About Us
A Rodeo Family
Rodeo runs in the Yates blood. It started with Dick and Jan Yates, who built a life outside Pueblo, Colorado, on hard work, horses, and family. Dick headed at 13 straight National Finals Rodeos with JD heeling behind him — and in 1983, the father-son duo won the team roping at the Presidential Command Performance Rodeo, receiving their buckles from President Ronald Reagan himself.
In 1984, something even rarer happened: Dick, JD, and daughter Kelly became the only father-son-daughter trio ever to qualify for the NFR in the same year. Kelly went on to a career as a respected barrel racer and horse trainer in her own right.
Now a third generation carries the torch. JD’s son, Trey, learned to rope from both his father and grandfather, and has gone on to qualify for the NFR himself as a heeler — keeping the Yates name in the arena for a fourth decade running.
About JD
JD Yates has been in the arena since before he could walk. At 15, he became the youngest cowboy in history to qualify for the National Finals Rodeo, heeling for his father, Dick. Half a century later, JD carries 21 NFR back numbers, 11 National Finals Steer Roping qualifications, an NFR team roping average title (2002), an NFSR average title (2008), and dozens of AQHA World Championships to his name — including recognition in both the ProRodeo Hall of Fame and the AQHA Hall of Fame.
But ask JD what he’s proudest of, and the answer isn’t a buckle. It’s family. “There’s nobody I enjoyed roping with more than family, whether it was my dad, my cousin, or my son,” JD has said. “That means the most.”
Today, JD trains and shows rope horses out of Pueblo, Colorado, at Hitchrack Performance Horses — carrying forward the training gift passed down from his father and passing it on again to his own son, Trey.
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