LOVINGTON, N.M. – Jacob O’Mara found Morning After to be more tonic than toxic.
It happened July 6 in Window Rock, Ariz., when O’Mara prepared to test his skills on the young Carr Pro Rodeo bull. He’d never seen the bull buck, nor had any of his buddies, but O’Mara grasped a sense of good things before he even nodded his head.
“They told me they were going to save me for last,” said O’Mara, 20, a 2011 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier from Prairieville, La. “That’s when I first thought this bull might have something to him. I knew they were trying to sell the show with the best stuff, so I figured it’d be great.”
The result? O’Mara and Morning After matched moves for 89 points to win the Navajo Nation Fourth of July PRCA Rodeo, earning the young cowboy $4,119.
“That bull was great; he just went out a couple (jumps), then turned back,” O’Mara said, describing how the animal began more of a spinning motion. “Anything you can score 89 points on is pretty good.”
It’s one of the many great Carr Pro Rodeo bulls that will be featured at the Lea County Fair and Rodeo, set for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 8-Saturday, Aug. 11, at Jake McClure Arena. A number of those bulls will be part of the Lea County Xtreme Bulls tour event set for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 7.
“I’ve always tried to get the best animals I can get, whether they’re bulls, horses, calves or steers,” said Pete Carr, owner of the Dallas-based livestock company. “Everybody thinks I’m a horse guy, and I am; but I want to be known as a bull guy, too.”
Cowboys are seeing that, too.
“The bulls are awesome,” said Chandler Bownds, the 2011 rookie of the year from Lubbock, Texas. “Pete brought in some great subcontractors to juice up his great pen of bulls, and there were a bunch of bulls that bucked really hard.”
Carr does what it takes to reach out to bull riders, from talking about great animal athletes to bringing in sub-contractors to rodeos so the cowboys get the best chance possible to win money. Jarrod Craig of Hillsboro, Texas, rode the bull Itch N Scratch for 87 points to share the win with Chris Roundy of Panguitch, Utah; Roundy rode Carr’s The Mexican, and each cowboy earned $3,097.
“That bull bucks hard,” Craig said of Itch N Scratch. “He had a good trip, and it worked out.”
The Carr bulls have been gaining plenty of acclaim throughout this rodeo season. Trey Benton III won the Mercedes, Texas, rodeo in mid-March after scoring 91 points on Missing Parts.
“He was really good,” said Benton, of Rock Island, Texas. “He just stumbled at the five-second mark, but I think he was even more after he stumbled. He got after it.
“You have to have a good bull to score 91, and Pete’s got one there.”
Carr knows he’s got some special athletes that will be part of the excitement in Lovington, just as they have been at rodeos leading up to the August extravaganza.
“I’ve got some good ones in addition to Missing Parts,” Carr said. “I’ve got some great bulls in The Mexican, Black Ice, Black Powder, Morning After and Hot & Ready that went to a lot of the winter rodeos. I have some more outstanding bulls that I haven’t bucked just yet, but I think all of them have a lot of potential.”