JUNIOR HEELING

THANKS, COUSIN.

BY LARRI JO STARKEY 

The win in the junior heeling was a family affair.

Jay Lyn Wadhams, riding a horse his cousin J.D. Yates trained while J.D. headed for him, scored a 228.5 to beat J.D., who was busy heeling on two other horses.

“First off, that’s just a really good mare,” Jay said, “and she’s 4 years old. Next year she’ll come back here and be a junior horse, too. We just drew a really good steer tonight. The draw plays a very important part of how this all goes down, and we had the best steer. The steer ran hard and gave a good jerk on the end of it and let it all line up.”

Peppyta Sun O Lena, a 2002 red dun mare by Mr Sun O Lena and out of Rubys Red Peppy by Mr San Peppy was bred and is owned by Chaparrosa Enterprises of La Pryor, Texas.

“J.D. has had her in training about eight months now probably,” Jay said. “He told me all year (she was the one), and I told him, ‘You keep riding her and when we get down there, I’ll ride her,’ so that worked out good for us.”

Jay Lyn Wadhams rides Peppta Sun O Lena for Chaparrosa Enterprises.

Jay, who usually ropes for time, enjoyed the chance to rope for the judges.

“This is the only time of the year you really want the steer to run hard and really want the worst steer in the herd, because you’re not racing the clock,” Jay said, “you’re trying to impress the guys up there with the pencils.

 “When that steer left the box and he was running hard down there, I knew I had a chance. You’ve just got to hope that you can turn in there and catch the steer.”

Peppyta Sun O Lena was up to the challenge, he said, giving the judges exactly what they want.

“They want to see a horse, first off, just stand in the box, and then just run up there and come around the corner and slide and take the jerk really well, because that’s the most important part,” Jay said. “The finish is the most important part to everything.”

And like all good finishes, this story has a happy ending. J.D. isn’t mad at Jay for beating him.

“He likes to see me win, because he trains the horse all year,” Jay said. “And we work together and ride together every day. It’s good.”