For rodeo’s elite, the road to Vegas is built on quiet preparation and daily devotion.
Before the bright lights reflect off polished silver buckles and the crowd rises to its feet, there is a quiet rhythm of careful and calculated routines behind the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. Champions who enter the Thomas & Mack Center arena during the 10 days of the Wrangler NFR share a secret: success is not built in the arena; it is built in the weeks and months before they arrive in Las Vegas.
For world champion barrel racer Brittany Pozzi Tonozzi, her meticulous routine is as precise as the turns made in the arena.
That devotion carries through every part of her days, including horse care and feeding times.
No matter the arena or miles between jackpots, the routine stays the same. Her horses are fed at 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m.; medications are given at the same time each day, and alarms are set to never miss a scoop.
“Their lives are built around consistency,” she says. “That’s what keeps them settled when everything else is changing.”
Despite competing in a different event, world champion steer wrestler Will Lummus builds his days around a similar discipline. To him, the Wrangler NFR is a stage earned through grit, grace and months of intentional choices.
Lummus believes in doing less but doing it right, balancing his routine with repetition, rest and recovery. He practices a few times a week, with time for mental and physical breaks. His horses thrive in that same structure.
“If they’re not feeling 100%, we can’t win,” says Lummus. “We don’t have five feet of rope, so everything depends on the horse.”
For his horses, recovery is fueled by good nutrition.
On the road, they are fed a steady diet that supports their gut health and recovery between intense performances, including Purina® Equine Senior® Active®, SuperSport® and Outlast®.
“They’re athletes too,” he says. “The more consistent we can keep things, the better they perform.”
For world champion steer wrestler Ty Erickson and professional horse trainer Cierra Erickson, rest has not always been a choice. This season marks Ty’s 10th NFR qualification and a strong comeback season for both Ty and their 14-year-old 2024 AQHA Horse of the Year, Finding Meno aka “Crush.”
Just last year, Ty suffered a devastating ankle injury and was faced with torn tendons, broken bones and months of rehab.
“It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever gone through,” he says. “But I worked every day — icing, rehab, laser therapy — whatever it took to come back.”
The following spring, Crush nearly did not make it after a life-threatening illness.
“He spent weeks in the ICU,” recalls Cierra. “He looked like he’d lost everything — weight, muscle, confidence. We didn’t know if he’d come back.”
Ty and Crush both put in steady work to make it back into the arena in time for the NFR.
“Crush loves the energy of the Finals,” Ty says. “He thrives on it. But it’s the quiet work — the feed, the rest, the consistency — that gets us there.”
And, every scoop of nutrients mattered.
“We switched him to Equine Senior Active for the calories and fat,” Cierra says.
“Then we added SuperSport to support muscle growth. It helped bring his weight and strength right back.”
To maintain proper hydration, they relied on RepleniMash® to encourage drinking.
Tonozzi nods to that same truth.
“I used to think therapy and supplements were luxuries,” she admits. “But when a hundredth of a second can cost thousands, you do everything you can. I feed Ultium® Senior because it’s high-calorie, low-starch, and they love it.”
Tonozzi also uses RepleniMash as a creature comfort. The familiar taste and smell encourage her horses to drink even when the water tastes new or the stall smells different.
“When they eat right and stay hydrated, they perform.”
The road to the National Finals Rodeo is not paved with luck. It is built on an unwavering routine. Feeding at dawn, walking horses in midday heat and measuring every scoop and sip to keep them at their best — consistency in care is part of what makes it all possible.
When the gates open under the bright Las Vegas lights, that quiet work pays off.
This article was originally published in the January 2026 issue of Western Horseman.
