The Score

The Score is the official podcast of The Team Roping Journal, the sport's publication of record. Launched in 2018, the show has published over 600 episodes across seven seasons, making it the most prolific and authoritative audio source in the team roping world. It is part of the Horse Radio Network and is produced by the editorial staff of The Team Roping Journal, which is part of the Equine Network family of publications.

The show is hosted by Chelsea Shaffer, Equine Network's Western Editorial Director with a special focus on The Team Roping Journal and The Breakaway Roping Journal. Shaffer is a graduate of Ohio University's Honors Tutorial College and won the 2017 WPRA Media Award along with numerous American Horse Publications Awards for her reporting. She brings a journalist's discipline to every interview — asking the questions that ropers actually want answered, getting competitors to open up about the mental and strategic sides of the sport that rarely surface in arena-side conversations.

The Score's format includes two main series. The flagship interviews are deep-dive, long-form conversations with the sport's biggest names — PRCA World Champions, NFR qualifiers, futurity winners, horse breeders, and the behind-the-scenes figures who shape the industry. The Short Score is a more frequent, rapid-fire format covering recent results, rodeo recaps, standings updates, and quick-hit interviews timed to the competition calendar. Together, the two formats create the most comprehensive audio coverage of professional team roping available anywhere.

The show has featured virtually every major figure in modern team roping. Recent guests include PRCA World Champions Tyler Wade and Wesley Thorp, NFR legends like Coleman Proctor and Kaleb Driggers, and horse market experts breaking down the economics behind the sport's $1.7 million rope horse sales. The Score's annual top-episode lists and heel horse of the year debates have become anticipated events in the roping community. The podcast has also produced some of the sport's most emotionally powerful episodes, including the story of Steer 27 and the late Ace Ashford — a piece that transcended roping and resonated across the entire western community.

For anyone who follows team roping — whether you're a PRCA cardholder chasing the NFR, a weekend jackpot roper, or someone who just loves watching headers and heelers work — The Score is the podcast that keeps you inside the conversation. Chelsea Shaffer and the Team Roping Journal staff deliver the inside story on the people, horses, and moments that define the sport.