Farm + Ranch Show with Sage Faulkner
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Farm + Ranch Show with Sage Faulkner
Farm & Ranch Show with Bayler Faulkner, Picking up Broncs at the Rodeo
Farm & Ranch Show host, Sage Faulkner, visits with her daughter, Bayler Faulkner. Bayler has been a pickup woman for several years in amateur rodeos in southern Colorado and northern NM and talks about how she started the job. She talks about her horses, the people she works with, and the role of rodeo in the western way of life and the culture.
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SPEAKER_00:I'm Sage Faulkner, Program Manager for Chama Peak Land Alliance and your host for the Farm and Ranch Podcast. The Farm and Ranch Show is sponsored by Chama Peak Land Alliance. Membership is free. You can find us at www.chamapeak.org. If you do social media, also give us a search there. We try to do all of it. Folks, I want to thank you for joining the Farm and Ranch Show, where we try to talk all kinds of things agriculture, but especially the unique agriculture of the San Juan Chama watershed. Many biologically diverse and ecologically important lands in the West are largely held in private land. The public benefits of conscientious, well-informed management on those private lands includes clean water, food production, wildlife habitat, soil health and carbon sequestration, jobs, and strong rural economies. The nation's rural landowners, its farmers, ranchers, and forest owners provide not only food and fiber for the world, but a host of environmental benefits, including habitat for wildlife. Those conservation efforts on lands generate outdoor recreation and economic activity that result in sustained growth for local communities and the landowners. Thanks again for joining us for the Farm and Ranch Show. For those of you that know me, you know my family is strongly connected to rodeo and my kids have grown up in the rodeo arenas across New Mexico and Colorado. And regularly when I can't find somebody to interview for the show or visit with, they'll bail me out and come in and be guests on the show. And my oldest daughter is doing that in a way for me today. So we're going to talk about the Rodeo Road with Baylor Faulkner today. This is actually about our 108th show and Baylor's done a couple of those over the years. Welcome, Baylor. Thank you for joining me. Absolutely. It's a pleasure to be back. Thank you again. One of the things we're going to talk about today is rodeo arenas across the West and the bronc riding event. you have to have pickup men or women, as the case may be. And it's one of those jobs that when done well, I'm not even sure that the rodeo fans really know what's going on, but they're really the first and often the only lifeline to protect bronc riders as they make their ride and then get off of their bucking horse either onto the pickup man or safely onto the ground. And then the pickup men and women will get a hold of the bucking horse and get them safely out of the arena and it's it's really a dance that involves incredible horsemanship, physical strength, and knowledge. And so Baylor, we're going to talk about your role today doing that. Why don't we back up a little bit and you can tell our audience a little bit about yourself.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. So as previously introduced, my name is Baylor Faulkner. I have grown up in and around both agriculture and the rodeo scene through my parents. My father was a bronc rider and my mother is absolutely engaged in every part of the community. And because of that I have been very blessed to play a crucial role throughout various rodeos in a capacity that's not necessarily associated with it being a woman's job.
SPEAKER_00:So my son rides bucking horses and as over the last decade he's been learning how to do that and it's it's not something you can just practice by yourself. For us the whole family had to be involved. You've got to have the picket men, you've got to have somebody opening gates, you've got to have a flank person and so So with a family of five, everybody had a job. And one of the girls, Baylor or her sister Keelan, would usually end up helping Shane or do the picking up in the arena. Ideally, two in the arenas is a safe, good number. And so the girls got to learn. Gosh, you probably started picking up when you were 14, 15. Probably
SPEAKER_01:about there,
SPEAKER_00:yeah. And so we're a small ranch family, and so our family likes to do a lot of our cattle work horseback, and the girls compete in other rodeo events horseback. But picking up, again, I liken it to a storm chaser, right? There's folks that if a tornado comes to town, we're all going and getting in the cellar and getting away from and in the most safe place to be when there's a tornado coming through. But those storm chasers, they're out there in the middle of it, so they can learn more about it and get the footage, and they're going to the storm. And that's kind of what a pickup man or woman does. When you've got a bucking horse, there's sometimes a wreck that's happening, and that mentality of going to the wreck, not all of us have that, huh, Baylor?
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. I think it's very much one of those things that enabled me to be a better pickup man when I did decide to go that route, was I'm a lot like my father, and I I quite like going towards the wreck because I feel that I can fix it all just by being there. Definitely a little bit of my mother in that sentence, but it's fairly similar in a lot of aspects. You've got to... keep your head on your shoulders and handle a wreck as it's happening with split second decision making.
