Arena Tracks: The Hazers
Youth rodeo has a way of sucking me in and, while at the State Fair over Labor Day weekend, we thought we’d stop off and watch the South Dakota Timed Event Championships. Four hours later, we staggered to the Midway for a corndog and cheeseballs and then headed home, the rest of the Fair forgotten. After all, rodeo is what Lonny and I both love, especially youth rodeo. The community that comes together to support these kids is nothing short of amazing. Competitors cheer on one another and the adults in their lives have just as much fun lending a hand to help them succeed. Such was the couple of cowboys I chatted with during the rodeo. I’ll just call them The Hazers.
Ty Talsma and Terry Anstine met each other in the most South Dakota of summer activities – at a 4H Rodeo in Huron, South Dakota. Both cowboys hailed from the south central part of the state with the Talsmas living by Springfield and Anstine’s roots near Yankton. However, it was a fateful draw in the Team Roping that partnered the two together.
While Terry Anstine grew up with horses and enjoyed watching rodeos, the city of Yankton didn’t offer him much for cowboy cohorts. That unexpected pairing with Ty Talsma in the team roping (a blind date if ever there was one), put the two friends together and provided Terry a buddy within driving distance of home. Ty Talsma came with his cowboy father, Larry Talsma who took a liking to Anstine, appreciating his grit and tenacity. I secretly think Larry was hoping to get the talented young hand off the barebacks and bulls he’d taken to riding after an older neighbor had gifted him a bareback rigging. Both Ty and Terry calf roped, team roped and dabbled in steer wrestling. While Terry didn’t have the size that his son Ty brought to the box, Larry saw he was a good student and was soon competitive as well. Those were good years that cemented the friendship between the two cowboys over the next 30 years.
Both Terry and Ty work to pay back the time Larry spent with them by helping to coach and haze for young steer wrestlers in South Dakota. Of course, Ty and his wife Kristin have two sons, Teran and Treyvan, both outstanding bull doggers, NHSFR qualifiers, all around hands, and sought after football players. Terry and his wife Sommer were blessed with 3 beautiful daughters, Madison, Josey and Kennedy all of whom ride, a couple who went on to compete in youth rodeos as well, though sadly, neither were interested in steer wrestling. It just so happened that Kade Odens, another great youth rodeo contestant, happened to start dating one of the Anstine girls, and he was looking for some advice in steer wrestling. Terry was more than happy to oblige. Kade is a determined kid and with Terry’s help and hazing, qualified for the 2024 National High School Rodeo Finals alongside Treyvan Talsma. Terry Anstine, a carpenter by trade, made the trip from Volin, South Dakota, to Rock Springs, Wyoming, TWICE to haze for Kade in all three rounds of the NHSRF Steer Wrestling. Kade dogged his way to a fifth place finish, dragging down three steers in 18.3 seconds. Treyvan Talsma was no slacker, ending the year in 11th place. When I asked Terry about the trips to Rock Springs, he said, “There was a lot of faith involved in how Kade drew up so I could be there. It was cool to be a part of that and just take it all in.”
Even though Kade Odens has since graduated, there is no shortage of boys for Terry Anstine to haze for. At the South Dakota Timed Event Championships, he was hazing for Colt Koepsel, Brady Meyer, Tate Twedt and Cooper Faehnrich. When I asked him how he picked them up, he said, “Once they see you haze for someone, they just start asking.” Terry’s always ready to step up and help out, much as the Talsmas stepped up to help him. The steer wrestling at the South Dakota Timed Event Championships was won by Treyvan Talsma after a couple good hazes by his dad. That capped off a pretty sweet summer having just been named the 2025 State 4H Rodeo Senior Boys All Around Champion as well.
I love the camaraderie that rodeo brings to the arena. A friendship that started nearly 30 years ago by chance at a 4H rodeo and was solidified through the kindness of one family towards another continues on to another generation of cowboys and cowgirls, pulling in other friends along the way. I don’t doubt for a second that the Talsma boys and Anstine girls will be willing to open their arenas to help the next generation riding stick horses around their parents’ living rooms as I type. It’s just the kind of people that they have been raised to be.
My favorite photo from the NHSFR is of Terry in the hazer’s box, Teran Talsma pushing the steer, Treyvan Talsma watching the head and Ty Talsma helping Kade get the horse set in the box. The combination of those three families coming together to make something work is pretty special, and what The Hazers strive for: to give every kid the best shot they can.
