Timber Moore

“My drive is to prove to myself that I still rope good enough to make the NFR and compete with the best in my event,” says Timber Moore. “It is more of a job, but I think there’s probably a lot worse jobs in life than traveling around with family and friends!” Timber, 32, comes from Aubrey, Texas, and the 6-time WNFR qualifier is no stranger to the arena of the Thomas & Mack Center. He’s competed at the finals consecutively the last five years and finished tenth in the world standings last season.
Born into a rich heritage that included rodeo athletes and outdoorsmen, Timber’s parents, Gordie and Dianne Moore, roped and ran barrels, and Timber’s grandfather William Holloway was a stock contractor. Many of Timber’s family roots on his dad’s side lead back to Canada, where Gordie worked as a bush pilot and hunting guide, but rodeo was the tradition that Timber chose to continue. He grew up with a rope in hand and started out team roping, later adding tie-down in high school. He competed in both events through his college rodeo career with Tarleton State University in Weatherford, Texas, and when he turned pro in 2007, Timber decided to pool his resources and enter solely in the tie-down roping. “I love everything about it. It’s one of those sports that takes an athlete. There’s lot of hand-eye coordination, timing, and horsemanship. Without a good horse, you don’t have much of a shot of winning at all. The horse has to do so much on their own, and there’s a lot going on in making a good run.”
Timber found his horses felt their best using 5 Star Equine’s saddle pads, which he learned about four years ago from a 5 Star Equine Products representative that lived nearby. “Their pads are unbelievable. I’m pretty sure I’m riding the same pad on my horse since I started with them four years ago,” says Timber. “They’re super durable and made with the best quality of wool—they’re just outstanding.” The past few years, Timber has signed autographs at 5 Star’s booth during Cowboy Christmas and the WNFR, while his social media posts are sure to have a shout-out to his favorite saddle pad company.
Colonel, Timber’s rope horse, has been one of the top three finalists of the AQHA/PRCA Tie-Down Roping Horse of the Year the past three years. Timber bought the 13-year-old sorrel gelding in 2012, the same year Timber was recovering from knee surgery. “I’ve pretty much ridden him ever since. I don’t have any others that I would actually take and feel confident about riding. Buying horses that I can take and have a chance to win money on is the best way for me to do it.”
Colonel travels in the bumper-pull trailer Timber tows behind his bus, which makes it easy for his wife, Valerie, and their 6-year-old daughter, Vaughn, to join him on the road. Tie-down roper Tyler Milligan is also traveling with Timber this season. “We’ve been to Disneyland and Disney World, and we stop and do some things to break it up so we’re not always driving. Vaughn is more into soccer and gymnastics and things like that.” Timber and Valerie met through their siblings, who went to high school together, and they were married in 2007. When they’re home in Aubrey, the husband and wife often work with Valerie’s parents, who run several businesses, including baling hay and selling flatbed and horse trailers.
Timber and his family and friends have also put on the Gordie Moore Bubblegum Roping the past ten years to honor his dad, who passed away when Timber was 19. In the past, it’s taken place in early May, but since the location it’s normally held at is closing down, Timber hopes to hold the memorial roping this fall instead. Gordie was one of Timber’s greatest supporters in his rodeo career, and he also looks up to Raymond Hollabaugh, a 7-time WNFR qualifier and a Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame inductee. “I stayed with him a lot when I was in high school, and he taught me a lot about roping and rodeo,” says Timber. “We stay in touch and talk all the time.”
While Timber has competed extensively in Canada in the past, he rodeos primarily in the U.S. now, though the Calgary Stampede is a much-anticipated rodeo in the Moore household. “The Fourth of July is over and you’ve been driving a couple weeks on end, but in Calgary you get to sit still and be there for a week. It’s super neat to go up there and see all your friends,” explains Timber, whose main goal is a seventh qualification to the WNFR this December. “I like the summer in general because you get to rope and run a calf just about every day. You can get on a roll and have some good timing, and have things start going your way.”