Alyssa Urbanek‑Wade won the Old Fort Days Rodeo in Fort Smith, Arkansas on her 7‑year‑old gelding Feelinwilliewicked (Willie), clocking a 16.27 that held up over the May 25 to 30 run for the $3,768 win.
It was the pair’s third ProRodeo win of May, after the Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo ($4,286) and the Santa Rosa Roundup in Vernon, Texas ($2,480). The Stephenville, Texas barrel racer earned more than $10,000 in ProRodeo win money on Willie in the month.
Urbanek‑Wade sits No. 33 in the WPRA World Standings as of May 28 with $20,983.86 won across 34 runs. She also placed third in the first round of the Music City Rodeo in Nashville the same week as Fort Smith and was fourth at the American Royal Rodeo in Kansas City to open the month.
Urbanek‑Wade said the Fort Smith run surprised her.
“I didn’t feel like it was just his greatest run,” she said. “He went into his (third) turn good, but then I felt like he was kind of running off,” she said. “I was like, hey, no, we got to turn. He kind of stepped off of it. But because he is so long‑legged, I was able to finish it and get him out of there.”
Willie stands at least 16.1, by her estimate, and his long stride helps him in all types of setups. But Wade was pumped up about his liking of Fort Smith’s long, covered pen.
“Whenever he ran a two and it held out the whole rodeo, I was super excited.”
Feelinwilliewicked is a 2019 bay gelding by Feel the Sting and out of Wicked Moonbeams, the Willie Wicked mare Matt Reeves rides as a hazing horse. He was bred by James and Savanah Reeves.
“Last year I was looking for another horse to help out Tito,” Urbanek‑Wade said, referring to her 2025 Texas Circuit champion Martinis at Midnight. “Someone said, hey, I think this lady would sell this horse if you were interested. He looks really nice.” The previous owner was ready to move him on because he was a lot of horse, Urbanek‑Wade said, and had bucked her off. He had been to Northside a couple of times and almost no jackpots. Urbanek‑Wade tried him, vetted him, bought him.
She hauled Willie to Canada last summer as a six‑year‑old. He had to be ridden down every day.
“It was a whole new world,” she said. He placed at a handful of Canadian rodeos, won his Cheyenne quarterfinal and made the semis, and then came up three‑legged in his pen after Deadwood. Colorado vets couldn’t pin down a fracture; her vet at home did. The injury did not require surgery, just rest. She started legging him back up in January, ran him at Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio, and said the gelding didn’t fully settle until a California swing to Lakeside and Clovis. He won Lakeside. “Since then,” Urbanek‑Wade said, “something in his brain has finally clicked, and he’s like, hey, I know how to do this now. He’s been pretty consistent.”
Willie’s efficient.
“It doesn’t feel like he throttles down at all sometimes,” Urbanek‑Wade said. “He’s just like, okay, we’re running and now we’re turning, and then we’re running. There is no super rate. He just kind of gets in there and turns and gets back out. I feel like he never quits moving.”
His size helps him stay on top of bad ground. “He’s able to get out of the ground a little bit easier,” she said. “He doesn’t get stuck as much. We were at Nashville this past weekend and the first round was ran at Franklin. Since he’s so big and he just kind of pops back so hard after he turns, that helps him keep moving.”
Willie also has an attitude Urbanek‑Wade calls “a pretty big, I know what I’m doing kind of attitude.” She does not work him on the pattern much during the week anymore.
“He does not like to slow work,” she said. “He’s literally tried to push me off, rub me off on the fence when he gets mad when I’m trying to slow work him.” She rides him outside the pattern instead, exercising him on a neighbor’s track. “He’s very pleasant to be around. But when you’re on his back, yeah, he’s opinionated.”
The White Marking
Fans who have seen Willie in person have a question they keep asking Urbanek‑Wade: what is the white marking on his face?
When she bought him, Willie had a cluster of sarcoids around one eye. Her vet at Brazos Valley Equine Hospital in Navasota, Dr. Ben, injected them with mitomycin, a chemotherapy drug. After the second round, the sarcoids fell off and the hair grew back white where the brown used to be. There is also a thin squiggly line that follows the vein behind his eye.
“It reminds me of a Mike Tyson tattoo,” Urbanek‑Wade said.
What’s Next
Urbanek‑Wade is headed to Canada next. With a VS outbreak in Colorado and Arizona shutting down the usual route for many athletes, she is routing through Belcourt, North Dakota and a pair of Canadian rodeos to reach the Calgary Stampede qualifier. The crew will swing back for Sisters Rodeo the following weekend, then Reno and the rest of the summer big rodeos.
She is hauling Tito and a new five‑year‑old gelding named Vince in addition to Willie. Vince ran at Claremore slack in the mud and was seventh in the second go on Urbanek‑Wade’s way to Nashville. “I’m pretty excited that we’ve got him too,” she said. “I think he’ll be able to help out.”