Cody Taton feels the disappointment of a day and a dollar wasted.
He has just been lifted up and down and up by an unforgiving horse named Dumbbell and eventually down again, bucked off after just a few seconds and a handful of kicks.
Taton takes his black hat and his gold floral shirt and his purple and gold chaps off the La Fiesta de los Vaqueros dirt, gives it a little kick himself, tears some tape off his hand and tosses it, swallows hard, bucks up, and climbs the chutes once more.
There’s not much crying in rodeo, no time to stew when there’s money there for the taking, not when his brother-in-law is about to ride.
When Taos Muncy takes his turn, Taton is right there, pulling on the ropes, getting him comfortable, ready to help him win some gas money.
Taton married the two-time National Finals Rodeo champion Muncy’s sister, Jordan — a two-time College National Finals Rodeo champion barrel racer — in 2009. Taton is a national champion, too: He won the NFR saddle bronc average title in 2008.
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“It’s not hard to put it away; that’s what these guys do, you help each other out,” Taton said. “It ain’t just a one-guy deal. I always try to get back and help my buddies. This is one of the few sports you’re really cheering that everybody does well.”
Added Muncy: “It’s just a big, close family. There’s not a bronc rider out here I wouldn’t do anything for. Maybe vice versa. Some of them might have an issue with me, but I dang sure would help out anyone here I can.”
In rodeo, the opponent isn’t the guy in the next chute — or in Taton and Muncy’s case, in the same family tree — but the horse and even the judges. Mostly yourself.
The pair just finished an 800-plus-mile drive from San Antonio along with travel partners Tyrel Larsen and Isaac Diaz — who would go on to post the best saddle bronc score of the day with an 85 atop Son of Sadie — and they were set to head to Buckeye for a rodeo on Friday.
As Taton failed to qualify for Sunday’s Tucson Rodeo finals, the plan was for him to join his wife for the drive out to San Angelo, Texas, as she’s competing on Saturday night. Then it’s back on the road to Tucson for Sunday’s finals, so Jordan can run for the jackpot — she posted a 17.92-second ride in the first round — and so Cody can rejoin the crew.
“I grew up in bronc riding country and heard guys talk about it, but I guess you don’t really realize it until you get out there on the road just how many tired, sleepless nights come along with it,” Cody said. “If it’s 24 hours away, and we’ve got 25 to get there, I’ll enter it. I’ve had cops call me crazy, that I’ve gotta slow down.”
The road’s a little tougher for Jordan.
Most of the time, she rides solo, with just her horse as company, requiring extra stops. Also the head men’s and women’s rodeo coach at New Mexico Highlands University, she’s relatively new to the professional circuit, just a couple years in, every year a little more success, every year a few more events.
She got her start on the family ranch just like her brother, and their competitive juices flowed.
“Every morning was a race to the cereal,” she said.
The progeny of ranchers and rodeoers, Taos didn’t think Jordan would marry a cowboy; initially, he didn’t think Cody would be her type. She wasn’t sure if she’d end up with one, either.
“You think of them as manly, tough guys, but they soften up pretty quick,” Jordan said. “They’re softies. Even Taos has got a little girl now, and he’s a total softy.”
Cody showed Jordan his tender side in a hurry, after pining for her for a while. Early in their friendship, Cody told Taos he was going to marry Jordan.
“And I said, ‘Yeah, right,’” Jordan said. “It just happened I guess — he kept coming around. Everybody approved, so that was good.”
Yes, even brother Taos.
“I should’ve never let him come in the house,” Muncy said, with a laugh.
“Nah, he’s a good guy. We have a lot of fun traveling together. I trust him. Heck, he probably has to watch after me. He’s the baby sitter.”
