CIRCUIT FINALS: GREAT LAKES BREAKAWAY ROPING A RODEO LEGACY Danni Knutson Clover continues family tradition By Brittany Gunn T he 2023 Great Lakes Circuit Finals will always hold a special memory for Clifton Hill, Missouri native Danni Clover. Clover traveled to Louisville, Kentucky, for the championship event and she brought back the Great Lakes Circuit breakaway
average championship title to the “Show Me State.” Clover secured her title after placing first in round one, catching in round two and placing third in round three. She won the average in 9.40 seconds, behind Joslyn Masters of Mount Ayr, Iowa, who secured the year-end title. For Clover, bringing home the average meant a lot and was an unexpected surprise. “When we got to the third round, I was actually sitting third in the average, and after my run I still had two girls to rope,” she said. “Honestly, winning the average wasn’t something I thought I was going to pull off. My game plan was to do my job, get the calf caught and be as fast as I could. After those two girls went, it didn’t really register I had won until my fellow competitors mentioned something to me.” Clover had missed her third calf in previous years at the finals, so her goal was to catch, but adding the average title to the mix was certainly the cherry on top. As a small child, she loved rodeo. Her mom Carol, a barrel racer, and dad Wayne Knutson, a roper and now Great Lakes Circuit president, it was only fitting for her to follow in her parents’ footsteps. She started barrel racing, and in junior high she learned how to rope. After graduating high school, she attended Missouri Valley on a rodeo scholarship competing in breakaway roping. In 2021, she received her Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA) permit and started her rookie season. In 2023, she rode a 12-year-old gelding named SLCC Mr. Hancocks
Doc, nicknamed Blue. Formerly her father’s heel horse, Clover explained 2023 consisted of being persistent. “I hung in there and chipped away at each rodeo I went to,” she said. “Last summer was Blue’s second summer to go out and rodeo. He took off into it pretty quick and has done well handling the atmosphere.” Clover plans to ride Blue in 2024 but will keep her 21-year-old gelding named Pistol Fever “Gravy,” out of Socks Gamblin Fever by High Hill Cutter legged up. “I have ridden him since he was 12 years old,” Clover said. “The best thing about him is I could go rope on him, my mom could go in and run barrels on him and now my girls ride him.” Several stops this year will include Great Lakes Circuit rodeos, Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo and the NFR Open. “Competing at the NFR Open is a great opportunity. For the NFR Open to incorporate WPRA breakaway, it shows a good push in growing the sport. I’m very excited to go out to Colorado,” said Clover. “My game plan is to score well and catch.” When Clover isn’t busy taking care of her two children, eight-year- old MaKayla and four-year-old Emma, she is busy being a high school social studies teacher. Her husband, Chris, is a former Great Lakes Circuit bull rider. “I see my two girls out there riding their pony, roping the dummy or playing and for me, I want them to be inspired by my positivity when things don’t go right. You always want to win, but it might not always happen,” she concluded. “As long as you put in the work, practice and push yourself, those things will come.” Clover hopes to add another Great Lakes Circuit breakaway title to her name in 2024 by chipping away at that goal one rodeo at a time. Danni Knutson Clover snags the average title at the Great Lake Circuit Finals to earn her a trip to the NFR Open. She won the average in a total time of 9.4 seconds on three head. Photo by Phillip Kitts
Danni Knutson Clover rode her 12-year-old gelding SLCC Mr. Hancocks Doc better known as Blue to the average title in the Great Lakes Circuit Finals. Photo by Phillip Kitts
FEBRUARY 2024
WPRA NEWS 27
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