It’s halftime in the rodeo industry. Even though we’ve only been to about a third of the 70 rodeos we can count toward the world standings this year, the winter and spring rodeos are in the books. As things heat up, there are frustrations every professional roper goes through. It’s all a puzzle that we’re trying to orchestrate, and there are more pieces to put together than most people realize. After the Fourth of July, you pretty much have the Finals made and can coast on in if you’ve had a good winter and spring. By the time you read this, the top half of the guys in the standings probably have that done. From year to year, the money it takes to make the Finals cut changes. But the benchmark for qualifying is usually between $40,000-50,000. Then there are the mid-range guys who are generally around $20,000 at this point. Everybody below that is scrambling. Their hopes are still alive, but it’s crunch time now. The Fourth, Salinas (Calif.) and Cheyenne (Wyo.) will factor in heavily as to whether or not they continue to go. So at this stage of the game in every season, everybody’s evaluating and analyzing.

One of the most crucial pieces of the puzzle is your horsepower. The hardest part of this whole game is staying mounted and having the right kind of horsepower, so you aren’t losing sleep over not having a good enough horse. We’re always trying to stay ahead of the game on that. It’s a never-ending search for the next great one.

Then there’s your partnership. Is it jelling? For Clay and I, our horses are about medium right now. There are other factors for the team, too, like how you’re drawing up, which is a big factor. The luck of the draw is so important, and it’s another factor beyond your control. It’s kind of like playing poker. No matter how good a player you are, if you don’t draw any hands you can’t even bluff. In time, you know that’s going to change, so you have to think positive and stay that way until things turn around.

I feel I’m the most competitive from Reno until the end of the season. We’re competing just about every day, as opposed to really spreading it out over the winter and spring. A big percentage of the rodeos happen from July to September, which makes this the time you want your momentum, your horses and your partnership to peak.

You can win $15,000 if you have a good Fourth at five rodeos. Have a really good Fourth and you can win $20,000. There are three really good weeks of rodeos this month, and you can boost yourself up right there. Starting with Reno, which kicks off the Cowboy Christmas run, it’s a critical time of year. Every time of year is crucial, but there’s so much money up in the summertime. There’s Cheyenne, Salinas, Salt Lake (City, Utah), Nampa (Idaho)—the list goes on and on. The money’s there. You just have to go get it captured.

This deal is like a race. No matter what stage of the race you’re in, you have to try to maintain an even keel. You have to look at every factor and evaluate your situation. Clay and I want to be at the top. The middle’s OK right now, but we want to catapult to the top. We haven’t roped bad, but we haven’t dominated. I’m hopeful that Barney (Jake’s good gray horse) will be back by about the time you read this. I had his knee operated on this spring, and he’s been in rehab. The day I got that horse I got on a tear for two or three years, where I had all the confidence in the world every time I backed in the box. I bought a new horse recently also, but as many times as we’ve been through this I don’t say much until we’ve put one to the test.

It’s time to go into the heat of the battle. We’ve all been gearing up for this time right here. We’ve all been gathering all our ducks into a row and getting our game plans together for right now. It’s all about to unfold. I’m hopeful that it’s all about to come together for Clay and I. I’m excited about getting out there and getting it going. We’re in the middle of the stream and there’s no turning back. This is my favorite time of year. I love all the big-money opportunities. We’ve been first and last at a lot of rodeos and haven’t drawn the best steers. But I’m not going to complain, because that always turns around. The breaks don’t go anybody’s way all the time. We’re due for some good steers and some breaks here and there. It’s show time.