story by Lily Weinacht
David Windon of Holland, Michigan, is the first of his family to rodeo. The 17-year-old team roping header achieved another first last summer when he won 2018 NLBRA Senior Team Roping World Champion with his partner, Jake Hawkins. “It didn’t really sink in to me how much of a chance we had until we were first high call back in the short go. We placed in the first go and made a business run in the second,” says David. “I didn’t really give him a good spin in the short go, and if we were to win the world I wanted to take it all and not leave it up to chance, but it all worked out.”
An NLBRA competitor since he was 7, David first saw rodeo on TV and wanted to be a bull rider. “Mom said I had to learn how to ride a horse first, so I went to do that and I’ve roped ever since. When I was 8, they let me get on a bull and I rode bulls for a couple of years and figured out I wasn’t any good at it, so I just stuck to roping.” David also competes in tie-down roping, and enters high school rodeos, the USTRC, IPRA, and MSRA. He competed in the NJHFR his eight-grade year in team roping. “I think it’s really cool to see how far you’ve grown over the course of the year, and I just love rodeoing, so that’s just all the more reason for me to work at it.”
David looks up to his parents, Jim and Sue Windon, along with Jake’s family. “His dad, Jesse, in particular has really helped me with my roping game and handling steers,” says David. “I rope with Jake pretty much everywhere we go. We live a couple hours away from each other, but we end up seeing each other at all the same jackpots, so it’s kind of like practicing together all the time.” David’s younger brother, Sam, also team ropes in the NLBRA as a junior boy, and David enjoys going to rodeos with him. “I think it’s (the NLBRA) a really good association for learning experiences. The way they have it set up gives kids a really good opportunity to make it out to Nationals. I think the more times you’re able to go out there, the better and better you’ll get.”
Magic, David’s 8-year-old team roping horse, carried him to the NLBFR last summer. “He’s a big red horse, the biggest horse I’ve ever owned, and he has a long, powerful stride that took some getting used to—it’ll rock you back in your saddle if you’re not sitting good,” says David. “I made him what he is, and I like riding him for that fact.”
While David prefers riding horses to doing homework, he is a hard-working junior at Hamilton Community School. He played baseball for two years but wanted to focus more on rodeo this year. However, he and his family enjoy watching baseball games together in the summer, along with spending time at their cabin and hunting when deer season comes around. “I do leather work when I’m at the house,” David adds. “I make a lot of spur straps for people, and I’ve made a couple bronc halters and some wallets and bridles. I watched some videos here and there on tooling, but I pretty much taught myself.
“This year I joined the Mid States Rodeo Association, so I’d like to be rookie of the year there. I’d like to win team roping for Mid States and go out to National Little Britches again and repeat last year if we get a good draw to do that. My main goal is to be improving on my roping all the time.”
