Royce Ford comes from rodeo royalty, but when he hops on a horse, the people most likely to be cheering in the arena aren’t his Hall of Fame father or famous barrel-racing sister, but his friends in “The Wolfpack.”
Ford and fellow bareback riders Wes Stevenson, Will Lowe and Tom McFarland travel the country as The Wolfpack, sharing expenses and camaraderie, despite the competition they have in the ring.
“We’re that close, there’s no doubt,” said the professional bareback rider of his traveling mates and chief competition on the Pro Rodeo tour. They competed Tuesday night and will again tonight at the National Western Stock Show, Rodeo & Horse Show.
Ford, a 27-year-old from Briggsdale, in Weld County, has earned a closet full of championship belt buckles and nearly $900,000 in his eight-year pro career. His sister, Courtney, is a professional barrel racer. To boot, his wife, Katie, is the granddaughter of ProRodeo Hall of Famer Harry Vold.
His father, Bruce Ford, is one of the biggest names the sport has ever known, a five-time world champion and the subject of the big-screen documentary “Colorado Cowboy, The Bruce Ford Story,” a Sundance Film Festival winner in 1994, the year after he entered the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.
But Ford is not the only member of the pack with an impressive resume.
Stevenson, 29, of Kaufman, Texas, has won more than $620,000 in his nine-year pro career, including eight rodeo titles last year.
Lowe, 26, of Canyon, Texas, is a three-time world champion bareback rider, taking titles in 2003, 2005 and 2006. He ranked seventh in the world in 2008 and upped his career earnings to more than $1.3 million.
McFarland, 25, of Wickenburg, Ariz., also won eight belt buckles in 2008 to improve his career earnings to nearly $530,000 since going pro in 2001.
Their collective nickname was born in 2005, soon after they began traveling to rodeos together.
“We were having a big summer,” Royce recalled. “Everywhere we went, we were winning, first, second, third and fourth.
“It was over a Fourth of July weekend and we all showed up at this rodeo, and (pro bareback rider) Chad Klein said, ‘You guys are just a pack of wolves, don’t leave no scraps for none of us,’ and it just stuck.”
The four share the cost of a van and hotel rooms. Lowe chronicles their exploits in a blog, “Will Lowe’s Notes from the Circuit,” for , and the three videotape their adventures for the PRCA website and their own site.
In one episode, Ford’s Western drawl narrates as the four overlook the Southern California coastline before the Santa Maria Elks Championship Rodeo last June.
“Here we are in California; started in Arkansas two days ago,” Ford said. “Who would have thought this rodeo life would take us to the beach? We’re going to go win title money and probably come back and try a little surfing.”
Lowe won the title money later that day.
Stevenson had won the bareback title two days earlier in Fort Smith, Ark. The next day, Ford won in Silver City, N.M., and McFarland earned money at all four events.
In an interview with the TV show “Rodeo Tonight” last year, McFarland described the Wolfpack as “brothers, if not closer.”
And sibling rivalry is part of the equation.
“It feeds fuel to the fire,” he told the show. “You know you can do it if he just got it done, and you want to do it better.”
Joey Bunch: 303-954-1174 or jbunch@denverpost.com
