You always have to be looking ahead in the rodeo industry. If you wait until you need to make a change, you're way behind. You have to plan who you're going to rope with, which rodeos you're going to enter, what horses you're going to ride. There are guys who've been planning their 2008 partnerships from the middle of 2007. You want to have a game plan, and you want to have things mapped out, but sometimes you get a curveball and have to regroup and make adjustments.
I've never settled for just saying I'm going to make the NFR. My goal every year since I started is to try to win a world championship. My thought on that has always been that if I set my target at the top, at least I'm going to hit the middle of the target. If you only shoot to just make the NFR and come up a couple holes short, you're home in December watching it on TV. I'm always excited to start a new year. It's always refreshing to start with a clean slate. The chase for the NFR and world championships has been a 28-year career race for me. Everyone looks at it from year to year, but this has been a 28-year race for guys like me and Clay (O'Brien Cooper), Allen Bach and Tee Woolman. It still gets me fired up. I look forward to jumping out in the lead and being the frontrunner all year. It doesn't happen like that every time. You can't throw a touchdown every play. Sometimes you fumble. Then you go to the sidelines, regroup, strap your helmet back on and give it the best you've got.
