32,823.73 apiece. The win comes as redemption for both teams after two no-times for Wade and Thorp and a no-time in Round 3 for Egusquiza and Lord. Both te...

The third round of the  2025 NFR  was crowded at the top of the team roping with a three-way tie for first. Dawson Graham and Dillon Graham took an early lead in the round with a 3.8-second run as the second team out. Lightning Aguilera and Kaden Profili and Kolton Schmidt and Jonathan Torres joined the 3.8-second club back-to-back. All six men pocketed $29,176.65. The Short Score  ...

Jake Smith got his first NFR go-round win, taking top honors in Round 2 of the 2025 Finals with Douglas Rich. Smith and Rich turned in a 3.9-second run for $36,667.95 a man. After the round, they unofficially moved to fourth in the world standings with $194,087.46 and $183,337.45, respectively. They join  The Short Score  to talk about their win. ___ This episode is brought to you b...

The first team out of the 2025 NFR took top honors in the team roping with  Lightning Aguilera  and  Kaden Profili  stunning the field. The pair of two-time NFR qualifiers set the pace with a 4.0-second run that stayed No. 1 for the remaining 14 teams. Aguilera and Profili pocketed $36,667.95 apiece to bump them to No. 8 and 7 in the world with $161,403.70 and $160,20...

When the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo kicks off on December 4, first-time NFR qualifier Lane Mitchell will be backing in the box on a 10-year-old gray stallion named Oz Ona Hot Streak , owned and raised by Nebraska breeder Nate Osentowski. Oz is a 14.3 hand rocket by A Streak Of Fling and out of Oz One Hot Mama, a One Hot Jose daughter. He is fast, honest and about as drama free as a stallion ca...

Clint Summers' Mr Joes Shadow Bar and Coleby Payne's Cut Off My Spots are the 2025 Nutrena Head and Heel Horses of the Year, presented by AQHA. This is Mr Joes Shadow Bar's second award and Cut Off My Spots first. --- This episode is presented by Fast Back Ropes . For close to thirty years Fast Back Ropes has been developing best selling ropes by listening to our customers. Fast Back offers a vari...