When Ohio native Tyler Waters got the call to compete at his first Cinch Timed Event Championship, he had a whole lot of hustling to do. The horseshoer, who currently hangs his hat in the Cowboy Capital of Stephenville, Texas, had never jumped a bulldogging steer, and had to find helpers and horses for all five events. He’s since borrowed every horse he’s riding here, and this afternoon won Round 2 in 53.9 seconds.
“I’m riding Brother Loud’s bulldogging horse (Tyler Pearson is hazing), Tanner Green’s calf horse, Willy Gasperson’s steer roping horse, and Travis Kiehne’s head and heel horses,” said Waters, 33, who has Jade Corkill helping him at both ends in the team roping. “The heel horse (Pepto Blue Lena) is the dad to the head horse (Preto).”
The fact that anything can happen at the Timed Event was on full display here at the Lazy E today. Justin Thigpen was winning the round after the heading, tie-down and heeling, then his bulldogging steer got away. That gave Erich Rogers the lead in the round after the steer wrestling, but then he burned two loops in the steer roping.
“Every event here is a tide turner,” Waters said. “I went 110 (seconds) yesterday, then cut that in half today just by relaxing. All I did today was just try to not overrun myself.”
Russell Cardoza, who’s competing here this week with two new hips, finished second in Round 2 with 58.0 on five. Clay Smith continues to lead the pack in the overall 2021 Cinch Timed Event race with 120.3 seconds on 10 head. Roger Nonella, Marcus Theriot, Seth Hall and Paul David Tierney are now second through fifth after two rounds.
See complete Cinch Timed Event Championship and Jr Ironman results at LazyE.com.
BY KENDRA SANTOS
Kendra Santos has written about cowboys all her life, including longtime stints with the PRCA, PBR, BFI and The Team Roping Journal. She’s also mom to two 2021 Timed Event Championship cowboys, Lane Karney and Taylor Santos.