Chelsey Bushnell Made a Living With Her Rope—Just Not the Way She Expected

Growing up in Red Bluff, California, Chelsey Bushnell pictured her rope taking her to the biggest stages in rodeo.

She roped calves and team roped, won back-to-back California high school state titles and carried that with her into college, once dreaming of becoming the first woman to rope at the NFR. Flash forward and her career did end up revolving around a rope—it just took a route she never expected.

On this episode of The Score, Bushnell chats with host Calli Montague about moving from college rodeo into the marketing world, working with brands including Cactus Ropes and turning a trick-roping talent she learned as a kid into the recognizable Chelsey Trick Ropes social presence. What began with hours spent roping the dummy eventually grew into brand collaborations, her own trick rope and another way to make a living in the industry she grew up loving.

Bushnell also explains why the trick roping has always been about more than entertaining people. At its core, she wants it to help ropers—especially kids—learn to handle a rope better and become more capable when a run does not go perfectly. As she puts it, the better somebody can handle a rope, the better they can rope in general.

As part of Women in Rodeo Month, Bushnell also reflects on the opportunities available to women today, the importance of faith, character and integrity, and her desire to use her platform to help and encourage the people around her. She may not have followed the exact path she imagined as a girl, but the rope has remained at the center of nearly every chapter.

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