TEAM ROPING HORSES OF THE YEAR
ROLLER - Owned by Murray Linthicum (header)
BUCKY -
Owned by Dwight Wigemyr (heeler)
By Dianne Finstad
Team ropers select the best heading and heeling horses each season, and this year, the horses they’ve chosen, belong to teammates who also happen to be the reigning Canadian champions.
Murray Linthicum’s Roller is the 2009 Heading Horse of the Year, while Dwight Wigemyr’s Bucky gets the nod as the 2009 Heeling Horse of the Year.
Both owners were delighted to hear of the selections.
For Roller, it’s the second year in a row he’s been honoured. The chestnut sorrel gelding is 19-years-old now, and better than ever, according to Linthicum, a nine-time CFR qualifier, and three-time Canadian team roping champion.
It was a long journey for City Bay Roller, as his papers read, to Glentworth, Sask. in the summer of 2007. Along the way, the horse picked up some valuable experience.
“Shane Schwenke actually found the horse for me,” acknowledged Linthicum. “Tanner Bryson had rodeoed on him for nine years, and Jake Barnes had him for a few months.”
The first time Roller became available, Linthicum was in the middle of calving and couldn’t leave to do the shopping.
But with such experienced team ropers high on the horse, Linthicum wasn’t about to let a second chance at buying him slip away. So when he got word he was for sale again, he flew right down to Phoenix, Ariz. and saddled him up the very night he arrived.
“He just fit me like a glove,” Linthicum recalled.
The deal was done and arrangements were made to get the horse to Canada, where he picked him up and roped on him at the Medicine Hat rodeo.
“I went from about 25th in the standings to fourth or fifth. We made the CFR that year, and won last year. He was a good investment and I’m happy to have him.
“I don’t practice much with him, just try to keep in him shape. He’s a trooper. To warm him up is painful, because he’s so lazy. He just won’t take an extra step. But when he backs into the box, he’s all business.”
Although Linthicum doesn’t do it a lot, he has mounted a few other ropers on the horse when the need arises. That’s included the likes of Brandon Beers, Jake Stanley, World Champion Matt Sherwood, and not surprisingly, Shane Schwenke. In fact, it was Roller Schwenke was using in Calgary at the Wrangler Canadian Professional Rodeo Tour Championships when he and partner Mike Beers set a new Canadian record for speed, stretching out their showdown steer in an amazing 3.4 seconds.
“I got to ride Roller because my horse was hurt,” Schwenke explained. “I’ve rode him a lot before, and I love him. He’s great.”
The record setting run was also Roller’s third run of the day, a testament to his fitness, too.
Roller is well built for his job.
“He’s big, but athletic,” commented Linthicum. “He’s strong, pulls cattle good, faces good, and scores really good. He’s not the fastest, but he can run. He’s just real solid.
“Whatever he does is the same in the slack as it is in Edmonton with 15,000 people.”
Linthicum is extra pleased to be able to use the horse, after a winter injury at home in the pen nearly cost him a leg. Healing was a long, slow process and included surgery, and it kept Roller out of commission until the end of May.
“He came back good. He’s tough.”
Roller’s partner across the box all year long was Bucky, a 12-year-old buckskin that Dwight Wigemyr bought just over a year ago out of Montana.
“I heard about him through a friend, and drove down and tried him out,” said Wigemyr, who lives at Brooks.
“I bought him that day. When they fit you, you can tell.”
Heeling horses need more of the agility than the strength required for heading, and Bucky is form fit for his task.
“He’s small, a perfect heel horse. He’s a bit quicker footed. His deal is that he can stop in the middle of a stride. He’s got great cow sense too.
“He makes my job very easy. It’s just about like cheating, riding him!” grinned Wigemyr, an eight-time CFR qualifier.
“He does his job awesome, and never wants to fight you. He just does what you want. No matter what steer you draw, he always gives you a chance at money, and that’s half the battle.”
Bucky’s consistency gives Wigemyr the luxury of never having to worry about his ride, so he can focus solely on his roping and the steer.
This marks Bucky’s first time for the award.
“It’s awesome. I’ve mounted a few people during the year, and he gives them a chance, the same as me. That says quite a bit for the horse,” Wigemyr noted.
And he couldn’t have picked a better horse for Bucky to share the title with.
“Murray and I, as older team ropers, more rely on our horses a lot more than the young people do. We have to try and get the most out of our horses.”
A common denominator both Wigemyr and Linthicum see in both horses is pure enjoyment for their jobs. And it makes the ropers’ pursuit that much more fruitful.
“We give them a lot of credit,” added Linthicum. “We know without good horses, it’s so competitive now, you just can’t win much money.”
Linthicum and Wigemyr make up one championship team with top-notch horsepower. |
