story by Lily Landreth
Muldrow, Oklahoma, native Tybo Watson has been competing in the NLBRA since he was 5, and last season he experienced the thrill of winning his first world title. The 15-year-old went into the NLBFR sitting high in the flag racing standings, and winning the first round and placing third in the second round assured him a place in the short round. “I was running 6.7s the whole time and stayed pretty consistent,” says Tybo. “A bunch of my friends that went did really well too. I’m just glad God gave me a chance to win it.”
With the 2019 NLBRA Junior Boy World Flag Racing Champion title under his belt, Tybo has moved up to the senior boys division and is holding his own with the competition. He competes in the Red River Little Britches and won their year-end all-around in the junior boys in 2018 and 2019. He’s in the running to win it again this season, this time in the senior boys. “It’s really just the love for it that keeps me going,” says Tybo. “I was never good at any other sport but rodeo, and that’s all I’ve grown up knowing is rodeo and playing cowboy.” At the NLBFR, Tybo additionally competed in team roping with Dalton Carter and ribbon roping with Bailey Milligan. He also breakaway ropes. “I like them all the same because I get to do what I love—rodeo and ride my horses.” Tybo loves traveling with his family to rodeos, including his grandpa Donald Rowland. Visiting with friends around the trailer while they enjoy his mom’s cooking is a highlight of their travels.
Tybo’s dad, Rodney, competed in the USTRC for many years, traveling with Tybo’s mom, Joanna. They turned their truck towards Little Britches rodeos as soon as Tybo was old enough, and his 11-year-old sister, Kasha, also competes in the NLBRA. They also have a 5-year-old sister, Abby. Kasha does pole bending, goat tying, and barrel racing, and she’s just started breakaway roping. “Our friend Bill Warner has really helped me learn how to calf rope, since all my family knows is team roping,” says Tybo. “My mom videos runs and lets us watch them, and my dad, if we’re not team roping together, runs chutes for me. I’ll run the chute for him and my Uncle Darrell.”
Tybo’s 16-hand bay roan, Smoke, carried him to his NLBRA world title, while Smoke’s height makes it easy to check cattle in the tall grass. Tybo also rides his buckskin, Buck, in the tie-down and breakaway roping, while he team ropes off of his dad’s gray mare, Punk. “My dad was team roping off of Smoke since he was a baby and I taught him to run flags. One of our good friends helped me train my breakaway horse, but I’ve done most of the work on him,” says Tybo. He also enjoys looking after their five head of roping steers and their other horses, as well as helping his friends in western Oklahoma with their cattle operation.
A freshman, Tybo does online school through Epic Charter School based out of Oklahoma City. He started homeschooling in eighth grade and loves the flexibility it gives him to keep up with the horses and his family’s ranch. “I enjoy history, math, and science. I prefer agriscience because I’m really good at agriculture and that’s what I’m pursuing. I want to be an agricultural inspector,” explains Tybo. “I want to rodeo through high school rodeo and maybe win the high school finals or another world championship, and just keep going from there.”
