The Score from The Team Roping Journal

Kaleb Driggers and Jade Corkill won The CoJo—worth $72,000, Bill Fick Fords and Bloomer Trailers on Saturday, October 11, 2025—capping off Driggers' biggest year ever and Corkill's comeback. --- This episode is brought to you by Dechra. Dechra is a global specialist in veterinary pharmaceuticals and related products. Our expertise is in the development, manufacture, and sales and marketing of high...

In December 2025,  Lightning Aguilera  will back in the box for his second  NFR , three years after his first qualification. The Florida transplant finished the regular season No. 15 in the PRCA world standings with $114,735.75 won on the year after battling it out near the bubble the last month of the season. On this episode of  The Score , Aguilera talks about his 2025 season...

The Riata Championships paid out $5.5 million crowing its 2025 champions. From the Riata Pro Futurity featuring some of the best team ropers and 5-year-old rope horses, to the Cowgirl Steer Stopping, the stories that unfolded are worth listening to on  The Short Score . Logan Allen and Ketch Kelton  paired up to win $149,500 in the 2025 Riata #14.5 Championship after roping fou...

Who deserves the PRCA/AQHA Head Horse of the Year title? Clint Summers' Joe? Riley Minor's Bob? Tyler Wade's Spur? Or... someone else all together? We deep dive with Summers, Wade, Kaleb Driggers and Minor in this always-anticipated episode. --- This episode is brought to you by Equinety, the supplement that fuels most of the Horse of the Year contenders, year after year.

The rope horse world is about to get another financial boost. In this episode, host  Chelsea Shaffer  is joined by  Melanie Smith , founder of Solo Select, and  Clay Logan , event producer, to unpack the brand-new  Solo Select Stallion Incentive Futurity  — launching with a jaw-dropping  $465,000 payout  in its inaugural year. They cover everything you need...

In one of the most anticipated episodes of  The Score , host Chelsea Shaffer brings back the annual deep dive into the top heel horses of the year. This year’s conversations are full of insight, loyalty and a bit of friendly debate among elite ropers. We’re hearing directly from the best in the business: Coleby Payne  – breaking down why his bay gelding may be the new frontrunn...

In this episode of  The Score , host Chelsea Shaffer sits down with Shane and John Philipp of Philipp Ranch to preview their 2025 Production Horse Sale, happening September 6 in Bryan, Texas. The brothers break down the pedigrees behind their standout rope horses, their unique approach to training and development, and what makes this year’s set of 39 head one of their deepest yet. From proven...

The field for the 2025  Cinch Playoff Series  in Puyallup, Washington, is set after the Aug. 18 cutoff, and the lineup is packed with storylines that could reshape this year’s NFR race. The top 23 in the Playoff Series standings—plus NFR Open winners—will head to Puyallup Sept. 4-7, with a shot at a $75,000 purse on each end, with as much as $20,420 per man up for grabs. That kind of pay...

Karl Stressman and Tammy Canida of the American Quarter Horse Association are at the forefront of record keeping and pedigree information, and  The Score  caught up with them to talk about what role the AQHA can play in the team roping industry. About AQHA From the back of the box to the barrier, and from the break of the steer to the dally—roping demands a partner who knows the job and...

The summer is winding down, but the ProRodeo action is not. From Greeley and Cowboy Christmas, to Salinas and Cheyenne,  The Short Score  is covering everything that has happened this summer as we roll into August. Andrew Ward and Jake Long  got Cowboy Christmas rolling earlier this summer with the Greeley Stampede win in June for $11,225 a man. And while Ward and Long were amongst...

When TRJ's Chelsea Shaffer picked up the phone to call Bobby Joe Hill of Hill Rodeo Cattle, she had no idea the U.S.-Mexico cattle border had closed  just the night before . What started as a routine check-in turned into a breaking-news conversation about a closure that could ripple across the roping industry. In this episode of  The Score , Bobby Joe breaks down what he knows about the...

When a $1.7 million bid stunned the rope horse world, everyone asked the same question:  Who is this guy?  In this exclusive episode of  The Score , we sit down with Mr. Jones—the man behind the record-breaking purchase that turned heads across the western industry. Jones didn’t set out to make headlines. He thought he was just buying a horse. But what followed was an industry-wide...

The Old West Rope Horse Futurity paid out over $1 million in 2025 and saw ropers and horses make history.  Tate Kirchenschlager  and Almost LostMy Ticket won the Old West Futurity Heading for a life-changing $100,000. Coming from second call, Kirchenschlager topped the field to mark a major milestone in his rope-horse training journey. SLR Swinging Hickory's  $100,000 Old West Futur...

