Nick Vaughn approached his grandfather, Russell Vaughn, a few weeks back with a request.
“I need a new saddle,” he said.
His grandfather’s response was short and sweet: “Well, win one then.”
Mission accomplished
The younger Vaughn, 18, teamed with Kevin Kimbrough of Amoret, Mo., to win their division Sunday at the United States Team Roping Championships (USTRC) Midwest Regional Finals in Topeka.
For the feat, Vaughn and Kimbrough — who first met earlier that day and didn’t know they’d be roping partners until minutes before the competition started — split the $12,900 grand prize, not to mention individual embroidered leather saddles.
It’s the second such USTRC title in Vaughn’s career. He won another saddle as a 15-year-old in Mulvane in 2014.
PERHAPS the most astonishing part of Vaughn’s feat was that Sunday’s competition was the first in more than two months. Earlier this summer he broke his collarbone when chasing a steer and the steer stopped suddenly in front of his horse.
The horse stumbled and fell, and rolled on top of Vaughn.
“The best thing going for Nick is that he’s 18,” Vaughn’s grandmother, Vicki Vaughn, said, adding he may also have cracked a rib in the incident.
Vaughn received his doctor’s clearance for the team roping competition.
“He’s OK as long as he doesn’t fall off the horse,” she noted.
So that means Vaughn has curtailed his other rodeo activities, such as calf roping, bulldogging and the occasional bull ride.
Oh, and Vaughn also plays football for the Crest High Lancers.
Dealing with bumps and bruises has become part of his routine.
Vicki Vaughn recalled one hectic weekend two years ago in which her grandson injured his knee on the football field, forcing him to ride his horse with his leg in an air cast three days later.
“He’s a great athlete, and we love to watch him play, but his grandfather and I cringe when we watch him play football,” she said.
“He may have to make a decision soon,” Russell Vaughn agreed.
A BUSY FALL awaits.
Vaughn will travel to the American Royal in Kansas City in September, then to Carthage, Mo., before venturing into Oklahoma, for competitions in Guthrie, and then the USTRC National Finals in Oklahoma City.
“And we’ll have football games in between,” his grandmother laughed. “We’re road warriors.”
Vaughn’s reputation has made him a popular teammate among other ropers. He has at least eight requests from prospective riders this fall for various competitions.
VAUGHN’S passion for rodeos was evident almost as soon as he could walk.
He threw his first lasso as a 3-year-old. His grandparents put him on his first horse about a year later.
He originally thought about focusing on bull riding, until he realized he was so good at roping.
“He’d throw his rope at anything,” Vicki laughed.
Practically every animal at the Vaughn farmstead northeast of Iola had been roped at one time or another, she recalled, from dogs, cats, “even goats,” she continued.
“It just feels natural to me,” he said.
And there’s one partner Vaughn is certain will be by his side for each of this fall’s competitions: Sonny, his “heading” horse. (Vaughn rides different horses depending on the competition, and whether he’s heading — aiming for a calf’s horns — or “heeling” — aiming for the calf’s hind legs.
Sonny, like Vaughn, is 18 years old.
He bought him about three years ago from Tim Henry, owner of Twin Motors Ford and an avid calf roper. (Henry invites Vaughn to practice regularly at the arena he has set up at his farm east of Iola.)
“We were just sitting there, and this horse comes up and puts his head on my shoulder,” Vaughn recalled. “It was Sonny.”
VAUGHN’S senior year at Crest High School will lead to other decisions, including whether to continue roping for college.
He’s heard from Fort Scott Community College, and others have suggested he look at Northeast Oklahoma A&M College. “They both have good rodeo teams.”
Vaughn also is enrolled in the new welding course offered by the Regional Rural Tech Center in LaHarpe.
“He’s already a good welder,” Vaughn’s grandfather said.
In addition, Vaughn has dabbled in work as a farrier — shoeing horses.
And of course, he plans to continue roping. “As long as I’m riding, I’m happy.”
