Pony Express president’s local grandson gets back in the saddle

Helga, Dennis Wright's horse with which he competes as a team roper. Photo: Wright Family

KAMAS, Utah — Dennis Wright has, all pun intended, gotten back on the horse and started competing again after a horseback riding, team roping accident he suffered a year and a half ago.

The Kamas resident is a team roper competing on his 12-year-old white quarter horse named Helga. This is Dennis and Helga’s first season together since he purchased her in Parowan, but after a few fourth-place results, including one in Duchesne, it’s shaping up to be a pretty good summer.

There are enough team roping competitions within a three-hour drive of Summit County to keep his schedule full at about three to four events per month. The next big one is in Mt. Pleasant, Utah, on May 14. Wright hopes to qualify for the World Series of Team Roping finals in Las Vegas in December.

“I also head down to Spanish Fork for the Tuesday Night Series, which is a blast.” he said.”The events I enter include local jackpot team roping produced by GWI, Zane Dansie, Crossfire Productions, and Double Dollar Productions, to name a few.”

Helga is Dennis’s “step up horse” from his previous number one horse, Missy, “I got Helga to help me come back from the catastrophic injury I suffered.” Wright sustained a broken pelvis that required eight screws and a plate.

He’s currently a ranch manager in Kamas, having been a ski instructor at Deer Valley and a Deer Valley and Soldier Hollow summer horse trail ride manager in recent years.

He roped as a high school student and in some pro rodeos in Montana between 2001 and 2006, then took time off due to cost until July of 2021. Two months after he got back, “I broke my pelvis, so it has been a long time off and a long recovery.”

Wright used to calf and steer wrestle as well. “I’ve loved and had a passion for horses from birth.”

At the base of Park City’s Glenwild Dr., a monument stands commemorating and marking the Pony Express route. Wright’s grandfather was the president of the Pony Express Association and sparked Dennis’ love of horses.

He said, “I’ve spent the last 12 years guiding horseback rides for tourists in the area just to keep my foot in the door and on horseback in hopes of one day being able to rodeo again. I got a job managing the ranch in June of 2021. That has given me the ability to kickstart that dream of rodeoing again and doing what I love most, living the country and cowboy lifestyle and riding and roping again.”

He makes his own bullwhips, stockwhips, and snake whips out of nylon parachute cord under the name The Wright Whips. People can submit custom orders and make whip purchases.