PECOS, Texas – Six months ago, team roping heeler Zane Pratt was recovering from a serious injury

His right thumb got caught up in a coil of his rope. He suffered a broken thumb. It could have been worse. He had to get it fixed, then rehabilitated. It took time to get back to team roping again. He just returned to competition, and it’s already playing off. He and his header, Roan Oldfield, won the West of the Pecos team roping title while wrapping up the final performance of the “World’s First Rodeo” on Saturday night.

“This is actually the second time we’ve roped together,” Pratt said of Oldfield of Seminole, Texas. “We roped at Big Spring last weekend and placed. (Oldfield) just does his job. He makes sure he catches him and just handles the steer really good, it makes my job easy.”

Originally from California, he’s been “hanging around” the Stephenville, Texas, area helping another team roper, two-time and reigning world champion heeler Wesley Thorp.

“I ride horses for Wesley, and I just amateur rodeo and have been (Texas) Circuit rodeoing,” said Pratt, 22, who is competing this season on his permit, which means he must earn a certain amount of money before he can become a full-fledged ProRodeo cowboy. “I plan on buying my (PRCA) card next year and trying to go on and win the rookie of the year.”

Meanwhile, he’s getting a great education working for Thorp.

“It just teaches me everything being around someone like that who has had that much success,” Pratt said. “He’s positive about everything and has that kind of attitude. Just being around him has helped me tremendously.”

Team roping features to men riding two horses and roping one steer. The header tries to rope the steer’s horns, then turns the animal in a manner that sets up the heeler for a good shot. They were 7.0 seconds inside the large Buck Jackson Arena to finish fourth during Saturday morning’s first round, then were 8.2 in the evening. Their cumulative time of 15.2 seconds earned them the victory and $4,299 each.

“This means a lot,” Pratt said. “We drew really good, and we just executed and used our steers. It just went according to plan really.”

His Pecos earnings will go a long way toward helping him to his two goals: Qualify for the Texas Circuit Finals in October and the Permit Section Finals in December. 

“When I broke my thumb right before Christmas, I just started back about a month ago, so the circuit finals is the goal,” he said. “My main goal is trying to get into the permit finals, and if I win that, get into Houston (next spring).

West of the Pecos Rodeo
June 26-29
All-around cowboy: Shad Mayfield, $3,220 in steer roping, tie-down roping and team roping

Bareback riding: 1. Leighton Berry, 87 points on Pete Carr Pro Rodeo’s Fox Hole Gunner, $3,574; 2. Tilden Hooper, 86, $2,740; 3. Jess Pope, 85.5, $2,025; 4. Rocker Steiner, 83, $1,311; 5. (tie) Ty Pope and Cooper Filipek, 82.5, $715; 7. Cole Reiner, 81, $477; 8. Tim Murphy, 80.5, $357.

Team roping: First round: 1. Jace Bland/Tyson Thompson, 6.1 seconds, $1,705; 2. (tie) Pedro Egurrola/Cory Petska and Riley Kittle/Will Woodfin, 6.7, $1,371 each; 4. Roan Oldfield/Zane Pratt, 7.0, $1,038; 5. Casey Tew/Cody Tew, 7.3, $815; 6. Quisto Lopez/Jayden Cisneros, 7.5, $593; 7. Jake Orman/Corey Hendrick, 7.9, $371; 8. (tie) Clay Tryan/Blaine Vick, Cash Duty/Clay Green and Zane Murphy/Colten Tate, 8.1, $49 each. Second round: 1. Nelson Wyatt/Jonathan Torres, 6.2 seconds, $1,705; 2. Peyton Walters/Brandon Gonzales, 6.7, $1,483; 3. Lightning Aguilera/Lane Mitchell, 7.0, $1,260; 4. Shad Mayfield/Faron Candelaria, 7.5, $1,038; 5. (tie) Coy Brittain/Michael Fortenberry and Roan Oldfield/Zane Pratt, 8.2, $704; 7. Quisto Lopez/Jayden Cisneros, 8.4, $371; 8. Casey Tew/Cody Tew, 8.6, $148.  Average: 1. Roan Oldfield/Zane Pratt, 15.2 seconds on two runs, $2,557; 2. (tie) Casey Tew/Cody Tew and Quisto Lopez/Jayden Cisneros, 15.9, $2,057; 4. Zane Murphy/Colton Tate, 16.8, $1,557; 5. Coy Brittain/Michael Fortenberry, 16.9, $1,223; 6. Shad Mayfield/Faron Candelaria, 17.4, $890; 7. Cash Duty/Clay Green, 18.1, $556; 8. Bridger Ketcham/Kaden Prince, 18.3, $222. 

Steer roping: First round: 1. Mike Chase, 12.4 seconds, $1,749; 2. Cole Patterson, 12.9, $1,521; 3. Reo Lohse, 13.0, $1,293; 4. Seth Schafer, 13.2, $1,064; 5. Brodie Poppino, 13.4, $836; 6. Slade Wood, 13.6, $608; 7. Cody Lee, 13.9, $380; 8. Cooper Mills, 14.0, $152. Second round: 1. Chet Herren, 12.2 seconds, $1,749; 2. Dan Fisher, 12.3, $1,521; 3. Logan Currie, 12.5, $1,293; 4. Tony Reina, 12.6, $1,064; 5. (tie) Thomas Smith and Martin Poindexter, 13.3, $722 each; 7. (tie) Conrad Hagen and Bryce Davis, 13.9, $266 each. Third round: 1. Cole Patterson, 11.2 seconds, $1,749; 2. Doug Pharr, 11.3, $1,521; 3. Shad Mayfield, 11.4, $1,293; 4. Jason Burson, 11.5, $1,064; 5. Vin Fisher Jr., 11.8, $836; 6. (tie) Logan Currie and Scott Snedecor, 12.9, $494 each; 8. Dalton Walker, 13.0, $152; Average: 1. Reo Lohse, 40.5, $2,623; 2. Cody Lee, 42.8, $2,281; 3. Slade Wood, 44.4, $1,939; 4. Scott Snedecor, 44.7, $1,596; 5. Cooper Mills, 45.1, $1,255; 6. Bryce Davis, 45.5, $912; 7. John Bland, 46.7, $570; 8. Tuff Hardman, 50.3, $228.  

