Silver Standard

Cody Snow and Wesley Thorp win the Reno Rodeo from seventh callback.

- Chelsea Toy

In June 2016, Wesley Thorp won the College National Finals with Cole Wheeler. Then he went on to take the Bob Feist Invitational title with Zac Small. The team roping world marveled at his feat. Again, in 2017, we stand back and can’t help but think: What a week!

Thorp again won the CNFR heeling title with Wheeler Saturday night (see page 64), and then, on that famed third Monday in June, had a BIG day in Reno. Except that day wasn’t in the Reno Livestock Center’s indoor this year. One lucky set of guys gets to rope their first two steers at the Reno Rodeo during the Bob Feist Invitational, and this year was Snow and Thorp’s turn. So while they didn’t have the same luck at the BFI this year (a leg in the second round and a no-time in the fourth), they were able to get their first two Reno Rodeo steers stretched in 11.5 seconds to come back seventh in the average behind a field of hard hitters—including Chad Masters and Travis Graves at high call and the smoking hot duo of Garrett Rogers and Jake Minor at second callback.

“Our first steer came left pretty hard,” Snow said. “I had to set him up where we could get finished. Our second steer was good and we made a good run to come back good in the average.”

Snow rode his buckskin mare, Annie, to set up the shot and let Thorp tee off on each steer. Thorp rode his bay horse, 14-year-old Rudy, on the first two steers, but opted for his steady eddy, 13-year old Dennis, in the short round.