THE BIG STORY SUNDAY, AUGUST 28, 2016
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magicvalley.com
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SECTION C
PHOTOS BY DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS
Samuel Lickley waits on his horse, Pontiac, as the sun sets during a July 12 rodeo in Buhl. Both of his parents compete in rodeos, the sport that drew them together.
WHEN MOM LOVES RODEO, EVERYONE LOVES RODEO A Jerome family’s 2016 season in an unpredictable, expensive sport
Timi Lickley rounds a barrel during the Steers ‘n Stripes Rodeo on June 17 at Shouse Arena in Filer.
family through two months of the 2016 rodeo season, documenting the action and the lifestyle. See their photo gallery at Magicvalley.com. Tetona Dunlap captures key moments of the Lickley family’s rodeo season.
tdunlap@magicvalley.com
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Times-News journalists followed a Jerome
In six videos on Magicvalley.com, reporter
TETONA DUNLAP
EROME — As 19 barrel racers warmed up outside the Shoshone rodeo arena, their reflections glided across the pool of muddy rainwater they circled. The pounding of their horses’ hooves on the wet earth mixed with their laughter and the hum of idling diesel trucks. “All right, ladies, we are one minute away,” a man’s voice boomed through the Lincoln County fairgrounds’ speaker system. Timi Lickley pulled herself atop her horse, Willy, and the pair rode close to the arena to get a better look at the cloverleaf barrel pattern. The Jerome mother was coming off a Salt Lake City win worth more than $3,500. Out of 150 barrel racers, Timi had finished with a time of 13.63, and second place had clocked in at 13.68. In the barrel racing world, a tenth of a second can mean the difference between a big check and none at all. But a few days later, Willy fell at Utah’s Spanish Fork rodeo, delivering a blow to both horse’s and rider’s confidence. This morning, July 29, could the two regain their stride? In rodeo, one day you might ride away with thousands of dollars in winnings. The next night you might lose, leaving the arena $2,000 or $3,000 poorer. This expensive and unpredictable sport lures competitors to the road for days, even weeks, away from family. When Timi travels, she pays for gas, entry fees, feed and stalls for her horse and, if Willy gets hurt, trips to the vet. Sometimes vehicles break down. Sometimes riders do, too. But for Timi, like the other rodeo faithful, those costs pale beside the thrill of competition. Even the best of the best, she knows, might put more money into the sport than they walk away with.
More online
“If you do well, it can be really great. But I don’t know a lot of people making a living doing rodeo.” Timi Lickley, Jerome rodeo competitor
“If you do well, it can be really great,” Timi said. “But I don’t know a lot of people making a living doing rodeo.” This year Mary Walker of Ennis, Texas, ranked third in the world standings of the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association, became the world’s seventh barrel racer to surpass the $1 million mark in career earnings. Walker, sponsored by MGM Grand, Kawasaki and Horsewear of Ireland, told a Wranglernetwork.com reporter it took an “army” to get her down the road. It takes a lot of sponsors, and only a few rodeo competitors have them. “I’ve had a couple people say, ‘Man, are you going to loan me any money?’” she told the reporter. “I don’t know where that million went, but it is gone.” Despite Willy’s Utah fall, Timi hoped for a win July 29 in Shoshone. The two arrived an hour before the barrel race event to ready themselves. Willy stood tied to the trailer as Timi cleaned mud from his hooves and wrapped his legs. She cleaned and applied Willy’s bell boots and splint boots, to protect his back feet from clipping his front as he ran. Timi was running in the Lincoln County Fair’s slack rodeo, held at 9 a.m. the morning of the main rodeo. Slack are the “overflow” calf roping, team roping, barrel racing and steer wrestling contestants. At some rodeos, contestants are given the choice to run in the slack or the main rodeo. Timi had to get on the road to another rodeo in eastern Idaho, so she chose to compete that morning. “All right, it’s 9 o’clock, let’s get this show on the road,” the announcer said. When it was Timi and Willy’s turn, they stood a few feet back to get a running start. They raced out of the gate and circled the first two barrels. Please see RODEO, Page C2
THE BIG STORY
C2 | Sunday, August 28, 2016
Times-News
DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS
Ryan Lickley, center front, lassos his calf during the team roping event at the Steers ‘n Stripes Rodeo on June 17 at Filer’s Shouse Arena.
