Race is on for Bareback Riders

Resistol Cowboys are in a Mad Dash for NFR Bids and Gold Buckles

With just days remaining in ProRodeo’s 2022 regular season, Resistol bareback riders Cole Reiner and Jesse Pope are in a race to see who will get the bonus for being the No. 1 man heading into the National Finals Rodeo.

Their battle has been ongoing the last couple of months, with each cowboy leapfrogging the other as the King of the Hill. Each week, they are separated by just a few hundred dollars, which is a tell-tale sign of greatness when considering the thousands of dollars available at big-money rodeos to close out the campaign.

Cole Reiner

“It’s pretty crazy that just three years ago I was hoping that one day I’d be making the NFR, and now it’s the only thing I do,” said Reiner, 23, of Buffalo, Wyoming. “Now, I’m in a pretty fun race with Jesse Pope and a couple of other guys that are right there.

“It makes it to where every week we’re trying to beat each other.”

It definitely makes it interesting to watch, but the big prize comes in three months at the conclusion of the NFR, home of the biggest rodeo on the planet with a purse of more than $10 million. It’s there that the world champions will be crowned and will wrap their hands around the Montana Silversmiths gold buckles.

“At the end of the regular season, these standings don’t matter, but it’s kind of fun to see where everyone’s at and give everyone a hard time,” Reiner said. “This year going into the National Finals Rodeo is going to be one of the most exciting races. I don’t remember when it was this close. Going in, it’s going to be 100 percent on the average, and Pope shines in the average."

“I’m just going to try to kick everybody’s ass.”

Jesse Pope

In a game of man-vs.-beast, a cowboy’s ability is only half of the equation. It takes a solid ride on a good horse to come up with big scores. Both Reiner and Pope have qualified for the last two NFRs and are Las Vegas bound in December. Pope is a two-time winner of the NFR average, having the best cumulative score at the end of the 10-day marathon.

“I’ve just got to show up every day and do my job,” said Pope, 23, of Waverly, Kansas. “You’re going to draw good, and you’re going to draw average. As long as I ride to the best of my ability and leave no doubt in the judges’ minds that I rode every horse that I get on the best I could, the cards are going to fall where they’re going to fall.

“I can’t control what anybody else is doing. I can only control what I can, and if it’s meant to be, then it’s meant to be.”

Pope and Reiner may be on the mountaintop looking down, but there are other Resistol bareback riders who want to knock them off the cliff. Clayton Biglow is closing in on his seventh straight NFR. The 26-year-old from Clements, California, is in the top 10 on the money list and holds a bit of history in his pockets: He is the 2019 world champion.

Leighton Berry has bounced back from a broken back suffered early in 2021. He returned to action in August of last year and still finished 23rd in the world standings. His promise was sidelined, but he proved his place again in 2022. He has earned more than $100,000 and is almost locked into his second NFR – he finished the 2020 season ninth in the final world standings after pocketing nearly $80,000 in 10 days.

“I think my 2022 season is a good representation of a roller coaster,” said Berry, 23, of Weatherford, Texas. “I’ve had a lot of ups and downs and a lot of successes, but I’ve also had a lot of dry spells. All along, though, I told myself I was going to keep to the plan.

“I started a roll right after I won Reno (Nevada) and Ponoka (Alberta), but rodeo pretty much humbled me the next week.”

That happens in rodeo, where there are many variables. One thing that’s been constant has been the relationship each cowboy has with Resistol.

“Resistol’s motto is ‘We live it every day,’ and I try to stay true to that because I get to be a cowboy,” Berry said. “To put on a Resistol is to keep reminding you to stay true to yourself and stay true to the cowboy code.”

 

Leighton Berry

Clayton Biglow

 

Of the four, Reiner (2020) and Biglow (’16) were winners of the Resistol Rookie of the Year Award, but each has a grand story to tell about why the hat-maker is important to them.

“You only have from the time you start rodeoing until you turn 18 to be the Resistol Rookie of the Year and making the NFR,” Reiner said. “It’s a bigger accomplishment than anybody understands. Only one guy a year wins that title. You have only one chance a year to be the Resistol Rookie of the Year.

“It boosts you straight to the top. It’s something you carry with you.”

Pope was hooked up with the company when he was still in high school, and now he’s excited to wear the special red patch that indicates a Resistol NFR qualifier.

“That company’s been great to a lot of people, and they’ve been great to me over the years,” Pope said. “I know that if I ever need anything, I can always call them. I’ve made some outstanding friends with Resistol it’s not just me texting my rep to ask if I can get some hats; it’s ‘Hey, how’s it going?’

“It’s more of a friendship and a family than it is a sponsorship.”

That’s why it’s the brand the champions want to wear.