Just the other day in Denver, for example, I saw two brothers, Riley and Brady Minor, win their third rodeo in a row. There’s no way to know for sure if that’s ever happened before, unfortunately, and it sure might have. But consider this: two brothers, winning two somewhat significant rodeos and one big one (Billings, Odessa and Denver) in a row. That’s at least seven steers and easily over 100 teams they had to get past. Pretty remarkable for two kids who couldn’t even rent a car if they needed to.

I saw some other cool stuff in Denver, too. In the short round a kid named Dusty LaValley of Crooked Creek, Alberta, rode Calgary Stampede’s Grated Coconut—perhaps the best bareback horse ever—for 91 points. It was amazing. He didn’t win the average, but he turned a great ride. It was a battle. That strong horse bucking beautifully versus a cowboy matching him jump for jump was one of the best bareback rides I’ve seen.

I think this is an appropriate place to give kudos to the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo for continually improving its rodeo. San Antonio set the bar for winter rodeos, and Denver has stepped up, using Cervi, Calgary, Kesler, Burch, Brookman and Guidry bucking stock to make a riding contest instead of a drawing contest. Plus, they’ve made it so contestants can make their first and second round runs or rides in back-to-back performances.

So all those things manifested themselves in a great short round in Denver—the best I’ve seen there since covering the sport.