Inside The American Performance Horseman with Steve Ross
The American Performance Horseman was a new event that debuted at the American Rodeo held at Globe Life Field in Arlington Texas, the home of the Texas Rangers. My role was to provide play-by-play action and offer insight into what the judges were looking for in all three events: the cutting, reining and working cow horse. They put together a two hour long television production that appeared on CBS Sports following the actual performance on March 10, 2023.
The production team was incredible with the lead producer being a veteran of Monday night football, numerous Olympic Games and major league sporting events with a real eye for bringing sporting events into living rooms.
The broadcast team was also stacked with major league talent from top to bottom. Leading the effort and tying it all together was Cadee Coffman, a former Miss Rodeo America and the face of rodeo and the PBR on television for the last five years. Retired PBR Bull Rider and Working Cow Horse trainer extraordinaire, Brendan Clark also lent a hand describing the action and brought the expected “Aussie flare” to his role.
A highlight for me was working with and getting to know Donna Brothers who reported from the arena and served as our “sideline reporter.”
Donna is a former jockey and has appeared on horseback for years on NBC interviewing Kentucky Derby winners, Triple Crown winners and Breeders Cup champions. I have long been a huge fan of her work and loved hearing about my favorite race horses, Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra from someone who was there in person after their great wins! Donna was so gracious and we had a great visit prior to the show and when the lights came on she completely delivered.
Rounding out our crew was the great Todd Bergen. I’ve always and still do consider Todd the greatest western performance horse trainer of all time. Todd and I have been friends for years and when I was in the two year old business Todd directed his clients to buy several nice prospects from me and he always delivered his part by making them absolutely great and presenting them in a way that would make anyone proud.
When Todd spoke about the action in any of the three disciplines, everyone hung on his every word. It was like having Nick Saban comment on a football game!
One of the amazing aspects of the American performance horseman was obviously the venue. Globe Life Field is not just a baseball field, it’s state of the art shrine! Located in the heart of the DFW entertainment district in Arlington, Texas, it is surrounded on every side by amusement parks and the Dallas Cowboys stadium to the east.
I came in the first day to pick up my credentials through the contestants parking area. They had one small tent set up with temporary stalls for the rodeo contestants and the performance horses. I detoured through the alley way and was pleased to see my old friend Shawn Flarida. He is so unassuming and down to earth and we had a good visit about our second favorite subject, college football. Shawn is a huge Ohio State Buckeyes fan and I’m a Tennessee volunteer and we frequently exchange texts throughout the season full of good hearted fun and bragging. He was relaxed as usual but also very excited about the competition, the venue and the television exposure for our sport.
I headed on in and picked up my all access credentials and proceeded to give myself a tour of Globe Life Field.
The building is cavernous with the arena built on the center of the infield running north to south . I was situated in the television press box located high up on the top floor and after taking the elevator ride up and seeing my vantage point I wished I had remembered to bring my binoculars. I got a little emotional looking at the setup and seeing the iconic CBS Sports microphones I would be using for the broadcast. I thought about all the great broadcasters who had plied their craft on those same mics and it was an odd feeling to say the least.
After a production meeting at the nearby Sheraton hotel everyone gathered at the venue for a rehearsal. I had a good friend there with Robert Chown, whom I’ve known since we were both kids and he’s simply one of the best all-around horseman ever. The producers had asked me to find someone to help them say yes or no to instant replays and I knew Robert was the perfect man for the job. He really loved it and sent me photos of the two massive semi trucks full of screens and monitors and flashing lights.
The afternoon before the performance was probably my favorite part of the entire experience. Seeing all the ticket takers, hot dog vendors and stadium staff on hand and in position really reminded me what a big event this was! A band was playing on the stage and the energy in the building was electric as an unprecedented 19,000 souls filed in to pay money to watch a horse show. My co-hosts and I did a brief introduction and moments later the first cutting horse entered the herd. The entire five horse cutting was spectacular and the crowd went wild when Adan Banuelos laid down the winning run. I’ll have to admit, I was a bit tentative during the cutting as I’d never worked on a five person broadcast crew before and the number one rule of sports casting is never interrupt your partner. While I would be describing the action a producer would be talking to me in my earpiece saying things like “you’re killing it steve, throw down to Todd and Donna in 5,4,3,2,1…..
That took a little getting used to but by the time the reining portion began I felt much more comfortable.
Unlike any other horse show, the action for the spectators never stopped. As soon as the last cutting horse had left the arena, Grammy winner Sheryl Crow lit up the stage belting out “all I wanna do, is have some fun…”
The moment Sheryl wrapped up her 30 minute, power packed set and said goodnight the first reining horse burst through the gate at a gallop with Fernando Salgado crushing his first stop as the crowd exploded with approval.
The Reiners did not disappoint with all five riders laying down great rides only to see local favorite Casey Deary take home the win.
Without hesitation the down the fence portion of the cowhorse began and an already enthusiastic crowd went haywire when Sara Dawson laid down her electrifying winning ride.
Keeping with the theme of nonstop entertainment as soon as the final horse left the arena Grammy winner Darius Rucker burst onto the stage and wrapped the entire night up with a killer set featuring all his solo hits as well as all the number ones from his days fronting Hootie and The Blowfish.
I left that baseball stadium that night feeling like our sport had put its best foot forward on its biggest stage ever and wondering what the future holds.
I was told over 500 employees were sourced to produce this event and it was such a privilege to work with so many talented and interesting people. I’ll never forget my first foray into network television and I hope it serves as an opening chapter for our industry.
Written by Steve Ross
Photos belong to Teton Ridge + CBS