Fifth-generation Moabite Ean Ellis won the Utah High School Rodeo Association tie down roping short go, held June 4-7 in Heber, Utah. On June 9, Ellis’s victory in Heber was celebrated with a parade down Main Street, where he rode in a firetruck with his little cousins.
Competing in the state’s top 15, his time was 7.8 seconds—a feat in known in rodeo circles as “running a seven.” Completing the entire calf roping, dismount, tie, and hands-up sequence in under 8 seconds is a show of elite speed and precision.
“To start my run off, I got my start good, got out of the barrier, roped him, got off my horse, got down to the calf, flanked him, strung his very top legs across the back two legs, put two wraps and a hooey and threw my hands up in that 7.8,” Ellis said.
Watch Ean’s winning run above.
Ellis speaks with the practiced shorthand of a seasoned cowboy that left this writer Googling rodeo terms (a hooey is a type of quick-release knot used in tie-down roping), and his passion for the craft of rodeo is unmistakable.
“You have the mind of a horse, you have the mind of a calf, you have your rope. There’s a lot of things that go into it. They have to be perfect to be able to run a seven,” he says.
According to Ellis, he did not grow up rodeoing, but came into the sport at the age of 11 and found quick success.
At the age of just 12, Ellis won $20,000 at Mike Johnson’s Tuffest Junior Rodeo World Championship, which he put back into rodeoing.
Ellis works hard for that successes, practicing every day for three to four hours.
During practice, Ellis saddles multiple horses to practice roping and tying calves from each horse. After that is done, he returns to his chores of caring for the horses and the calves.
“Lots of traveling on the road, lots of family time, lots of chores,” Ellis explains. “Feed every morning and night, clean stalls, waters, make sure the cows are good…”
Rodeoing has brought him all over the country, including Nevada, Idaho, Wyoming, Florida and Louisiana.
This year, Ellis held hosting a rope clinic for youth ages 2-15 at the Old Spanish Trail Arena.
“I wanted to give back and get more of the Western industry and the Western life into Moab, so what I did was I did my roping clinic,” Ellis explains, “and all of my proceeds went back to the [Old Spanish Trail] arena for the rebuilding of the stalls for their 4-H.“
Looking forward, Ellis plans to move to Texas and make a living off of rodeoing. Ellis is now 18 years old and can apply for a Professional Cowboy Association permit, allowing him to enter and compete in sanctioned rodeos.
He also plans to train futurity calf horses—young horses that compete in events to showcasing their training and potential.
Next year, Ellis will try to qualify for the National Finals Rodeo held by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.
“I know there’s a lot of people that support me and I can’t thank them enough for everything they do in town and everything they’ve done for me,” says Ellis. “They’ve supported me no matter how good I do. I can’t thank them enough—my mom and dad, especially.”
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