Horses, Hope,
& Hustle

Some of the best businesses aren’t born in boardrooms. They’re born on long drives home, when a cowboy inventor is broke, frustrated, and just stubborn enough to say, “I should make one that goes on the front.”

That’s exactly how Ben Collins, founder of Hero Rodeo, came up with the idea for the Hero Breakaway — a rope attachment now sold in roughly 600 stores across multiple countries. On a recent episode of the Horses, Hope, and Hustle podcast, Ben sat down with host Crystal Show to tell the full, unfiltered story behind one of the roping world’s most recognizable inventions: the failed prototypes, the plastic that shattered, the truck-stop sales tour, and yes — the day his very first customer was a hitchhiker.

If you’ve ever had an idea for a horse product, rodeo gear, or western business and wondered whether an ordinary person can actually pull it off, this cowboy inventor’s story is proof that they can.

The Idea Started With Frustration, Not Inspiration

Ben wasn’t chasing a business plan when the idea hit him. He was driving home from the Wrangler finals in Billings, soaked from a rainy night of roping, down $1,200 in entry fees, and flat broke. When his roping partner Ty stopped to buy a breakaway rope for $30 — and still had to cut his own rope just to install it — Ben had heard enough.

“This sport’s so damn expensive,” he remembers thinking. “I should make one that goes on the front.”

That was the whole idea. No market research, no funding, no business plan. Just a problem this cowboy inventor had lived through one too many times in the roping arena.

Turning a Truck-Stop Idea Into an Actual Roping Product

Here’s the part most people skip when they talk about “having a great idea”: the years of trial and error it takes to make it real.

Ben didn’t know how to use a computer, let alone CAD software. So he taught himself on YouTube, learning just enough to design a 3D-printable rope attachment. His first attempt came back so thin it looked like barbed wire — and in two disconnected pieces, because he hadn’t known how to rotate the model to check it before ordering.

He and roping partner Ty kept experimenting, even shaping early versions out of wire and clay. None of it worked — until, eventually, one print snapped onto a rope, held, and functioned like a real breakaway.

Then came the next obstacle: plastic manufacturers told him the design couldn’t be molded the way he’d built it. So he hired a designer to rework it into a moldable, multi-piece part. When the first working sample arrived, it worked perfectly.

The Hitchhiker, the Green Plastic, and the Apology Tour

Confident and a little too eager, Ben ordered 1,500 units of his new roping product — in green, simply because he could. That same day, he picked up a hitchhiker headed to Conrad, Montana. The man, an old rancher waiting roadside with a cardboard sign, became the very first person to ever buy a Hero Breakaway — for $20, on the spot.

It felt like the start of something big. It nearly wasn’t.

The green plastic turned out to be ABS — brittle and prone to snapping. Customers began calling to complain. Ben grabbed one off the shelf, pulled on it, and watched it break in his own hands. He called every store carrying it, apologized, and switched to the more durable black nylon plastic Hero Rodeo still uses today.

It’s a small detail, but it sums up the entrepreneurial journey perfectly: excitement, an unexpected mistake, and the choice to fix it instead of quit.

Selling It Himself, One Pickup Truck Mile at a Time

With no marketing budget and no sales background, Ben did the only thing available to him — he loaded up an old, dented 1996 Dodge pickup with a busted rear window and drove from Montana to Texas, stopping at every tack and western store along the way.

At Teskey’s, the manager told him he didn’t even need the pitch — he’d already seen the product circulating through roping circles on Facebook. He agreed to carry Hero Rodeo, on one condition: exclusive rights in Texas for six months, if Ben could supply 150 units a month. Ben agreed. Minutes after walking out, a call came in from NRS wanting in too. He made them wait out the full six months, honoring the deal he’d already made.

That decision — keeping his word even when a bigger, faster sale was on the table — became something of a compass for how this cowboy inventor built his brand.

The Hero Rodeo Name Came From the Radio

Even the brand name wasn’t the result of a branding session. Driving home, brainstorming names that all fell flat, Bonnie Tyler’s “I Need a Hero” came on the radio. Something clicked: everybody needs a hero. Rope with your hero. Done.

Sometimes the best business decisions are the ones you stop overthinking.

Hero Rodeo Today: 600 Stores and Counting

What started with a busted 3D-printed prototype and a green-plastic mishap is now a full product line: the original Hero Breakaway, the loop-style Superhero Breakaway, and the Sidekick — the only breakaway on the market designed specifically for kids roping quarter-inch “chicken ropes.” Hero Rodeo products are now carried in an estimated 600 stores, sold through Amazon, Walmart, and eBay, and followed by a growing western audience online.

Advice From a Cowboy Inventor to Anyone With an Idea

Ben’s advice for anyone sitting on an idea they can’t stop thinking about is refreshingly simple:

“It’s easier than you think. If you don’t know how to do it, there’s somebody that does — especially with the information age. Find somebody that can help you. And stay away from the people that don’t want to help you.”

No fancy framework. No overnight success story. Just a cowboy inventor who got tired of cutting his rope, refused to quit after his first batch fell apart, and kept showing up — one phone call, one store, one truck-stop mile at a time — until a roadside idea became a nationwide western brand.

Have a business you want featured on Horses, Hope, and Hustle? List your business in our free directory and get in front of real horse people.

Listen to the full conversation with Ben Collins on the Horses, Hope, and Hustle podcast, hosted by Crystal Show.

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