story by Ruth Nicolaus
Teddi Winslow has been a constant presence in the Kansas Pro Rodeo Association scene for the last dozen years.
The Kismet, Kansas cowgirl competed at a few KPRA rodeos when she was in high school, and became a full-fledged member in 2004. Since then, she hasn’t missed a year at the KPRA finals except for 2012 and 2013, when she was pregnant, and after the birth of her daughter.
Winslow, a breakaway roper, has ridden two special horses throughout her rodeo career. It started with Jack, who carried her to KPRA Finals from 2004 through 2011, and to the College National Finals. He was stifled in 2012, and she tried to bring him back, but it didn’t work. She and her husband Kyle had a heading horse, Rafter, who they were trying to sell. No one bought him, so Teddi decided to get on him. In the fall of 2013, she took him to a jackpot in Garden City, and won on him. Last year, she won the KPRA year-end breakaway and average titles on Rafter, and he was voted Horse of the Year for the association.
Rafter, a sorrel, is a big, stout horse, who has a “lot of run,” Teddi says. “He’s not fancy and showy, but he makes the same trip every time and scores really, really good.” He loves to be “loved on” by Teddi, but he can buck. “He’s a bronc-y sucker. He’ll get bronc-y and cinchy, but he lopes out of it.”
Teddi works as a fertilizer and chemical sales rep for United Prairie Agriculture, and she and Kyle, who married in 2009, fit rodeo into their work schedules. They try hard to not miss days of work for rodeo. They take in outside horses in the winter, and rope together, nearly every evening. “There’s never a question, ‘Are we roping tonight?’” Teddi says.
She has won the average at the Finals five times and is most proud of her consistency. “I take pride in those average wins, because I don’t usually rodeo hard enough to win the year-end. I don’t rodeo like it takes to win it. I have to be back home every day at 8 am. I take pride in roping consistently, roping sharp, and I like winning those averages.”
Her husband, Kyle, is a team roper and tie-down roper in the KPRA, and their daughter, Kylee, was born in March of 2013. Teddi loves that rodeo is a family sport. “We rodeo together,” she said. “We rarely split the rig and go separate ways. This is our time together, and that’s what I love most about rodeoing, being with my husband and daughter.”
