On November 21, 2025, three events were stripped from the Las Vegas rodeo calendar in a single joint statement. The National Finals Breakaway Roping got a second chance. The PRCA Permit Challenge never did.
Three weeks before the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo was set to open at the Thomas and Mack Center, the South Point Hotel and Casino notified the PRCA and WPRA that it could not safely host the events scheduled at its arena. Gone in that one notice were the 2025 National Finals Breakaway Roping, the PRCA Permit Challenge, and the Benny Binion Bucking Horse Sale. The rodeo world had roughly 36 hours of warning before it became public.
The cause was a fast-moving equine herpesvirus outbreak that had already jumped state lines before most people in the industry understood the scale of what was happening.
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It Started at a Barrel Racing Event in Waco
The Women’s Professional Rodeo Association World Finals and Elite Barrel Race ran November 5 through 9, 2025, at the Extraco Events Center in Waco, Texas. Around 1,000 horses attended. In the days after the event, horses that had competed began showing neurological symptoms.
On November 18, the Texas Animal Health Commission officially notified the WPRA that attendees had tested positive for Equine Herpesvirus-1, specifically its neurological form known as Equine Herpes Myeloencephalopathy, or EHM. That same evening, Texas Commissioner Sid Miller issued a statewide alert. By November 19, both the Boot Barn Prairie Circuit Finals Rodeo in Mulvane, Kansas and the Uvalde Rodeo Qualifier in Texas were cancelled.
What EHM actually does to a horse:
- Attacks blood vessels in the brain and spinal cord, cutting off circulation
- Causes hindlimb weakness, loss of tail tone, difficulty urinating, and seizures
- In severe cases, the horse cannot stand
- Mortality in recumbent cases runs as high as 75% without intensive care
- No vaccine currently exists that is labeled to prevent EHM specifically
By December 5, the Equine Disease Communication Center had confirmed:
Metric | Number |
|---|---|
Total confirmed EHV-1 cases | 60 |
Cases showing neurological EHM signs | 47 |
Cases linked directly to Waco | 34 |
States with confirmed cases | 8 |
Texas fatalities | 5 |
Total horses exposed | 152+ |
The eight affected states were Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Louisiana, New Mexico, Arizona, Washington, and South Dakota. The last multistate EHV-1 outbreak of this size in the United States was in Ogden, Utah, in 2011.
The TAHC placed a 21-day hold on all horses that attended the Waco event. The hold ran from November 18 through December 2, with twice-daily temperature checks required. No horse could travel.
The South Point Made the Call, Not the PRCA
On November 21, the PRCA and Las Vegas Events released updated biosecurity requirements for all horses competing at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. The new requirements included:
- A seven-day Certificate of Veterinary Inspection with a unique entry permit number from the Nevada Department of Agriculture
- Daily temperature monitoring by participants
- A no-travel advisory for all competing horses
- Enhanced verification and check-in procedures at the Thomas and Mack Center
The South Point Hotel and Casino informed the PRCA and WPRA that same day that it could not meet those standards under the current conditions. That was the South Point’s decision. The PRCA did not voluntarily withdraw.
The official joint statement read: “Out of caution and the Nov. 21 stringent biosecurity guidelines, the events will not take place on Dec. 2, 3 or 4 at the South Point Arena. Potential dates and venues are being explored to host these events in a timely manner.”
Three Events. Very Different Fates.
Event | Original Date | What Happened |
|---|---|---|
National Finals Breakaway Roping | Dec. 2–3, South Point Arena | Rescheduled to Dec. 22–23, Fort Worth |
PRCA Permit Challenge | Dec. 4, South Point Arena | No reschedule. Lost for 2025. |
Benny Binion Bucking Horse Sale | Dec. 4, South Point Arena | No reschedule confirmed |
The PRCA Permit Challenge, officially the Permit Member of the Year Challenge, has run every December in Las Vegas since 2009. It puts the top five permit holders in each standard PRCA event, from bareback riding to tie-down roping, on the floor for two rounds before the NFR begins. For young cowboys who spend a full season on a permit before earning their full PRCA card, it is the one championship moment available to them before they graduate to the main stage.
Sage Kimzey won the bull riding Permit Challenge in 2013. He went on to become one of the most decorated world champions in the sport.
In 2025, no new date was ever announced. The PRCA made no public statement about rescheduling the Permit Challenge at any point through the end of the season. Those permit holders simply ran out of calendar.
