It was a huge summer in the National Team Roping Tour for the Ballek family of Clearmont, Wyo. Dan and Julie and their two kids, Misty and Cody, are regular competitors at many NTR events, both in the North, during the summer, and occasionally in Arizona during the winter months.

In July, Dan and Julie won their firstever saddles together when they topped the #8 No Wolves Allowed roping during the Johnson County Shootouts in Kaycee, Wyo. Misty, 20, and Cody, 18, secured their first-ever buckles together when they finished fifth in the #8 No Wolves Allowed at the Big Horn Classic in Buffalo, Wyo., in June.

“We practice together all the time and sometimes when we go to the roping we don’t have any luck,” Misty said. “We didn’t win the roping, but we placed. It was on Father’s Day and my dad was there.

It was right here in Buffalo, close to home, so that was cool.”

Julie and Cody also qualified for the National Nine during the Wyoming State Fair Tour stop in August.

“Winning the saddle with Dan was really special,” Julie said. “We’d had chances before and it never worked out. Cody and I winning together, that was big too. Whether it’s Dan and I, Dan and Misty or Cody and I—winning with the family is always special.”

In addition to her qualifying spot with her son, Julie earned a second spot in the National Nine with Phillip Caines, Hyattville, Wyo., during the Labor Day roping in Buffalo. She also locked in a spot in the National Eight with Jim Volk, Sheridan, Wyo., during the Western Frontier Finale in Rapid City, S.D. And that same weekend Dan and Julie finished third in the Western Frontier Invitational to pocket $5,120.

“That was a nice win with Dan,” Julie said. “It kind of doubles your money when you keep it all in the family.”

At press time the couple had just dropped their new “winter home” off at McFarland’s Arena, just west of Wickenburg.

“We got a new motor home on Monday and hauled it down there the same Friday to beat the storms,” Julie said.

“McFarland’s is a little farther out of town, but we’re used to that. With both kids in college now we’re planning to spend a little more time down there than we have the past few years. Of course, we’ll still be back on the ranch in time to calve.”

THE FAMILY RANCH

Growing up, Dan and Julie lived about 10 miles apart in Billings, Mont., but had never met until a few years before they were married. Julie competed in some youth rodeos but her main focus was showing Quarter Horses at local, AQHA and 4-H shows. Dan’s family ranched outside of town, and he didn’t start team roping until his early 20s. Oddly enough, their paths just never seemed to cross. Shortly after they met, Dan had the opportunity to move to the family ranch in Clearmont.

“When we got married, in 1991, that’s when I came down,” Julie recalled.

“When I first moved to Wyoming I worked at King’s Saddlery in Sheridan. I took phone orders and did all of their shipping.

That was a fun job. But when we started having kids I mainly stayed on the ranch. Now, I work a couple of days at the Buffalo Livestock Auction.”

Misty and Cody mark the fourth generation on the Ballek’s Black Angus ranch and learned at an early age to appreciate their family’s way of life.

“We learned so much growing up on the ranch,” Misty said. “We always rode along with our parents, branded, fixed fence, all of that. In our early teens, even before, we just followed dad around and tried to be his right hand man. We watched how hard our parents worked and they always expected us to give 100% in everything we did. And I think we both still do that. I know Cody’s work ethic is amazing. He works extremely hard.”

Only two years apart, the two still had their fair share of sibling rivalry.

“Cody and I were the only two kids and I remember fighting with him a lot,” Misty laughed. “My mom and dad were so busy we weren’t able to go and do some of the things the town kids could do, but we kept ourselves pretty entertained. We’re really close now.”

The transition from ranching family to roping family was a natural one for the Balleks. Dan and Julie always competed, whether it was with USTRC, WTRC, ACTRA or Yost Events (the predecessor to the NTR)—and the kids were simply raised around it. Misty and Cody started

early in local youth rodeos and both learned to rope on the same horse.

“Lena was good in the box and quiet. She’d run up there and give them a shot,” Julie said. “We got her as a 3-year-old, she’s 23 now, so we had her right at 20 years. We just sold her to a little gal who’s learning to run barrels and head on her. Last I heard she was already winning barrel races on her. She took good care of the kids.”

