Brayden Chee hefted his rope, studying the set of horns on the dummy set 27 feet in front of him. The 9-year-old boy adjusted his loop, the familiar “zip, zip” sound of the rope filling the room at the Plaza Casino in Las Vegas. His roping arm encased in a white plastic splint, Chee took his shot.
Chee lost his thumb just weeks before in a November roping accident. By the time the RopeSmart World Championship dummy roping began in December, he'd already undergone surgery to reattach his thumb and relearned to rope with his pointer and middle finger.
For Chee, earning his World Champion title in that final catch at the RopeSmart competition was validation of his intense dedication to his craft—a dedication that's stretched his entire lifetime and began in the remote, dusty
