An Afternoon with a Champ

I've known Stran Smith for a while as we used to be neighbors.  As such, I follow him closer than any other rodeo athlete and am proud to see him continue to be successful.

I am thankful to have worked with him on a number of occasions (see http://blog.russellgraves.com/2009/04/i-have-always-maintained-that-one-of.html, http://blog.russellgraves.com/2010/05/cowboy-town.html, and http://blog.russellgraves.com/2010/11/from-concept-to-ad.html

) and can say that he is genuinely a great person, family man, and rodeo competitor.

Tie down roping in an event that has so many moving parts (and so many things that can go wrong) it is amazing that someone can accomplish a feat where and man, his horse, and a rope act in unison to chase down, catch, and tie a calf in under ten seconds - and then do it over and over again.

Because of his prowess with a rope, Stran was the World Champion Tie-Down Roper in 2008 and was close to repeating this past year.

Here are a few from a recent get together.