Misty breakaway roped through middle school, but didn’t start team roping until her freshman year.

“I guess I was just stubborn,” she laughed. “Once I started team roping though, I was hooked.”

Her senior year, and Cody’s sophomore year, the brother/sister team roped together at the Wyoming High School rodeos.

“We always joked because we finished second a lot, but never could pull of the win,” Misty said. “But we had a lot of fun”

NOW…

Cody is currently attending Sheridan College where he is pursuing an ag degree and competes on the rodeo team in the Rocky Mountain Region. In his spare time he still works on the ranch.

“I just like it out here,” Cody explained.

“I think I’d go crazy if I had to sit behind a desk for eight hours a day. On the ranch you get to practice and ride horses and do something that you love. On the weekends you can travel and go rope. It’s probably my end goal, hopefully, to take over the ranch one day.”

Misty is going to school at Black Hills State University in Spearfish, S.D., where she is a triple major in Early Childhood, Elementary and Special Education. With just over a year left, she’s hoping to return closer to the family ranch after graduation.

“My ideal situation would be to move close to home and teach either in a pre-school or in the school system. I would want to teach in the lower grades, kindergarten through 3rd. I nanny for a special needs boy right now and I might end up working with special needs kids. I’m hoping something shows up and I’ll just know. Of course, one of the reasons I want to be close to home is so I can still play a role in the ranch, too.”

While both kids have expressed interest in continuing the family legacy, their parents don’t pressure them.

“We kind of hope they will, but we also hope they go and do what they enjoy and want to do too,” Julie said. “If they find something they really enjoy and love we hope they do that.”

Misty does not compete in college rodeo, so when she returns to Clearmont in the summer is when she gets most of her roping in—a schedule which includes most, if not all, of the nearby NTR Tour stops.

“I kind of made that choice (to leave the horses home) when I started school,” Misty explained. “That’s just a decision I made while my education is my priority.”

With clear focus, both Balleks have set some straightforward goals for their team roping futures—both short- and long-term.

“My main goal is to get to the college finals with my partner, Teigen Finnerty,” Cody said. “We made the high school finals once, our junior year, and came close again our senior year. And, I just want to go down to Arizona (for the NTR Finals) and make sure we catch four really smooth steers and set ourselves up for an opportunity to put money in our pockets at the end of the day.”

With her 21st birthday on the horizon, Misty’s main goal is to qualify for the WSTR Finale in Las Vegas.

FAMILY MATTERS

While there are numerous advantages, perhaps the best part of being part of a team roping family are the built-in partners— both for practice and competition.

“We always get good practice in. You can pull in where you don’t know very many people, or say you get to a roping late— whatever it is—and you always know you can get entered,” Julie laughed. “You’ve always got a partner.”

The Balleks are ranchers and ropers, but most importantly a stronger, more united family because of their ability to

compromise and work together, whether it’s sharing horses or just being there to support each other.

“We really do everything together,” Misty said. “We spend every summer together, we travel together, we work together and we rope together.”

“I don’t think there’s much better to raise your kids around than ranching and roping,” Julie added. “The people are always pretty down to earth, respect each other and are easy to be around. It’s just a neat thing to get to do it all as a family.”

STATE CHAMPS Last year, while Julie was competing at the NTR Finals at Rancho Rio in Wickenburg, Ariz., Cody was busy chasing a Wyoming 3A Basketball State Championship. The Buffalo Bison won in double overtime to clinch the title.

“The regional finals were during Ty’s big roping in March so I missed those games. We hustled back to make it for the finals. They had taken a poll and said we had a 6% chance of winning but everything really fell into place for them. The whole family was there and that was pretty neat.” - Julie Ballek

MEMORABLE WINS “My most memorable win is probably when I first started roping, we went to an all-girl in Deadwood. It’s not as big now, but I ended up winning that with Heather Jacobson from Douglas, Wyo., and won a saddle. I think it was the fi rst time we’d been away from home roping. I had just gotten done with a Bobby Harris clinic and I got to call him and tell him I’d won that.” - Misty Ballek