PPQ Rules

The WSTR Practice Pen Qualification (PPQ) is an online, at-home roping where you can qualify for a paid entry to the WSTR Finale.

How it works

• Non-winning entries: the $150/roper entry fee counts toward accumulated earnings, doubled for Key Card Max members.
• Enter unlimited times until you win.

You are not eligible to enter a PPQ division if:

• You have already won in that division.
• You have a paid qualification entry in that division.
• You are within 30 days of eligibility for a qualification entry to the Finale in that division.

Please note: if you enter and you or your partner are not eligible, all entry fees are forfeited, regardless of how many times you have entered. If you have a question about eligibility, review the complete rules below. If you still have questions, text your question to the number for your division.

Four divisions

• Fees: $150/roper.
• WSTR, Key Card or Key Card Max membership required.
• You must be 21 to enter.
• All divisions are timed on the face: ropes must be tight and straight for time to stop.

How to start

1. Review the rules to confirm you are eligible. Entry fees are forfeited if you are ineligible.
2. Enter online (opens in a new tab), select the division and pay for your run with your credit card.
3. Select a Facebook page where you will record and share your run. Make sure the page is public so the PPQ officials can watch your run.
4. Have your barrel or marker set up and measured to 60 feet. You will have to show this with a tape measure once your recording has started.
5. Select four steers and load them in the chute before you begin. You must show the four steers on camera.
6. Text the number for your division (in the table above) with the header’s name, the heeler’s name, the division and the Facebook page you will go live on.

• The text message is your time verification and lets the officials know you will be on camera and ready to start. You do not have to wait for a reply. If you do not start within 5 minutes of the text, it will be a no-time.
• Text the number again to say you caught all four steers.
• Recorded videos must be filmed horizontally, and the header and heeler must be in view and faced to time your runs. All divisions are faced ropings. If you cannot see both the header and heeler, neither can the officials, and your run will be a no-time with entry fees forfeited.
• Once you start recording on Facebook Live, you cannot interrupt the feed. If filming starts over, or a video is deleted, the team takes a no-time and the entry fees are forfeited.
• Time starts as soon as the gate opens and stops when both ropes are tight and both partners are faced.
• You do not need your own Facebook page. You can use anyone’s, as long as it is public and your text says whose page you are using.
• There is no dress code.

Qualification rules

Qualification vouchers in the PPQ are earned individually, by the roper. Vouchers have no cash value and cannot be redeemed for cash if the roper does not enter the Finale, assigned to another roper, or rolled to a later year.

• A roper who is qualified and entered is not eligible for a refund of their already paid entry fee using a PPQ qualification.
• A roper who is qualified and not entered, but is still within their 30-day discount entry eligibility, is not eligible to enter the PPQ in that division.
• If both ropers are qualified and have a paid entry, the team is not eligible to rope in the PPQ.
• Once you have qualified in a PPQ division you are no longer eligible to compete in that division, regardless of the circumstance: as a helper, with a handicap number change, or if you qualified as a Key Card Max member and used it generically in a different division.
• A roper is not considered entered in the Finale unless they return the entry paperwork by the entry deadline.

PPQ winners

• $2,000 generic Key Card Max entry voucher, applied to any division.
  • All divisions are enter-once. The roper who is the Key Card Max member can apply the voucher to any WSTR Finale division.
  • Under no circumstance can the voucher be used as a substitute for a paid entry, or refunded.
  • The partner who is not a Key Card Max member must use it in the division earned.
• $2,000 entry voucher in the division won, when:
  • The roper has not earned a qualification spot in that WSTR qualifying event, or
  • The roper’s previous qualification discount has expired because they did not enter within the 30-day discount timeline.
• $1,500 entry voucher in the division won.
  • Awarded to a roper who has already qualified and entered the WSTR Finale and wants to be a “helper” for a roper who has not qualified. The $1,500 voucher can be used in any division, but is not redeemable in a division where they are already qualified and paid $2,000.
  • A roper who used the $1,500 discount voucher can invite a guest.

Additional rules

If a roper’s handicap number is raised after the PPQ qualification has been earned, the team can either move up to an eligible division that meets their new handicap numbers, or each roper can find a replacement partner who meets the entry requirements and is priced according to their circumstance.

Guest and replacement partner requirements:

• Must be a current WSTR/USTRC, Key Card or Key Card Max member.
• Must have attended a WSTR qualifier event for the current year or a PPQ, or the previous year’s WSTR Finale.

Finale entry disclosures

1. Winners must declare their entry into the Finale within 30 days of the win by sending in a Finale Entry form (on the Forms page).
2. Stall and hotel reservations are not included in the winner’s package and cannot be reserved until the entry is declared and received.
3. Entry credit must be used in the division where it was won, unless you are a Key Card Max member. You don’t have to enter with the person you qualified with.
4. Teams who do not enter the Finale are not eligible for any entry fee credit payment.
5. A roper who has previously qualified in a division is not eligible to qualify roping in the Practice Pen Qualification in that same division.
6. You do not need to choose a time of day to rope. Each day the PPQ runs, you can rope between 8 AM and 8 PM MST. Your text before you rope tells the officials you will compete in the next 5 minutes. If there is no text, it is a turnout and no refund will be paid.
7. Texting time-stamps your video. Not all videos are watched live, so if the officials receive a text but no video, or a video but no text, it’s a no-time.
8. When entering the PPQ, you and your partner(s) acknowledge that you have read and voluntarily agree to the Release & Waiver of Liability & Indemnity Agreement posted on WSTRoping.com.