The NFBR Found a New Home, With a Condition
Five days after the South Point cancellation, on November 26, the PRCA and WPRA announced the 2025 Wrangler National Finals Breakaway Roping presented by Tito’s Handmade Vodka would move to Cowtown Coliseum in the Fort Worth Stockyards, Texas, running December 22 and 23.
It was the first time the NFBR had been held in Texas since the inaugural 2020 edition at Globe Life Field in Arlington, which ran alongside the NFR during the COVID year.
Event details:
- Venue: Cowtown Coliseum, Fort Worth Stockyards
- Total purse: $300,000
- Per-round winner payout: $6,197
- Average champion payout: $16,913
- Format: Top 15 WPRA World Standings ropers, 10 rounds across two nights, 5 rounds per night at 7 p.m. CT
- Tickets went on sale December 3 and the event sold out
There was one condition. Cowtown Coliseum stated that if the EHV/EHM outbreak was not contained per state and local animal welfare guidelines by the event dates, the NFBR would again be cancelled. It held.
Night One Belonged to Hali Williams. Night Two Belonged to Taylor Munsell.
December 22 | Rounds 1 through 5
Hali Williams of Comanche, Texas, who entered ranked fifth in the world standings, came out and won Rounds 1, 3, and 4. She posted back-to-back 1.9-second runs in Rounds 3 and 4, earned roughly $18,591 from night one alone, and took the early aggregate lead.
Taylor Munsell, carrying the No. 1 back number and a regular-season earnings record of $191,175, recorded two no-times in her first five rounds. With Josie Conner sitting at $192,743 and closing fast, Munsell needed a near-perfect second night.
December 23 | Rounds 6 through 10
She got it.
Munsell placed in all five rounds on night two, winning Round 6 with a 2.1-second run and Round 10 with a 2.0-second run to secure her first career gold buckle. Her Round 6 win pushed her past $200,000 in total season earnings at the Finals.
“I want to start off by saying thank God,” Munsell said after the championship. “He’s blessed me in so many ways. Through all the trials, they’ve all led me here to this.”
Munsell, 27, grew up in Alva, Oklahoma, in a family of ropers and ranchers. She was originally a team roper before thoracic outlet syndrome required surgery to remove her top rib, torn pec muscle, and repair her rotator cuff. The side motion of a heading swing was no longer possible after surgery. She turned to breakaway roping in college and later served as an assistant coach at Northwestern Oklahoma State University while completing her master’s degree.
Her 2025 horse, Colonel (registered name: Hotrod Song), was sent to her to sell. She rode him for six months and kept him.
While Munsell took the world title, Rylee George took the record books.
George, from Oakdale, California, was the only competitor in the 15-woman field to catch all 10 calves clean. She finished the average in 29.0 seconds, shattering the previous NFBR aggregate record of 31.9 seconds set by Cadee Williams in 2022. She beat the old mark by nearly three full seconds, riding a horse borrowed from Jill Tanner.
“It means the world to me,” George said. “I’m blessed to be here.”
The Fast Time Award for the entire 2025 NFBR went to Aspen Miller, who ran a 1.9-second time in Round 8, the quickest run of the Finals.
2025 Final World Standings:
Rank | Roper | Season Earnings |
|---|---|---|
1 | Taylor Munsell | $209,021.23 |
2 | Shelby Boisjoli-Meged | $204,730.45 |
3 | Josie Conner | $203,735.17 |
4 | Rylee George | $162,323.98 |
5 | Aspen Miller | $156,000.35 |
6 | Hali Williams | $151,123.60 |
For the first time in breakaway roping history, three ropers finished a season above $200,000.
The NFR Itself Ran All 10 Rounds
The main Wrangler National Finals Rodeo at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas ran December 4 through 13 without interruption. NFR horses operated under a closed-system protocol with strict daily temperature monitoring, seven-day CVIs, and no contact with the general horse population outside the competition environment. All 10 rounds completed as scheduled.
The 2025 cancellation of the NFBR and PRCA Permit Challenge in Las Vegas was the biggest single disruption to the pre-NFR calendar in recent memory. A virus that started with one horse at an event in Waco, Texas, shut down three major rodeo events, spread across eight states, and claimed five confirmed horses in Texas alone. The breakaway roping world found a way to finish its season three weeks late in Fort Worth. The permit holders who had worked all year for their moment in Las Vegas were left without one.
