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Outside Circle by Jan Swan Wood: Jess Lockwood PBR champ, mini bull riding, roping, ranch rodeo meeting, ranch broncs, pesky parasites

It’s sure been a cold blustery start to November. It feels like we went from fightin’ flies to scraping ice off the windshields pretty quickly. I don’t think winter is here though and am hoping for some warmer fall days before it sets in for good.

Congratulations to Jess Lockwood, Volberg, Mont. on being crowned the PBR World Champion bull rider! It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy by all accounts, and he’s a ranch kid from big ranch country. He’s also the youngest world champ ever and was the 2016 Rookie of the Year in the PBR. After being laid up for a bit this fall with a series of injuries, he came back in force to win rounds one through three at the finals, cashing in with $35,000 each round. When he won the championship, he banked another million, so his total winnings at the PBR finals was $1,105,000!

There will be a Youth Miniature Bull Riding for kids 9-14 at the Jamestown Civic Center, Jamestown, N.D. On November 17-18. It will be at 6 p.m. For more information, contact Donnie Landis via his Facebook page.



The Black Hills Roping Club will be having a roping at McPherson Arena on November 19. It’s a makeup one for the one that was postponed Nov. 12. You can call Ross at 605-490-0953 or Tiltrums at 605-209-8064.

The NRCA team roping held in conjunction with the finals will be Sat. November 25 at the Event Center, Rapid City, S.D. It’s enter at 8 a.m., rope at 9. There’s also open breakaway. Call Jim at 605-209-8064 or Les at 605-390-8407.



The Eastern Montana Ranch Rodeo association will be holding it’s appreciation dinner and meeting on December 2, 5 p.m., at the Miles City Livestock Commission. There will be a meeting and election of officers at the meeting after supper. You’ll need to RSVP if you are a contestant with how many you are bringing along (nice date night with the family, hehe) by Nov. 27 at 406-951-4735. For any other questions, call Pat O’Neill at 406-486-5632.

The 16th Annual New Years Eve Buck and Ball will ring in 2018 at the Cam-Plex Wyo Center, Gillette, Wyo. The top cowboys and stock will be there, most just rolling in from WNFR appearances. Tickets are on sale now, so it might be a good idea to get yours in hand as they’ve been known to sell out. It will all start off with a 4 p.m. dinner and live music, with the event starting at 7. At 9 p.m. there will be a dance. I guarantee you’ll see some great rough stock rides and see a lot of folks you know there. I sure hope to be there myself.

Another event that is off a ways but something to put on your calendar is the Ranch Bronc Bash on January 6 at Torrington, Wyo. Entries will open soon and as soon as I know who and when, I’ll let you know right here. This event will also having a bronc riding school open to 10 riders, and I’ll let you know more about that as soon as I do too. They are also looking for vendors who want to set up shop at the bronc ride. The bronc ride will be WSRRA approved too.

Finally, for something way off over the far horizon, there will be a Les Vogt horsemanship clinic at Livingston, Mont. May 26-27. It has very limited openings, so if you want to go, you need to get your name and money on the dotted line early. It will be at the Bar M Ranch and will cost $375 to be in it or $100 to audit. Call 307-250-6218 for info.

Now that it’s been down in that wickedly cold range, it would be a good time to be deworming those horses that the bot flies and other internal varmints have been pestering all summer. Not carrying a load of parasites will make any horse winter better and sure save their gut from all the trauma.

Well, that’s my circle for another week. I sure hope it warms up again and gives us a little break before winter. I’m not nearly done with my fall work and have found it’s a lot harder to do in a foot of snow. Have a great week!