Clovis, California is a beautiful place.  I competed there on Wednesday, split the round with Clint Robinson, 8.1.  My second calf kicked and I was 11.8. My third calf ran hard and I didn't score agressivly enough.  I was late and missed that calf.  I was able to catch a flight out of there Saturday night, and was back home by Sunday morning in time to go to church. 
I have the run from my first calf on film, and I will post it when I get it on youtube.  Other than that, I am home, working out some, and chilling with the family. 
Matt

April 21, 2012

I am back home!  I competed in Red Bluff California on the 18, 19, and 20. I am mounting out, riding Ace Sloans horse "Rambo". My track record on him has been good.  I missed my first calf, came back and won round two, with a 7.5, and am currently winning round three with a 7.7.  Two perfs to go there, but I should place.  After I roped last night, Nate Baldwin and I drove all night home 750 miles and pulled into my place at 8:30 am.  Its so worth the extra effort to get back home.
Next week I am up in Clovis California.  Slack is Wednesday, Thursday, with progressive rounds Friday and Saturday, finals Sunday. 


April 17, 2012

This past week was pretty busy for only having two rodeos. I was up in Pocatello which is my home town rodeo plus Logandale, NV on Sunday. During the week I had radio interviews with 93.7 KZBQ and made different appearances with my sponsor Trails West. My first calf at Pocatello I roped him deep and Chuck overworked. On my second calf he was good enough to win the round on if he would have stayed up but I had to help him up and I was still 7.7, but like I said the rounds were crazy fast so I didn't place in that round either.
Down in Logandale I was 9.9 on my first one and 10.0 on my second one. I got kicked both runs. A little bit frustrating but that's the way it goes. My second run from Pocatello is listed under the video link. Check it out.
I am now in Red Bluff, CA. I will rope Wednesday and Thursday and then another one in the progressive round. Then head home for a couple of days. Ali is only 3 weeks away from having our second little girl so I am trying to be available as much as possible. If you have any questions shoot me an email I would love to hear from you.
Later
Matt 

4.7.2012

This is an off week until the home town rodeos weekend start.  I am competing in Pocatello, which is where my journey began, and Logandale Nevada, where for 3 great years of my life I went to high school. 
Wednesday morning you can catch me live on KZBQ which is the official rodeo radio station of the Pocatello rodeo,  to have a chat, and to announce that I will be doing Trails West roping glove giveaway before the rodeo Thursday and Friday for half hour.  We have 50 pair each day to give away each day to the visitors of my Trails West Trailer.  I am excited to see how the response from radio works for promotion and advertising of events and my website.  Stop by and say whats up!

April 3, 2012
I am back in Idaho. Beautiful spring we are having! The last two weeks have been all about preparation, getting ready for the Ram National Circuit Finals in OKC. And preparation paid off! I won the Tie Down against a tough field in a tournament style format. I rode Chuck there.  From there we drove for the next two days to hustle back to the home state, Idaho! 

Back at RodeoHouston on March 17 I won second! A good birthday present for Stella with a 10.6. Congrats to Adam Grey who roped great there.  I rode "TC" a famous black horse that belongs to Fred Werneck.  He imported the horse from Brazil.  He was awesome. One of the best horses I've ever ridden.

March 17, 2012
Today is a big day for me.  It is my daughters birthday! And I am competing at Rodeo Houston in the finals today.  I would love to bring home Stella a big check!  Wish me luck!

3.12.2012
I went to Austin TX.  It rained the whole drive there.  Cold Weather, low 50's.  Austin is a covered arena, but open air.  It was cold in there.  The calves we roped we big, 270-300 lbs range.  They were tied, but walking fresh. The start was fast too, 4' under. Not the best situation to be roping fresh cattle.  I roped well, got knocked off my feet, kicked, was 13. My second calf was wild as well, he kicked, 9.1.
Sunday, I drove to Giddings Tx to Justin Maass' invitational Calf roping. Top 50 calf ropers.  Great facility for calf roping there, and great calves. People, if you missed this roping, you missed calf roping in its finest form.  Times were fast.  I was 8.9, 7.6, and 7.0+10.  I placed third in the 2nd round. The barrier killed me. Thats roping. 
Today is back to the practice pen. Worked Chuck and Alotta today.  Made some good runs.  I am staying sharp for the semis' at Houston. Matt


3.8.12012
I have been at RodeoHouston. Houston is a happening city, and so is the rodeo.  I competed in the third super series, against a tough field of ropers.  I won the first round.  No luck on the other two runs.  I did move on to the the semifinals, and drew up first out on March 15. 
I am staying at a friends place near Hillboro, Tx.  I leave at 5:30 am headed to Austin Texas for slack there at 10:00 am.  I will rope two head there in the slack. 

