Meet our WSRRA Stock Contractor of the Year!
By Naomi Loomis, WSRRA Representative
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| Wayne Larsen, Justin Quint-WSRRA Ranch Bronc Director and Rand Selle at the 2014 WSRRA National Finals in Winnemucca, Nevada. (Photo Credit to Mary Williams Hyde) |
Congratulations to our 2014
WSRRA Stock Contractor of the Year.
Meet Bad Medicine Rodeo Stock selected
by the top 15 ranch bronc riders as the Stock Contractor of the Year of the
WSRRA 2014 National Finals. I sat down with the owner, Wayne Larson, and
learned quite a bit about being a stock contractor.
Who
is involved in your business?
My wife Jodi and I. Recently Rand
Selle has been helping us with our business. But there are always other people
that help us out at practices, and at bronc rides.
You
were invited to the WSRRA Finals as a stock contractor, can you tell us what
horses you bought and why?
We brought seven of our most solid
buckers. They were Blue Storm, Silver Dollar and Storm Watch who are out of our
Canada stud. We also brought Chisum out of a Burch stud; Ruby, an older mare,
who has been to numerous finals; Odd Ball, a solid bronc that the cowboys
really like to get on; and Red Bird, a five year old that shows a lot of
promise.
Where
is your home base?
We call Chugwater, Wyoming home.
Chugwater is a small town north of Cheyenne, Wyoming. We live on the ranch
where Steamboat, a world champion bucking horse in the 1900’s was raised.
He is the famous bucking horse that you see on all of the Wyoming license
plates. Hauling horses to the WSRRA National finals was rewarding, though it
was a long ways out there.
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| Jim Gebauer riding Storm Watch at the 2014 WSRRA National Finals. (Photo Credit to Mary Williams Hyde) |
How
did your horses do at the WSRRA Finals?
The broncs did well enough that we got
invited back to Winnemucca and we were asked to bring 10 head of broncs to the
2015 WSRRA National Finals.
How do you raise good bucking horses?
I breed some of my older, proven mares
to studs with several generations of proven bucking horse blood lines. I
bought some of War Paint’s grand daughters and a son of Custer from Ike
Sankey. I used another stud from Max Burch. I also bought a stud from
Canada raised by Calgary Stampede Horses. The last several years I have been
breeding mares to Hairy Feathers, who belongs to JD Hamaker. JD and I
have been sharing our breeding program for the last six years. He brings
mares to my studs and vise versa.
In the last couple years I have been breeding half of my 3
year old mares and then bucking the other half. I then buck the mamas
when they are five years old while I buck the other half in the meantime. That
has given me another generation of bucking horses a little quicker.
What are your accomplishments with
your horses?
My biggest accomplishment is that I sold
a horse named Chugwater Blue to JD Hamaker. She was selected to go to the NFR
two times. Jessie Wright won the 5th round on her. “My
other accomplishment is that we are still in business,” said Wayne with a
laugh!
How do you select which horses buck at
an event?
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| Jodi Larsen, Bad Medicine and JD Hamaker (Photo Credit to Jessi Snowden) |
I select horses according to the event,
so for high school rodeo events, I take my younger horses and some of my older
horses. We take horses that match the cowboys’ abilities. For college, amateur rodeos and ranch bronc
rides, I take my better quality, proven, highest point horses.
What shows do you take stock to?
We have taken broncs to high school
rodeos, senior pro rodeos, Nebraska State Finals, Nebraska High School Finals,
Wyoming Rodeo Association Finals, South Dakota State Rodeo Finals, College
National Finals, and the WSRRA National Finals. We also take horses to
bronc rides in Nebraska, Wyoming and Colorado.
Do you have any other stock?
No we just have bucking horses and a
handful of well-bred saddle horses.
How long have you been a stock
contractor?
I have been a stock contractor since
1994.
How did you get started as a stock
contractor?
My boys wanted to ride broncs, so I
started raising horses for them to practice on. I then went into business
with Byron Juma from Torrington, Wyoming. He is a stock contractor that
raises bulls and horses. Juma and I are
still partners and we have been hauling rodeo stock to rodeos since 1995.
Do you take horses to any other WSRRA
events?
We have been taking ranch broncs to
Double A Feeds WSRRA Ranch Bronc Ridings for 5 years and two years before the
WSRRA existed. We also have taken ranch broncs to the Kimball Ranch Rodeo,
Saratoga Ranch Bronc Riding and to the 2015 WSRRA Ranch Bronc Riding Bash.
On behalf of the Bad Medicine Rodeo Stock,
Wayne would like to thank everyone who has helped them become successful.
The Western States Ranch Rodeo
Association thanks you for coming so far!
The above video features Chris Laucomer on Hannah and Ruby at the 2015 WSRRA Ranch Bronc Riding Bash. Hannah is Rand Selle's.
THANK YOU to our WSRRA NATIONAL SPONSORS!!
