Horse trainer Casey Hicks’ winning weekend started off after he heeled four steers behind Dick Yates in a time of 33.12 to earn $4,300. He then went on to dominate in the #12 where he roped with Jimmy Suggs to take home first in the average with a 30.46 on four head worth $19,260 total. He also heeled behind Paige Williamson to rope four steers in 32.37 seconds to place seventh in the average, worth $3,210 total.
“It was a good weekend,” Hicks said. “We had been planning on going out there but I had actually not made any plans as far as roping in the #13 or the #12 until the day before I got there. Everybody that I won money with was the first time I ever entered with them. I won the #12 with Jimmy Suggs and was seventh. I did not know Jimmy or Paige before that day. I met them both that day and had never seen either one of them rope before that day.”
Roping with new partners can be nerve wracking, but not for Hicks. The only time he seemed to be nervous was when he started heeling for Yates.
“I was probably more nervous in the short round of the #13 then I was in the #12. After I placed in the #13 the rest of it was just a bonus I guess,” Hicks said.
After roping the the #13 and coming back to the short round in the #12, already guaranteed money after Williamson and Hicks knocked their short round steer down, Hicks was satisfied with what he had done so far so heeling the high-call steer with Suggs was a breeze.
“When Jimmy and I rode in the box I knew Paige and I were going to win money so heeling that steer for Jimmy at high-call was probably the least amount of pressure that I had all day,” Hicks said. “Yes, it was for the most amount of money but it was one of those deals where I knew I had already made money before I roped that steer. It made it relatively easy to heel.”
The steers at the Wiley Hicks Jr. Memorial roping were a little on the stronger side, but Hicks knew what it took to get the clocked stopped, Hicks said.
“It probably worked in my favor a little bit because we had been breaking in steers here lately so I was kind of prepared for what was happening. Jimmy and I drew a couple in the #12 that were a little better than some and didn’t run quite as hard so we just tried to make the best run that we could.”
Hicks got the clock stopped on a horse named Capone that he trained and had rode on and off the past few years.
“I sold the horse to a friend of mine in South Texas and he wasn’t getting to rope much this winter so he sent him back up here and told me that I could ride him for a while,” Hicks said. “That was the first big roping that I had taken him to since I had got him back–it was like coming home. I’m not going to say that he’s the best heel horse that I’ve ever rode but he’s the best for me.”
The Wiley Hicks Jr. Memorial roping wouldn’t be what is is without the backbone of James Hicks and Mathews Land and Cattle, Hicks said.
“James Hicks does an outstanding job putting this roping on,” Hicks said. “James and Mathewd Land and Cattle supplied great steers and put on a great roping.”
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