ALLEN, Texas – There’s a common thread among old-school Texans: You’ve got to work for
what you want.
Pete Carr understands that. In life, and in business, he carries a simple philosophy, but its
foundation works wonders.
So does Carr, who established Carr Pro Rodeo five years ago and has turned it into one of the
elite livestock producers in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. He puts together a strong
work ethic with quality animal athletes.
With Pete, you can tell he’s working hard at getting a good set of bulls,” said Ardie Maier, a
Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifying bull rider from Timber Lake, S.D. “It helps, because it gives
everybody a chance.”
To give contestants that opportunity, Carr knows what it takes.
“The luckiest people I know are the hardest-working people I know,” said Carr, who founded
the company on a love for livestock and a deep passion for the sport of rodeo. And we have some of the
hardest working people that work with us throughout the year. “If you keep working at it, and surround
yourself with a great core group of people, things should work out for our company.”
Carr Pro Rodeo will be a big part of the Tom Thumb Texas Stampede, set for 7:30 p.m. Friday-
Saturday, Nov. 12-13, at the Allen Events Center. The event will feature the top cowboys and cowgirls
in ProRodeo, but it will also feature some of the greatest animal athletes in the business, like those from
the Dallas-based livestock firm.
In a relatively short time, Carr Pro Rodeo has put together a lineup of outstanding bucking horses
and bulls. River Boat Annie was the PRCA’s reserve world champion bareback horse in 2007 and has
carried cowboys to championships all across this land.
“River Boat Annie and Real Deal, the 2005 world champion bareback horse, are just kind of the
staples of our program,” Carr said. “They’re still going strong and haven’t missed an NFR. We’ve got
a lot of young horses coming on that we’ve been raising and you hopefully will be writing about them
soon.”
Carr has been around the sport all his life. It’s only been in the last few years that he’s taken his
roll to a much stronger level.
“I started riding bareback horses in high school and went to mostly amateur rodeos with a few
ProRodeos mixed in,” he said. “I grew up watching every Wrangler National Finals Rodeo at 2 in the
morning and every ESPN Wrangler World of Rodeo telecast, along with reading the ProRodeo Sports
News magazine two and three times. I was just in awe with the PRCA … so I feel extremely blessed
to be a part of something as special as the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and to be able to
produce rodeos at this level.”
To raise champion livestock, Carr has called on world champion cowboys. Over recent years,
top rodeo hands have put their experience and expertise to work on the ranch. In fact, the foreman of the
Athens, Texas, ranch is Jeff Collins, the 2000 bareback riding world champion.
“I knew Jeff for 15 years, and the timing for both of us just worked out,” Carr said. “He does
everything from feed, spray pastures to making our hay, worming and doctoring all the livestock to
cutting grass or building fence. There is nothing, I have found, that he can’t do.”
He also enlists the services of one of the unsung bullfighters in the sport, Scotty Spencer, who
works alongside Collins on the ranch. When he’s not working in the arena, he’s got his hands involved
in much of the ranch work.
“With the ranch and all the livestock, various houses, equipment, machinery and vehicles that
we have, that’s a huge investment to have down in Athens with our main office is in Dallas,” Carr
said. “But it’s been a real blessing for my wife, Sherrill, and I to have someone as consciences as Jeff
and Scotty down there taking care of everything like it was their own.
“I just try to surround myself with good people that know more than I do and try to learn all I can
from them.”
The success of any good organization is planted deep, and Carr’s is no different. The firm also
provides stock at some of the biggest rodeos in the country, from Fort Worth to San Antonio to Houston
to the All-American Series finale to the Wrangler NFR.
“To be the best in the business, you have to have a great team that works hard and have a lot of
luck along the way,” Carr said. “You’ve got to try and be the best stock contractor everyday at every
event, bringing the best timed event cattle, bucking horses and bulls and continue to improve your herd.
Basically, you’ve got to keep pushing every aspect of the operation.”
And with a developing and growing pen of great bucking beasts, there’s a lot to be proud of for
Pete Carr. But he won’t rest on his laurels.
“We’ve really focused on our bulls lately,” he said, noting that Air Up There was named the
Texas Circuit’s bull of the year in 2008. “We’ve bought quite a few bulls this winter, and we’ve seen
some success. We all know it takes constantly working at it to be the best, and that’s our goal at every
rodeo.”
It goes back to work. It’s a theme, a philosophy, a way of life.
“Pete has some of the best bucking horses in the business, and he works really hard at putting
on the best rodeos,” said Ken Stonecipher, a key member of the Guymon (Okla.) Pioneer Days Rodeo
committee and ProRodeo announcer. “He’s a perfectionist, and that’s a good thing when you’re in this
business. He doesn’t want to settle for being second best. He wants to be the best.”
