A Shoe-In: Brushton Minton’s Rise Features Incremental Growth, Side Work to Keep Horses Sound

There were days when the results weren’t always fast enough to cash a check. Thankfully, Brushton Minton had something to fall back on.

During the early years of his Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association career, the Witter Springs, Calif., native hit the road with the intent of honing his craft. A tie-down roper nationally with a focus on team roping and steer wrestling at the circuit level, Minton turned pro in 2018. It took him four seasons to finish inside the top 50 in tie-down roping.

There were plenty of times when he would ride back to his trailer, untack his horse and take a moment to collect his thoughts. Then, he’d get back to work – his other work.

“When I got out of high school, I wasn’t quite good enough to go to the pros, so I just decided to keep on shoeing horses and work on getting my skills up,” Minton said. “It’s a good skill to have when you have a lot of horses and you need some extra money.”

Years later, Minton isn’t as reliant on his side hustle, but it’s a expertise that certainly comes in handy.

With nearly $60,000 in tie-down earnings already for 2026, Minton is sitting third in the PRCA World Standings. Because of his success in team roping, he’s also third in the All-Around World Standings. All of this puts him on a path to his third career and second straight appearance at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

It’s a rapid rise up the PRCA leaderboard. Yet, Minton remains grounded thanks to an upbringing that is authentically western.

Brushton Minton makes a tie-down roping run — Brushton Minton and his longtime equine partner, Gunny, have been mainstays in tie-down roping the last few years. | Fernando Sam-Sin/@fsamsin

His father, Casey, is a lifelong cowboy, training and shoeing horses, while also competing professionally for many years. Casey earned the Linderman Award in 1993, which recognizes a cowboy who won at least $1,000 in PRCA competition in three different events during a single season, with one being timed and the other being roughstock.

While he was homeschooled, Brushton also got the opportunity to tag along with his father as a kid while he was on the job. Very quickly, he came to appreciate the value of hard work.

“I don’t want to do as many as he does. That guy is crazy. You can’t wear him out. He slowed down and he still does five or six horses a day, five days a week. That’s him slowing down,” Brushton joked. “He wouldn’t even take me if he was going to just do 10. He wouldn’t take me unless he was doing 12 or 13. We’d get up and be shoeing in the dark at 6 o’clock in the morning, and shoeing until about 3 or 4 in the afternoon, and then come home and ride horses and rope.”

During his first few years as a professional, Brushton often balanced competition with helping his fellow competitors. If he was going to be in town for a few days, he'd line up appointments for shoeing.

These days, he’s narrowed his clientele and workload. He shoes his own horses, but is happy to assist a friend in need or pick up some additional scratch if the competition doesn't result in a payday.

“Shoeing horses, you make good money, but it is a lot of work. You’re bent over, horses are pulling on you, your legs are burning, your back is burning,” Brushton said. “I’ve got a couple friends out there and I’ve got to do their horses all year. Sometimes, I’ll just tell them I’m roping this day and I don’t want to do that many and they get it. But if you’re losing, you’ve got to do it. If you ain’t winning at the rodeo, then you’ve got to shoe some horses.”

Thankfully, those days are getting few and far between.

After winning the average at the California Circuit Finals Rodeo in December, Brushton picked up round money in Denver, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Houston during the winter. Before taking a break to get married on May 2, he closed April with a round win in Clovis, Calif., and a third-place finish at The Desert Rodeo in Thermal, Calif.

Additionally, he’s added some horsepower to his trailer. While his longtime equine partner, Gunny, is still available, he recent acquired a 17-year-old named Trump. The horse has been his primary mount since early April, producing well so far.

The goal is to stay up in the rankings until the end of September. Between now and then, he’s got work to do, mostly in the arena. But an occasional shoeing is also on the table.

“I feel like I’m just kind of steadily getting better every year. I just keep on stepping up every year. I feel like I’m roping better, I’m higher in the world standings, winning more now,” Brushton said. “I feel like I’ve been putting a lot of work into it and trying to get the horses right underneath me and it’s starting to pay off this year.”

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