In 2017, a jump ride on a sorrel gelding owned by Travis Graves ignited a chain of events that would reinvent the career of Jade Corkill, a three-time Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association world champion heeler.

In 2015, Travis purchased JLC Royal American as a 6-year-old from Gary Hughes in Oklahoma. Travis saw not only an amazing athlete, but an incredibly well-bred one at that. The gelding’s sire, Royal Always, traces to racing royalty First Down Dash and his sire, Dash For Cash. JLC Royal American’s dam, Leos All American, goes back to Shining Spark, a $4 million dollar sire in the National Reined Cow Horse Association. For what he lacked in chrome, “Huey” made up in pedigree.

Two years later in Redmond, Oregon, Travis let Jade ride Huey. He was hooked instantly.

“The way he worked is how every one of my great horses has worked. I wanted to buy him right there and then, but Travis didn’t want to sell him,” Jade says. “Huey was such a nice horse that Travis really wanted to try to click with him. He went back and forth a couple times over the summer about selling him.”

Meanwhile, Jade’s horse “Caveman” (Fine Snip Of Doc) had been sidelined several times with what should have been career-ending injuries. The two-time AQHA-PRCA Heel Horse of the Year (2010 and 2012) wouldn’t be easy to replace. Jade’s young horse was a bit too green to really step up, and just as Jade took a step back to regroup, his phone rang.

“Travis acknowledged that he and Huey weren’t the best fit for each other. He offered him to me, and I bought him right there on the phone in August 2018. I hadn’t ridden him in over a year, but I still knew exactly how it had felt when I rode him. I think I said I’d buy him before Travis even asked if I was still interested.”

The 2009 gelding was about to set Jade’s career on fire after a hiatus from pro rodeo competition. Together, they hit the practice pen with Jade’s mom and sister.

“He instantly made me better,” Jade says. “He didn’t need any training, he didn’t need to do anything different, but I sure did. He has that ‘it factor.’ A good rope horse is more than 50 percent of the equation, they just are.”

In the span of a week in April 2019, Jade climbed 29 spots in the world heeling standings. During the summer run, Huey helped Jade shoot up the standings; they earned $25,000 during the lucrative Fourth of July rodeos. By the end of the season, after being 45th in April, Jade was sitting third in the world. Huey had brought Jade back to life.

Huey’s breeding had created the perfect heel horse – one that could really run and one that could really drag his behind and help a cowboy out.

“He rides like my horse ‘Ice Cube’ did – and that’s about the highest compliment I can give a horse. He watches, and he tries to help you catch. Setting up a shot is harder than roping the feet. When you have a horse that moves his body to help you have the best shot, that’s something special.”

Huey is admittedly quite quirky.

“I swear he’s half pony: Food is his life,” Jade says. “You’d better feed him first, or he’s going to kick the walls or the fence down. Sometimes, we’ll be walking along at a rodeo, and all of a sudden your arm about gets ripped out of the socket because he has seen six pieces of grass. And he has most likely stepped on his lead rope trying to get them! He might not always know where his feet are outside of the arena, but he know when it’s go time.”

Huey’s quirks are what helped Jade realize something was wrong in October 2019.

“We were warming up, and he was just acting like an idiot.” The unflappable horse was bolting when horses loped by, and he was pouring sweat.

“I tied him to the fence to get him some water, came back, and he’d dug a trench waiting for me, which was extremely unusual. He wasn’t colicking, he wasn’t tying up, but I made an appointment with my vet for the next day to just make sure everything was OK. I went ahead and roped anyways, and he worked just fine. I thought I was being paranoid until he started acting abnormally again.”

The next day, it was determined that Huey had a torn sacroiliac ligament and an inflamed stifle. Jade immediately jumped into action to do everything possible to rehab Huey. Jade’s return to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas in December was rapidly approaching, and Huey had gotten him there.

“He put me back on the map. He gave me my confidence back. I didn’t want to go without him,” Jade says.

Immediately, Jade and his vet jumped on a rehab program that included PRP (platelet-rich plasma) therapy, PEMF (pulsed electromagnetic field) therapy and shockwave treatments.

“I had a guy coming to do PEMF therapy every other day for almost three weeks,” Jade says. “Anything that seemed to help, we stuck with it.”

By mid-November, Jade was able to ride Huey.

His game plan at the time? “I’m not roping on him until I have to. We are working on his fitness and slowly coming back as efficiently as we can.”

Jade’s patience paid off, and he and Huey made it to the NFR in Las Vegas the beginning of December. They went on to place in six out of 10 rounds, earning $91,807.69. Jade and Huey finished sixth in the NFR average standings and fourth in the world standings, with earnings of more than $225,000.

Post-NFR, Jade realizes he will have to save Huey for the rodeos that matter.

“I know I rode him too much (last) year. I need to save him for where it really counts,” he says. “I have two nice rookie horses that need the miles elsewhere.”

Jade has a reputation for having some of the greatest heel horses in rodeo: Switchblade (registered as Owens Cub), Ice Cube, Jackyl and Caveman. And now JCL Royal American can be added to the list – the horse who helped Jade launch back onto the rodeo scene like he’d never missed a minute.