Line Rider - Fellowship of Christian Cowboys

Line Rider
The Official Publication of The Fellowship of Christian Cowboys, Inc.
August 2011  Cañon City, Colorado  Volume 22 - Number 8
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"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light,
we have fellowship with one another, and the
blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin."
I John 1:7
NIRA Finals, 2011, photo by Siri Stevens/Rodeo News, therodeonews.com
J R Vezain
Photo courtesy PRCA
NIRA Finals, 2011, photo by Siri Stevens/Rodeo News, therodeonews.com
I
Have a smile on your face
because life is short.
grew up in a Christian home.
My mom and grandparents
are very spiritual, but because
of divorce we went through
some rough times, like when our
house burned down. And I didn’t
know my real dad until I was 15. But through all of it my mom
always said, “God will get us through it. We have to keep our faith
in God and we’ll be all right.”
When I was 4 years old I rode sheep. I always looked up to my
uncle and he was the one who put me on my first steer when I was
7. He said, “One thing I always want you to do at rodeos is to say
a prayer before you ride. You have to keep your faith when you are
on the road.”
My mom and the stepdad I grew up
with got a divorce when I was 13 and I
turned into a punk. I grew my hair out
long and wore the baggy pants, and I
didn’t want anything more to do with
the cowboy life.
horses and that was fine with me.
He had this old 1960’s noodlehandled rigging and he handed
it to me and said, “Try this.” That
was the morning of our little
Cowley Days hometown rodeo.
We went out to the horses and we put it on one and he showed
me how to mark one out and how to spur a bareback horse. I got
on and ended up third that day on my very first bareback bronc.
By the end of that year I got on twelve head with that rigging.
By then my uncle saw that I was doing good on bareback horses
and he gave me his own bareback riding gear. He had ridden all
three rough stock events, and like I said earlier, he’d always been
a real role model to me. When people asked me what or who I
wanted to be like, I would tell them it was my uncle Duncan. I
would go with him in the summers
and train colts and work cows with
him. He has always been there for
me to help me out.
If you’re not happy,
find a way to get happy.
When I was 14 my mom dated a
former bareback rider for a while, and his boys were in high school
rodeo. By then I was too old to ride steers, and I didn’t have the
equipment to ride bulls yet. He suggested I try riding bareback
for more, please visit www.christiancowboys.com
I went on with bareback riding and
have been trying to get better at it
every day. When I was 16 I went to a Kelly Timberman bareback
riding school. That is what really pushed me. He is a great teacher
and a world-class bareback rider who won the world in 2004.
3
Tell everyone around you
that you love them because you
never know when your final day comes.
Even though I really started living for God
when I was about 15, and had been baptized
when I was 9, I would have to say it has been
my rodeo career that has actually drawn
me closer to God. I have been blessed
knowing Kanin and Kaleb Asay. I’ve put
myself with strong Christian people and
have been very blessed. I really started to
crave learning more about Jesus and desired
to build my relationship with Christ. That
is why one of my favorite verses is Matthew
7:7: “Keep on asking, and you will receive
what you ask for. Keep
on seeking, and you will
f ind. Keep on knocking,
and the door will be opened
to you. For everyone who
asks, receives. Everyone
who seeks, f inds. And to
everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”
Another one of my favorite verses is John
15:13: “There is no greater love than to lay
down one’s life for one’s friends.”
my rodeo career. I hope that someday it will
involve putting on some schools. So many
people have helped me get to where I am, that
I want to be there for some 16-year-old kid
who may, like me at that age, need someone to
look up to. I want to give back because I have
been given so very much.
There have been so many times I have
seen God intervene in my life and felt His
presence. Those hard times have really helped
me grow in my relationship with Him also.
I am still learning those
life lessons.
Bear down
and never quit.
I am traveling now with Kelly Timberman
who basically taught me how to ride and just
flat out about rodeoing itself. It has been a
blessing to travel with a world-class bareback
rider. He knows so much about the sport and
gives his glory to God. It has been really fun
rodeoing with him.
I read a lot of westerns and the Bible. I really
like reading Will James books. I think they
are some of the best
books I have ever
read.
One instance was when
I met my real dad. I was
15 and had been praying
a while, not so much to
get to know him, but just at least meet him
one time. God brought us together in Cody,
Wyoming and we are buddies now and good
friends.
Another time I saw God intervene was a
year ago this June. My best friend was in a
bronc riding accident. A few months before
that, I had been going to Bible study at the
Asay’s, and I was really growing in God. My
friend Nick was helping me trim my horses
and he said, “You know, I have been watching
you and I want to know how to be and live
like a Christian.” I told him it was easy, and
though I’m not much of a preacher, I prayed
with him and
he accepted the
Lord. It was really
a cool deal. Then
he started talking
to his mom and
she started going
to church with
us. Next it was his sisters and he kind of just
brought his whole family to God. Then that
summer he ended up going to be with the
Lord and I didn’t know why, but I know he
is so much happier there with the Lord than
he could ever be here. If you keep an eternal
perspective it helps, and I knew he was ready
for eternity.
Have fun and
give the glory to God.
I love riding all three
rough stock events
and want to be an
all-around hand,
although right now I have been the most
successful in the bareback riding. I have some
big goals for this year. I will be happy making
the top 15, but I am shooting for number one.
I want to buy some land and get a saddle shop
set up. My long term goals are to someday
have a place and a training facility and be debt
free. But most of all I want to do God’s will
and draw closer and closer to Him through
4
The Line Rider J.R. Vezain
Events: Bareback, Saddle Bronc
Riding, Bull Riding
Born: 2/22/1992
Joined PRCA: 2011
Current Residence: Cowley, Wyoming
DNCFR qualifications: 1 (2011)
Education: Vernon (Texas) College
Professional
2011 Highlights
• Won the all-around and bareback
riding at the Pikuni ProRodeo
(Browning, Montana)
• Finished second in the bareback
riding average at the San Angelo
(Texas) Rodeo
• Finished third in the bareback riding
average at the Fort Worth (Texas)
Stock Show & Rodeo
• Won the bull riding and the allaround at the Tulsa (Okla.) State Fair
PRCA Rodeo
Career Highlights
• 2010: Won the year-end allaround title in the Montana Circuit,
becoming the first roughstock
cowboy to do since Bob Schall in
1993. Won the all-around at the
Tulsa (Okla.) State Fair PRCA Rodeo
and the Belt (Mont.) Rodeo.
High School
National High School Rodeo Bareback
Riding Champion, 2009; finished third
in NHSR all-around and sixth in the
bareback riding, 2010
Personal
5-8, 140 … Single … Mother, Shilo
Christman; father, Justin Jarrett (a
former bareback rider) … His given
name is Greg Duncan Vezain, but he
has always gone by J.R. because an
aunt took to calling him “Junior” –even
before he was born … J.R. learned to
ride from his maternal uncle, Duncan
Vezain, during summers spent in
Bridger, Mont. … A two-time Wyoming
high school wrestling champion at
Rocky Mountain High School (Byron,
Wash.); he says the sport prepared him
for rodeo “because it taught me a lot
of mental toughness (and the training
produced) a lot of strength” … Attended
Kelly Timberman’s rodeo school as
a 16-year-old and credits the 2004
world champion with teaching him to
ride bareback horses the right way …
Working toward an associate degree
in business at Vernon (Texas) College
and would like to one day run his own
business making saddles and other
leather products; he started working
with leather at 9 years old while in
a 4-H program … Travels with Kelly
Timberman .
August 2011