Pro cowboy Marty Yates beats Loop 610 traffic by riding horse to Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
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by Adam Zuvanich March 15, 2024, 12:12 PM Yates, a 29-year-old calf roper from Stephenville, won his tie-down roping semifinal on Wednesday night after arriving at NRG Stadium on horseback. The performance earned him $3,000, a spot in Sunday’s event finals and a measure of fame on social media. | (Last Updated: March 15, 2024, 12:28 PM) Marty Yates was especially fast Wednesday night at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, where he recorded a time of 8.1 seconds in tie-down roping to advance to the event finals on Sunday. The 29-year-old professional cowboy might have been even faster earlier in the day. After getting stuck in traffic, near the intersection of South Loop 610 and Fannin Street, he got out of his truck, hopped on his horse named Cyndy and rode the rest of the way to NRG Stadium, where he was scheduled to be second out of the chute in the first rodeo event of the night. His ingenuity and determination were displayed in a video posted to Facebook by his wife, Loni Kay Yates, who wrote in the caption, "When the traffic is HORRIBLE at the Houston rodeo and your 2nd out First event." The video shows Marty Yates passing stalled vehicles while riding his horse in a grassy area between Loop 610 and the access road. "Marty Yates does what it takes to get to the Houston Short Round! We gotta provide for that baby," his wife also wrote in the post, referencing their young child. "Finals bound in Houston!! He and our mare Cyndy won his semi finals set tonight, but barely made it due to Houston traffic." Neither Marty Yates nor Loni Kay Yates immediately responded to social media messages Friday seeking additional comment about his feat at the rodeo and his quick thinking beforehand. Wednesday's semifinal win earned Marty Yates $3,000 in day money and increased his total winnings at this year's Houston rodeo to $7,500. If he wins on Sunday, which is the last day of this year's rodeo, he'll receive another $50,000. The resident of Stephenville, which is southwest of Fort Worth, has been a member of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) since 2012 and is ranked 18th in the world in tie-down roping. A contestant in the event chases a calf while riding a horse, throws a looped rope around the calf's neck, dismounts from the horse and then ties three of the calf's legs together. The cowboys who can do that the fastest win the event. Yates is a nine-time qualifier for the National Finals Rodeo, considered the most prestigious competition in the sport, and has more than $1.8 million in career earnings, according to his profile on the PRCA website. Loni Kay Yates, in a Facebook post on Friday morning, referenced the attention the video of her husband riding his horse to beat traffic has received, saying, "My only question for the day is how I get PAID for THIS video going viral. … I did NOT EXPECT 10000 news stations to contact me, and so many shares on this video." As of late Friday morning, the video had garnered more than 5,800 "likes" and been shared more than 4,600 times. "If rodeo doesn't make Marty famous," she added, "I guess ‘galloping into battle no matter the travel route will.' " submitted by /u/RodeoBoss66 |
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