Gas pedal down
The Return of T-Boy

In 2022, T-Boy was turned out to live a well-deserved retirement. In 2024, he came back. In 2025, he started winning.

Jackie Crawford and T-Boy strut out of the arena after a big win at the 2025 San Diego Rodeo.
Jackie Crawford and T-Boy strut out of the arena after a big win at the 2025 San Diego Rodeo. Photo by Fernando Sam-Sin

On Jan. 12, 2025, Jackie Crawford won the invitational San Diego Rodeo on legendary gelding “T-Boy,” putting an exclamation point on the return of one of the most formidable teams in breakaway roping history.

With times of 2.0 in the eight-man, 2.1 in the four-man and a 2.6 to break a tie with Josie Conner, T-Boy more than proved he was back and ready to fire with Crawford. In all, Crawford came away from California with $35,063.

Sunny San Diego

When Crawford heard she had been invited to San Diego, she only put one horse in the trailer—DS Sassy Shiner, known as T-Boy.

“It felt like his setup,” Crawford said. “When I cracked him out at the Kimes, he was good, but I hadn’t ridden him in a competition in 2-and-a-half years. I hadn’t been on one that scores and breaks to the line flat like he’s notorious for. I didn’t trust it, I drew some softer calves and broke the barrier a few times. I took him to [the NFBR] but it didn’t feel like it was his setup. I didn’t want to put that kind of pressure on him, so I rode my roan Trojan.”

But San Diego was T-Boy’s time.

In it’s second year, the San Diego Rodeo showed it’s staying power—selling out PetCo Park on Saturday.

“It had the feel of something really special,” Crawford said. “It felt like the beginning of Houston. Like, we’re going to look back in a few years and say that we were on the ground floor of that rodeo.”

The format saw 12 ropers compete in two go-rounds, with the top eight advancing based on earnings. Crawford and T-Boy tied friend Kelsie Domer for the win in Round 2, winning $3,063 and securing their spot for championship Sunday.

According to Crawford, the setup totally fit T-Boy, with a wide box and four-foot-under barrier, which is about as short as it gets.

Crawford and T-Boy roped their fastest time of the event in the eight-man round, a 2.0-second run, garnering another $2,000 and advancing to the round of four.

“You have to keep the gas pedal down on those types of deals,” Crawford said. “You want to rope [safer] but look who you’re roping with. The setup was fast, but you could break the barrier if you didn’t let the calf make a move.”

Find full breakaway results for the San Diego Rodeo here.

Things started getting hairy in the round of four, with Martha Angelone and Domer getting no-times. Crawford laughed as she said it would have been wise to play it safe, but she wanted the win.

“I’ve got the fastest young gun [Josie Conner] behind me, so it’s gas pedal down,” Crawford said.

She and Conner tied with a 2.1-second run, with the ground rules dictating there would be a rope-off. When Conner failed to connect in the rope-off, it became a catching game for Crawford.

“I didn’t want to back off the start because sometimes that makes it even harder,” Crawfod said. “And it would have been o.k. if I broke the barrier, as long as I got a time. I got out well and the calf stepped really hard left. I was so freaking proud of T-Boy, because I’d done nothing but throw on the second swing all weekend, so when that calf went left, T-Boy sucked around the end of the chute [after him,] got right behind him and let me take another swing.”

The 2.6-second run paid $30,000, but to Crawford, the sentimental value was even more.

“I back in the box every time knowing I can’t take any calf for granted,” Crawford said. “He’s 20-years-old this year.”

How’d T-Boy get here?

In 2022, Crawford unofficially retired T-Boy and put him out to pasture. At that point, he’d helped her capture the 2020 NFBR World Championship and WCRA Windy City Roundup Championship.

“I just kept him in the pasture and thought,” Crawford said. “‘Maybe one day.’ I’d made peace with the fact that I may never ride him again. He’d had some soft tissue damage in a front foot, and he’s always had a bad stifle. I just had to keep him going when we were rodeoing. He had a couple of injuries we just couldn’t get to the bottom of, and I’m not one to ride a horse if i think they’re hurt. I said, ‘This horse doesn’t owe me a thing.’ He had an amazing career.”

So T-Boy hung out in a pasture alongside the Crawford’s team roping arena, terrorizing people when they tried to catch other horses. When Crawford would rope, he’d tear it up. Running, stopping and turning as if to say, ‘Look at me!’

“I thought, ‘You’re definitely sound,'” Crawford recalled. “I got him checked out, and the vet said, ‘I haven’t seen this horse look like this in years.’ So we swam him and got him back in shape. After San Diego, I’ve got a lot of confidence in him.”

Now, Crawford is staring down the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo, where the ProRodeo performances start Friday, Jan. 24. If things progress how they have been, T-Boy is getting the call.

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