Cowboys put skills to the test at ranch rodeo competition

By LORI COPE | East Texas Edition

Four-year-old Savanna Waller of Cooper (right) awaits her duty of taking the American flag around the arena prior to the recent Ranch Rodeo competition in Cooper. Savanna has been riding horses, with her parents Lea and Scotty, since she was just a few months old. Garrett Burt, 11, of Cooper (left) carried the Texas flag during the grand entry. -- Staff photo by Cope

June 3, 2004 -- When working cowboys come to compete, they bring their on-the-job skills and put them to the test in a spectator-filled arena - all in hopes of claiming the top title.

On May 22, 10 teams competed in a Ranch Rodeo event in Cooper. The Bar-SR Ranch team, of Broken Bow, Okla., rode away with the champion title. Leading that team was Bar-SR Ranch owner Sam Richards, who at 53, was likely the oldest cowboy competing at the event. Richards has been competing in ranch rodeos for about 25 years.

On his winning team were Oklahoma ranchers Charley Self, Clint Helms, and Rickey Short. Short is the only team member who has a "day job" other than ranching and working cattle, although he, along with most all of the ranch rodeo competitors, will hire out to work cattle.

One competitor, Mark Pierce of Williams Ranch, Terrell, explained the competitors are simply professional cowboys. "This is just our way of life," he said about a job where it requires one to "saddle up" to get the day's work done.

Brandon Greenhall of G&R Cattle Co., Kaufman, said yes, the competitive events depicit their work activities "but we come here to compete and maybe win some buckles or money."

Of the competitive events featured at a ranch rodeo, Greenhall deemed branding as the easiest; and wild cow milking as the hardest. "Actually, if we have a calf that needs milk, we just mix up a bottle."

One of the G&R Cattle Co. team members, Mike Roffino, a 29-year-old cowboy, earned the Top Hand award from the Ranch Rodeo event.

"This was a great honor; I've never won this before," he said.

Pin the Number ... Kenny Crowson (right) pins an entrant number on teammate Evan Darlin prior to competition. Crowson and Darlin, along with Lee Pogue and Leon Ealey, represented Pogue Cattle Co. Crowson's Quarter Horse gelding, Otis Hancock, earned the Top Horse award. -- Staff photo by Cope

Roffino was the G&R's team member which rode the horse during the wild horse competition, and although it appeared to be a tough go, the cowboy said it was actually "pretty easy." Of course, he's been riding and breaking horses for many years now; and he credits his winning wild horse ride to John "The Saddleman" Homer who provided the team with a great bronc saddle. Currently, Roffino serves as manager of Burning Tree Ranch in Kaufman where commercial and yearling cattle are produced. At his job on the ranch, he seldom rides the 12-year-old Quarter Horse gelding he uses in competition, but rather rides "anything I catch that day."

It as a gray Quarter Horse, owned by Kenny Crowson of the Pogue Cattle Co., Sulphur Springs, which was named Top Horse of the competition. Crowson said his 9-year-old gelding, Otis Hancock, is a "general cow horse. ... You probably couldn't go to a roping or a cutting and win (on Otis), but if you need a cow cut out of a herd in the pasture, he's the one to do it."

Crowson, a life-long cowboy, noted his horse was "started right," but he has put some experience on the horse during the six years he's owned him. Besides Otis, Crowson owns over a dozen Quarter Horse mares which are bred to be good "using horses."

Top winners from the competition earned custom-made bits made by Ike Roach of Bogata.

A crowd of about 600 was entertained during the May 22 ranch rodeo, organized by the Shaffer Brothers of Cooper - Jimmy, Joe Bob, and David. Jimmy Shaffer served as one of the judges for the rodeo, along with Hoobie Creech of Terrell.

Jimmy, along with his son Chance, brother Joe Bob, and son-in-law Creech, compete as a team at various ranch rodeos - and do very well, according to others.

"We've been trying for four or five years to put on a ranch rodeo here in Cooper, but we couldn't ever get the (local rodeo) club to get it together," Joe Bob explained. "So we decided we'd just put one on. ... You know, it's easier to enter (a rodeo) than to put one on."

But things went well at this first ranch rodeo in Cooper. Kathy Richards, wife of Bar-SR Ranch owner Sam Richards, noted the fact that limiting the event to 10 teams was a good idea. "The audience doesn't get bored, and (the event) will last just a few hours" instead of four or five when 20 or so enter.

Kelly Scott, announcer at the event, also noted the rodeo "went well. And, you know, any rodeo, or production of any kind, there are tons of people behind the scenes and they don't get credit."

This was Scott's second time to announce a ranch rodeo. A former steer wrestler, Scott said at a rodeo in Mineola about six years ago, which turned out to be his last, a wrong move knocked his two front teeth out. While visiting the dentist in Mesquite, he ran into Joe Ford, "the guy who used to announce at my high school rodeos." One thing led to another, and Scott, with a college degree in Radio and Television, has been doing announcing ever since. He has a trucking company business, as well, but his talent that comes from his disc jockey father keeps his interests keen for being in front of a microphone.

The teams competing at the ranch Rodeo in Cooper event included: Pogue Cattle Co., Sulphur Springs; Williams Ranch, Terrell; G&R Cattle Co., Kaufman; Wagon Wheel C Ranch, Buffalo; C&C Ranch, Kaufman; Worden Ranch, Charleston; Bar-SR Ranch, Broken Bow, Okla.; JB Ranch, Cuthand; and Hat Creek Ranch, Kaufman.