“Now that my boys are older, it’s much harder for me to go into that top deal. I mostly stick within my circuit. I can’t be gone from home like that, and you really need to be gone months at a time.” Timi Lickley
Rodeo From C1
The approach was wider than the turn toward the next barrel, which was tight and close to the orange plastic. As they rounded the third, the man’s voice announced over the speakers that the previous rider had clocked the fastest time yet, 17.698. Timi and Willy clocked 18.459. Not the time she wanted. Her husband, Ryan, met her at the gate. Her younger son, Samuel, 11, hugged his mother’s back. Ryan gave her words of encouragement, words she needed to hear. She hadn’t been winning as often as she’d like. “He definitely keeps it real,” Timi said later.
‘The same work ethic’
The sport that brought the Lickleys together now exacts a price at home. Ryan and Timi Lickley met as members of Idaho State University’s rodeo team in Pocatello. Ryan, a calf roper and team roper, recognized Timi’s passion for the sport. At home in Jerome on June 17, the Lickleys and their two sons chatted about the rodeo season at a long table in their dining room. They sat in metal chairs with cow hair cushions and backs in the shape of cowboys roping horses. A framed print of a mounted cowboy hung on the wall, and dried flowers adorned steer horns. “We practiced a lot,” Ryan said. “And not a lot did that. We have the same work ethic.” While rodeo is still a passion they share, Timi’s love has burned longer and a little brighter than Ryan’s. Timi, 45, grew up riding and competed in her first junior rodeo at age 8. Ryan, 43, started rodeo in high school but was always on the back of a horse. His family owned a Jerome feedlot called Maverik Land and Cattle, which he runs today. This year, Timi is competing in more than 30 rodeos but Ryan in only six. He cut his season short this year because he sold his horse, Nemo — one of the family’s many sources of income. Ryan competed in Nampa and Arco to get Nemo seasoned, introducing him to different rodeo arenas and setups. It’s a process that takes time, and horses don’t always take to it right away and start winning. Timi is more reluctant to part with her horses. “I don’t really want to sell them
because I want to rodeo,” she said. This year has been a comeback for Timi. Last year, she and her main horse, Rock, fell at a rodeo in Lehi, Utah. Timi blew out her knee and needed surgery, so she attended only six rodeos that year. She had just completed physical therapy when she retore her ligament in PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS May while riding Wilma. Timi Lickley warms up her horse before the barrel racing event at the Lincoln County Fair Rodeo on July 29. “I’m supposed to have surgery,” Timi said. “I’ve opted to wait until the summer is over.” Timi and Ryan compete in the Wilderness circuit, made up of southern Idaho and down into Ogden, Utah, and Nevada. In 2011, Timi was ranked second in the Wilderness circuit and 40th overall in the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association, which has thousands of members from circuits all over the country. Breaking into the top 100 wasn’t an easy feat. It meant traveling to as many pro rodeos as possible. Now that Samuel is 11 and his brother, Christian, is 13, Timi doesn’t like to leave her family for long. “Now that my boys are older, it’s much harder for me to go into that top deal,” Timi said. “I mostly stick within my circuit. I can’t be gone from home like that, and you really need to be gone months at a time.” When Timi travels to rodeos, it’s occasionally with friends or family but usually by herself. Ryan used to rodeo just as hard — when he had horses he considered competitive in the arena. But Ryan has had young horses for the past couple of years, and these days he has more responsibilities at the family feedlot. “He’s getting tired of me traveling by myself,” Timi said. “I know ABOVE: Samuel Lickley a lot of people who are gone so eats with his dad, Ryan, much that when they come home, during a July 12 rodeo they don’t feel a part of it. I like in Buhl. being home.” LEFT: Christian Lickley, 13, runs toward the ‘Learn to lose gracefully’ finish line during the It’s a consuming sport, but the Jerome County Fair’s Lickleys let life ride in other direcRedneck Olympics on tions, too. When all four do travel Aug. 12. together for rodeos, they try to do something fun during their downDREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS time, like swimming or checking out dinosaur museums. This year, Samuel, who plays basketball and football, decided he wanted to start calf roping and goat tying in the junior division for boys 11 to 14 years old. Because roping is what his father does. “I look up to my dad,” Samuel said. Please see RODEO, Page C3
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THE BIG STORY
Times-News
Sunday, August 28, 2016 | C3
“It’s not easy holding a 9-to-5 job when you rodeo.” Timi Lickley
DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS
TOP: Ryan Lickley, left, and his sons Samuel, 11, and Christian, 13, share a laugh with his wife, Timi, on June 17 at their home near Jerome as they talk about when the couple first started hanging out back in college. ABOVE LEFT: Samuel Lickley competes in goat tying July 12 in Buhl. ABOVE MIDDLE: Timi Lickley helps stake the arena for barrel racing before the Steers ‘n Stripes Rodeo on June 17 in Filer. ABOVE RIGHT: Christian Lickley horses around with caution tape while helping his mom stake the arena before the Steers ‘n Stripes Rodeo begins June 17 in Filer.
