Roping Into Action

Jory Thomas was practicing his roping skills during a camping trip along the Yellowstone River in Montana when he heard cries for help. At first, the Big Timber FFA member thought it was a joke — but when he looked toward the river, he spotted a man drifting downstream while clinging to a cooler.

Thomas quickly jumped into action. The 14-year-old grabbed his rope and ran downstream. When he reached an area with shallower water and slower currents, Thomas pulled his wallet, phone and AirPods out of his pocket and waded into the river, navigating waist-deep water with his rope in hand.

“I wanted to see if I could get a loop around him,” Thomas explains. He threw the lasso and the rope landed around the man’s neck. He let the loop drift down stream until it was past the man’s arm and wrapped the rope around his belt buckle — a cattle-roping technique called dally roping — and pulled the man ashore.

Thomas learned the man fell in when his floating raft struck a bridge pillar, knocking him overboard. Three of his friends made it to shore, but he drifted downstream. Lucky for him, he headed right toward Thomas. 

New Skills Prove Beneficial

Although Thomas had lassoed as a hobby for a while, he had just just started roping at cattle brandings a few months before the rescue. He uses his lariat to practice on the roping dummy on his family cattle ranch in Greycliff, Mont. Eventually, he’d like to compete in rodeo events, when he has a horse, and hoped that practicing roping during the camping trip would help hone his skills. “I watched a lot of videos of people roping and thought it was cool and satisfying how they did it,” he says.

Roping is just one of the new skills Thomas has acquired through FFA. As part of the Big Timber FFA welding and mechanics teams, he has practiced new trades and learned the value of teamwork. He also credits FFA for another valuable skill. “I’m just getting started with FFA, but one thing [I’ve learned] is being steady and just keeping calm through situations,” he says.

Thomas certainly remained calm during the rescue — and even in the aftermath of the event.

“After I pulled him out, I got up onto the riverbank, and one of his buddies said thank you,” he says. “I actually ruined my jeans and my shoes, but it was worth it.”