NEW VENUE. NEW ARTIST.

Annually, the Bob Feist Invitational commissions a painting that is later auctioned for charity and from which prints are made and sold. This year, the commemorative painting was done by Steve Miller, who’s been with Montana Silversmiths for 27 years, most recently working as Brand Ambassador and Planning Consultant when he’s not making art. “A lot of people don’t know me as an artist, just as the Montana guy who gives out the buckles,” said Miller, who also sculpted the bronze trophies given to each year’s Head Horse and Heel Horse of the BFI and of the Wrangler Patriot 11.5. ...Read More

Big Moves Happening at the Lazy E for numbered ropers!

This is your invitation to enter the 2020 edition of the 11.5 started by Perry Di Loreto all those years ago. While there have been some modifications to the roping, we still value the principals that Perry started this roping on—produce a fair and good paying roping, while giving back to the community. Some exciting news for the 2020 roping—it is moving to an 85% payback! The roping format will remain the same being a four-steer, with a three-steer consolation round, progressive on three, and will be limited to 150 teams at $2,000 a roper. While many 11.5 ropings cap ...Read More

Lazy E, Here We Come!

Wrangler BFI Week moves to Lazy E Arena The cluster of team ropings with a collective $1.7 million payout goes, for 2020, back to the birthplace of team roping’s first six-figure paycheck. PHOENIX, Arizona, May 20, 2020 – In just four weeks, Wrangler BFI Week will land temporarily in one of team roping’s most iconic arenas. “The coronavirus has closed a lot of doors and changed a lot of people’s lives forever,” said Dan Wall, general manager of the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, Oklahoma – the nation’s largest indoor venue devoted exclusively to Western events. “Sometimes a door closes on ...Read More

Tenative 2020 schedule of Events

The BFI will go in 2020

THE SHOW WILL GO ON! The Show Will Go On – Wrangler BFI Week presented by YETI PHOENIX, Arizona, May 8, 2020 – The most anticipated Monday of the year in Western sports will still happen – it just will not occur on June 22 nor will it be in Reno, Nevada.Organizers of the world’s richest Open roping – the Bob Feist Invitational – have for decades worked closely with the Reno Rodeo, held on the same grounds each June. This spring, the Wildest, Richest Rodeo in the West has taken the lead on decisions forced this year by the COVID-19 ...Read More

2020 Bringing BFI Week Changes

Entries are open for the 43rd edition of Wrangler BFI Week in Reno, Nevada, and the extravaganza looks to offer even more for team ropers in 2020. Of course, nobody’s tweaking the most prestigious Open roping in the world, and Bob Feist’s namesake event – the BFI – will remain the same lucrative, six-round showcase of the top roping talent in the world. That makes June 22 the most anticipated Monday of the year. Lane Siggins, Jr Dees 2019 BFI Champs with Reed Flask. Photo: Olie's Images But adjustments have been made to the payoff formats in the amateur ropings, ...Read More

The Last BFI in Chowchilla with Tee Woolman

His notorious horseshoe mustache was more of a pencil ’stache in 1979, when Tee Woolman was a student at Southeastern Oklahoma State.  One night he ventured up to the City to watch a perf of the NFR. That’s where the lanky Cherokee/Irish cowboy told Roy Cooper he was thinking of quitting school and turning pro. Roy introduced him to Leo Camarillo. Leo had already been inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame when 22-year-old Tee – a soon-to-be PRCA rookie – asked him for a chance. “He told me he’d give it a whirl,” recalls Tee. “He didn’t know what ...Read More

After you reach one of your goals by winning the Feist, what’s next? with Drew Horner

“I owe my Feist buckle to Chad Masters,” joked Drew Horner the other day. “The day before the BFI,” he said, “we were staying at Jade [Corkill]’s house in Fallon and I was heeling for Chad on one of Jade’s horses. I roped a few legs. I told Chad, ‘If I rope two feet on the next one, I’m going to win the Feist.’ It happened, and the next day, I came and won the Feist.” That was 2014 – a year of BFI flukes. Craziness. Things that aren’t supposed to happen in the fifth round. That’s how Horner became ...Read More

Draw Team Wins #9 Incentive, Almost $8K Each

In 2017, when Ullman-Peterson Events added the breakaway competition and all-around bonus to the annual Charlie 1 Horse All-Girl Challenge team roping at Wrangler BFI Week, they also incorporated an Incentive for lady team ropers with lower classifications. This year too, producers tweaked the team-roping format to “pick one/draw one.” One such drawn team won the #9 Incentive on three, worth $7,500. “I love this incentive,” said Chelsea Bushnell. “You have a chance to draw some good ropers, and it makes it fun because you get to meet new girls and get to rope more times.” The college graduate from ...Read More

Crawford Wins Breakaway, Earns $8K During Reno Rodeo

Because of the Charlie 1 Horse All-Girl Challenge in Reno, Nevada, this year, breakaway ropers were showcased for the first time ever June 27 during a performance of the “Wildest, Richest Rodeo in the West.” The Reno Rodeo celebrated its 100th anniversary this year as one of North America’s most prestigious events, crowding the rodeos in San Antonio and Fort Worth, Texas; Cheyenne, Wyoming; and Pendleton, Oregon as one of the six richest regular-season venues in the sport. On June 27, the top five from Wrangler BFI Week’s 2019 Charlie 1 Horse event at the same venue roped in that ...Read More