Dax Sullivan checked out of his junior high rodeo career wearing a 2023 National Reserve Champion Tie Down Roping buckle fresh from National Junior High Rodeo Finals in Perry, GA. The prestigious title was won in Dax’s third year of National Finals qualification. Meanwhile back home in New Mexico, the fall high school rodeo schedule was released and with it, Dax moved into a new league of competition.
The Canon Cristian Academy freshman says he’s as excited about school as any guy who would rather be roping, but he is pumped about a new season of rodeo and a new level of competition. One might say Dax, 15, was born ready. “As far as I know, as soon as I was big enough to sit on a horse, they put me there and the rope in my hand came with it,” he said.
A very young Dax started out dummy roping by sitting on a wood horse stand to rope from. He graduated to roping a burro for a time and then finally steers. “Breakaway and I mostly heeled until I needed to learn how to dally when I started heading and then I went back to heeling. Then we roped calves,” he said.
Dax’s earliest recall of competition was at a Bosque Farms rodeo. “I was a little bitty kid, mom said I was 4, and I was there on an old black horse that was like ancient, Mr. C. I went down there way faster than I needed to go, he turned the end pole, and I did not. I don’t remember much after that except I know my horse finished the pattern without me.”
Dax comes from a family of accomplished competitors from both sides. His dad Russell won two High School National Reserve Champion titles in team roping and a Turquoise Circuit All-Around title in Team Roping and Tie Down Roping. Dax’s mom, Shacey, competed in Barrels and Breakaway in junior rodeos, high school and college rodeos. Her brother Shane Hatch was a NIRA Tie Down Roping Champion. Dax’s older sister Quincy won the 2020 NHSRF Team Roping Championship as a sophomore, the youngest and only one of three girls to ever do so. Her senior year she was the National Reserve Champion Breakaway Roper. Multi-time NFR qualifier grandfather “Poppa” Larry Cohorn has been a major roping influence for Quincy and Dax. Dax’s grandfather Darrell Sullivan, who ranches at Monticello, NM is also a team roper.
With no shortage of family support, an appreciative Dax describes the outcome with a laugh, “I get lots of advice.” At the roping box during the rodeos Russell is there, and sometimes Poppa Larry. “If Larry’s not there present, I usually get a text from him by the time I’m out of the arena. Dax recalled, “At the NJHRF, after I ran the first one, he texted ‘Great run, that’s fine, now bear down on the next one and come back.’ After the second calf, he said ‘Good job, do it again in the short go.’ And after the short go he was so ecstatic you could feel it through the text message.”
High School competition brings some changes for Dax. He leaves behind the Ribbon Roping and Chute Dogging. “I’m going to be calf roping and team roping where I’ve switched ends. I will be heading now, riding a plethora of Quincy’s old head horses, starting with 12-year-old Flop (named for his very floppy ears.) He enjoys rank steers and runs harder than anything I have ever ridden. He’s easy to score on and really easy to ride.”
Dax’s calf horse, 15-year-old Rick James, is the same horse Quincy rode when she won Reserve Champion Breakaway at NHSRF. “He’s solid bay, 14.2 hands, bites a lot, and is like saddling an alligator,” Dax laughs. “But he’s a miracle worker. He can make a good calf out of a bad one. He’s very special.”
Every day in the practice pen at home in Peralta, NM continues for a driven, but easy-going Dax. His analytical, methodical nature pairs well with the daily hard work and a new rodeo season with new goals.

Story and photo by Julie Carter