Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo

Rule and Valor Return to Winner’s Circle After Time Off

By Ted Harbin

When High Valor went down on that day in Calgary last July, Dona Kay Rule didn’t know the extent of his injuries.

“We went to a couple more rodeos and realized he was absolutely not himself, so I took him to my vet in Colorado,” said Rule, who rode the electric red racer to four straight Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifications from 2019-22. “He stayed there for six weeks, and then I took him home and rehabbed him for five months. His first run this year was at San Antonio (in February), so, yeah, he had some down time.”

That six months away from the game not only healed his body, it also helped refresh his mind. Now 15 years old, the sorrel gelding out of Rare High by Valliant Hero is rejuvenated and ready to run, showcasing the talent that guided him to be named the 2019 Purina Horse of the Year in the WPRA, a co-winner of the same honor in 2020 with Hailey Kinsel’s Sister and Shali Lord’s Can Man, the reserve Horse of the Year in 2022, and the WPRA’s Horse with the Most Heart in 2021-22.

“Oh, my gosh; he is so happy to be going and running,” Rule said of her main mount. “He is just having fun.”

It showed during the two runs Rule and Valor made in early May at the Guymon (Oklahoma) Pioneer Days Rodeo. They won the first round with the fastest run of the rodeo at 16.99 seconds, which happened during slack on the evening/late night of Thursday, May 2. Their second run came on Sunday, Cinco de Mayo, and it was almost as fast: 17.25. Rule finished third in the second round and won the average by 13-hundredths of a second over Jymmy Kay Cox.

“I rode my young horse and ponied Valor over to the arena for Cowboy Church at Guymon, so I just turned him loose,” said Rule of Minco, Oklahoma. “He just followed us around and rolled around, and he just had fun during the church service.

“When it was my turn to run that afternoon, the guy at the gate had to move out of his way, because Valor wanted in that arena.”

The volunteer committee that produces the annual rodeo made some scheduling changes. Slack was moved to Thursday evening instead of the traditional Friday morning, with nearly 200 ladies entered. It was done with the understanding hundreds of runs were going to take a considerable amount of time, which would put more stress on the volunteers and the competitors.

“I was concerned at first, because that puts a lot of stress on the committee,” Rule said. “They ran it well. We ran probably at 6 o’clock (p.m.), and then (the top) 48 came out (for the performances), and the others reran their second, and we were still done by midnight.

“I feel like that helped the ground tremendously.”

The breakaway ropers made their first-round runs during Friday morning’s slack. The top times in the progressive made their second runs in the performances, with Jill Tanner of Stephenville, Texas, and Rylee George of Oakdale, California, sharing the top prize. Tanner, who placed in both rounds, earned the most with $5,364, but George wasn’t far behind with $4,771 after also finishing as the second-round runner-up.

Those two and Rule will receive the specialized Guymon trophy belts, a unique prize and one still worn by many who have earned them over the years. Multiple world champions use their Pioneer Days Rodeo belts to hold their gold buckles.

The $6,982 Rule earned in the Oklahoma Panhandle helped push her to No. 15 in the world standings. She credited her success to “decent” weather, good ground and a horse that was ready to play the game.

“I don’t think I could have trained anything in Valor that helped him as much as that downtime did,” she said, pointing out that a hip replacement she had two years ago made her life much better. “He’s been my only vehicle for all these years. After Juice got hurt, there was not another one, so Valor was in, and he’s always been happy to do his job.”

He does it well, and with a refreshed mind and a reinvigorated body, there is no limit to where Valor can guide his jockey. She qualified for the NFR four straight times before his injury sidelined that streak a year ago. Is this year a good chance to return?

“The goal is the NFR,” Rule said. “If we can’t, it will be disappointing, but it won’t be a heartbreaker. It will be that we did all that we could to get there. The goal is the NFR, but we’ll just pay attention to Valor, let him tell us how he’s doing and go from there.” 

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