LAS VEGAS – Jess Pope’s scrambling season may have followed him to the National Finals Rodeo.
He started the year slow, then made a mad dash as the campaign came to a close to enter ProRodeo’s grand finale sixth in the world standings. After a less-than-par score on opening night guided by a horse that gave him little opportunity, Pope rallied to score 84 points on Western Rodeo’s Unforgiven to finish in a three-way tie for fourth place in Friday’s second round.
That was worth $9,418, and it provided him the momentum he needs to close out the final eight nights in Las Vegas.
“I didn’t really know much about the horse,” said Pope, 26, of Waverly, Kansas. “I’ve seen him one time my whole year and it was at Reno (Nevada) this year. Wyatt Denny got on him and got bucked off, and he sure enough bucked there. I found some video on him, and he looked like a really good horse.
“I think he’s a horse that needs help with a pickup man, which we can’t have help here. I think when he came around the corner, they usually set off over there to the side that he circled, and he’ll circle around them. I think he got over there and didn’t see one, so he got lost. I just had to react and see what he was going to do, because I knew he wasn’t going to do his normal trip.”
Like all beings, animals have their own traits. Unforgiven, it seemed, wanted to buck toward another horse, but the small arena inside the Thomas & Mack Center doesn’t allow the pickup men to ride into position to help in that situation. That’s where Pope’s understanding of horses came into play. He did some things in his spur ride to help the horse buck better, and it paid off.
It comes from a lifetime spent horseback. When he’s not on the rodeo trail, Pope is still a cowboy, running his own herd of cows and helping others when they need it. Horsemanship, whether chasing a bull through a pasture or riding a bucking bronc, can be vital.
“Yeah, it’s very important,” said Pope, the 2022 world champion. “That’s one reason I love the lifestyle I get to live: A bucking-horse rider and a cowboy. A lot of guys spend a ton of time in the gym and stuff like that. I don’t get to the gym as much. I’m day-working every day riding colts, and I feel like that really helps me with a bucking horse.
“I can feel a horse moving. I can feel what he’s going to do when he’s in the air. I know when he changes a lead. I feel like that’s one thing that benefits me, and I think the horsemanship side of that is what has made my career as successful as it has been.”
He increased his season earnings to $187,752 and remains sixth on the money list. He’s got some ground to make up if he wants to add another gold buckle to his treasure chest.
“It’s still anybody’s ballgame,” he said, noting that round winners pocket nearly $34,000 a night and the average champion will collect more than $86,000 when the NFR ends. “There’s a lot of money up for grabs. I’ve just got to show up, do my job every day, be excited and just do what I can with what I draw.”