SPEAKER_00:And a lot of what makes a really good pickup man or woman is understanding the bronc. And that's certainly something I have not only zero knowledge of, but less than zero knowledge of. Every time I see one, it's a new day for me and you've been around it. And so I think that maybe gives you some of that foundation for understanding bucking horses. But tell us a little bit from your perspective. Why is a pickup man So at
SPEAKER_01:the end of the day, I kind of shorten my job description to my job is to protect the rider and the horse, often at the expense of myself. My job is to bail in there and my mother can attest to how often my legs are covered in bruises because it's as simple as their eight seconds is up. now comes the part where you need to enact these safety measures that allow them to continue on in their career and go on and do it all over again.
SPEAKER_00:So it's pretty action-packed stuff, and as a mom, if you would have asked me 20 years ago if I would have kids that would grow up and ride bucking horses and pick up Bronx, I would have probably laughed at you. And yet here we are. So we know there's just a sense of humor there from somebody that's in charge and it's not me. So let's talk a little bit the component of the Western way of life and how rodeos maybe help in some ways in sharing those traditions and in keeping them alive.
SPEAKER_01:Being a female pig at man, one of very few, as far as I'm aware, I am put in this unique position to advocate for For both my sport and this way of life that I have been raised in. I tend to be a little easier to approach and come say hi to than some of the guys I've worked with who are kind of just grumpy and don't want to necessarily engage as much as I do. Rodeo itself, it's a spectator sport. Our job is to put on a show for those watching because they have no idea the ins and outs and what's going on as you nod your head. So... we get this unique opportunity through rodeo to give this snapshot, this eight seconds or 16 seconds or two seconds, where we can show the abilities that come from the world we live in to
SPEAKER_00:an outsider. That's pretty amazing. So you spent the summer, and this is August 2025, and you spent most of the summer doing the weekly rodeos in Pagosa. The contractor for that is Shane Burris. It's goals but Shane is probably one of my favorite announcers of all time because he pulls that entertainment component into it and I can be sitting in the truck or at the back you know in the trailer getting one of Baylor's horses ready for her to switch out and I can hear Shane's excitement and he does these rodeos every week but every week he is just so excited to be there and those stands are packed and so we get all these tourists that come into southern Colorado and And they watch this rodeo, and they love it. He just engages them. So tell me a little bit about working with Shane and with the crew that you've worked with this summer.
SPEAKER_01:Of course. So I've grown up attending a lot of Shane's various rodeos, especially this Thursday Night Pagosa series. And he's... also one of my favorite announcers. He never fails to talk me up to a crowd and probably over-exaggerate some of my accomplishments a little bit, but he's an absolute personality in and out of the arena. His goal is to put on a show and he makes sure that we do just that. He's very good about the people he hires, they know their job. So it's a very seamless machine where You don't really have to go give instructions to the guy sitting next to you because he already knows the role he plays so that you can better perform your own job.
SPEAKER_00:And so at this particular rodeo, the Pagosa Arena is huge. And so Shane actually has four of you guys in there picking up. And you've picked up a little bit with a couple of them over the years. But talk a little bit about your team that you pick up with, Baylor.
SPEAKER_01:So this year for the Pagosa Knights, I got to pick up with Colby Crowther Braxton Register, and Ryan Montroy. Some very talented, very cowboy guys. I regularly felt like maybe I wasn't the toughest in that bunch. Ryan has had a lot of experience picking up. He was dang sure the senior of our crew, and he was an absolute pleasure to work with. He made sure to always be able to point out where we could improve so that one day when we're in his spot as the top dog, we can then help the next ones coming up going into this position. that not a lot do.
SPEAKER_00:Pretty exciting stuff. And it was pretty neat to watch you guys work together seamlessly for the most part. And that always, you know, I can say from my part of it, just stepping in and working cattle with people I don't know, it doesn't always go well. You know, if somebody thinks they need to be on the side you're on, then that maybe is leaving a hole somewhere. Or if everybody's riding drag, then there's nobody on the flank to keep stuff from peeling off. And so that ability to work together often without time to really talk or say this is what you do and this is what I do you guys just stepped into that role and I think any good pickup men and women can do that they see the hole that they need to fill and they fill it but I'm always amazed by watching it because I don't think I could do it I need that solid direction I need somebody to say Sage you need to walk your horse over here and then you need to trot you down this fence line and so on Again, you know, we're just reiterating why this is not the job for me, but I have huge appreciation for the folks that do it. Let's talk a little bit about some of the other folks that you get to work with. There's a couple of characters that you spend the summer with.
SPEAKER_01:And I was just fixing to bring up, the best way I've heard it described was from one of our bullfighters for the summer, Jordan Lindsay, who, he and I were actually talking about bullfighting, but you tend to see some crossovers there where the job descriptions match up. You have to trust your partner. Like, they're Whether you know them or not, it comes down to I need to trust you to do your job for me to have a chance so that we can keep this guy in this Bronx safe. If you don't trust him, that's where the holes come into play.
