story by Lily Weinacht
Trey Blackmore of Hillside, Arizona, took home his first GCPRA title last year when he won the heading in the open team roping. His scoring also gave his friend and team roping partner Tom Bill Johnson the chance to win the open in the heeling. “I switch around partners quite a bit, but Tom Bill lives ten minutes from us, and if there’s ever a chance to enter twice, we rope together,” says Trey, 24. “His partner had a hunting trip the week of the Grand Canyon Finals, and that’s how I got to rope with him. I made the Finals the year before and went second in the average, and this last year we actually went in leading it and it worked out good.”
The third generation of his family to team rope, Trey looks up to his dad, David Blackmore, and grandpa, Terry Blackmore, as well as Tom Bill Johnson. “My dad and grandpa have always been willing to work with me, and we have a great horse program at the ranch. I’ve hardly had to buy a horse and that’s helped me a bunch. Tom Bill took me under his wing, and he’s one of my best friends. He’s helped my roping so much and been there from the beginning, so that was neat to win it with him,” says Trey. “My grandparents, Shelly and Terry, own the ranch and I work for them. They’re awesome. And if I was going to thank somebody, it would be my mom, Crystal. She takes a little too good care of me.”
Trey college rodeoed for three years, competing for Mesalands Community College, then transferring to Central Arizona College. He grew up primarily roping in jackpots, then high school rodeoed his junior and senior year of high school, adding tie-down roping and bronc riding to his resume, and qualifying for the NHSFR twice in team roping. “Team roping is my main priority. I’ve always been a little bit better at it, and it’s an event I can do with my little sisters and the whole family can be more involved,” says Trey, who has also competed in the World Series Finale the last four years. “It’s become a part of my life, and the other part is that I’m super competitive. It’s a great industry to be in, and after traveling around so much, I’ve learned that you just find good people in the industry everywhere.”
Trey also competes in the PRCA on both the Turquoise Circuit and farther afield. He and heeler Wyatt Hansen made The American Semi-Finals this winter and also made the April run together in California. “I didn’t score very good and I missed a couple, but that’s part of the fun of it. If you won all the time it would be boring.” Trey won Rookie of the Year on the Turquoise Circuit in 2017, while he’s in the top 10 of the GCPRA open team roping heading standings. “They’re my favorite amateur association—there’s always good steers and they’re really good to work with,” says Trey. “My girlfriend, Cheyenne Sherwood, breakaway ropes in the GCPRA and heels for me in the incentive, and in the pro rodeos we don’t get to do that.”
Cheyenne also helps Trey with his family’s horse program, which Trey wants to build on performance horses. She starts them on barrels and breakaway, and Trey rides colts and starts them on team roping. His main rope horse, Homer, is out of the Blackmore’s stud, who was a Dash To Cash-bred horse out of a Driftwood mare. “The biggest key to my success is having him. He’s the very first horse I started as a 2-year-old and now he’s 13.” Trey’s other rope horse is Little Joe, a tough little bay horse Trey took over for his uncle several years ago. Little Joe carried Trey through the 2018 GCPRA Finals—his first big rodeo—when Homer got sick that weekend.
“I’m going to make the (NFR) finals, and I want to try and get the horse program going,” Trey finishes. “I feel like with the horses we’ve got, we can turn it into something pretty dang successful.”
