Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
They work under the lights and behind the gates.
Coby Layton of Clayton, Austin Nelson of Soap Lake and Justin Kelly of Elk, worked as pickup men and stock men last weekend at the Pro West Rodeo Association’s Palouse Empire Rodeo. The arena at Mockonema was the next to last stop on the circuit for the summer.
Before Friday night’s opening rodeo, the three of them worked at the arena.
Nelson exercised a herd of bucking horses while Kelly, on foot, sorted the bulls in a pen.
Layton was there to assist. His job as a pickup man requires him to pick up riders from broncos and bulls and also run the rodeo animals back into the pens.
Friday night Kelly worked as a second bullfighter in a pair of shorts and flowered shirt. All the while, Nelson was behind the gates moving animals into the chutes.
Layton, 32, has been a pickup man for five years, since he wrapped his days as a PRCA steer wrestler.
Kelly, 24, contends his home area of Elk is where “all the bulls are from.” He works at a paper mill in Usk.
Kelly finished 23rd in steer wrestling in the 2006 International Youth Rodeo Finals.
“Justin keeps it simple,” said Nelson, with a smile.
While Nelson works with the broncos, Kelly runs the bulls.
“It ain’t that bad, them bulls know me,” said Kelly.
He adds the bulls can be “a bunch of orangutans.”
“It’s just like a dog,” he continued. “They know my voice. And they know I mean business.”
The three of them figured the Palouse Empire Rodeo was the 30th event they’d been to this year.
Layton said what makes a good pickup man comes from what he’s riding.
“You need a really good team of horses,” he said. “Timing, heart. A good, finished pickup horse is pretty hard to come by. You look for the right disposition, the right attitude and just ride ‘em.”
As a teenager, Layton once drove from his home at Elk to a ranch at Clayton to look at a bulldogging horse for sale. The rancher’s daughter, Amanda, was the one selling it.
Married now for 10 years, Layton and wife Amanda have 10 horses on his father’s ranch where Layton works at one of his three jobs on the family’s 210 acres.
Aside from pickup man and rancher, he is also employed by a well pump company during the week.
Amanda competes as a team roper in rodeos around the northwest.
Stock men
Being a good stock man involves other things, said Nelson.
“You have to take some ass-chewings, I’ll tell you that,” he said.
In the arena and the pens, it’s about presence.
“You gotta stand your ground,” Nelson said. “A horse is more likely to run you over than a bull half the time.”
At each stop along the summer circuit, the stock men first school the animals, which means to show them the arena, back chutes, gates and pens.
Then they make sure the animals have feed and water.
“Then wait for the draw list,” said Nelson, of the pairings of animal and rider. “Then go sort out bulls and bucking horses that we move for the night. After that it’s go time.”
All told, all three say it’s more than a job.
“We sure don’t do it for the pay,” said Kelly.
“Don’t say that, now we’ll get a dock in pay,” Layton cautioned.
“If they didn’t pay us, I’d still show up,” said Kelly.
What song do they rate as the best portrayal of rodeo life?
“Baby Got Back,” said Layton.
Kelly mentioned Chris LeDoux songs.
“It’s like a family reunion every weekend,” said Nelson.
After the lights go down on a rodeo night, a stock or pickup man could sleep in a number of places, a stock trailer bunk, on the grass, in a truck or a motel room.
“We figure it out as the night goes on,” said Nelson.
The first stops for summer 2012 were at Asotin, the last will be in Grand Coulee this weekend.
Does the rodeo life make you want to get married, or not get married?
“Amanda Layton is out on the circuit every weekend, usually at a different event than the one her husband is at.
“I’m somewhere, she’s somewhere,” Coby said. “My wife has won more money than all of us put together.”
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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