When the gavel dropped on a $1.7 million sale at the Old West Futurity Rope Horse Sale in Heber City, Utah, Steve Friskup fought back tears. He'd sold horses before for $1.5 million, but Crosby Ray Von broke every record he'd ever set. Some 48 hours after the sale, we caught up with Friskup as he'd had time to process the significance of the moment and what it means for the horse industry as a who...

June kicked off with  a busy weekend of 2025 ProRodeo team roping action. With rodeos in nearly every circuit, there was a lot of rodeo action to unpack. On this episode of  The Short Score , we break down who won what the final weekend of May to kick off June, who the biggest earners were and talked ProRodeo world standings. More from The Score The Short Score: Corpus Christi Catch Up M...

Andrew Ward and Jake  Long had a dominant performance at the 2025  WCRA Rodeo Corpus Christi , winning $28,000 a man en route to the title.  With 19 NFR appearances between them, Ward and Long won  Rodeo Corpus Christi  with a 5.43-second run in the three-man round May 10, to clinch the $18,000 win and secure Ward a spot on the Free Riders team at Kid Rock’s...

Miles Baker kicks off this episode after a big win at the 2025 Oil Can Classic heading futurity aboard Sevens Hank 2—a bay gelding making a triumphant return. Baker explains the horse’s background, why he’s in Miles’ program instead of Trevor’s, and how time off may have preserved his expression. He breaks down the run that earned the high score of the day and shares insight into how short-round j...

Billie Jack Saebens won both the heading and heeling pre-futurities at the Oil Can Classic, an American Rope Horse Futurity Association show in Ardmore, Oklahoma, that ran April 25-27, 2025. In the heading, Saebens rode Una Furiosa, a 2021 gray mare bred by the  Flag Ranch  and owned by  Shane Boston.  The gray powerhouse, by Bobby Starlight out of a Furyofthewind daughter Play...

We're kicking off our 2025 Rope Horse Market Series with J.D. McGuire, a Midland, Texas-based heeler who's partnering with Hunter Koch and going all-in on the rope horse business. What is driving a businessman to invest in the horse industry so heavily, and where does he see the business going? --- This episode is presented by Fast Back Ropes .

Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira get REAL about the problems they've had connecting this winter after they win $154,000 at the BFI to redeem their jackpotting on the year, marking their second-straight BFI win. This victory puts them in rare company as only the fourth team to win back-to-back Feist titles in the event's 48-year history. --- This episode is presented by Cactus Ropes' new Kool Kat...

We continue the chaos with the 2023-2024 World Champs Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp, as they talk to Mike Ramsey, the heeler for the Facebook famous Doug Arnew. We gave Mike the chance to clear his name on this episode, and we also provide details on the BFI Cowboy Auction, where Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp will auction off their John Deere Gator to benefit the Golden Circle of Champions, the Live L...

Troy Ashford is navigating life after the loss of his 18-year-old son, Ace, who died in a cowboying accident last August. Along the way, Ashford has found purpose in giving back, and that brings us to the purpose of this episode: to tell you about the charity auction for the Live Like Ace Foundation, the Golden Circle of Champions and the World Youth Team Roping Championship at the 2025 Bob Feist...

Doug Arnew caused quite the stir when to took to social media to lament the trials of a header just trying to find a good run in the 7. The team roping industry took notice, including World Champs Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp. Thorp, for his part, had recently given a lesson to Arnew, so getting a hold of him and visiting was the easy part. Now, Wade and Thorp are making it their mission to help Do...

The roping world knew Ketch Kelton was an animal, but walking into the Lazy E and winning the Cinch Timed Event Championship in his rookie appearance at just 19 made some jaws really drop—except, perhaps, anyone who knew Kelton and how absolutely cowboy this guy really is. In the last year, Kelton has won the JR Patriot, the NTR Finals, the High School Finals Rodeo, the South Point Super Qualifier...

Jr. Ironman  rookie James Mann took home the 2025 title for $20,000 after finishing the 12-head battle in 138.4 seconds March 1 inside the famous Lazy E Arena. Mann, a 19-year-old from California, also won the first round, second in Round 2 and third in Round 3 in pursuit of this year's Jr. Ironman title. The Patriot  is gracing Fort Worth once again March 9-16. The Ariat WSTR Open to th...