LEFT: Timi Lickley puts splint boots on her horse before the barrel racing event at the Lincoln County Fair Rodeo on July 29. ABOVE: Timi Lickley’s horse, Willy, takes a break after barrel racing July 29. PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS
Rodeo From C2
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Christian, however, prefers acting, theater and fashion over riding horses and roping calves. But Christian often cheers on his younger brother or helps his mother stake the arena for barrel racing. In Filer on July 10, cold wind whipped dirt from the Shouse Arena into the stands as Christian sat with his mother. They were at the rodeo that morning to watch Samuel compete in calf roping. The calf darted from its chute and sprinted across the arena. Samuel wasn’t far behind, whirling his rope around his head. Halfway across the arena, Samuel slowed; he couldn’t get close enough to throw the rope. He’s still trying to get a handle on his newfound sport. “Most other kids been rodeoing since they were little,” Timi said
later. Samuel plays team sports, too, but in rodeo he enters the arena alone. “It builds strong character, and you learn to lose gracefully.” Christian and Timi found Samuel at their horse trailer. “Hey, you did pretty good,” Timi told him. Samuel smiled sheepishly and took off his boots. As they read the schedule of events, the announcer on the loudspeaker notified riders of the next lineup. “When Jet goes, be ready,” Timi told Samuel. After the rodeo, Christian planned to go home and take his online class in fashion and interior design through Idaho Digital Learning Academy. He’s been sewing projects over the summer. Just simple stuff, he said, like totes and pillowcases. He hasn’t made an outfit yet, but they are learning how to shop smart for material and to measure. After high school, he plans to attend fashion and acting school in California.
Waiting for Samuel’s turn to go out,” Samuel said. “Is that OK?” compete, Timi asked Christian It’s advice his mother gave him about a past rodeo. before she left on the road. “Oh, she did?” Ryan said. “I don’t know,” Christian said. “I don’t pay attention to those So far this summer, Timi had hit things.” up rodeos in Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming and, a couple of times, Col‘A long process’ orado and Utah. Her mom flew in The junior rodeo July 12 in Buhl to meet her in Colorado to provide started just as the sun set behind some company on the road. That a patch of billowy clouds. The weekend, Timi was competing in nearby Rangen and Clear Springs Casper and Sheridan, Wyo., and Foods factories were black silhou- Colorado Springs, Colo. — spendettes against the sky’s blue, orange ing about $1,000 in fuel and fees and yellow gradient. As he sat without clocking the fastest time in Pontiac’s saddle, Samuel held at any of the rodeos. onto a half-empty bottle of Mug The evening of July 12, Samuel’s root beer. first event was goat tying. Dust Ryan stood next to him, wear- burst from underneath Pontiac’s ing a white cowboy hat and eating hooves, and they rode across the a hamburger from the food stand arena. The dust hung in the air, ilbehind the bleachers. He doesn’t luminated by the dull amber glow like to give Samuel too much in- of the overhead lights. A goat stood at the other end of struction before his event. It gets “muddled in the brain,” Ryan said. the arena, tied to a post. Samuel He’d rather have Samuel do his didn’t stop Pontiac, instead leapbest and see what happens. ing off his back and running to“Dad, I’m going to whip when I ward the goat. He flipped the goat
on its back, legs straight up, and quickly tied its back legs together. He threw up his hands and finished with a time of 16.96. For Samuel’s breakaway roping, Ryan held the calf in the chute. In this event, the horse and rider wait in a box that has a springloaded rope, known as the barrier, stretched in front. To ensure the calf gets a head start, a light rope is fastened from the adjacent chute to the calf’s neck, releasing once the calf is well away from the chute and releasing the barrier. Then the horse runs out of the box while the roper attempts to lasso the calf’s neck. The horse must start from behind a barrier, and a 10-second penalty is added for breaking it. The announcer initially called Samuel’s time at 4.06, but it was amended to 14.06 after the line judge determined he broke the barrier. Please see RODEO, Page C4
THE BIG STORY
C4 | Sunday, August 28, 2016
Times-News
PAT SUTPHIN, TIMES-NEWS
Timi Lickley prepares her horse for the barrel racing event of the Lincoln County Fair Rodeo on July 29 in Shoshone.
