#Breakaway hondo rope professional

It seemed like, for me, it took half of my life for breakaway roping to get where it is now.ĬG: Because you’ve done a lot for the sport and advancement of women in rodeo, all these young girls have a lot to thank you for. It’s pretty cool what breakaway roping has done. That’s the stuff that makes you feel good and makes you smile-to see the younger generation giving you a run for your money. LDG: That’s what I feel I’ve worked for all the years-to better the sport and to encourage the younger generation to want to rope and to be great. How do you feel when you see young women like Madison Outhier and Cassie Bahe giving you and veterans, like yourself, a run for your money? I looked up to a lot of the men like Roy Cooper, as much as I did the women just because I wanted to do as a girl what they did as guys.ĬG: Although you’re not 50 years old yet, you’re arguably the Grande Dame of a women’s roping. My dad was the one that taught me everything. Of course, I admired my dad and my mom for what they did for me and how my dad taught me to rope. LDG: Wanda Bush was one of my biggest heroes as a woman growing up, and then there were Judy Ford and Betty Gayle Cooper. I always had a dream that girls roping could get really big one day.ĬG: Who did you look up to as a role model when you were growing up? There were great girl ropers that roped and competed with the men, but they didn’t get the recognition.

I was known as a girl roper and a horse trainer, and it’s just something that I had a passion for.īack then, it wasn’t something that girls were going to be known for. I mean, there were girls that roped, but there weren’t girl ropers. Growing up, there weren’t a lot of girl ropers. I had always breakaway roped and trained horses. Since I was a young girl I had always tied down calves. What’s your whole roping package about? Lari Dee at home at home in Abilene. But Lari Dee Guy’s not just about breaking away. We were just kind of some country kids that were athletes.ĬG: Breakaway roping is the biggest thing on the rodeo scene right now, and you’re a major force behind it. We had a street that you cruise down, and we all gathered, like those back roads, and all that kind of stuff. I was an athlete in high school and all my friends were either athletes or cheerleaders, so we went to all the games and then sometimes afterwards, we’d cruise. LDG: I was a basketball player and went to school in the small town of Clyde, Texas, outside of Abilene, so most Friday nights, if it wasn’t basketball season, we were at the football games and if it was basketball season, we were at the basketball game. Tell us about Friday nights in Abilene in 1989. I always thought I would keep the ‘55 Chevrolet and get it redone, but I had a wreck when I was in high school and totaled it.ĬG: You were born in 1971. It had the original tires and 30,000 miles on it, and that was my truck that I drove to high school. I drove since I was probably five years old, but my first vehicle was a ‘55 Chevrolet pickup that we had purchased from an older gentleman that had a small ranch beside us. LDG: Well, we grew up on a ranch, so we drove young. Lari Dee flanked by mom and dad, Mary and Larry. He drives his maintainer, keeps our roads good. He does everything on the ranch that has to be done. She’s the one that makes all the appointments for us, takes care of us, goes to town, does all the errands, and does all the cooking. LDG: She was a barrel racer and she’s kind of the rock of the family. I’ve lived on that ranch since I was a year old.

We have a couple people that help us, but I grew up there. It’s about 10,000 acres and my mom, dad, and brother, and I work there. It’s a cow calf operation, and it’s right outside Abilene, Texas. They ended up getting together and getting married, and my dad is the one that has run our ranch and built it up and made it better than it was when we got it.

LARI DEE GUY: It was a ranch that was inherited by my mom, Mary Gas, and my dad had always worked for my mom’s dad. Lari Dee training at home in Abilene.ĬOWGIRL: Tell us a little bit about Guy ranch. COWGIRL sat down with Lari Dee to find out how the seasoned arena veteran puts it all together, what’s in store for the future of the sport, and a few things about her personal past.

#Breakaway hondo rope professional

Now with the explosive expansion of breakaway roping on the professional rodeo scene, she is smack-dab in the middle of the sport’s promotion and growth while remaining its fiercest competitor. She is, and has always been, a trailblazing force for women in the world of roping. Lari Dee Guy is a legendary female roper in the likes of rodeo great Wanda Harper Bush.