Ric Maestrejuan from Jordan Valley, Oregon, has been part of the WSRRA since it’s inception years ago. “I’ve been there since it all started,” he said. “It’s my 14th Finals as a judge,” said one of the five current owners of the association. “I’ve been given the title of ‘President’, but we are all in this together. Everyone has their own strong suits. We are a team even though we live in different parts of the country – we’ve got Zoom.”
One of the focuses for the association this year has been youth. “We’re going to have ten junior/senior teams at the finals,” said Ric, who produces the awards for the Finals as well as makes sure all the stock gets there. “We knocked it out of the park last year and this year is going to be better. We’ve upped the game on the stock to make it an even pen. We want all those guys to have a chance to win,” said Ric. “We bring the top 20 back to the short go and we have the riders to do it. Burch has one pen and King has another – they’ve got that many good horses.”
If not for the producers, none of this would work. “We’ve gone from 45 to 90 sanctioned events this year. 8 seconds Whiskey is our largest sponsor, and we make those a 40 point Bronc Rides out of those stops. Any rodeo that adds more than $2,000 in the bronc riding, they make a tour stop. It was a huge success last year, so moving forward we will keep the excitement going.”
The Association paid out more last year than ever and this year the ranch bronc riders memberships have tripled. “We’ve changed the format and we are going to be on the Cowboy Channel for the Finals; it will be live on Friday and Saturday. You’ve got to keep moving forward to being successful.”
Ric is a custom saddle maker, originally from Winnemucca, Nevada. He was offered a ranch manager position when he was 23 and that’s what he did for 25 years. He’s been doing leather work for 40+ years. “My wife and I moved to Jordan Valley after we had just built a home in Winnemucca, Nevada. She (Rene) had retired from education after 30 years and the kids wanted us closer to them so we could be part of their lives.” After more than 25 years in ranch management, Ric was ready to help his kids and slow down a bit. “My oldest, Teo, and his team have won the Finals five times,” he said. Teo has two daughters and their youngest some, Martin has a boy.

story by Siri Stevens

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