ProFile: Matt Reeves

Steer wrestler Matt Reeves finished second in the world standings following the 2016 WNFR and hit the ground running by February, currently sitting #15 in the World Standings. He’s backed into the box at Texas rodeos including San Angelo, Belton, San Antonio, Los Fresnos, and The American. Of the myriad of rodeos the 38-year-old from Cross Plains, Texas, has competed in, Los Fresnos remains especially meaningful. “I went to that rodeo in 2006 with my friend Brent Arnold and my future father-in-law, Sam Koenig, and it changed my life,” Matt explains. “In 2005, I had been one out of the money thirty-eight times, and I wanted to win more. On the way home from Los Fresnos, we had a discussion on what I needed to do to win more, and the best advice I got was that I needed to ride a faster horse. I rode Brent’s horse Junior Brown through 2006, won the Texas Circuit in 2007, and made the WNFR. I never dreamed I’d rodeo for a living, but I’ve had a ball doing it.”
Growing up in the Texas Panhandle, Matt and his sister junior rodeoed. Their dad roped and Matt followed suit, but switched to steer wrestling in high school. “There’s a lot more adrenaline rush for me in steer wrestling, and I was much better at it.” Matt high school rodeoed for Texas before competing in college for Texas A&M University and Oklahoma State University. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in animal science, then coached the rodeo team at Clarendon College in Texas for a year. “Coaching wasn’t for me, so I rode horses for some people, and then I ran a water well shop that my sister owned.” Not long after that, Matt found his stride in the rodeo world and took home checks from numerous rodeos the winter of 2007. With his goal set of winning the Texas Circuit in 2007, which he achieved by April of that year, Matt knew it was time to take a chance and rodeo full time. “I loved the traveling, and I saw lots of rodeos I’d never seen before.” For Matt, another highlight of rodeoing is making his own horses, qualifying for the WNFR on three that he’s trained. He qualified for the most recent WNFR on Nacho, but sadly, the horse had to be put down in the fall after an accident in the pasture. Matt rode Ote, owned by Bray Armes, at the finals, and his own up-and-coming steer wrestling horse, Roy, is Ote’s son. “I hauled Roy last year and rode him at a lot of circuit rodeos; he’s a cool horse.” Matt uses the slower winter months to start his younger horses in the box, but adds, “You can’t make them until you haul them. Once you get your horses to where you can practice on them, you need to rodeo on them. I practice a few days a week, and most of the time it’s for the horses, but if I don’t feel good, then practice is for me.”
Matt recently joined the team at Short Go Xtreme, whose products, like protein shakes and juices, promote energy, strength, and weight loss. “Having the energy I need and feeling my best were the biggest factors for me. Being diabetic, I had to do a few different things they suggested, but my blood sugar has been more stable and I have good energy,” he says. Matt, who learned he had type 1 diabetes as a teenager, also uses his success in the arena to bring awareness to the disease and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). During the WNFR, his tack included a Flavio Ribeiro breastcollar tooled with the JDRF name and signed by all of the steer wrestlers. It sold at auction for $1,000, and the proceeds went to Bacon Bash Texas, which raises funds for children with type 1 diabetes
When he’s not traveling, Matt enjoys hunting in the Panhandle and managing his small but ever-growing cow herd. “My in-laws run a lot of cattle, and I’ll help them out when I’m home. I also enjoy riding my younger horses, but we’re gone so much that it’s nice to just be home and see my son, Carson, and my wife, Savanah. She ran barrels for quite a while and won Calgary in 2010, so she’s rodeoed and had a lot of success.”
Matt’s next destinations on the rodeo trail include stock show rodeos around Texas, and Kissimmee, Florida, for the RNCFR after winning the Texas Circuit for the fourth time. “In April, I’ll be heading to the Champions Challenges, and by the end of June, I’ll be on the road for good,” he finishes. “My goal is to get Roy to the WNFR, and I’d like to finish first there sometime. When you get to this level, that might as well be your goal!”