Vin Fisher Riding High With His Top Horse Healthy Again
Courtesy of the PRCA
Back around the turn of the century, Jeep vehicles were marketed under the slogan Jeep: There’s Only One, and steer roper Vin Fisher Jr., wouldn’t have a problem sticking one of those vintage decals on the side of his trailer in tribute to his one-and- only Jeep.
That would be his primary competition horse, 11- year-old Jeep, who three days after being cleared from medical leave played a major role in getting Fisher to the winner’s circle at the San Angelo Rodeo on Feb. 11.
Fisher and Jeep combined to win the second round and the three-head average in 39.7 seconds, nearly four seconds quicker than runner-up Brent Lewis. Fisher’s total earnings of $4,685 will lift him from a tie for 15th
in the steer roping world standings to third when they are next updated at the conclusion of the San Angelo Rodeo.
“It gives you so much more confidence to have your No. 1 horse back,” Fisher said. “He came up crippled around New Year’s and he was sore for six weeks. I’ve been taking him to the vets for injections and resting him to make sure he was absolutely sound.
“Last Wednesday (Feb. 8) I got the word he was OK to start working again. I figured San Angelo would be good exercise for him, right? I rode him three days before the rodeo and each day he got a little bit better. I felt like he was ready to go and he was great in all three rounds.”
When you are roping steers from a pen large enough to accommodate 96 steer ropers as they did in San Angelo, you know you are bound to encounter at least one that is going to be especially challenging to rope and tie.
That’s where having a horse you know and trust completely really comes into play, “when you have to cowboy up and tie one,” Fisher said.
The win – Fisher’s first at San Angelo – was perfectly timed from his point of view.
Cowboy Sports News Page 58 - March 2012
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It came a month after a frustrating finish at the Odessa, Texas, rodeo when he saw a chance to win the average disappear with a final-round miss, and two weeks before the big-money San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo.
“A year ago, Trevor (Brazile) and I were about $100 apart when we entered San Antonio, and when we left he was about $25,000 ahead of me. It
was definitely a game changer. San Antonio has so much money now that it kind of sets the tone for the season.
“You have two steers guaranteed and then the top 18 guys advance to the final. My approach last year and again this year is that those two steers at San Antonio are the two most important of the year.”
Fisher is very grateful to the San Angelo Rodeo for committing to having such a great steer roping competition each year. It has a strong purse ($38,600 for this year’s one-day event), what Fisher described as “perfect conditions in Spur Arena,” and it is the middle leg of a Texas steer roping mini-circuit that all the ropers have come to rely upon.
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