story by Ruth Nicolaus
Rodeo runs deep in the Taylor family.
Dally Taylor is the third generation of the family to compete in the sport, and is an Idaho Cowboys Association member.
His dad, Rex Taylor, and his granddad, Buck Taylor, both competed in the sport, as does Dally, and he and wife Danielle’s four kids, Lindsey, Zane, Ty and Josie.
He grew up in Bend, Ore., as a skier, but in the summers, he and his siblings could be found in the hayfield on their dad’s ranch. Eventually, he and his younger brother convinced their mom to move back to Burns, Ore. “That’s home,” he said.
Dally got his start in high school rodeo. He attended Treasure Valley Community College (Ontario, Ore.) on a rodeo scholarship, as a steer wrestler, tie-down roper, team roper and occasional saddle bronc rider. In fact, he was part of the first TVCC team to qualify for the College National Finals Rodeo as a team (instead of as individuals).
After graduating from TVCC with an associate’s degree in ag business and a minor in animal science, he attended and graduated from Washington State in 1997 with an ag economics degree and a minor in animal science.
Throughout his working years, Dally’s done a variety of things. He’s helped with cattle embryo transfers in Soap Lake, Wash., has worked on his father-in-law’s ranch, on the Merk Ranch, and drove truck in the oilfield in Wyoming.
He spent several years training horses as TR Quarter Horses, and managed a livestock supply store and warehouse. He spent time teaching at Blue Mountain Community College (Pendleton, Ore.), and now drives a tanker truck.
He puts in twelve to fourteen-hour days, but always takes time in the summer to practice and ride horses.
In the practice pen with his four kids, ages 16 to 24, he team ropes with and hazes for his boys, and gives them all advice and guidance.
He also makes sure they’re well mounted.
“We ride our own horses,” Dally said. Nearly everything is ranch raised, all except for two horses they purchased as weanlings. “Most everything is our pedigree,” he said. Their pedigree goes back to Cheyennes Bartender, “Bartender,” a stallion Dally purchased in 1997 as a three-year-old who passed away five years ago.
When he and Danielle’s kids were little, Dally would sell one or two horses a year, to rodeo contestants and through the Red Bluff (Calif.) Bull and Gelding Sale. “There are a lot of horses out there with our TR Quarter Circle brand that we’ve sold.”
Now, he works to keep the kids mounted. Lindsey is a breakaway roper; Zane and Ty are steer wrestlers, tie-down and team ropers, and Josie (still in high school), competes in the barrels and the breakaway.
Now that the kids are older, he’s back to selling horses. “We’re getting more into the selling mode,” Dally said. He and the kids “go into partnerships with the horses, rodeo on them, and try to sell them that way.”
Dally estimates he bought his ICA card when he was nineteen or 20. He was a PRCA member for a while, filling his permit and competing at a dozen rodeos or so every year. He never tried to qualify for circuit finals. “I had a job and a family,” he said.
He’s qualified for six ICA Finals, four Northwest Pro Rodeo Association Finals, and three Pro West Rodeo Association finals.
Of his three events (tie-down, team roping and steer wrestling), the steer wrestling was his strength, he believes, in part because he traveled with Dusty Kimbel and rode Dusty’s horse. He had good horses himself, but would sell them if someone wanted them. “I always made a little extra money to keep going.”
In the last few years, he’s been able to keep his good horses. “I’d like to make the ICA Finals a few more times in the tie-down roping and steer wrestling, and in the team roping with one of my boys.”
Dally’s idea of fun is “sitting in the saddle,” he said. “It drives my kids nuts,” because they want to do something, and he’d rather be horseback. But the family skis in the winter, goes to the lake in the summer, hunts, and plays basketball.
He and Danielle married in 1996. A former barrel racer and breakaway roper, he credits her with being the glue that holds the family together. “She is our official supporter, chute opener and the rock that everybody depends on. She’s what keeps us sane.”
