The Team Roping Journal

The Team Roping Journal magazine educates and entertains readers who actively participate in the sport. We help you to obtain the best results with step-by-step instruction in how to perform at a higher level and win more often. After all, we all know that while the heart is in the land and on the ranch, the ego is alive and well when it comes to besting your friends in the arena.

Dear Roper

The Team Roping Journal

NO GLOVE? NO PROBLEM

NATIONAL CHAMPS

THE END OF THE 2026 WSTR QUALIFICATION SEASON APPROACHES

CODY SNOW AND LANE MITCHELL RESET 2026 SEASON WITH $30K COWBOY CHRISTMAS • After a slow winter, Cody Snow and Lane Mitchell capitalized on rodeo’s biggest week, winning $30,192 a man over Cowboy Christmas in 2026.

At the Barrier | new products

(At Home With) • Trent Vaught, who turned 32 on July 30, has roped all his life. But the Mena, Arkansas, cowboy is having a breakthrough season in 2026, and has held down a Top 15 position in the world heeling standings since winning Fort Worth in early February.

ROPES HAVE COME AS FAR AS ROPING HAS

DON’T FORGET TO RIDE YOUR HORSE

RANGER, ROPER • For generations, the Sanchez family has answered the call to serve—and to rope.

BIG BREAK: Lockett’s 2006 Salinas All-Around Title

What 269 Rope Horses Are Worth on Paper

WAY OUT IN FRONT: HAYDEN HINES LEADS RESISTOL JUNIOR USTRC STANDINGS BY OVER 40 POINTS • Fifteen-year-old Georgia header Hayden Hines leads the 2026 USTRC heading standings with 86 points.

TWO YEARS & TONS OF FUN: ROSIE HOWELL MAY BE NEW TO THE TEAM ROPING SCENE, BUT SHE’S BEEN A FAN FOR YEARS • Texas cowgirl Rosie Howell leads the 2026 standings with 34 points after placing in all four ropings she entered at the Northeast Texas Classic.

FINER POINTS • The delivery: What the best heelers in the world are doing at the moment the loop leaves their hand.

Next Level: Hold Steady • Kollin VonAhn on holding a green horse together through the corner, and why the steadiest hand, not the strongest one, gets you there.

Freeze Frame

CLINT SUMMERS & HIS HEAD HORSE HERD • Burnside Family Favorite Now a Perfect Summers Family Fit

Game Plan: Aggressive Behind a Neck Catch with Lane Mitchell • Recognize the dead spot early and turn it into your biggest advantage.

The Riata Championships • Roping.com has been the home of the Riata Championships since the event kicked off in 2022. All of the action from every year is archived in our Riata playlist, and the 2026 edition kicks off live for members only on September 23.

Money Follows the Horse • Only one roping on earth pays more than the Riata Championships. And no roping anywhere is doing more for what a rope horse is worth.

So Why Should Ropers Care?

What’s New in 2026

2026 Riata Championships Schedule

How Each Roping Works

Who can enter the Riata Championships?

From Chasing to Being Chased • Korbin Rice and Cooper Freeman took the world lead with a $70,750-a-man RodeoHouston win and never gave it back, stacking $171,955 apiece by July 28 with a “friends first” dynamic, good horsepower and composure world champions say can hold up in Las Vegas.

Cowboy Committeemen • Navajo Cowboys Volunteer on Window Rock Rodeo Labor List

GLOBAL HANDICAPS OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE ANNOUNCED

REMEMBERING STREET: THE HORSE BEHIND JOSEPH HARRISON’S BIGGEST WINS