Roping Pen interviews with team ropers, world champions and people who make it happen.

By Teri Fanning

After receiving several requests for interviews with the younger “up and coming” ropers I started looking for the world champions of tomorrow.

Travis Woodard, son of former world champion Walt Woodard, is on the road for his second year. We sat down after the George Strait Team Roping in March for this interview. Besides being handsome and articulate, Travis has a dry sense of humor which made this interview a lot of fun.

TF: Did you always know that you wanted to rope for a living?
TW: Well, kids always want to be like their dad. My dad wanted me to play golf. He bought me a set of clubs when I was little and we used to play all the time. At six years old I had never swung a rope.

TF: Did he discourage you from roping?
TW: It almost seems that way. From the time I was little he made it known that I didn’t have to rope. Then when I was about seven, some kids were making fun of me because Walt Woodard’s son couldn’t coil a rope.

I went to my Dad right then and said, “You have to teach me.” My Mom took me to the roping dummy and taught me how to coil a rope and start roping the dummy. When we got home Dad started me on the Buford.

I started out heading. We had some fresh steers and my dad aced a couple for me but he didn’t want to ace them all and ruin them. I would have to wait for those steers to come through so I could rope.

While Dad was gone to a school I figured out that if I heeled, they could head and stop them for me and give me time to get down the arena. That’s when I started heeling.

TF: What did your dad say when he came home?
TW: Good!

TF: From then on you continued roping?
TW: Then I practiced every day like I’d been doing it forever.

TF: If you weren’t roping, what do you think you’d be doing?
TW: I really don’t know how to do much else. I like music but can’t sing at all. Actually before the stock market got bad, economics interested me. I’d probably go to school for something in that field.

TF: Besides your dad, who are your heroes?
TW: I’ve looked up to a lot of people for different reasons. Clay Cooper for his discipline and how he always takes good shots. Rich Skelton is very disciplined. Those guys never do anything stupid.

I pick different things I like from different people. Brent Lockett makes awesome shots. I really like watching everyone.

TF: Who are your role models outside of the arena?
TW: Kory Koontz, Jory Levy. I look up to Kory Koontz a lot. It seems to me he always does the right thing and you never hear anything negative about him from the other cowboys. It’s like he always does the right thing, because it’s the right thing to do.

TF: How old were you when you came out and started roping full time?
TW: As soon as I turned eighteen.

TF: What advice did your dad give you at that time?
TW: He told me I had worked at this my whole life and to go do what I did at home. I practice with him every day and he and I both know what I’m capable of. Basically he told me to rope like I know I can, and I still haven’t done that yet. It’s harder advice than I thought it was at the time.

My dad made the finals sixteen times, Allen Bach and Tee Woolman have made them over twenty times. It bothers me when a guy makes the finals one time and people say he’s a one-hit wonder. They don’t realize how hard it is to make the finals even one time, let alone those guys that make it year after year.

They have no way of knowing what it’s like to be gone on the road all the time, away from your family and friends, and then not make the finals on top of that. Guys like Allen Bach who are raising their family rodeoing and still making the NFR just amaze me.

TF: You think people don’t realize what it takes to make the finals.
TW: No, they don’t and some people tend to be critical of guys that haven’t made it. A lot of times you’ll hear, “Well if he had enough money, he’d make the NFR,” and I don’t agree with that. Maybe in a few cases, but it’s harder than that.

Then some guys are going to make them without any money behind them. Jory Levy went rodeoing with $2,500 and made the finals. So it can be done.

TF: What surprised you the most about being “out there” rodeoing full time?
TW: Probably the variety of situations you face. You can’t have just one game plan for the whole year because there are too many different situations. In California you have a left wall everywhere; in the winter there’s the little buildings. Then you have goofy stuff like Salinas and Pendleton. Every place is different and you have to adapt.

Also the steers vary a lot. Anywhere from fresh to old, runners to draggers and so on. I had gone with my dad so I kind of knew how it was.

TF: What’s the hardest part of what you do?
TW: Winning. Keeping a good attitude can be hard because it’s easy to get down on yourself.

TF: How do you keep from getting down on yourself?
TW: I’m still working on that. You have to keep from thinking those bad things about yourself. I used to be the first person to get down on myself, but I’m getting better.

The hardest thing to deal with is when I do stupid things, like track too far when I shouldn’t, throw fast when I shouldn’t. It’s hard knowing what to do and when to do it.

I’m looking forward this year to going to an arena that I’ve been to before. Last year, every arena I went was new and I never knew what the steers would be like or what it was going to take to make the short round.
Daniel Green is my cousin and I followed him around a lot asking questions.

