story by Lindsay Whelchel
Chasing cattle from the back of a horse is no doubt in the blood of one Tennessee cowboy, but it’s also in his name. Chasen Thrasher who goes by Chase, comes from a family of timed-event cowboys.
He got his start growing up in Columbia, Tennessee.
“My dad and my grandad both rodeoed, and they both roped calves. Dad trained calf horses in AQHA when I was growing up. I just have kind of always been a part of it. It’s always been the timed-eventing,” he describes.
Chase quickly moved through the ranks of high school rodeo, beginning his junior year and making nationals in the calf roping and steer wrestling where he won Rookie All-Around at State and then qualified for Nationals. His senior year, Chase won State in the steer wrestling and Reserve in the calf roping, and though he qualified for Nationals, he was already busy on the road in his rookie year in the International Professional Rodeo Association.
After high school Chase joined the rodeo team at UT Martin and studies farm and ranch management. If he isn’t rodeoing full time, Chase would like to pursue a career training horses or managing a ranch. As far as rodeo goes, the 2017-2018 school year was a busy one, for Chase’s freshman year. Outside of school work, he also qualified for his first International Finals Rodeo for the 2017 season which took place in Oklahoma City this past January, 2018.
“It was definitely probably the biggest stage I’ve roped on. The high school finals were a big stage, but there were 200 of us. [At the IFR] was [only] 15 of the best calf ropers there. I thought it was a lot tougher,” Chase says.
The 2018 IPRA season is off to a strong start for Chase. He’s leading the standings so far after a successful early start to the year with wins at the Lonestar winter rodeos such as Bowling Green, Kentucky. In recent months, he has been busy on his summer run in the IPRA.
Chase would like to thank his parents, Daryl and Tabby, and grandparents, Lane and Peggy, and the rest of his family for their support, as well as his fellow IPRA members, his hauling partners, the Matthews family and John Beckwith.
Keep your eye out for this young cowboy as he is on track for his second IFR qualification and possibly his first world championship. It will all be decided this coming January 18-19-20, 2019 at the Oklahoma State Fair Arena in Oklahoma City.
