Frank J. Buchman

Cowboy • Horseman • Writer

Local Cowboys Join In Team Effort To Claim Working Ranch Rodeo Title

Flint Hills cowboys topped the best in the Midwest claiming championship honors at the Santa Fe Trail Ranch Rodeo in Council Grove.

Keith Ranch of Allen in Lyon County and Robbins Ranch at Hymer in Chase County joined efforts for the challenge.

Professional cowboys Justin Keith, Salvador Torres, Adrian Vogel and Clay Wilson worked together on the Keith/Robbins Ranches team.

There were 14 teams of working cowboys on horseback entered in the two nights of stringent competition.

Salvador Torres, Clay Wilson Adrian Vogel and Justin Keith of the Keith/Robbins Ranches team won the Santa Fe Trail Ranch Rodeo. (Photo by Amy Allen.)

Scores from both the Friday and Saturday evening performances were totaled together to determine the winning team.

Sanctioned by the Working Ranch Cowboys Association (WRCA), Amarillo, Texas, competition was sponsored by the Morris County Youth Rodeo Association. WRCA manager Leman Walls came from Amarillo to attend both evenings’ performances.

Winning the rodeo entitles the Keith/Robbins team to compete in the WRCA World Championship Rodeo, November 7-11, in Amarillo.

Second place team was Buford Ranches, Craig County, Oklahoma, with third place to Rezac Land & Livestock, Pottawatomie County, Kansas.

Fourth place went to the Lonesome Pine Ranch of Chase County. Championship tokens went to the top team with payback checks to the four highest ranking teams.

The team representing Broken H Ranch and Hebb Cattle had the top scores in both the ranch bronc riding and team penning. A score of 71 points on Devils Cut from the Omak Rodeo Company, Nowata, Oklahoma, won that event. Winning time was 51.22 seconds in the penning contest.

Rezac Land & Livestock recorded the fastest times in both calf branding (34.01 seconds) and stray gathering (45.52 seconds).

Cliff Hall, Bronson, riding for Broken H/Hebb Cattle, received the Top Ranch Horse Award from the American Quarter Horse Association. His horse is Ccats Gaybar Colonel, a  2011 chestnut gelding by Cowasocki Cat and out of Colonels Gay Widow.

Cliff Hall, Bronson, Broken H/Hebb Cattle, rode his chestnut gelding Ccats Gaybar Colonel to receive the Top Ranch Horse Award at the Santa Fe Trail Ranch Rodeo. (Photo by Amy Allen.)

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