PRECIOUS SPECK aka “WALT” (1990-2010)

PRECIOUS SPECK aka “Walt” (1990-2010)

4x AQHA-PRCA Team Roping Head Horse of the Year (2003, 2007, 2008, 2009)

2015 🏆 PRO RODEO HALL OF FAME INDUCTEE

Owned by PRCA Team Roper, Travis Tryan

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“When I got Walt I was 19 years old, and when I first rodeoed on him I was 20 and made the Finals,” Travis Tryan said. “We kind of started our careers at the same time, and I learned a lot from him. He was so good that all I had to do was go out and rope, and he took care of the rest.”

PRECIOUS SPECK, aka “Walt”, 2015 ProRodeo Hall of Fame Inductee

April 23, 2015

Travis Tryan’s American Quarter Horse Precious Speck was one of the best to ever carry a team roping header. The 1990 bay gelding by Skid Frost and out of Precious Rhythm by Mr. H. Z. was bred by Walk and Pat Vermedahl.

Precious Speck, best known as “Walt,” was voted the AQHA-Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Team Roping Heading Horse of the Year from 2007-09 and four times overall (also in 2003). He was also third in the balloting twice.

“This is like a family member going into the Hall of Fame,” Tryan said. “When you have a horse for 10 years, and he’s a huge part of your career, to see him go into the Hall is one of the coolest things that can happen.”

Tryan once called Walt “the greatest horse that has ever lived.” He rode Walt nine times at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (2001-09). His brother, Clay (a three-time world champion), rode Walt at the 2001 WNFR, as did 21-time world champion Trevor Brazile in 2005.

“When I got Walt I was 19 years old, and when I first rodeoed on him I was 20 and made the Finals,” Travis Tryan said. “We kind of started our careers at the same time, and I learned a lot from him. He was so good that all I had to do was go out and rope, and he took care of the rest.”

While riding Walt at the 2008 WNFR, Travis Tryan and his partner, Cory Petska, tied the then-world record time of 3.5 seconds in the eighth round.

The horse died April 24, 2010, of an aneurysm while warming up for morning slack at the Clovis (California) Rodeo. He was 20.

Walt was buried under an oak tree at PRCA team roper Bert McGill’s Annadale Equine Center in nearby Sanger, California.

NEWS MEDIA & PHOTO CREDITS:

“ProRodeo Hall of Fame Inductees” – Precious Speck, Travis Tryan’s four-time heading horse of the year, joins seven cowboys to be honored by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association in 2015 | AQHA.com (courtesy of the PRCA) | April 23, 2015
“Precious Speck” | 2015 ProRodeo Hall of Fame Inductee | ProRodeoHallofFame.com

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