But rodeo was always in the background.

“When my brother left for Florida, my biggest mentors were my cousins Ross and Kyle Beasley,” Hanchey said. “They molded me to be the roper I am. They broke everything down—what kind of strings to use, how my ropes needed to feel. We’d rope the dummy, tie the wooden calf and tell ourselves it was the tenth round of the NFR.”

The Florida Connection

When his brother Jason took a horse training job for Buck Daniel in Florida, it unknowingly rewrote Shane’s future.

“My brother got that job down there working for Buck Daniel at his ranch,” Hanchey said. “That’s where Reata was born and raised. My brother broke him and trained him—it was his first big project with Buck.”

When Jason started hauling Reata to horse shows and jackpots, Shane would visit whenever he could.

“I got to ride him at a few high school rodeos when my brother was still down there,” Hanchey said. “He made me feel like a roper. I knew right then there was something special about him.”

Buck offered Shane an opportunity most teenagers only dream about.

“Uncle Buck told me if I could find a ride back to Louisiana, I could take Reata,” Hanchey said. “When I got that opportunity, I turned in my baseball gear and shifted all my focus to tie-down roping. Something told me this was once in a lifetime, and I wasn’t going to waste it.”

The Foundation Reata Built

Reata wasn’t just another horse, he was the foundation that built Hanchey.

“If it wasn’t for him coming into my life when he did, I wouldn’t be anywhere near where I am today,” Hanchey said. “He gave me confidence. He made me feel like I could rope. I made the high school finals, college finals, national finals and won a gold buckle off that horse.”

Without a doubt, Reata shaped Hanchey into the calf roper he is today.

“He just turned me into a fierce competitor,” Hanchey said. “Someone who didn’t want to lose and didn’t expect to lose when I was riding him.”

Rookie Year

By 2009, Shane bought his PRCA card and hit the road with the horse that had already carried him through the high school and college ranks.

“2009 was my rookie year,” Hanchey said. “Reata got really sick on our way from Prescott, Arizona, to St. Paul and got pleural pneumonia. My cousin had to drive him home, and he was out from the first week in July until the end of November.”

Shane spent the remainder of his rookie year mounting out.

“Clint Cooper had Sweetness at the time and Justin Macha had his grey horse, and they both let me ride them,” Hanchey said. “If it wasn’t for Macha, I probably wouldn’t have won Rookie of the Year.”

Even with those challenges, Hanchey secured the Resistol Rookie of the Year title, edging out a stacked class.

“That rookie class was loaded,” Hanchey said. “Only one guy gets that buckle that says 2009 Resistol Rookie of the Year Tie-Down Roper. That was a really cool achievement.”

But the real turning point came a year later.

“I remember Fort Worth short round, Super Bowl Sunday,” Hanchey said. “The Saints had just won the Super Bowl, and I won Fort Worth that night. That’s when I knew I could do this.”

That confidence carried him straight to his first NFR in 2010, kicking off what would become a sixteen-year streak.

The Gold Buckle Year

Three years later, Hanchey reached the pinnacle—the 2013 World Champion Tie-Down Roper. His path there, though, was far from smooth.

“November of 2012 I was headed to the Canadian Finals, and Reata colicked and had to have emergency surgery in Fort Collins,” Hanchey said. “I had to mount out at the CFR and the NFR. I didn’t have a horse that winter, so Clint Cooper let me ride Sweetness, and I won Denver right off the bat.”

From there, he clawed his way through one of the grittiest summers of his career.

“Starting in June, I was outside the top 15. I didn’t crack the top 15 until after Albuquerque in September,” Hanchey said. “I remember getting to Cheyenne that year with $34,000 won, thinking, ‘Is this going to be the first year I don’t make the Finals?’”

When Reata came up lame mid-summer, Hanchey found himself mounting out again.

“Reata got crippled at Salinas,” Hanchey said. “My vet told me, ‘If you make the Finals, he’ll be ready, but don’t plan on having him before that.’”

Then came one of those career-defining streaks.

“I had $42,000 won going into Ellensburg,” Hanchey said. “Cody Ohl let me get on Pearl and I won the first round, split the second, came back high call, won second in the short round and won the average. Then I went to Lewiston the next day and won it for another $4,000. That gave me a lot of confidence.”

By the time he reached Las Vegas, he was riding a wave of momentum and Reata.

“I ran one calf on him at Trevor’s Thanksgiving night,” Hanchey said. “Trevor looked at me and said, ‘You don’t need to run any more. He’s ready, and you’re ready.’ From that run on, it was like a fairytale.”

Hanchey went on to win multiple rounds, set a new NFR average record and take home his first gold buckle.

“It was a lot of ups and downs from November 2012 to December 2013,” Hanchey said. “We learned a lot and we got the ultimate goal accomplished.”

Hanchey’s Evolution

After that gold buckle, Hanchey learned that winning once didn’t mean the work was done.

“When I go back and watch 2013, I think, man, I had way too much spoke, such a little loop, and I didn’t ride my horse very well,” Hanchey said. “It really didn’t matter then, I was just going at them. Now I’m way more mature. I know when to take advantage of a situation and when to just get by.”

A big part of that evolution and perspective comes from his wife, NFR qualifying barrel racer and breakaway roper, Taylor.

“It’s not my personal preference,” Hanchey laughed. “It’s mainly my wife telling me, ‘If you want to stay relevant with these young guys, you better start getting off faster and taking more chances.’”

Heartbreak Horses

From BamBam to TJ, Hanchey has felt the sting of losing great ones.

“I’ve wondered sometimes, why does this have to happen to me,” Hanchey said. “Like Bugsy getting crippled after the second go-round at the NFR in 2023. I finally buy the horse I want, we win the Horse of the Year, I feel like we’re where we need to be and he gets crippled.”

Hanchey’s not shy about the valleys that come with the peaks.

“It was tough mentally at the NFR,” Hanchey said. “I’d been there before. Bam, TJ, all of them. But at the same time, a lot of people would love to go through what I have to accomplish what I’ve accomplished. There’s a lot of peaks and valleys.”

But now, he finds perspective in the small things.

“I’ve made the Finals sixteen years in a row, so how bad could it be,” Hanchey said. “People think a guy that’s made the Finals that many times doesn’t have bad days. But there’s a picture of me and Bam at Oakley, Utah, next to my bed. It’s the first thing I see every morning.”

2025 Season

The 2025 regular season tested Hanchey more than any before it. Bugsy’s injury, a dry winter and a bubble race that came down to the final run of the year pushed him to the edge of nearly missing the Finals for the first time in sixteen years.

“It was probably the toughest one yet for whatever reason,” Hanchey said. “Sixteen in a row. I’ve had a lot of people ask what this means, and I don’t know the record for consecutive qualifications, but I do know this one was the hardest to get.”

Hanchey fought for every dollar earned, even chartering a plane from Sioux Falls to San Bernardino in a last-ditch effort to stay in the top 15.

“That Saturday night was the most stressed I was all year,” Hanchey said. “I knew if I could make the final four round in Sioux Falls, I would make the Finals. When I missed the barrier and took a no-time in San Bernardino, I thought it was over. Then Quade ran right after me, made a great run, and his calf got up. Ty Harris looked at me and said, ‘You just made the NFR.’ It was a whirlwind of emotions.”

That sixteenth qualification, more than any buckle or check, reminded Hanchey why he still wakes up chasing it.

“I’ve won a lot of great rodeos and made the Finals sixteen years in a row,” Hanchey said. “When I look back at 2013, I just shake my head. I feel like I’m such a better roper now.”