Written by: Lily Landreth

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It’s been five years since Jet McCoy last competed in the International Finals Rodeo. During that period, the five-time IPRA World Champion and his wife, Ashlee, have been raising their daughter, and managing their ranch in Ada, Okla. Jet has also appeared three times on The Amazing Race with his brother Cord. After his hiatus from the regular rodeo circuit, the 35 year old is returning for the thirteenth time to the IFR in the saddle bronc riding, thanks in part to Ashlee, who will be one of the breakaway competitors to watch at the finals. She took up the event in 2013, and the combination of her team roping background, and the hours spent in the practice pen with Jet’s coaching, have put her in the top 20 of the breakaway roping.

Ashlee’s newfound passion for breakaway made Jet realize how much he missed riding roughstock, having only done the occasional ranch rodeo since 2009. Sitting in the bleachers didn’t suit him, and in the spring of 2014, he was back in the bucking chutes with the saddle broncs. Jet rode all three roughstock events through high school and college, qualifying for the NHSFR, and later, the CNFR four years in a row on the Southwestern Oklahoma State University rodeo team. He also qualified for the IFR in all three events, and placed second in the saddle bronc riding at the DNCFR in 2004. “I can remember playing with my older brother when we were little, and him showing me how to put a saddle on by strapping it to a bale of hay,” Jet recalls. “I went to my first rodeo when I was five, and I can’t ever remember not rodeoing.” Jet, his sister, and their three brothers, all competed in rodeo growing up, while their dad rode bulls and bareback horses professionally.

Similarly, Ashlee, 30, grew up with a rope either in her hand or coiled and at the ready. Her dad taught her to team rope, and they entered jackpots and USTRC ropings as Ashlee grew up. It wasn’t until two years ago that she competed in a rodeo, however. “In 2013, I saw breakaway at a rodeo for the first time, and I just went for it. It’s been very challenging, but Jet has helped me a lot, and it’s been quite an experience!” Ashlee recently won the breakaway roping at the IPRA Southeast Region Finals in Gay, Ga. She is roping off a five-year-old Quarter Horse palomino named Bingo that she purchased in December of 2013. The gelding was originally a western reining horse that made the Non Pro futurity in Oklahoma City, but he transitioned into a solid mount in the breakaway that Ashlee says makes the same run every time.

 

Full story available in the January 2015 issue.