It’s no surprise that 20-year-old Riley Webb from Denton, Texas, PRCA tie-down roper (currently ranked number seven in the world) and team roping header, is going straight to the top in his rodeo career. His parents, Dirk and Jennifer Webb run Webb Roping Productions, a sanctioned cattle producer for the breakaway and tie-down qualifiers for the Junior World Finals. Dirk is also the manager of The American Rodeo, and with Jennifer being secretary, Riley couldn’t have had a better setup to be an achiever in the rodeo world.
Riley’s first rodeo was in Denton, Texas, at only a few weeks old. He roped his first calf at a young age and was hooked from that point on. At 11 years old, he began his rodeo career roping competitively. Riley was the 2020 National High School Rodeo Association Champion Tie-Down Roper. When he gets up every morning, he’s always roping and practicing with one goal: to accomplish getting better. Riley says it’s in inches and tenths of seconds they’re working with, so he has to think about things most people don’t. Everybody can rope and have a good horse, so he has to think outside the box to improve himself. Riley became a member of the PRCA in 2021, and he says his favorite rodeo is the Pendleton Roundup in Pendleton, Oregon, because of the atmosphere created by the fans.
Winning Reno is his favorite memory, and his favorite food on the road is Mexican. For his young age, Riley already has quite a resume of accomplishments. As well as winning many other rodeos throughout the year, including Rodeo Houston (Houston, Texas,) Rodeo Austin (Austin, Texas,) National Western Stock Show in Denver, Colorado, Calgary Stampede, Alberta, Canada, Horse Heaven Roundup in Kennewick, Washington, and The Washington State Fair in Puyallup, Washington, in 2023 (for the second time,) he qualified for the finals and claimed the number one spot and he won his first PRCA World Championship; winning $452,852, and breaking the previous season earnings record. He finished second in the average with 82.9 seconds on ten head, earning $172,447 at the finals in Las Vegas.
Riley’s first trip to the Thomas and Mack was in 2022, and he finished 12th in the average and tenth in the world, placing in five rounds that year. Riley’s success this year comes from a couple of new horses he calls Boots and Rudy and a new determination to look at every single run individually, practice with the basics, not worry about the standings, and just do his very best and execute every single run.
Currently sitting in the top ten in the standings, he’s starting in a great spot in his 2024 ti-down roping season and is well on his way to adding to his growing list of accolades.