TF: What’s the most fun part of what you do?
TW: Roping competitively every day. When you’re home you look forward to going to a roping every couple of weeks or whatever. Out here there’s pressure every day and I like feeling pressure. I like having to catch and having to win.

TF: What is your immediate goal?
TW: To make the national finals.

TF: What about long term goal?
TW: To win a world championship and more.

TF: If you won a world championship in the next five years, would you quit?
TW: No, I’ll never quit. I hope I’m fortunate enough to rope well for as long as Allen Bach and guys like that have.

TF: You don’t see yourself getting “burned out” down the road?
TW: No, but I’m young now. Everyone tells me to give it time and I’ll get tired of it. And I might, but right now I’m focused and don’t have a wife or kids so I’m content. It’s fun and I’m fortunate to rope with my best friend, Mikey Fletcher, and we never get sick of each other.

TF: What do you do for fun?
TW: I like to play golf, but don’t get many opportunities. Mikey and I play video games a lot. We have all the sports games. When we have down time we’ll play Madden and it gets pretty competitive. It really hurts your soul when you can’t win at video games.

We have a game where we each have a player and mine was called “Hehateme.” My dad had flown in and Mikey and I were having a very serious conversation about if I made ‘Hehateme’ a free safety, whether or not could I stop the long pass. My dad shook his head and told us to get a hobby. So we quit playing for a while.

TF: How much was horsemanship stressed while you were growing up?
TW: A lot, but that’s my biggest weakness from lack of self-discipline. When I was younger I’d jerk on one when I shouldn’t and stuff like that. I put a lot more emphasis on it now but I realize I’m still not that good at it.

Cory Cushing, a good friend of mine, trains reining horses and when I go stay with him I’m always amazed. It makes me realize how little I know. Horsemanship is definitely my biggest weakness.

TF: Do you have a steady girlfriend?
TW: I did, but we broke up a couple of months ago.

TF: Was rodeoing hard on your relationship?
TW: I think that’s why we broke up. She’s going to school to be a vet and needs to there all the time. I didn’t understand and would try to talk her into flying out and hanging out for a few days. But she’s responsible and just couldn’t.

With my lifestyle, the only concerns I have are making sure my horses are taken care of, the rig and my roping. So as long as those things are taken care of I’m pretty free.

Mikey’s girlfriend is Janae Ward and she and I are also pretty good friends so that works out well. She won’t let us haul her barrel horses, so we caravan. Mikey will ride with her for a while and we’ll switch up. One thing we like about traveling with Nae is that she brings a lot of shavings.

TF: What have you won that you’re most proud of?
TW: The #11 Shoot Out at the USTRC finals. That’s the biggest thing I’ve ever won. I really haven’t won much at all. Winning a round at the Feist was pretty cool, but then Wade Wheatly won three of them one year, so…

This is my second year and I have a lot to learn. But I’m getting impatient and I hate to lose at anything. I can hardly play Monopoly with my family at home. We used to have big games when my buddies would come over. I’d get mad, my dad would get mad and nobody would speak to each other after the game.

Chris and Daniel, Ricky, (Green) me, and my dad – we’re all competitive. And just for the record, I can’t beat Daniel Green at one single thing. Nothing. I’ve never played him at anything that I could beat him at.

TF: You seem to have a lot of respect for Daniel.
TW: When I was little Chris and Daniel were rodeoing they were “it” to me. I looked up to them and wanted to be with them.

When I got a little older and could rope both feet a little,
Daniel would have me come over and heel when he was practicing for the finals. The last couple of years we’ve had good practices because I roped well enough to push up there and try and throw fast.

Daniel always calls me and tells me the set up at a rodeo and what I need to do. I don’t know how he knows, I guess experience, but he’ll say, “Just catch here and you’ll win something.”

He’s always taken me under his wing and been a major help to me.

TF: What is the biggest difference between when your dad was going and now?
TW: Definitely the sponsors. The sponsors today make rodeoing possible and so much better for the cowboys.

When my dad started rodeoing he had a two-horse trailer and a truck and he slept underneath his trailer. He had a portable solar shower and that’s how he showered. That can’t be healthy. I’m really happy I don’t realize what that’s like – I don’t want to know.

TF: How would it be different for you without sponsors?
TW: Oh, without my sponsors I would have been home a long time ago. Last year I won $16,000 and that wouldn’t have been enough to make it through the winter. The sponsors keep me going. Roping every day takes lot of ropes. Having access to a nice truck and trailer where we can travel comfortably is priceless.

There’s a TV in my truck and I don’t want to have to give that up, let alone sleep underneath my trailer. Sponsors make all the difference for us and I’m really grateful to mine for the opportunities they give me.

