story by Lily Weinacht
Jake Deveraux of Newcastle, Wyoming, is the 2018 WHSRA Tie-Down Roping Champion. “I came in number four to state, so I had to go pretty hard to have a chance at it, and I ended up doing just good enough to get it,” says the 17-year-old. “It surprised me, but it’s what I was hoping for. At Nationals, I was too long on two calves and I ended up 31st, but I got two down and I was happy about that.”
He’s now entering his third season in the WHSRA, competing in tie-down roping, team roping with his twin brother, Cooper, and steer wrestling. “I just started bulldogging in July, and I’ve sure taken some hard hits, but it seems like it’s going to be the most fun and for sure the event with the most adrenaline. Todd Suhn helped me when I went to one of his schools, and Frank Thompson helps me quite a bit if I’m ever having trouble with something. He’s a partner with us on the Full House Elite Performance Stock Horse Sale my family runs,” Jake explains.
“I look up to my whole family. We’re always down at the arena roping and going to rodeos together.” His dad, Craig, rode broncs for many years, and Jake’s mom, Jolene, grew up around race horses, while Jake’s sister, Abi, is a sophomore at West Texas A&M University, where she also rides cutting horses. “My family is always there. I’ve heeled for a long time, but my brother and I decided to switch ends this year because I couldn’t catch the feet,” Jake says with a laugh. “The heading is going way better. Cooper also calf ropes and he’s been trying his hand at bronc riding. I think he’s going to be a pretty sticky little bronc rider.”
Since Jake’s family started the Full House Horse Sale 10 or 11 years ago, they have no shortage of horses to ride. “We buy horses and ride them and get them tie-down and team roping, and riding on the ranch. The sale is always the third weekend in June, and this year went really well,” says Jake. “There’s usually 50 horses and we have 12–15 of ours in there. Dad and Cooper and I ride them.” Jake’s main calf horse is a 12-year-old gray gelding called Rambo, who has taken Jake to the pay window more times than not. Jake also started roping calves on a 6-year-old palomino, Joker, last year. “Everything about him makes my job a lot easier getting to the calf. I started hauling my brother’s head horse we call Rosco, and he’s the best horse we’ve ever owned—there’s not a person out there he doesn’t fit. My bulldogging horse, Bo, is 15, and I just bought him a month ago from Wyatt Schuelke, and so far everything is going perfect.”
In between rodeos, Jake works with his dad on the family’s ranch and switched to homeschooling this year through Western Christian Academy so he could have more flexibility to work and ride horses. A junior, he enjoys English and writing, then heads to the practice pen as soon as Cooper is home from school. Jake also likes to golf, and made an excursion to the golf course in Rock Springs, Wyoming, with his friends this summer during the NHSFR.
“Rodeo has a lot of opportunities. You can do it your whole life, and it opens up a lot of doors to bigger and better opportunities. What it’s always been about for me is being able to ride the best horses there,” says Jake. “I just want to keep going and rodeo as best as I can. I would sure like to win state again, but there’s a lot of good ropers out there. I’ve got to rope good to do that, and see how it all turns out.”
