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Member Spotlight

ACHA CONGRATULATES: Mike Randolph - 2018 Non Pro Derby World Champion riding Frostonthemesa

    If you asked many dedicated non pro cutters, some might confess that they work at their jobs just so they can cut. For Mike Randolph, rider and owner of 2018 ACHA Non Pro Derby Champion Frostonthemesa, it is just the opposite. Randolph said, “I don’t preach so I can cut; I cut so I can preach.” This cowboy minister believes the best way to reach people is by becoming a part of their culture. Gathering Strays, his aptly named ministry, “is a way to take the church to the people.” In appreciation of their involvement in cutting, Mike and wife Rosemary Randolph were inducted into the ACHA Members Hall of Fame in 2016."
    In the process of blending church and cutting, Randolph rode his roan mare Frostonthemesa to the 2018  Non Pro Derby Championship by competing with the people he was trying to reach in his ministry. Mike and his wife Rosemary raised the mare by Bet Hesa Cat out of their mare Rochelle by Docs Hallmark. Rochelle was purchased from Missy and Curly Tully and shown extensively by Mike, Rosemary, and Mike’s brother Ellis Randolph in the ACHA.  
    Frostonthemesa was a challenge. “She was wild as a March hare,” according to Randolph. Nevertheless, the mare was talented. Mike had her with trainer Chris Johnsrud as a three year old. Mike showed her at the NCHA futurity, where he barely missed the semi-finals after a review on a hot quit when the cow moved a foot. After the futurity, Randolph credits Mike Mowery and Billy Bob Moore with helping him keep the mare going during her four-year-old year. During much of the time when he was showing, Mike says he felt like he was riding one-legged because of complications of two knee surgeries. He always had his brother Ellis to “fall back on” for help with the mare. “He could fix almost anything,” Mike said. Ellis Randolph had been the “go to” person for many other ACHA cutters as well. Unfortunately, Ellis passed away a few weeks ago on October 18.
    The other person who deserves a lot of credit for making Frostonthemesa a winner is Mike’s wife Rosemary. She usually fed, exercised, and warmed up the mare at cuttings because of Mike’s knee problems. When it comes to cutting, he says, “It is not me; it is me and Rosemary. I would not have been able to show without her.” In Mike’s opinion, Rosemary likes cutting even more than he does. For him, “cutting is a tool; for Rosemary, it is therapy.”
    Something that has helped Randolph be successful in cutting is his attitude. “I don’t get nervous.” It did not matter if it was a jackpot or finals. “I never felt like I was competing against other people. You can’t make any difference in what they do.” He developed this attitude while competing in rodeos “before, during, and after college” at Texas A&M University. He rode bulls and saddle broncs and roped a little. He also met and married Rosemary while in college. In 1978 Mike graduated from A&M with a degree in agricultural economics, and he got into the ministry in 1984.
    Pastoring took Mike and Rosemary to ranches in West Texas near Alpine and Marfa or “anywhere there was a rodeo.”  He also preached in several rural churches in Iowa, Kentucky, and Missouri, or anywhere they could stop, “preferably near a river for fishing.”  Preaching also took Mike to places much farther away and much more dangerous. He spent time in the Amazon jungle with various tribes of Indians and in the Soviet Union with Christians avoiding persecution. Eventually, Mike and Rosemary settled near his family in Belton, but Mike has a bucket full of entertaining stories of his experiences as a missionary.
    With Mike’s World Championship buckle to add to his collection and the Gathering Strays ministry pulling in more and more people at cuttings, this story should have a happy ending. After all, every good story should have a happy ending. Unfortunately, this one does not. Mike and Rosemary’s beautiful young mare Frostonthemesa has been diagnosed with headshaking syndrome. It is a rare phenomenon that raises more questions than answers. It involves an irritated nerve in the skull that makes the horse hyper sensitive. Unfortunately, there is no known cure at this time.
    Mike has done extensive research plus taken the mare to numerous veterinarians, equine dentists, and chiropractors. None have been able to help. The head shaking has only gotten worse with time. According to what vets have told Mike, they are not sure if the condition is genetic or if it will get better or continue to get worse. At this point, Frostonthemesa is a five-year-old World Champion mare that cannot be ridden and will not be bred until more is known about the condition and how it is contracted.
    No doubt, Rosemary would like to have another horse, but Mike is not sure if they will have another show horse because he is still having trouble with his knees and because of the cost of a competitive horse. He says they have been blessed with good horses in the past even though “people would be shocked at how little we paid for them. Most were rejects.”
    Whether or not Mike or Rosemary ever show another cutting horse, they will continue to be involved with the people of cutting. Randolph hopes the ACHA will stay focused on grass roots cutters and people who cut because they love it and not for the money. He added, “If people chase money, they get in trouble.” Instead, he encourages cutters to remember the value of people helping people.

By:  Raena Wharton

 

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