(Travis' sponsors include: Classic Equine, Rattler Ropes, Sundowner Trailers, and Switchback Ranch in Cody, Wyoming and Roscoe, Montana).


By Teri Fanning After receiving several requests for interviews with the younger “up and coming” ropers I started looking for the world champions of tomorrow. Travis Woodard, son of former world champion Walt Woodard, is on the road for his second year. We sat down after the George Strait Team Roping in March for this interview. Besides being handsome and articulate, Travis has a dry sense of humor which made this interview a lot of fun. TF: Did you always know that you wanted to rope for a living? TW: Well, kids always want to be like their dad. My dad wanted me to play golf. He bought me a set of clubs when I was little and we used to play all the time. At six years old I had never swung a rope. TF: Did he discourage you from roping? TW: It almost seems that way. From the time I was little he made it known that I didn’t have to rope. Then when I was about seven, some kids were making fun of me because Walt Woodard’s son couldn’t coil a rope. I went to my Dad right then and said, “You have to teach me.” My Mom took me to the roping dummy and taught me how to coil a rope and start roping the dummy. When we got home Dad started me on the Buford. I started out heading. We had some fresh steers and my dad aced a couple for me but he didn’t want to ace them all and ruin them. I would have to wait for those steers to come through so I could rope. While Dad was gone to a school I figured out that if I heeled, they could head and stop them for me and give me time to get down the arena. That’s when I started heeling. TF: What did your dad say when he came home? TW: Good! TF: From then on you continued roping? TW: Then I practiced every day like I’d been doing it forever. TF: If you weren’t roping, what do you think you’d be doing? TW: I really don’t know how to do much else. I like music but can’t sing at all. Actually before the stock market got bad, economics interested me. I’d probably go to school for something in that field. TF: Besides your dad, who are your heroes? TW: I’ve looked up to a lot of people for different reasons. Clay Cooper for his discipline and how he always takes good shots. Rich Skelton is very disciplined. Those guys never do anything stupid. I pick different things I like from different people. Brent Lockett makes awesome shots. I really like watching everyone. TF: Who are your role models outside of the arena? TW: Kory Koontz, Jory Levy. I look up to Kory Koontz a lot. It seems to me he always does the right thing and you never hear anything negative about him from the other cowboys. It’s like he always does the right thing, because it’s the right thing to do. TF: How old were you when you came out and started roping full time? TW: As soon as I turned eighteen. TF: What advice did your dad give you at that time? TW: He told me I had worked at this my whole life and to go do what I did at home. I practice with him every day and he and I both know what I’m capable of. Basically he told me to rope like I know I can, and I still haven’t done that yet. It’s harder advice than I thought it was at the time. My dad made the finals sixteen times, Allen Bach and Tee Woolman have made them over twenty times. It bothers me when a guy makes the finals one time and people say he’s a one-hit wonder. They don’t realize how hard it is to make the finals even one time, let alone those guys that make it year after year. They have no way of knowing what it’s like to be gone on the road all the time, away from your family and friends, and then not make the finals on top of that. Guys like Allen Bach who are raising their family rodeoing and still making the NFR just amaze me. TF: You think people don’t realize what it takes to make the finals. TW: No, they don’t and some people tend to be critical of guys that haven’t made it. A lot of times you’ll hear, “Well if he had enough money, he’d make the NFR,” and I don’t agree with that. Maybe in a few cases, but it’s harder than that. Then some guys are going to make them without any money behind them. Jory Levy went rodeoing with $2,500 and made the finals. So it can be done. TF: What surprised you the most about being “out there” rodeoing full time? TW: Probably the variety of situations you face. You can’t have just one game plan for the whole year because there are too many different situations. In California you have a left wall everywhere; in the winter there’s the little buildings. Then you have goofy stuff like Salinas and Pendleton. Every place is different and you have to adapt. Also the steers vary a lot. Anywhere from fresh to old, runners to draggers and so on. I had gone with my dad so I kind of knew how it was. TF: What’s the hardest part of what you do? TW: Winning. Keeping a good attitude can be hard because it’s easy to get down on yourself. TF: How do you keep from getting down on yourself? TW: I’m still working on that. You have to keep from thinking those bad things about yourself. I used to be the first person to get down on myself, but I’m getting better. The hardest thing to deal with is when I do stupid things, like track too far when I shouldn’t, throw fast when I shouldn’t. It’s hard knowing what to do and when to do it. I’m looking forward this year to going to an arena that I’ve been to before. Last year, every arena I went was new and I never knew what the steers would be like or what it was going to take to make the short round. Daniel Green is my cousin and I followed him around