SPEAKER_00:I can see that. So let's chat a little bit about picking up your brother. Oh, gosh. How is that? Is it different picking up your brother on a bucking horse than anybody else?
SPEAKER_01:Yes and no. I think there's that little bit of a competitive drive to be the one to go get my brother, just kind of as a showing off thing. It's very much, no, that's my brother. I want to be the one to get it so that maybe Shane goes back to talking about me instead of my brother. He's very much, he was the first bronc rider I got to pick up when we all started the practice pen here at the house, so there's some camaraderie at where as he was learning to stay on for that eight seconds, I was learning how to get there in time for that eight seconds to finish. We've dang sure been through the different ups and downs. My brother has regularly decided to catch me in a choke hold, which running on a horse in a choke hold, I do not recommend. But I've always enjoyed... getting to see my brother at the same rodeo that I'm working.
SPEAKER_00:Well, as a mom, it makes my, you know, right there, but it's also very cool to be able to see my kids getting along and working together in an arena. Let's chat a little bit about what you feel like is the hardest part about picking up broncs.
SPEAKER_01:That's kind of, it's a loaded question because really and truly all of it's a very hard job. Like it's not for the many. Going back to what you were saying earlier, most people don't chase towards the tornadoes. That said, if anybody knows of tornadoes, I would love to go see one in person. It's a very physically demanding job. and not necessarily on brute strength as far as you have to be very flexible in your saddle. I bet my little cousin one time that I could pull off her polo shoe on her horse from the top of mine, and she was rather impressed that I could, in fact, bend that far down. But you're doing all of these things at very high speeds. You have to be strong enough to have a guy twice your size hang onto you and not go down with him. You have to bend all the way over in your saddle and touch the ground as you're going by to reach for a hack rein. That said, I think the hardest part of the job probably would be not letting it get too fast. It's very much one of those things where it's a split-second decision, you have to do a million things all at once, you have to work with a team and not run into your teammates, and keeping that slow in your head is something that I struggle with occasionally.
SPEAKER_00:Makes sense. So we've talked about your role and the folks that you work with, the role that they play, but let's talk a little bit about the horse. going to say that just like humans, not every horse can do this job. Not every horse is going to be comfortable with a bucking horse coming at them at a dead run and somebody hanging off of it. Talk a little bit about the horses that you ride and what you think makes a phenomenal pickup horse.
SPEAKER_01:Of course. So I've been very blessed to always be atop some dang good horses. Like perks of my parents, they make sure I'm on a good horse. Whether it's the million dollar horse or not, it is a horse that is going to go do the job and keep me safe while it it. I have kind of depended. I've got this bay horse that I stole from my brother who wasn't going to be a pickup horse. He was a team roping horse and my dad tried to pick up on him once and he flat refused to do it. I ran, I was kind of short some horses a few summers back and decided I would try him on it again and he and I clicked. He said yes boss and decided that maybe running towards the bucking horse was a little nicer than deciding to fight against me but he has been an absolutely incredible horse a horse that picks up broncs they have to be very good with their feet they have to handle often times two bodies hanging off the side of them and they have to do it all without going oh lord nope I'm going to Kansas it takes a particular kind of horse that is kind of content to do their job but also really enjoys going fast while they do it
SPEAKER_00:That makes a lot of sense. So you've got a new horse in your string right now. We just bought this horse from some dear friends of ours, Brian and Sunny, and he's six years old now? Yes. And he's a ranch horse. They used him in some pretty rough ranch country, and so he got that athleticism and that mental willingness to work hard, and they decided to sell the horse, and we felt like he might be a good fit for you, and so we jumped, and here we are. Talk a little bit about the process of... of building a pickup horse because they aren't just born that way, right?
SPEAKER_01:So I kind of do it with a, well, we'll find out if it works mentality a lot of times, which a lot of horses can't handle. He, this horse has quickly rose to the top of my string. He's very much kind of just said, yes, boss, we're going to do whatever you say. And done it in a lot of situations where I expected him to freak out. Like he went to a 4th of July rodeo with me and well, horses are prey animals. Fireworks tend to not be their favorite thing and he handled that like a champ. I wound up lending him to a friend to rope bulls in a rodeo perf that night because he ran out a horse and he's just absolutely handled everything so splendidly that it gives me the opportunity to put him in the scenarios of going towards bucking horse where it would oftentimes take a lot more to get to that point with a horse.
