Less than a season into their run together, Rahlmann is willing to put Player in rare company.
That company would be Blue, the all-there blue-roan gelding that helped carry the Missouri man to his first Finals in 2021, where he and Douglas Rich won $74,227 a man. A year later, Rahlmann loaned Blue to Tanner Tomlinson, who headed for Patrick Smith as they set an NFR team roping earnings record with $199,726 each.
Rahlmann has called Blue “priceless” and credited him with having “everything to do” with making his first NFR.
Now, 9-year-old Player has worked his way into that same conversation.
“No disrespect to Blue because Blue means so much to me and my family,” the 25-year-old said, “but I’m not so sure that this horse isn’t the best rodeo horse I’ve ever had.”
Player, by Evelyns Wave and out of Playguns Rosebud by Gringo Pistolero, came to Rahlmann through longtime family friends Tim and Glenda Glasco of Southern Illinois, along with their daughter Lauren Myers and son-in-law Eric Myers. Rahlmann has bought countless horses through the family over the years, including horses that went on to play major roles in his program.
DH Playguns Wave, a.k.a. Player
Player, however, wasn’t originally supposed to be one of them.
He had been Lauren’s personal horse, and she had made several amateur finals roping breakaway on him. At the beginning of 2026, the family planned to send him south to Paul Eaves to be sold as an all-around head, heel and breakaway horse.
“I truthfully didn’t even really know he was that good to head on,” Rahlmann said.
On Jan. 3 at 377 Arena in Stephenville, Texas, the two horses Rahlmann had with him were both injured on the same day. Suddenly short on horsepower, Rahlmann asked if he could try Player before the gelding was sold.
After seeing if Player could truly play the game and putting him to the test when he tried him, Rahlmann had a pretty good idea of what kind of horse he was dealing with.
Within a week or two, Rahlmann took him to the Lone Star Shootout and made it back all four times. From there, Player went to San Antonio and helped Rahlmann advance out of his set, then did the same at RodeoHouston, where Rahlmann also won his Wild Card. They followed that with a second-place finish at Jackson.
“The rest was kind of history,” Rahlmann said.
Rahlmann now owns Player outright, and what has separated the 9-year-old most is the same characteristic that made Blue so valuable: he works everywhere.
Rahlmann has ridden Player at places as wide-open as Salinas and Cheyenne, but he has also been 3.8 on him at Spanish Fork. That versatility matters to Rahlmann, whose rodeo horses have to handle everything from long scores and fresh cattle to fast indoor setups.
“He’s got impeccable timing with your rope as far as he runs through the horns, but then comes back so good,” Rahlmann said. “He finishes so good. He scores good. There’s times you got to pull on him a little to score, but it just seems like he does everything one has to do.”
It is a story that sounds familiar.
Years earlier, Rahlmann said Blue could be 3.7 at Spanish Fork one day and 9 seconds at Salinas the next. He described Blue as a horse that scored, stayed flat, pulled strong and had a good finish.
Player has given him much of that same confidence.
“He’s one of those horses that works everywhere,” Rahlmann said.
Player has also stayed extremely sound, but Rahlmann learned during the spring that keeping his new No. 1 feeling good did not necessarily mean treating him like a porcelain doll.
“I felt like pampering him at that age and that spot in his career might have actually not been the best thing for him,” Rahlmann laughed.
Now, Player almost always gets saddled when Rahlmann practices. That doesn’t mean running a ton of steers every day, but Rahlmann wants him rode down, scored on and running enough cattle to stay mentally and physically legged up.
“He’s a pretty tough horse when he’s fresh,” Rahlmann said. “A guy dang sure has to keep him rode—he’s all there.”
“I think that those horses like him that are really sound and really tough-minded and just kind of raw and tough all over, I think he’s a little bit like an 18-year-old kid,” he continued. “He needs the crap worked out of him.”
Blue earned his place in Rahlmann’s family by proving himself over years, more than one time at the Thomas & Mack and under more than one guy.
Player has only had part of one season to build his résumé, but it won’t take much longer than that. For a horse Rahlmann wasn’t even sure was good enough to keep up in January, being mentioned alongside Blue by August says plenty about the game Player is playing.
