Every cowboy will tell you: The road can be alluring.
She winks at you with a smile and a nod, like one of Homer’s Sirens, and for that you’ll take the bumps and the bruises, the miles upon miles and the droopy eyes.
Until, one day, you won’t. At least, not with all of your being, all of your energy, all of your time. Sometimes it’s a new relationship, or kids coming of age, or one bump too many.
When Joseph Parsons decided to cut back a few years ago, he knew what he was giving up: a true chance at the dream of all dreams, the National Finals Rodeo.
His one appearance went down like a lead Zeppelin — after qualifying for the 2010 NFR in Las Vegas in seventh place, he slipped to 15th following a streak of rotten luck, bad draws and uneven performances — and scaling back from around 80 rodeos a year, essentially life on the road, to even 40 would likely cost him a shot at the finals.
He had other interests, though, other priorities. Nearing 30 — he’s 31 now — he wasn’t so much worried about his shot at rodeo glory as his shot at a respectable living. The son of five-time NFR qualifier Joe Parsons, and the nephew of Clay, the younger Parsons and his siblings learned the value of a dollar early in life. They watched their father maintain a construction business while competing at the highest level of rodeo, and that lesson sunk in.
Now Joseph Parsons is back in the saddle, so to speak, upping his rodeo entries all while running multiple businesses, including a cattle feed lot and Marana’s Wentz Point Arena, which will host its first muley team roping event on Monday at 2 p.m., after slack performances at La Fiesta de los Vaqueros.
The arena will be covered this summer at some point, allowing for summer barrel racing and roping performances.
“My dad is a rodeo cowboy, but he’s also a businessman, and he always put that in me and my sisters, that we needed to do more than just rodeo,” said Parsons.
“Since I was 10, 11, 12, I was thinking about business. It always bugged me — when I was gone, I always thought, ‘I need to get something going.’”
And he has, while simultaneously seasoning some younger horses on which he now rides. After taking some time off after a pair of disappointing seasons in 2011-12 to get his head straight, he’s found his groove once more.
It’s not like he gave it up for good. “A lot of it, I just went where I wanted to go; there’s just a few rodeos a guy enjoys,” — and even being at home, he said, he was still roping and taking care of horses every day.
But he sure looks refreshed now.
Maybe it’s because things are so settled at home; maybe his mind is just right again.
Whatever it is, it worked: On Sunday, he and partner Lane Siggins won the team-roping go-round with an 8.6.
“You’re never really out,” he said. “When I say it was put on pause, I mean I wasn’t traveling the same. I was out there a couple years ago, on my good horse, and he was sore. I was kind of tired of being gone. I just wanted to come home and do some other things.
“Well, Ellensburg was going on, Caldwell (both rodeos) was going on, and I’m sitting there, and I’m thinking, what am I doing home?” He seems to have found a good balance now, for today, and for tomorrow.
“I don’t look at business as a backup,” he said. “I guess a guy has to be a good multi-tasker. When I get to a rodeo, I am a rodeo cowboy, and when I get home, I take care of my business. My dad expected a lot out of us, in the arena, but he wanted a lot for us out of it.
“My sister sells commercial real estate, and she still runs. My other sister is in charge of the bookkeeping for my father’s business, and she still does it.
“You’re not going to find a lazy Parsons.”
