story by Lily Weinacht
Jack Hanratty from Avondale, Colorado, is leading the tie-down roping in the CJHSRA, intent on qualifying for the NJHFR a third time. The 14-year-old also competes in chute dogging, and team roping with header Sage Bader, but tie-down roping is his favorite. “I like that it’s an independent sport, and if you do something wrong, you can’t blame anyone but yourself,” he explains. “My goal for Nationals is get all three calves caught in good time and do good. Rodeo is something not a lot of other people do, and it interests me and I like to work hard.”
Jack came onto the rodeo scene in sixth grade when he started roping competitively, inspired by his dad, who rodeoed in high school. “He helps me out a lot in the calf roping and how to train better horses,” says Jack, who’s also worked with Josh Peek roping calves. “Brice Ingo has helped me in the calf roping and a little bit of team roping. He’s one of our friends and we just started roping with him. We don’t have any roping calves, so I go to Sage Bader’s house to team rope and practice, and I rope calves at Brice Ingo’s most of the time.” Jack and Sage have also entered several USTRC ropings together and are currently tied for sixth place in the CJHSRA standings.
Working cattle is an everyday part of life for Jack, who helps his family run their feedlot, where they feed approximately 1,000 head of cows. “We have about 300 head of cows that calve every year,” says Jack, who helps with feeding every night after school. “I like to go if there’s a heifer and we need to pull a calf, and I like tagging calves and feeding them.” He also practices every night, riding his roan mare named Luna. “We’ve had her since she was 2 and now she’s 9. We sent her to learn to team rope, and last year I started training her on calf roping and she was doing pretty good. She picked it up quick.”
Jack often travels to rodeos with his parents, Jim and Anette Hanratty, and occasionally, his grandpa Jim Hanratty. Jack’s sisters, Ashlee (18) and Annie (8) compete in dance competitions and Annie plays soccer, while their brother Jay (12) enjoys riding horses and playing basketball. “They come to my rodeos a couple of times and I go their games—we try to support each other,” says Jack. He also loves to go goose and duck hunting, and bought his first hunting dog in November. “Catfish is his name, and he’s coming along good. This is my first time training a dog, and I’ve been watching videos on YouTube and asking people about it.”
He’s presently studying the planets in science at Pleasant View Middle School, where Jack is finishing eighth grade. He and his roping partner Sam Bader are the only two students in their school that rodeo. Jack especially enjoys learning about genetics, specifically for breeding cows and horses, and he played basketball on his school’s team, the Pleasant View Lions. He’s also a member of the National Junior Honor Society. “We do community service, like we go out and help clean or work, and around Christmas we donated clothes to shelters and had a toy drive.”
Following his final season in the CJHSRA, Jack plans to start high school rodeoing in the fall, and he enjoys entering tie-down roping jackpots. “My fastest tie is a 9.7,” he says. “I just want to keep my horse working good, tie a couple more calves under 10, and be smooth and quick.”
