Flipping the calendar to December can mean a lot of different things depending who you are.  College football is wrapping, Christmas is ringing in and winter is settling in.  For a few fine folks, the first weeks of December are all about cheering on the very best cowboys and cowgirls at the National Finals Rodeo (NFR).  

The NFR, held annually at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas, features the fifteen top PRCA earners in the seven events- saddle bronc riding, bareback riding, steer wrestling, team roping, tie-down roping, barrel racing, and bull riding.  Beginning each year on the first Thursday of December, the event began December 5 and ended Saturday, December 14.

Day 1 of the rodeo didn’t disappoint with high scores, fast times, classy livestock and cool cowboys.  The night had three events ending in a tie including Amanda Welsh and Cheyenne Wimberley in the barrel racing with a time of 13.77, Chase Brooks and Zeke Thurston topping the leaderboard with 88.5 points in the saddle bronc and Dirk Tavenner and Riley Duvall, winning the steer wrestling with a 3.7 second time.

Some familiar faces made it to the top of the leaderboard on Day 2, beginning with Rocker Steiner  on Mustard to win with 88.5 points and has already banked more than $71,000 to move into the number two. position in the World Standings.

Day 3 of the NFR saw some good luck for the leading cowboys as Keenan Hayes in the bareback riding and Riley Webb in the tie down roping won the top spots of the night.  Barrel racing featured a faster time than either of the previous nights with a 13.51 by Lisa Lockhart.

The most exciting ride of the Day 4 rodeo was the last of the night.  Bull rider Ky Hamilton bested Sage Kimsey, the only other qualifying rider of the night, by 1 point to win $52,746 and put him past the $400,000 mark for the season.

The halfway mark of the NFR rodeo, Day 5, saw the fastest steer wrestling time so far as JD Struxness jumped to number two in the World Standings with a 3.3-second run.  Coleman Proctor and Logan Medlin posted an incredible time of 3.1 to lead the team roping until it was disqualified due to a crossfire.

Rodeo Day 6 saw Dirk Tavenner get his third round win in the steer wrestling while Ryder Wright got the round win in the saddle bronc for the second night in a row.  Stetson Wright secured the second place win in the saddle bronc followed by Spencer Wright in third place to round out the family domination for the night.

Day 7 proved to be a record breaking night as a record tied by three great cowboys was finally shattered.  Going first in the tie down roping, Haven Meged came out with an incredible 6.4-second run to break the arena record of 6.5 previously set by Shad Mayfield, Trevor Brazile and Cody Ohl.  Nearly as exciting was the only qualified bull ride of the night, performed by Ky Hamilton, earning 88 points on Prime Devil’s Advocate to win $99,053.

Winding down into the final rodeos, Day 8 proved to have some of the best ever times for a number of events.  In the team roping, Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp made the sixth ever 3.3-second run in ProRodeo history to match the NFR and World Record.  The barrel racing featured number one Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi running a 13.34-second run to break Amberleigh Moore’s freshly set round record of 13.37 seconds on the first run of the night. It only held for a few minutes as Kassie Mowry out did her with a time of 13.30 seconds to get the Go-Round win and keep the record for herself.

Day 9 saw a number of cowboys begin to separate themselves from the pack, making it a little easier to estimate who the upcoming winners might be.  Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi and Ky Hamilton have already locked in their World Titles with substantial enough leads that being overtaken would be impossible.  Winning for the second consecutive night, Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp nearly put themselves out reach to claim an early win in the team roping.  Saddle bronc rider Zeke Thurston claimed the win with an 88.5 point ride to end the tie with Sage Newman for the world standings number one spot.

The final night of the rodeo crowned the season’s winners, a number of them expected wins in contrast to others than were decided with Day 10 results.  Despite not winning a go round, bull rider Josh Frost clinched his second NFR Average title last night, outpacing the field as the only rider to land seven qualified rides.  

The NFR Average winner in the saddle bronc riding proved to be between two cowboys, Ryder Wright and Casper Wyatt.  Wright was forced to ride to perfection in a number of rounds to give him a chance at the average after missing his horse out on round two.  His dedication proved worthy of another title as he claimed the average on Day 10.

Champions crowned at the completion of the rodeo were Dean Thompson in the bareback riding, J.D. Struxness in the steer wrestling, Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp in the team roping, Ryder Wright in the saddle bronc riding, Riley Webb in the tie down roping, Kassie Mowry in barrel racing, and Josh Frost in the bull riding.  The All-around was awarded to Shad Mayfield, a win claimed by inching ahead in the earnings by only $676.

Nearly as quickly as it began, the 2024 NFR has ended in a spectacular fashion.  Each night demonstrated the finest rodeo competition both in the human and livestock contestants.  With the 10 days of pro rodeo over, December can now return to its usual programming of winter weather advisories, college bowl games and favorite Christmas classics.