Rodeo is really fun,” states nine-year-old Pecos Tatum. “The harder you practice and the more you do, the more it pays off!” The young cowboy from Llano, Texas, competes in the NLBRA and AJRA. He made the short round in three events in 2013 at the NLBFR. He won three world championships in the AJRA in 2014 in the 8 & Under calf riding, breakaway roping, and all-around cowboy, with a reserve championship in goat tying. Pecos also competes in ribbon roping, double mugging, tie-down roping, and steer riding now that he is older, but roping is where his true devotion lies. He will be back competing at the NLBRA next year in the junior boys. “This boy lives and breathes roping calves,” said Brett. “That’s what he works at every day. We’ve been up at 6 every morning to saddle and rope calves.”
Though an only child, Pecos enjoys the friendship of countless other rodeo kids, several of which live with the Tatums in the summer. “We were always going to have more kids, but as Pecos got older, it seemed like God was always placing at least one other kid in our lives,” says Brett. “We have a bunkhouse and RV hookups, and this summer we have a girl staying with us from Durango (Colo.). Her brother also stayed and rodeoed with us in the past.” The family is going to head back to Durango this summer to Durango Fiesta Days, and Pecos is entered in two junior rodeos that Keylie grew up with. It will be the first year in 8 years that they have been back to her roots.
Pecos never lacks for someone to rope with, whether it’s one of his family’s summer guests, or his parents. Pecos and his dad, Brett, rope in Ultimate Calf Roping Championships together, while mom, Keylie Tatum, was the WPRA World Champion Header in 2008. Up until he was four, Pecos and his parents travelled the U.S. doing equine dentistry while Brett rode bulls and worked as a rodeo judge. Brett lived on a ranch in Oregon until he was ten, and when the family moved to Arizona, he started riding steers in the Arizona Junior Rodeo Association. He continued roping and riding bulls, focusing on riding bulls for 13 years. He met Keylie at the NFR, and two years later they met again and started dating and married in May of 2003. They became partners in 2008 of Tres Rios and took over management three years ago. He and Keylie design and draw buckles all day, take orders, and manage the day -to-day operations.
Full story available in our August 15, 2015 issue. Available online!