ABOVE: Samuel Lickley wears his dad’s Rookie of the Year belt buckle during a July 12 rodeo in Buhl. RIGHT: Ryan Lickley prepares for his calf roping run during the Steers ‘n Stripes Rodeo on June 17 in Filer. BOTTOM RIGHT: Samuel Lickley finishes up at the July 12 rodeo in Buhl. DREW NASH, TIMES-NEWS
Rodeo From C3
Rodeo can be a humbling sport, Ryan said. “I thought he did good. It’s a long process.” Better times were coming. In a couple of weeks, Samuel would take second in goat tying at a Shoshone rodeo and win a halter.
‘You use every penny’
This sport requires more creative funding than other costly pursuits. People who rodeo supplement their income by shoeing horses, selling leather work or training young horses. “It’s not easy holding a 9-to-5 job when you rodeo,” Timi said. A good, finished calf-roping horse could run you $100,000, Ryan said. A quality barrel racing horse, ready to win in the arena, can cost as much as $250,000. So the Lickleys don’t buy finished horses. Instead, they make them. Timi has been working with Willy, trying to find out if he’s a true rodeo horse. The horses are like athletes. They have to be coached and trained. “Some are really phenomenal, and some are OK,” Timi said. But all horses — proven and unproven — are expensive. There are feed costs, vet bills and shoe bills, and you need trucks and trailers to haul them. Trucks can cost $80,000 and trailers $50,000 and up. The Lickleys’ horse trailer has living quarters that include a small kitchen and bedroom. Entry fees for amateur rodeos can cost $100 per event. Pro rodeo is about $320 for one event.
Timi estimated that 80 percent of contestants are losing money. “It’s just really expensive,” she said. To supplement their income, the Lickleys sell one or two horses a year. They also own L4 Trailer Sales in Jerome with Ryan’s brother Todd Lickley and his wife, Erica. The Lickleys got into the Logan-brand trailer business after buying their living-quarters trailer. “It’s a big-ticket item,” Timi said July 27 as she worked at L4 Trailers, taking phone calls and sending out parts in the mail. A large blackand-white horse painting hung over her computer. Many rodeo contestants take out loans to buy their trailers. A used trailer can start at $9,000, and new ones can reach $100,000 for a living-quarters trailer that includes a bed, oven and shower. Samuel and Christian both work at the business, washing trailers. “You use every penny you make going down the road,” Timi said. She had a friend whose axle came off her truck and cost $8,000 to fix. When you need help on the road, it’s nice to know people in rodeo circles. “It’s a big family,” Ryan said. “We got friends in every state in the West. They’ll help you out. Let you use their truck or lend you a horse.” When Timi traveled to Utah twice and then to Nampa, she estimated, she spent $500 in gas and $1,000 in entry fees. When the Lickleys travel for rodeos, they don’t count the cost of food, as they have to eat anyway. One veterinarian exam can cost $100 — or up to $1,000 with ther-
apy that includes ultrasounds, X-rays, bone density scans or stomach scopes. “It’s hard on their bodies,” Timi said. “Vet expenses are huge because you are putting strain and stress on their body.” To help out rodeo participants, many rodeos offer hospitality rooms. At Spanish Fork, the rodeo committee provided three meals a day and electricity for their generators. It even gave contestants certificates for swimming. Occasionally stalls are free, as at certain Nampa rodeos. Every little bit helps. “I’m really appreciative,” Timi said.
‘Looking for reassurance’
Timi doesn’t like to enter and not win. Losing is hard, because she’s had a lot of success. After her run at the Lincoln County Fair rodeo, the arena was raked for other contestants. Timi headed back to her trailer to prep Willy for the drive ahead. He drank from a bucket, and she gave him a pat, removed his bell boots and splint boots and rubbed liniment on his legs to relieve sore muscles and tendons. “He’s kind of insecure and always looking for reassurance,” Timi said. “He’s like that kid that’s always scared.” Willy’s ears perked up when she
grabbed a bottle and unscrewed the lid. “Here you go,” she said, patting his head again. It was an apple-flavored cookie, one of his favorite treats. She gave him another. That afternoon, Timi and Christian would hit the road to eastern Idaho, where she would compete in rodeos in Grace and Preston. In a few weeks, she planned to circle barrels closer to home at the Jerome County and Twin Falls County fairs. Her drive to clock the fastest time moves Timi down the road again. Despite a loss, there is always the possibility of a win.
About the journalists Reporter Tetona Dunlap has attended rodeos before but learned more on this project than she ever did from the stands. Among the lessons: time penalties, horses’ protective boots and the costs of competing.
“I’ve covered a lot of rodeos and a lot of families over the years but never a rodeo family,” photojournalist Drew Nash says. “The Lickleys have been amazing to work with, and by the time you read this maybe I’ll finally have ridden a horse.”
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