Todd Crawford and Roo Star circle up their cow in the senior working cow horse finals.

Todd Crawford drew first in the working order in the senior working cow horse finals November 15 at the AQHA World Championship Show.

But the veteran competitor took it in stride.

Riding Roo Star, a 1999 bay stallion, Todd rode hard and fast into the arena, skidding through his stops and circles.

“(‘Roo’) circled good, he ran and stopped good, he turned good,” Todd said. “I thought he was real good all the way through, so I was real happy with him.”

As Todd and Roo turned to face the gate, the black Angus heifer that trotted in looked feisty, but she stumbled as Todd and “Roo” were finishing their last circle.

“It was a good cow,” Todd said. “It boxed well. It honored me good. It was maybe a tad weak and fell down after the second turn and that concerned me that I would get reviewed and knocked down three points a judge or (maybe) just the run content go down, but it was a good cow. As tough as they’ve been all week, it shocked me that it weakened a little bit like that, but we made it through.”

The judges agreed with Todd, giving him a 222.5 in the dry work and a 223 in the cow work for a total of 445.5.

Todd’s work was done. All he could do was wait for the other 14 finalists to ride.

“It was a long wait, and whatever happens, happens,” Todd said. “You can’t control it, so I was happy. My horse was good.”

Roo, owned by Melissa Ann Miller of Belton, Texas, was bred by AQHA President Frank Merrill and his wife, Robin, who were among those watching as rider after rider failed to match Todd’s score. In the end, no one could, and Todd claimed the world championship title.

Accepting the golden trophy from Frank, Todd told the crowd the horse “had a poor start in life, but he overcame it, and he’s doing very good now.”

So good, in fact, that Todd is thinking of taking the horse to the World’s Greatest Horseman competition in Stephenville, Texas, in February.

“He seems like a real show horse,” Todd said. “If Melissa lets me, I would enjoy showing him.”