A Conversation With...Bobby Hurley
By Lisa Broadwater

Just about anyone who rides competitively is familiar with Hurley's Arena in Clarksville — the indoor-outdoor setup hosts equine events practically every weekend of the year. Those who shop for the latest in tack no doubt have ventured inside Hurley's Western Wear, one of the largest tack stores in the state. Take a drive alongside the two, and you'll catch a glimpse of the sprawling BH Hurley Ranch — an 8,000-acre spread that is legendary, especially in the Quarter horse and roping worlds, thanks to two generations of Hurleys.
Bob Hurley first started breeding Quarter horses back in 1960. His goal: to breed champion Quarter horses that excelled in the rodeo arena and as cow horses. In the process, he added a major longhorn cattle operation along the way. Within time, he had amassed close to 400 horses (including a number of national champions) and about as many longhorns.
Not surprisingly, all three Hurley children — Bobby, Libby and Fenton — have become an integral part of the family business. Libby is a barrel racer. Fenton runs Hurley's Western Wear. And after making quite a name for himself as a team roper (he was two-time PRCA World Champ, BFI Champ, George Strait Champ and attended the National Finals Rodeo 15 times), Bobby returned home in 2002 to oversee the operation.
Roundup editor Lisa Broadwater sat down with Bobby recently as he was preparing for the second production sale of Hurley Quarter horses (on April 10) and preparing to host a team roping school April 24-25. On this chilly Sunday morning, he was overseeing a team-penning event; his 14-year-old daughter Brooke was nearby, helping out with the concession stand (he has three other children: Brittany, 11; Blake, 7; and Bobby, aka "Little Bob," 3).

Horsemen's Roundup: You grew up on the ranch and started riding when you were how old?
Bobby Hurley: I can remember ropin' off a horse when I was 7.

HR: When did you start competing in team roping?
BH: 1985.

HR: How many years did you compete on the circuit?
BH: Seventeen, from fall 1985 to spring 2002.

HR: What was your best year?
BH: I won the world in '93 and '95. I was a million-dollar cowboy, which at the time was pretty rare. When I started, it was hard to win $50,000.

HR: What makes a good roper?
BH: Talent. Hard work. Being able to suck it up when the times are bad. The effort — I've put on a lot of clinics, and I'll have everything from SWAT team guys to pro baseball players, and they'll tell you ropin's the hardest thing they've ever done.

HR: How much has roping changed over the years?
BH: Probably from when I started in '85 to '90, it didn't change a whole lot. But from '90 to 2000, it got a lot more competitive because the money got a lot better. And any time you get more money, it's gonna get more competitive.

HR: Do you think Little Bob will be a roper?
BH: I don't know. I've tried every way in the world to keep him from it, and all he wants to do is swing a rope.

HR: Why don't you want him to be a roper?
BH: It's a hard life. It's fun and all that, but very few people get to do it like I did it. Very few people can make a living at it.

HR: How many horses do you have at the ranch now?
BH: We're running close to 200 head. We're usually a little more than that; we've had up to 350 or 400.

HR: Are you scaling back?
BH: Yeah. You can have two horses or 50 head of cattle. They're both the same amount of work.

HR: What do you breed for?
BH: Performance horses, mainly roping and barrel racing. And a lot of people buy them for polo horses. They're bigger-boned horses than most people want; they've been kind of phased out. They wanted to breed a little head into a big horse, but you can't do that — a head's a bone too. But my dad hung in there and stayed with what he thought was right. That's the way most of our mares are bred.

HR: How big is the place?
BH: Around 8,000 acres, with about 450 head of longhorns.

HR: Is that typically how many you have?
BH: We're probably upsizing a little bit.

HR: So you switching your focus from horses to cattle?
BH: There's less man hours. The horses are so time-consuming, and we have so many horses, it's hard to get to them.

HR: Where do you market the longhorns?
BH: I don't have to. If I had 100 head now, I could sell them for ropin' cows. I send 'em to California, Utah, all over.

HR: When was the arena built?
BH: 1983; that's when we covered it — the arena was already there. Back then, it was just for our personal use. When I was growing up, I think there were like 13 indoor arenas within two hours of here.

HR: What are some of the bigger events you host here?
BH: The Arkansas Rodeo Association finals. We have some Rope America ropings, the Heartland Tour Barrel Race, the Arkansas-Oklahoma Barrel Race. In October and November is when all your finals roll around.

HR: Is this horse country?
BH: Yeah, there's a lot of horses in this area. Of course, about all of the other arenas have gone under. You can't make a living with one of these. You're trying to pay for the building and the wages, and there's no way to make it work. So we've paid for in other ways than trying to put on events here.

HR: Then why do it?
BH: Oh, people want it and need to use it, like this team penning.

HR: Is it rented out every weekend, even in the winter?
BH: Pretty close. We could put on something every night of the week, if we wanted.

HR: When did you start renting it?
BH: About two years ago. It got to be that all the other indoor arenas went under and people started asking if they could use it.

HR: How long have you had the store?
BH: Since 1987 or '88.

HR: Why open a store?
BH: I started with a little rope business, and it grew. Then we started tack, and it blossomed. Now we're full-blown.

