I left Reno, and I didn’t have a good horse in Prescott (Ariz.), so I had three days off. I got to come home and check on my cows.

I ride in Springfield tomorrow night, and we’ll be gone until September, so it’s good that I got to spend some time at home. Now it’s time to hit it hard. First has about $66,000 right now, so I’ve got a lot of ground to make up. If I want to go to the finals and win another buckle, I’m just going to have to go.

It’s just part of being a cowboy. It beats getting that 9-to-5 job. This rodeo life doesn’t last forever for roughstock guys, so I’ve got to take advantage of every situation I can.

The Fourth (of July) run is hard, but you can also win a lot of money. You’ve got to put your name in the hat at all the big ones and see what’s going to happen. What a lot of people don’t realize is that the whole summer is important. We’re still going to be going to one rodeo about every day.

It doesn’t really slow down, so we’ll be taking our Hodge Ford vehicle as hard as we can. Of course, Hodge Ford has been awfully good to me. That’s important in rodeo.