I would like to welcome my new sponsor, projectfilter.org.  Project Filter is Idaho's Tobacco Prevention and Control Program. Its goal is to prevent tobacco use and to help tobacco users quit when they're ready. Its great to help Project Filter with their fight against tobacco. 

Its back to some training and practic.  These rodeos I am competing in are big in attendace and decent in prize money.  RodeoHouston.com and Austinrodeo.com are the official websites of the rodeos I am currently competiting in. 
As for the horses, I am riding "TC" owned by Fred Wernick.  This horse was born and trained in Brazil.  He is awesome, and a veteran.  He has been to the NFR, CFR, and hopefully a RodeoHouston Tie down Champ. 
Thanks for your time! Matt


2/20/12
The winter rodeos have gotten off to a slow start for me. I wish I could say that is unusual but I really don't draw very good calves in the winter for some reason. With that said, I can happily say we are at least on the board for the 2012 season, I may not be in the top 50 yet but give me some time I will be there shortly!
We went to Ft. Worth and I was the last man out, out of 180+ contestants in the calf roping. I had a second run but it didn't really matter those calves were big and sorry. On my second one my mare, aka Alotta did not work at all in fact I think she ran half way down the arena with me. Those videos will be posted under the video link. So I didn't end up making it back to the short go there. I also competed at the Ft. Worth AQHA horse show. I showed Chuck and a horse owned by Ronnie Austin named Purple Prince. I missed on Chuck and ended up making a good run on Purple Prince and advanced to the jackpot that night. I was 7.3 and ended up splitting 4th and 5th I think. That video will be posted as well.
I went up to Rapid City, SD with a couple other guys and left my family in Texas. I started a great run on Chuck and ended up getting kicked. Like I said I haven't been drawing the best calves. I went to San Angelo and placed on my first calf and seriously drew the worst calf out of 190 calves. San Angelo is one of the only rodeos that will have enough calves for every contestant. 
Ali and Stella headed for home on February 13th, so I am baching it with Bianca, our killer shihtzu. I went to San Antonio and broke out on my first one to win the round and drew the only calf that got missed in the first round on my second one and placed third with a 7.3 in the final round and did not advance. So I will be heading to an eight man match roping in San Angelo on the 25th instead of the short go at San Antonio. 
As far as the schools go we have four tentatively scheduled. One in Lehi, Utah; Alpine, Wyoming; Idaho Falls, Idaho and possibly Hawaii with the island and location to be determined. Before long it will be Rodeo Houston time and Austin and then pretty much everything will be headed back out west. The last couple of months have flown by and I am excited to announce that we will be having another baby girl the first of May. Stella is quite happy about being an older sister. 
Check out the videos from this winter. Keep checking back.
Thanks
~Matt
 
1/17/2012
Back to the real world! My family and I had a great holiday and I hope you all did too. We are entered in Ft. Worth first then I will head up to Denver and then back to Ft. Worth. I will slip up to Rapid City, South Dakota on February 3rd and then come back down for the Ft. Worth short go. After that I will head over to Jackson, Mississippi and right back to San Antonio, TX on February 14, 15, & 16th. As you can see we don't waste any time.
My family and I are currently staying in Hillsboro, Texas. We have been down for a week and have gotten a lot accomplished on my horses. They should be in tip top shape for tomorrow at Ft. Worth slack. We are roping "walking fresh" calves so I will ride my mare Alotta. A lot of what I have been tring to accomplish is making sure all of them are scoring and working the rope. I went to Northside last weekend. They have an open rodeo every weekend and it is a good loud enviornment to see where your horses are before the rodeos that count. Alotta was good and I think I won 2nd.
As far as the schools go it looks like will be doing a school in Alpine, Wyoming and Lehi, Utah this spring. All the details are still being worked out so as soon as everything is concrete I will post.
We will be posting my run from Ft. Worth tomorrow. I am dead last in a slack of 190ish entries. So I am guarunteed a rerun. Check back soon!
Thanks
~Matt

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