story by Lindsay King
Becoming one of the greats, something Blade Wilson from Capitan, New Mexico, aspires to be one day. The team roper and reined cow horse high school competitor is no stranger to hard work. “The hardest part about rodeo for me is the difference between my two events. The riding specifically. The two horses have completely different buttons and you are thinking about two different things on both of them, so that makes it a little bit challenging,” said the 16-year-old heeler. With more opportunities to rope at his disposal, Blade likes the event more because he can get more practice in it. The horsemanship side of it is also appealing for Blade since riding and roping takes a lot of focus to do everything correctly.
The fast-paced event leaves little room for error. The fastest Blade has roped two feet was over the Fourth of July this year at an open rodeo. Five seconds is all it took get two loops on a steer. “We didn’t win it but we were fast. The competition got really tough but that was the fastest I had ever roped. I felt pretty good about that run.” The heeler boasts plenty of jackpot wins, but his biggest to date was a fourth-place finish at state this year in the reined cow horse. “I made it to nationals but I sold my good horse right before I was supposed to go and just recently replaced that horse, so I didn’t get to go this year.”
The son of Sean and Melinda, brother to Kirsten, 22, credits the family tradition of team roping for getting him into the sport in the first place. From his parents and uncles to grandparents on both sides of the family, team roping has been a Wilson family activity “forever.” This pushed Blade to aspire to be just like his family and rope steers, he got started roping off a horse when he was just 11. Although, he won a dummy roping when he was 6. “My dad is probably the biggest influence on my life. He is supportive and helps me get down the road, and he is always in the practice pen with me. Even if I don’t take his advice, I find out later that it was the best advice I could have gotten.” His mom is the positive push Blade needs each day. She is also outside helping Blade practice and helps any way she possibly can.
With aspirations to college rodeo, Blade intends to study equine science at a junior college before transferring to Texas Tech University. Though he does not specifically know what he wants to do with this degree, he is increasing his experience with horses every day. “I just want to sell horses and rope when I get older. For now, I like to ride and start colts. Some for myself to sell and for other people too.” He also day works for local ranchers throughout the year. The high school junior keeps especially busy in the spring and fall when ranch work picks up in addition to rodeo and school. Somehow, he also balances playing both basketball and baseball with everything else.
“I just love baseball. It is a good sport, it’s fun and I am good at it. I am not so good at basketball so I like baseball best.” The Capitan High School catcher and post is also in FFA. He shows cattle both on a local and national scale. “I show club calves, just good ones. Breed doesn’t really matter to me. This year I have a maine, cross, and a Charolais.” Showing since he was 9, Blade started in 4-H and moved up into FFA with his cattle. Going into this school year and rodeo season, Blade is simply focused on roping two feet for his partner Trey Mitchell this year. “I just want to win averages at some rodeos and not be so nervous. I am riding a different horse this year and he is boosting my confidence in my roping.”
