It was a tough finals night for J.D.Yates of Pueblo, Colorado. But he put a championship finale on it, like a real horseman and true professional.

After a miss on Nitro Jay in the junior heading and a lost dally on Little Beer Belly in the junior heeling, Yates made a big statement with his last run on Shyna Spark, winning the junior heeling with a 227.5.

“I felt like my horses were trying to be real good, and my ability got in the way,” Yates said after the lights went down in the arena.

AQHA Professional Horseman J.D. Yates and Shyna Spark command the junior heeling championship with a 227.5

“The cattle were fine,” he continued. “There were some good ones and some bad ones, but that’s in any herd. Any time that you put two people and three animals together everything can’t be perfect. Sometimes you’ve just got to reach down deep and try to make the best of a bad situation.”

“Any time you leave that arena after you’ve made a run, whether you catch or whether you miss, whether you win or whether you lose, you’ve got to put that run behind you and look forward to your next run.

“It sounds easy, you can talk about it, you can tell your story, you can say ‘you’ve got to put that behind you’ to people, but it’s not easy to do. You’ve got to mentally make yourself reach down and try to find that willpower to win.

“And that’s what it is. You’ve got to love to win, you’ve got to want to win.”

There was no doubt in the crowd’s mind when he threw his loop, and Shyna Spark faced that steer that J.D. Yates wanted to win.

“You know, when I was rodeoing and I missed, I missed for myself. It cost me,” he said. “Showing horses for the public, when you do have bad luck on one of their horses, you’re not only having bad luck for yourself…you’re also letting your clients down.

“Especially when their horse performs as good as he can perform, and you don’t do your job,” he continued. “That’s the agony of defeat twice. Not only for yourself, but for your customer.

“When you can come to the World Show and win one world championship, you’ve got to feel pretty fortunate to have a good week,” Yates added. “I feel very happy about being able to do that. I’m very lucky that I did win one.”

And with that, Yates smiled and nodded.

“I’ll be back next year at the World Show, and with a boatload of horses, hopefully.”