Saddle bronc riding: 1. (tie) Jake Finley, on Pete Carr Pro Rodeo’s Pretty Woman, and Sage Newman, on Pete Carr Pro Rodeo’s Smoke on the Water, 86.5 points, $3,537 each; 3. Tanner Butner, 85, $2,269; 4. (tie) Clint Franks and Shorty Garrett, 83, $1,201; 6. Isaac Richard, 81.5, $667; 7. Tom Webster, 81, $534; 8. Blaise Freeman, 80.5, $400.

Tie-down roping: First round: 1. Kyan Wilhite, 8.7 seconds, $2,471; 2. Chet Weitz, 9.2, $2,149; 3. Monty Lewis, 9.3, $1,826; 4. Tanner Green, 9.8, $1,504; 5. Hunter Herrin, 9.9, $1,182; 6. Tyson Arledge, 10.3, $859; 7. Brody Stallard, 10.5, $537; 8. Cash Hooper, 10.6, $215. Second round: 1. Booker McCutchen, 8.8 seconds, $2,471; 2. Kyan Wilhite, 9.2, $2,149; 3. Gatlin Peck, 9.9, $1,826; 4. Marcos Costa, 10., $1,5040; 5. Cory Solomon, 10.1, $1,182; 6. Tyler Milligan, 10.4, $859; 4. Hunter Herrin, 10.5, $376; 8. Robert Mathis, 10.5, $376. Average: 1. Kyan Wilhite, 17.9 seconds on two runs, $3,706; 2. Chet Weitz, 20.1, $3,223; 3. Hunter Herrin, 20.4, $2,739; 4. Cash Hooper, 21.2, $2,256; 5. Tyler Milligan, 21.3, $1,773; 5. Marcos Costa, 22.2, $1,289; 7. Monty Lewis, 22.3, $806; 8. Robert Mathis, 22.7, $322.

Breakaway roping: 1. Emilee Charlesworth, 3.1 seconds, $1,764; 2. Hope Thompson, 3.4, $1,534; 3. Jade Mitchell, 3.5, $1,304; 4. (tie) Shelby Boisjoli-Meged and Haley Mason, 3.8, $958; 6. Christi Braudrick, 3.9, $613; 7. Kelsie Domer, 4.0, $383; 8. (tie) Rheagan Cotton and Montana Brown, 4.1, $77 each. Second round leaders: 1. Rylie Smith, 2.7 seconds, $1,764; 2. (tie) Jackie Crawford and Kayelen Helton, 3.1, $1,419 each; 4. (tie) Haley Sage, Sarah Angelone and Tibba Smith, 3.2, $843 each; 7. Kendal Pierson, 3.5, $383; 8. Sequin Brewer, 3.7, $135  Average leaders: 1. Haley Sage, 7.4 seconds on two runs, $2,645; 2. Rheagan Cotton, 7.9, $2,300; 3. Shelby Boisjoli-Meged, 8.0, $1,955; 4. Haley Mason, 8.3, $1,610; 5. Cassidy Boggs, 8.5, $1,265; 6. (tie) Jackie Crawford, Sarah Angelone and Kaitlyn Harwell, 8.6, $575 each.

Steer wrestling: First round: 1. Rowdy Parrott, 4.3 seconds, $1,676; 2. Logan Mullin, 4.5, $1,387; 3. Ben Mitchell, 4.7, $1,098; 4. (tie) Logan Kenline and Tucker Allen, 4.9, $665; 6. Ryan Nettle, 5.1, $289. Second round: 1. Don Payne, 4.0 seconds, $1,676; 2. Bridger Anderson, 4.3, $1,387; 3. Tucker Allen, 4.5, $1,098; 4. Tyler Scheevel, 4.6, $809; 5. Matt Reeves, 4.9, $520; 6. Sam Powers, 5.2, $289. Average: 1. Tucker Allen, 9.4 seconds on two runs, $2,515; 2. Bridger Anderson, 9.8, $2,081; 3. Sam Powers, 10.4, $1,648; 4. Rowdy Parrott, 10.9, $1,214; 5. (tie) Ryan Nettle and Justin Shaffer, 11.0, $607.

Barrel racing: 1. Keyla Costa, 17.62 seconds, $3,655; 2. Sabrina Ketcham, 17.74, $2,923; 3. Londyn Ross, 17.83, $2,376; 4. Jamie Olsen, 17.97, $1,827; 5. (tie) Andrea Busby and Madison Bean, 17.98, $1,279 each; 7. Shy-Anne Jarrett, 18.07, $914; 8. Shelley Morgan, 18.12, $822; 9. Kylee Scribner, 18.15, $731; 10. Alyssa Urbanek, 18.19, $640; 11. Margo Smith, 18.28, $548; 12. Hailey Kinsel, 18.30, $457; 13. (tie) Corley Cox, Katelyn Scott and Caley Walkoviak, 18.32, $274.

Bull riding: 1. Josh Frost, 90 points on Pete Carr Pro Rodeo’s Bayou Bengal, $4,373; 2. (tie) Creek Young and Cooper James, 86.5, $3,023; 4. Bryce Jensen, 85, $1,808; 5. Jate Frost, 81.5, $1,269; no other qualified rides.