Have you submitted your WPRA nomination ballot?

Time is running out - due this Thursday by 5 pm MT

Nomination ballots were emailed to eligible voters on 1/12/25 as well as a ballot reminder sent on 1/28/25 from the WPRA’s election vendor (WPRA Election Coordinator <noreply@directvote.net).

Please remember the following:

• Ballots are digital only, there will be no physical ballots.
• The deadline to submit your nomination ballot is 5pm MT January 30th.

Per the rulebook:

3.1. Eligibility to Nominate a Candidate

3.1.1. All adult card members from whom the WPRA office has received a signed official application and payment for the upcoming year, on or prior to the first business day of January shall receive a nomination ballot. The WPRA office, needs to receive a signed official application from Gold Card members and Lifetime members. On or about January 12 of each new calendar year the WPRA’s designated third party election vendor shall email electronic nomination ballots to all eligible adult card members. The card member must return the completed electronic ballot to the election vendor for receipt by the vendor on or before January 30 at 5:00 p.m. MT.

4.1.3.1. The Directors taking office in 2025 and every three (3) years thereafter will be President, Vice President, Columbia River Circuit, First Frontier Circuit, Montana Circuit, Mountain States Circuit, Southeastern Circuit, Texas Circuit, Wilderness Circuit, and Roping Director 2* or West Region Roping Director (West Region Circuits: California, Columbia River, Montana, Mountain States, Turquoise, and Wilderness).

*Lynn Smith currently holds this position

4.1.5. Any card member nominated for office, in order to be eligible, must have been a WPRA card member for 2 out of the last 3 years prior to the year you wish to run and must not have been found guilty of a major rule infraction.

Below are some key dates to keep in mind as we continue through the 2025 election cycle

• Thursday, January 30, 2025, by 5pm MT- Nomination ballots are due back to the election vendor - Please reference rule 3.1.1. in the 2025 WPRA Rule Book.
• Monday, February 3, 2025, by end of business - Nomination ballots will be certified by the election vendor. Nominated candidates are contacted the following business day - Please reference rules 3.2.1 and 3.2.2. in the 2025 WPRA Rule Book.
• On or prior to February 1 - The WPRA Office must receive a signed membership application and payment from adult card members by this date to receive an election ballot - Please reference rule 3.3.2. in the 2025 WPRA Rule Book.
• On or before Thursday, February 13, 2025 - Election ballots will be sent to eligible WPRA members electronically - Please reference rule 3.3.1. in the 2025 WPRA Rule Book.
• Thursday, March 6, 2025, by 5pm MT- Election ballots are due back to the election vendor - Please reference rule 3.3.2. in the 2025 WPRA Rule Book.
• Monday, March 10, 2025, by end of day - Election ballots will be certified by the election vendor. Candidates are notified the following business day - Please reference rule 3.4.1. in the 2025 WPRA Rule Book.

Please reference chapter 3 in the 2025 WPRA Rule Book for complete election details.

Texas Circuit Finals Information

The 2025 Texas Circuit Finals will be October 7-10 in Waco.

The WPRA Board of Directors recently approved the cutoff date for standings will be September 7, 2025. Any Texas rodeo after 9-7-25 will count for the 2026 Texas circuit standings.

Barrel racers:

Rodeo count for residents is 15

Rodeo count for nonresidents is 32

Breakaway ropers:

The WPRA approved 60 circuit rodeos last year with breakaway roping so

Rodeo count for residents is 15

Rodeo count for nonresidents is 24

Rodeo Austin Qualifier

The barrel racing qualifier will be in Stephenville at 377 on Friday, February 21st at 8am. Austin has raised their limit to 88 but 20 will still come from the qualifier in Stephenville.               

The qualifications for the other 68 will be listed on the WPRA website as the rodeo approval and ground rules are complete.

The breakaway format will be the same as noted above for barrels for Austin (increase contestants to 88 and 20 from the qualifier). The breakaway qualifier will be February 23 at 10:00 am at National Roper's Supply (NRS) Arena. 4650 S US Highway 287, Decatur TX 76234. The 20 will qualify for the breakaway as follows: 5 from the 1st go-round, 5 from the 2nd go-round, and 10 from the average.

All this is still awaiting board approval.

Gunderson Gaining Notoriety as Top Futurity Trainer with Third World Title

Three futurity world championships. Three different horses, from three owners. Clearly Heidi Gunderson is onto something.

She took home the 2024 Futurity World Champion title aboard Lucky Blaze (Holly), owned by Shannon Kulseth. Gunderson also won the title in 2023 and 2021. She said she feels blessed to have had such luck and chalked a lot of it up to trust.

 “All three of the horses were good from day one, and they didn’t change hands and the owners trusted us in every decision that we made for them,” Gunderson said. Her husband, Mark, starts the horses and within a couple of months can usually tell if it’s a ride that she might find success on.