a lot asking questions. TF: What’s the most fun part of what you do? TW: Roping competitively every day. When you’re home you look forward to going to a roping every couple of weeks or whatever. Out here there’s pressure every day and I like feeling pressure. I like having to catch and having to win. TF: What is your immediate goal? TW: To make the national finals. TF: What about long term goal? TW: To win a world championship and more. TF: If you won a world championship in the next five years, would you quit? TW: No, I’ll never quit. I hope I’m fortunate enough to rope well for as long as Allen Bach and guys like that have. TF: You don’t see yourself getting “burned out” down the road? TW: No, but I’m young now. Everyone tells me to give it time and I’ll get tired of it. And I might, but right now I’m focused and don’t have a wife or kids so I’m content. It’s fun and I’m fortunate to rope with my best friend, Mikey Fletcher, and we never get sick of each other. TF: What do you do for fun? TW: I like to play golf, but don’t get many opportunities. Mikey and I play video games a lot. We have all the sports games. When we have down time we’ll play Madden and it gets pretty competitive. It really hurts your soul when you can’t win at video games. We have a game where we each have a player and mine was called “Hehateme.” My dad had flown in and Mikey and I were having a very serious conversation about if I made ‘Hehateme’ a free safety, whether or not could I stop the long pass. My dad shook his head and told us to get a hobby. So we quit playing for a while. TF: How much was horsemanship stressed while you were growing up? TW: A lot, but that’s my biggest weakness from lack of self-discipline. When I was younger I’d jerk on one when I shouldn’t and stuff like that. I put a lot more emphasis on it now but I realize I’m still not that good at it. Cory Cushing, a good friend of mine, trains reining horses and when I go stay with him I’m always amazed. It makes me realize how little I know. Horsemanship is definitely my biggest weakness. TF: Do you have a steady girlfriend? TW: I did, but we broke up a couple of months ago. TF: Was rodeoing hard on your relationship? TW: I think that’s why we broke up. She’s going to school to be a vet and needs to there all the time. I didn’t understand and would try to talk her into flying out and hanging out for a few days. But she’s responsible and just couldn’t. With my lifestyle, the only concerns I have are making sure my horses are taken care of, the rig and my roping. So as long as those things are taken care of I’m pretty free. Mikey’s girlfriend is Janae Ward and she and I are also pretty good friends so that works out well. She won’t let us haul her barrel horses, so we caravan. Mikey will ride with her for a while and we’ll switch up. One thing we like about traveling with Nae is that she brings a lot of shavings. TF: What have you won that you’re most proud of? TW: The #11 Shoot Out at the USTRC finals. That’s the biggest thing I’ve ever won. I really haven’t won much at all. Winning a round at the Feist was pretty cool, but then Wade Wheatly won three of them one year, so… This is my second year and I have a lot to learn. But I’m getting impatient and I hate to lose at anything. I can hardly play Monopoly with my family at home. We used to have big games when my buddies would come over. I’d get mad, my dad would get mad and nobody would speak to each other after the game. Chris and Daniel, Ricky, (Green) me, and my dad – we’re all competitive. And just for the record, I can’t beat Daniel Green at one single thing. Nothing. I’ve never played him at anything that I could beat him at. TF: You seem to have a lot of respect for Daniel. TW: When I was little Chris and Daniel were rodeoing they were “it” to me. I looked up to them and wanted to be with them. When I got a little older and could rope both feet a little, Daniel would have me come over and heel when he was practicing for the finals. The last couple of years we’ve had good practices because I roped well enough to push up there and try and throw fast. Daniel always calls me and tells me the set up at a rodeo and what I need to do. I don’t know how he knows, I guess experience, but he’ll say, “Just catch here and you’ll win something.” He’s always taken me under his wing and been a major help to me. TF: What is the biggest difference between when your dad was going and now? TW: Definitely the sponsors. The sponsors today make rodeoing possible and so much better for the cowboys. When my dad started rodeoing he had a two-horse trailer and a truck and he slept underneath his trailer. He had a portable solar shower and that’s how he showered. That can’t be healthy. I’m really happy I don’t realize what that’s like – I don’t want to know. TF: How would it be different for you without sponsors? TW: Oh, without my sponsors I would have been home a long time ago. Last year I won $16,000 and that wouldn’t have been enough to make it through the winter. The sponsors keep me going. Roping every day takes lot of ropes. Having access to a nice truck and trailer where we can travel comfortably is priceless. There’s a TV in my truck and I don’t want to have to give that up, let alone sleep underneath my trailer. Sponsors make all the difference for us and I’m really grateful to mine for the opportunities they give me. (Travis' sponsors include: Classic Equine, Rattler Ropes, Sundowner Trailers, and Switchback Ranch in Cody, Wyoming and Roscoe, Montana).
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