Tie-down roping may appear to be an individual sport, but world champion Riley Webb says when he gets in the arena, he trusts his partner — a sorrel gelding named Rudy — with his life.
At 22 years old, Webb has already earned at least $1.4 million over the course of his career and is a three-time PRCA world champion. He says he couldn’t have done it without Rudy, who won Horse of the Year last year.
“It’s pretty huge to have him on my team,” Webb says. “Probably over 75 percent of what I do in calf roping depends on him. He’s been a huge part of my success. He knows what we have to do to win. You’ve got to have a partnership. I’m roping the calf, then getting off and leaving him by himself to work and help me keep the calf down and get a fast time. I’ve got to trust him, and he’s got to trust me.”
Rudy is 13 years old and a horse’s peak ability depends on how well the owner takes care of him, Webb says, noting that he takes a second-string backup horse to small rodeos to “keep the miles down on Rudy.”
Webb bought Rudy from another tie-down roper, Lane Livingston, in 2022 after years of trying to get the horse he says he knew would change his career.
At Saturday’s Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, Webb split the win with fellow tie-down ropers Macon Murphy, Ace Reece and Bo Pickett in the Super Series, each pocketing at least $3,500. The group advances to the semifinals to compete with each other and winners from four other Super Series contests for $65,000 on March 21.
Despite the fact that Webb is already a relatively wealthy young man and the best in the world at tie-down roping, he exudes humble cowboy charm. He removes his hat when he greets a woman and answers questions softly, “Yes ma’am,” without a hint of arrogance, even though he has a good chance of taking home another belt buckle and prize purse when the rodeo wraps up later this month.
Murphy, who also removes his hat when greeting a woman, explained that his “mama and daddy” taught him to do so. “You get whooped as a kid if you don’t,” he says. Both men also draw on their Christian faith, offering glory to God when they take home a big prize.
“What drives you?” Webb wrote on his Instagram page earlier this month. “Not the crowd. Not the buckle. The calling to give your very best for the One who gave you the ability.”
Webb was raised in Denton, and roped his first calf when he was 5 years old. His parents held junior roping events, where he met breakaway roper Josie Conner when he was 10. Webb proposed in January and the couple is planning to marry in early 2027.
“We get to practice together,” Webb says. “We’ve got the same goals in our different events. We keep each other accountable and keep pushing each other to be better every day.”
The life of a cowboy can be hard on a relationship, Murphy married his wife Katie, owner of an equine rehab company, in November. He brought her to Houston for the Super Series, offering to treat her to Rascal Flatts and Dwight Yoakam concerts in exchange for being on the road 200 nights of the year.
“It’s nonstop,” says Murphy, 26. “I live it every day. I’ll go from Houston to home and rest and practice for a couple of days, then I’ve got three rodeos in Florida and on the way back home I’ll go to Montgomery, Alabama, then come back here for the semifinals.”
Murphy, who hails from Keachi, Louisiana (population 300), also has a strong bond with his horse, Julian. “Tie-down roping is what my dad, my grandpa and my uncle did,” he says. “In team roping you gotta rely on another guy, and I’m kind of self-reliant, I guess. The partnership with the horse is huge to me. The horse is, at minimum, 75 percent of the run. If you don’t have a good horse, you’re up crap creek without a paddle. He’s taken me far. I’ve won everything on this horse.”
Both ropers agree that RodeoHouston is the best of the season with the biggest payout and the best contestants. “The competition is always stacked and that pushes me to be better,” Webb says.
Murphy says his favorite place to be, aside from the National Finals Rodeo in Vegas, is Houston. “The hospitality, the atmosphere,” he says. “This is my fifth or sixth time being here. Every time, you just get chills on your neck riding in.”
The likelihood of getting hurt in calf roping is low other than an occasional rolled ankle, Webb and Murphy agreed, and they’re more concerned about ensuring that their horses are healthy. A few years ago, Julian missed dozens of rodeos with a broken bone in his left hind leg and wasn’t expected to “get back on the end of a rope again.” Murphy’s wife rehabbed Julian and he returned to the arena for the 2024 season.
“He never does anything wrong,” Murphy told CalfRoping.com. “He scores, runs, stops and pulls every single time.”
The life of a rodeo man is a grind, with little sleep, constant travel and a paycheck dependent on how well one performs. But it would be difficult to find a competitor at RodeoHouston who would trade it for a desk job.
“I grew up in it, I love to do it, and that’s how I make a living,” Webb says.