 “He’ll tell me ‘You’re going to like this horse, the way it moves its feet,’ or whatever,” she said. “He can tell right away if they’re trainable. And Lucky Blaze, she came to us from my friend Shannon who bought her as a yearling, and she’s never left us."

Qualifying Rodeos Set for 2026 Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo

With the start of the 2025 Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo we wanted to make our members aware of the qualifying rodeos for the 2026 edition of this legendary rodeo in both the barrel racing and breakaway roping.

The champion contestant (winner of the barrel race and breakaway roping) from these 7 Texas Circuit PRCA Rodeos in 2025 that enter will be accepted (drop down until filled):

Mark your calendars now to take advantage of this opportunity.

Waxahachie, TX - March 28-29

Mineral Wells, TX - May 1-3

Weatherford, TX - June 11-14

Cleburne, TX - June

Gladewater, TX - June

Wichita Falls, TX - August

Denton, TX - August

*Breakaway Ropers please note: The WPRA World Finals Breakaway Roping in Waco, TX will still remain a qualifier for 4 positions into FWSSR and 2 positions into Houston, TX.

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ATTENTION MEMBERS

As a reminder, entry fees must be paid by 3:00 pm MT on the Tuesday following the end of the rodeo. You will be made ineligible if your entry fees are not paid by this time. You may still enter rodeos while flashing ineligible, but need to pay your entry fees by the time the books close to avoid getting drawn out of the rodeo. All fines and other amounts due on your account that are not entry fees must be paid by the 20th of the following month. 

It is important if you are flashing ineligible for any reason when you enter a rodeo to go ahead and enter the rodeo and then take care of what is making you ineligible with the WPRA Office before the books close to avoid being drawn out. However, if you never enter the rodeo you can not be added after the fact. So step 1 is enter the rodeo. Step 2 clear up ineligibility prior to books closing.

ProRodeo Hall of Fame Nominations Now Being Accepted



The WPRA is now accepting nominations for induction into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. Nominations for 2025 need to be submitted by Feb. 15, 2025. To nominate a barrel racer, they must be retired from rodeo and have won at least one world championship. In addition, individuals can be nominated in the notable category, who are not otherwise eligible in the barrel racing category, as well as barrel horses.

Rule Spotlight

You can turnout of a rodeo onsite due to illness or injury by having a judge authorize a visible injury form.

Your entry fee remains in the payoff while the turnout fee is waived. You will remain eligible to enter and compete in WPRA events following the visible injury.

Refer to 10.7.2. in the 2025 WPRA Rulebook.

2025 Playoff Series Schedule

The WPRA is once again participating in the Playoff Series which culminates with the Governor's Cup in Sioux Falls, SD the end of September.

The Playoff Series Standings will be based on points distributed to contestants for the top 20 placings at each of the Playoff Series Rodeos. There will be three levels of points distribution based on the total payout at a Playoff Series Rodeo. Points will be distributed based on placings in the average at that respective rodeo for rodeos with a one or more go-rounds or one or more go-rounds with a Finals. Contestants with no score or no time at that rodeo will not be awarded Series points.

For more information on point distribution: Click Here

Rodeo Payout Schedule

Payout Schedule

Provided the WPRA office has received all necessary results and information on time, rodeo payouts are typically processed via RodeoPay by 12:00 PM MT on Tuesday for rodeos that ended on or before the previous Sunday.

Examples:

• A rodeo held from Friday, August 15th - Sunday, August 17th, 2025, will be paid out on Tuesday, August 19th, 2025.
• A rodeo ending on Memorial Day, Monday, May 26th, 2025, will be paid out Tuesday of the following week, June 3rd, 2025.

Holiday and Information Delays

• If a holiday falls on Monday or Tuesday, payouts may be delayed by one day due to bank closures.
• Payouts may also be delayed if required results or information are missing. In such cases, payouts will be processed as soon as all necessary information is received and processed.

We strive to communicate any delays via wpra.com or through email to keep members informed.

Using RodeoPay

The WPRA utilizes RodeoPay for payouts. If you do not have a RodeoPay account, a check will be issued by RodeoPay, with a $10 check fee applied. We encourage all members to set up a RodeoPay account at RodeoPay.com to avoid additional fees and expedite your payments. Members can set up their RodeoPay accounts to be automatically transferred to their bank accounts or they may use a debit card connected to their RodeoPay account. There is a Member Guide that is available at: https://wpra.com/pdfs/RodeoPay-WPRA_Members_Guide.pdf

Exceptions

Please note that exceptions to the payout schedule may apply in rare cases.

Helpful Member Tips - Entry Opening/Closing

Have a hard time keeping up with all the entry opening and closing information? A way to ease that issue is to go to the alert/notification settings in your online entry portal and be sure to enable the notifications. This way you will receive an entry openings and closings text each day there is an active rodeo opening or closing.

In addition, the PRCA's Business Journal is available for anyone to go look at on prorodeo.com and a new issue comes out every 2 weeks on Fridays. These listings include the official entry dates and times for all rodeos.