Frontier Rodeo Company has produced some of the top horses in the professional rodeo game for many years — notably saddle bronc horse “Medicine Woman” and bareback horse “Full Baggage,” who have earned a combined total of six PRCA stock of the year awards.

When it comes to RFD-TV’s The American, presented by Dish, two other Frontier Rodeo Company superstars reign supreme. For the last three years, the bareback riding competition has been won on a big-muscled bay named “Show Stomper,” while the saddle bronc has been won for the past two years aboard “Maple Leaf,” a tank of a mare.

Watch The American LIVE Feb. 18-25 FloRodeo. 

The most successful bucking animal of The American since its inception has undoubtedly been Show Stomper. The bay started off at The American by helping Steven Peebles to a second place finish with their impressive 87-point score, but the horse wasn’t finished yet.

 Footage courtesy of RFD-TV Events, LLC

Show Stomper came back to help competitors to three consecutive wins at The American, including helping Huntsville, Texas, cowboy Taylor Price win $600,000 in 2015 with their 89.75-point score. Show Stomper then went on to an 88.5-point score with Tanner Aus in 2016, and returned once again in 2017 with the now two-time world champion Tim O’Connell to win the event for a third time with 90.25 points.

Frontier Rodeo Company is responsible for arranging the stock for The American, and rodeo manager Heath Stewart has already slated the top notch horse for the four-man shoot-out round. Stewart describes the 12-year-old gelding as a “wild” horse that likes to snort and blow, and isn’t a fan of humans, even though they’re a fan of the scores that get them to the leaderboard. 

“He’ll blow in the air and if they go to riding him he will change stuff up to try to buck them off," Stewart said. "He handles pretty good as long as you don’t get him stirred up; if you don’t get him stirred up he’ll load easily, stands good, but he’s not real gentle."

Bareback rider Tanner Aus picked a good rodeo to draw Show Stomper, for the first and only time, and that draw resulted in $100,000 in Aus’ pocket. 

“Frontier's Show Stomper is an incredible animal athlete,” Aus said. “He leaves hard and bucks hard the whole time. He sends your feet and if you don't stay ahead of him he'll put you in the dirt.

“A lot of that day was a blur but I remember the ride feeling like the best ride I've ever made and, although it wasn't my highest score, it was definitely the most important score I've ever received," Aus recalled.

The next horse packs a punch both on the scoreboard and in the feed trough. Stewart laughs about the “rolly polly” mare that he estimates weighs in at around 1,500 pounds.

Footage courtesy of RFD-TV Events, LLC

“Maple Leaf, on the other hand, she’s the total opposite [of Show Stomper]. She’s more or less a big ol’pig,” laughed Stewart. “She’ll come up and eat out of your hand, wants you to rub on her, she’s the first one to the feed tub — she’s just a pet.”

The easy-to-handle mare can then turn around and help you win the rodeo, making her a top draw both in the sometimes treacherous bucking chute and on the scoreboard. 

“Maple Leaf’s got a lot of drop to her, she don’t travel very far,” Stewart said. “She’s got kind of a slow action, but she does have a lot of drop in her and hits the ground hard — she’s a big ol’horse.”

A lot of money has been won on the back of this 10-year-old horse — Wade Sundell took home $1.1 million in 2016 with a score of 90.75, and just last year Cody DeMoss rode Maple Leaf to the tune of 88.25 points to win $433,333. 

Stewart says it’s looking like the mare will be back again at The American in the long round, and he carefully prepares the list of stock for the event. 

“It means a lot to us — we put all the horses together for the whole deal, so everything that we bring we want to do well,” Stewart said. “We want it to be that if the cowboy doesn’t win, it’s their own fault, we don’t want it to be the animal’s fault.”