KALISPELL – When Browning bull rider Tahj Wells opened his pickup truck outside his motel Thursday morning, scant hours before his scheduled debut at the Montana High School Rodeo Association state finals, his heart immediately sank.
Gone was his cell phone and, more important, the bag with all his gear: Helmet, gloves, bull rope, vest, chaps, spurs, mouthpiece – the works. Everything except his saddle.
It didn’t take long for the rodeo community to spring into action, though.
As soon as he arrived at the rodeo office in the morning, MHSRA judge Mike Tatsey, a fellow Blackfeet tribal member, pledged the first $100 to fund replacement gear. Tatsey stepped away for 15 minutes and upon returning discovered another $1,000 had been pledged to support Wells, the state’s top high school bull rider and a Class A wrestling champion.
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Tatsey figures it’d take $1,500 to replace everything lost, and much of that shopping would have to take place online.
In the meantime, as word continued to spread around the Majestic Valley Arena, others began to cowboy up with gear so Wells could compete immediately — not only in bull riding but saddle bronc and team roping as well.
“We have some booths on the grounds, and a lot of people are just jumping in and gathering up stuff,” said Amy Robbins, MHSRA publicist. “It’s a cool story to watch. Everybody’s a family in rodeo and everybody jumps in to help. There’s no doubt they’re going to make it happen for him.”
Tatsey said the list of those offering gear included Wells’ competitors.
“It’s hard to find gear at the last minute, but he’s had guys come up and say, ‘I have an extra rope you can use’,” said Tatsey, noting Wells is a “nice kid” and standout student respected by his peers. “I think all his fellow competitors will step up and let him use equipment if he can’t find it right away.”
The effort paid off: Wells not only had the necessary gear, he won the bull riding competition late Thursday with an 81. He increased his comfortable lead in the year-end standings to 26 points over Devyn Hundley of Darby, 168-142.
Tatsey noted that while borrowed gear will get Wells through the weekend, he’ll need his own as soon as possible. He’ll have the National High School Finals Rodeo in Rock Springs, Wyoming, in mid-July and almost certainly will want to compete in other rodeos between now and then.
That’s where the impromptu fund-raising applies.
Tatsey suspected Wells would be able to find some gear locally, such as a mouthpiece at Scheels and perhaps a vest and helmet at North 40 Outfitters.
But competing over the next few days, Tatsey said, will mostly mean cobbling together equipment from the rodeo community.
“He’s a hand, too,” Tatsey said with a chuckle. “He’ll say, ‘As long as my bull rope don’t break, just give me some equipment and I’ll get on’.”
By mid-afternoon, Wells’ cell phone had been recovered from a gas station trash can. But the gear bag was nowhere in sight.
The MHSRA state finals continue through Saturday.
This story will be updated.
Contact Jeff at jeff.welsch@406mtsports.com or on Twitter @406sportswelsch