HR: What's the toughest aspect of living out here?
BH: It's so time-consuming. When you're running something like this, you start out at 7 in the morning, and you don't know whether you're gonna be home at seven in the evening or nine or 11. So it's hard to plan family stuff.
One of the reasons I quit ropin' was that I was gone so much. I missed just about all of Brooke's childhood. When I moved back, I thought I was gonna have more time with the family — and I do — but I'm still not home at 5 o'clock.

HR: Is everybody into horses?
BH: They run barrels; Brooke ropes. And she rides well — and not just because she's my daughter. Some kids just have it; some don't.

HR: Is it the same with roping, or can you learn to be a good roper?
BH: No. I can shoot baskets all day long, but it doesn't mean I can be in the NBA. It's the same way with ropin'.

HR: Is it a hand-eye thing?
BH: It's a lot of hand-eye coordination. And it's a feel.

HR: How important is the connection between horse and rider?
BH: Real important.

HR: What makes a good ropin' horse?
BH: A lot of time and effort.

HR: Have you always used your own stock?
BH: I buy and sell a lot of horses. I lived in California for 17 years. And I've still got a lot of connections out there. I started ropin' with a guy from California, and I met my wife out there.
When I started, you either had to live in Texas or California. Now, it's more spread out; there's more of it.

HR: Did you gradually take on more responsibility here when you quit roping?
BH: I won't say there's more responsibility because when you're competing, you're your own travel agent, you set everything up weeks down the road, and this is more sporadic. When you come to work each morning, you don't really know what you're going to do that day.
We feed at 7 o'clock, and by 8 o'clock there are three cars out here waiting to see you. A lot of it is just getting everybody on staff in sync. People are coming to buy horses, to buy cows. Someone may pull in and say, "I'd like to see your horses," and you're right in the middle of something else. And that goes on seven days a week, and you hope you have time to go to church. Sometimes you do, but a lot of time you don't.

HR: Do you ever get to ride for fun?
BH: Yeah, but you know I rode every day for years. Every day. As far as just getting on a horse and going riding, it's not appealing to me right now. That's one reason I quit. It wasn't because I couldn't win. I just didn't want to put forth the effort. The last year I was at the finals, I was the oldest guy there. I still like to rope, but I'm into ropin' once a week now instead of seven days a week.

HR: You're hosting a roping clinic here on April 24-25. Do you like doing those?
BH: Yeah, I enjoy that, I really do. I have a lot of repeat customers.

HR: What kind of people aren't suited to roping?
BH: Well, what gets you into trouble is the horse. I'll get, "Well, Sugar, here has never roped before and I've never roped before, and we thought we'd learn to rope together." But it just doesn't work that way. Sugar may not do what Sugar's supposed to do, and they end up quittin' before too long. You need to have a horse you can have fun on.

HR: Can a girl be as good a roper as a guy?
BH: Sure can. The girls won't put the time and effort in it that the guys will, though. You won't hardly ever see a girl rope a dummy. Very seldom. Guys'll sit there and rope it all day.

HR: Is life here different than when you were a kid?
BH: Not that much. We've got a lot of stuff going on. There's quite a bit of acreage here, and there's always somethin' happening — cuttin' timber, running calf lines, putting in a gas line....

HR: What's the toughest aspect of your day?
BH: Getting the Advil down, and hoping they take effect quick [laughs].
I miss rodeoin', as far as the competition, the guys I was friends with, the adrenaline rush. But I don't miss the travelin, bein' gone. The 9/11 deal was when I quit. The airports just got to be such a hassle, it was just a zoo everywhere you went. You'd go to an airport and be in line for two and a half hours. And I thought, "This is really a good time to quit because I'm not willing to put forth the effort."
I went ahead that year and made the national finals. I wanted to quit then, but I had a partner so I rodeoed most of the winter, through Houston and San Antonio and rodeos like that, and then when spring came I was done.

HR: Was your dad glad to have you back?
BH: I think so. He's 66 years old, and likes to be gone. And he has that luxury now. He does field trial competition hunts. If he doesn't want to be here at 7 in the morning, he doesn't have to be.

HR: What do you want to be doing when you're 66?
BH: I just hope I'm alive.

HR: Do you still do any roping?
BH: Yeah, I do. I'm in the Arkansas Rodeo Association. We put on their finals here in October.

HR: Who do you consider your biggest competitor these days?
BH: I don't really feel like I'm competin'. I've battled it out for so long with the best in the world. You get beat some days, and some days you don't. What tickles me is that when a lot of guys mess up, they throw this fit. And I'm thinkin,' "You oughta come out and play with these guys. You'd be throwin' that fit pretty regular." [laughs] You see 'em stompin' their hat and throwin' it on the ground when they mess up. It's like, "Oh my gosh. I can't believe how this guy is actin' over $200." Heck, I've missed 'em for 50, 60 thousand [dollars].

HR: What do you enjoy most about what you do?
BH: I love knowing where I'm gonna sleep at night. [laughs] I'm a pretty laid-back kind of guy. A lot of things don't bother me that would probably bother most people. The simple things is probably what I enjoy most. And just life in general.
Like this: I'd just as soon be right here hanging out with my daughter working the concession stand as running 90 miles an hour on my way to another rodeo.

HR: Do you see Little Bob taking over some day?
BH: If he wants to. And we're all still goin'. You know, horses and cattle — it's a lot of work. I don't think I could sit behind a desk. I could if I had to, but I don't want to.