Michelle Rezzonico: World Series of Team Roping Finale High-Money Earner

Michelle Rezzonico is the first female team roper to win the World Series of Team Roping Finale in Las Vegas' South Point Equestrian Center.

Michelle Rezzonico took home some $121,000 alone at the World Series of Team Roping Finale in Las Vegas this past December. Michelle Rezzonico is the first female to win the World Series of Team Roping Finale, and we were excited to catch up with her after her big World Series of Team Roping #10 Finale win sank in.

Photo by David Jennings

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Association of Preference: I rope at the World Series of Team Roping and the USTRC ropings.

Rope of Choice: I use a Cactus Hypnotic from Cactus Ropes. I like it because it’s a little heavier. I hadn’t roped for a long time, so I grew up using a heavier, truer rope. I think it’s a 4-strand.

Biggest Win: It would definitely be winning the No. 10 at the World Series of Team Roping Finale in Las Vegas. My husband, Joey, and I also placed 7th at Las Vegas in the No. 11. [Rezzonico’s earnings for the weekend were a whopping $121,000. Together she and Joey won $142,000.] Joey and I also won third at the Wildfire Businessman’s roping in Salado.

What’s It Mean to be the First Woman to win that Roping? I haven’t roped for a long time and four years ago we were in Vegas for the finals and we went to the South Point to watch the roping. A friend of our won it, and I decided that was something I wanted to do. I thought I was too old to start roping again. But as a woman, I think with the number system we can rope competitively with men (and I love that) and I realized that your never too old to start back up at something you love doing.

Best Horse You Ever Rode: The horse that I roped on from the time I was 12 until I got married was a horse named Roanie. She probably wasn’t the best horse, but she was my first good horse. The best horse I’ve ever roped on was Cha-Cha, the horse I just won the World Series on. She’s coming nine and she’s not papered or anything, but bred well.

Favorite Roping: The World Series of Team Roping Finale is pretty obvious because you can gamble, shop and rope, what could be better than that? But I really like roping at Mormon Lake because a lot of the places I roped when I was younger aren’t around anymore. Mormon Lake is a roping from my childhood and it was always a fun weekend and still is.

Why You Rope: I love the feeling of having a horse in the pasture and the smell of horses. I’m kind of an adrenaline junkie. I’ve always been into sports and I’m a very competitive person. I have enough time to “really” do it now that the kids are grown. I also love seeing my friends at the ropings.

Competition Philosophy: I feel like when you practice you work on things. But when you go to a roping, you don’t think about it. It should be automatic. Your horse should be working and you shouldn’t be worried about anything. I love the short go, it’s like, “O.K., I’m good enough to make the short go, let’s go show off a little now.”

Real Job: I have an exercise science degree and I used to be a trainer for community colleges and Chase Bank. My husband and I were in the dairy business for a while but we got out of that and now we do hay sales. I help my husband with the books for our hay business.

Claim to Fame: It would be my boys, Joey and Taylor. Joey is in the insurance business and Taylor is a full-time college student.

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