Learning from the best: Rodeo legends share their expertise with 27 students

PINEDALE, N.M. – There is a downturn in the number of bareback and saddle riders around the Navajo Nation.

Longtime rodeo cowboys James Hunt Jr., and Jerry Silver have seen it with their own eyes as the economy, the Covid pandemic and the lack of regional rodeos and rodeo sponsorships have affected those numbers.

“The last few years our bareback and saddle bronc riders have really gone down,” Silver said. “Nowadays, you only see three, four riders at each rodeo.”

Hunt believes there’s still a strong interest to do rough stock riding, but the next generation of riders have no direction in how to go about it.

“There’s a lot of kids out there that want to learn, but they don’t know how to start it,” said Hunt, a three-time INFR world champion.

The two legends collaborated with some other rodeo greats for a three-day saddle bronc riding school in Hunt’s name over the weekend.

The list of coaches included Rome Wagner, Darrell Triplett, Daniel Billy, Wilbur Murphy, Jared Hunt, Nelson Blackgoat, Robert Burbank, Devin Largo, Cecil John, Bobby Pablo and Lewellyn Paul.

Those coaches shared their expertise with 27 students at the D Largo’s Arena in Pinedale, New Mexico. Fifteen of those students were youngsters.

Former Navajo Nation Speaker Lawrence Morgan and Council delegate Ray Birchman made an appearance, too.

“Everybody is asking when we’re having our next one,” said Jared Hunt, James’ son. “We had 14 students on standby when we started the school on Friday. I had an additional eight call me asking if they could get in and I had to tell them I had 14 others on hold.”

Wagner was pleased with the turnout, and he was delighted they had enough of everything to go around.

“We had enough instructors, we had enough saddle makers and we just had absolutely everything,” said Wagner, who is an ordained Baptist preacher. “We had the right kind of stock, and we had all the spur boards in the world here.

“I mean, we had eight spur boards for the guys to utilize,” he added.

Spur boards are tools used by saddle bronc riders to improve their spurring technique.

“It gives you something to work at, getting your stirrups set to where they need to be when you get on a horse,” Wagner said. “It’s used to hold you in your saddle.

“It helps you get used to that motion,” he added. “From there you work out our coordination and figure out what should happen in your ride. If you can’t do it sitting still, you can’t do it on a horse.”

Wagner says there’s a big difference between using a spur board to actually riding a bronc horse.

“They’re an absolute necessity because when you don’t have horses you want to keep your mind in the game,” Wagner said.

Triplett, who makes bronc saddles for a living from his home in Waterflow, New Mexico, brought a bucking machine as well as a few saddles for the students to use.

“I was really surprised that they had that many,” Triplett, 46, said. “The last few schools that I helped out with, they were struggling to get eight, 10 kids. I think Mr. Hunt has a good reputation and he’s a good role model so the people from the reservation just flock toward him.”

The third-generation cowboy explained to the students all the different parts of the saddle, and how it’s used.

“A bronc saddle is just a tool that helps them ride the animal,” Triplett said. “With me being a saddle maker I would love to tell them my saddle will make them ride but I can’t. It’s just a tool that makes them do their jobs and they have to understand it.

“I tell them how to set up the different parts of the tool,” he added. “With a saddle there are stirrup leathers, bind (straps) and the different styles of saddles.”

Triplett says it’s important to maintain a good saddle because he doesn’t want them to have issues while they’re competing.

“My talk with them was about what to look out for, such as cracks in the latigo, cracks in the tree of your saddle,” he said. “And each time they get off a horse I would like them to inspect their saddles before they head to the next rodeo.

“A lot of times when you get to a rodeo there is not a lot of time to inspect it,” he added. “And if you inspect there, you don’t have the time to fix it, so I showed them what to look out for.”

Despite being a former student and a veteran of the sport, Newcomb cowboy Tom Chee, 33, signed up for the school yet again. He used the training he received as a refresher.

“JR is my uncle and Jared is my cousin and he was the one that texted me about the school,” Chee said. “He explained to me that they’re gonna bring the Running B5 horses and they’re going to be really good horses to train on.

“But the main reason I came here was to gain some confidence and get more experience,” he added. “There’s always something new to pick up and you’re always learning. You know, I just have that desire to learn more, and I have that desire to excel and get better.”

It’s students like Tom that have Silver thinking positively about the future of the sport.

“We want them to keep the ball rolling,” Silver said. “They’re the ones that are going to keep this going. We just came in here to give them our expertise and knowledge. We gave them the tools and now it’s up to them.”

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