SPEAKER_00:So it takes a certain mentality, a certain horse with their mentality, but it's pretty cool to see. So let's talk a little bit, Baylor, about the piece that there's just not many women that do this job. And some of that is simply there's a physical component to it. When your dad and I started talking to you about doing this, there was a place there where I kind of just said, you're going to have to work twice as hard for half the credit. And it's one of those jobs that everybody can be a critic of, right? If you make a mistake, Somebody can get hurt. There's a lot of things going on in the arena. And for all of us watching it, it's easy to be a critic. But it's got to feel different from your perspective.
SPEAKER_01:So when I first started professionally picking up rodeos, I did kind of live by that motto of twice the work, half the credit. But as I've progressed through this career, I've noticed that I may actually be getting more credit than some of the very talented people I work with simply because I'm the rarity. I'm the only female picket man that I know of in northern New Mexico, southern Colorado, who's working in a professional open rodeo capacity. And as such, I get a lot of limelight. back to being able to advocate for the sport, I have people coming up saying, hey, never seen a girl do this job before. So I get to talk to people a lot more and explain to people what's going on behind the scenes to where we can preserve this sport.
SPEAKER_00:And that's pretty cool. And there are some women that are doing this job. And there's a PRCA pickup woman. There are several across New Mexico. One of our rodeo moms, I'm going to give her a tip of my hat. Chansey Roberts loves to pick up and she moves a lot of horses. She trains and trades horses. And so she understands that, you know, that That mentality that a horse has to have to be able to do that. You've picked up some with Sarah Winters and with Annie. Used to be Winters. She just got married and now I can't remember her married name. And then I know when we went to the junior NFR with your brother, there was a young woman there in the Demers family that did a phenomenal job picking up. And so there are women that do this job. but it is still rare. But one of the coolest things I've ever seen is a little girl in the stands walking up to you and saying, I didn't know a girl could do this job. And how quick you are to welcome them into, you know, girls can do anything they want. You just have to work hard and take care of your horses and those kind of things. So there's a place there where it's really neat to see you women that do this and do it so well.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. It's become a lot more common since when I started at 15 years old where it was practically unheard of and we had one PRCA female picket. And that was pretty well all you heard about. Other than that, there was nobody. And then the last few years, you've seen it progress to where there's a decent handful of us, all incredible pickup men in their own right, and whether I've gotten to see or work with them at all, I am always so impressed and excited to hear about more of us. But at the end of the day, as much as I grew up behind the shoes sitting in my dad's saddle to where I loved the rough stock end of the arena... Getting to advocate and grow the sport itself is now the part that I truly enjoy about this job. My roots are in ref stock, absolutely. But I am given the opportunity to be a role model. where I wouldn't have as just a barrel racer.
SPEAKER_00:Right. Well, that's pretty cool. And I have to say, as your mom, I'm very proud of you. I'm proud of all of my kids, and I think they're all doing some pretty neat stuff. Baylor, I think that's kind of going to wind us down for the day. Is there anything else you want to tell
SPEAKER_01:our audience? Thank you guys for listening. I know my voice can be fairly annoying after a while. So thank you to my mom for having me again. It's always a pleasure to get to talk about what I do. In more than a capacity of her Facebook friends. Fair enough.
SPEAKER_00:And if you haven't been to a rodeo, go watch one and pay some special attention to the folks that are picking up the bronc riders. You will see... incredible dance between a horse and its rider and the rough stock and all the things going on in the arena and once you start to be aware of that I don't think you'll ever be able to unsee it I pay more attention now to pick up men and women than just about anything else in the arena I have such respect for the work and the talent that goes into doing it so my hat's off to you and your crew and all the folks that are out there doing that
SPEAKER_01:And of course, if you see me at a rodeo, make sure to come say hi. I'd love to sit down and chat for a minute.
SPEAKER_00:Sounds really good. Folks, that's going to wind us down for today's show. I just want to thank Baylor again and thank all of you for joining us on the Farm and Ranch podcast, which is brought to you by Chamapeake Land Alliance. A reminder, if you or anyone you know is feeling like you are facing a mental health crisis, you can always call or text 988 on your cell phone. Again, that's calling or texting 988. It's a nationwide number. You can call if you're worried about a family member or a friend just a reminder for all of you we are community and whether wherever you are people care and we just want you to know that and so if you're facing that mental health crisis please know that there are resources available for you we can all play a role in suicide prevention and we want everybody to know that mental health matters and Please take care of yourself. Folks, that's going to be it for today's Farm and Ranch podcast. You can find us at www.chamapeak.org. And if you have questions for me or you want to be a guest on the show, email me, sage at chamapeak.org. Thanks again. Have a wonderful day.
UNKNOWN:Thank you.