Brodie Boyce and Lethal MVP turned a rough start to the 2026 Old West World Championships into an $8,600 payday, winning the 4-&-Under Limited Pre-Futurity Heeling championship Oct. 17 in Amarillo, Texas, with an 889.94 on four head.

Boyce and Lethal MVP also placed sixth in the 4-&-Under Intermediate Pre-Futurity Heeling finals with an 891.05 on four head for $3,598.

The 20-year-old from Marietta, Oklahoma, rode the gelding, owned and bred by Cowan Select Horses LLC, to a 224.93 in the finals to secure the win by 3.24 points over Jesse Jolly and SJR Bronco Mist, who finished second with an 886.70 for $6,450. Blake Toliver and LV Beckys Voodoo rounded out the top three with an 885.90 for $4,300.

For Boyce, the championship came after a disappointing start to the week with his older horses in the Open Futurity.

“Feeling great,” Boyce said after the win. “It was kind of a rough start to the week, but we finally got a win.”

Boyce admitted he hadn’t had much luck with his 5- and 6-year-old horses earlier in the competition, but the younger Lethal MVP gave him an opportunity to turn things around.

“My open horses, my five- and six-year-olds, didn’t have any luck and I didn’t do a very good job,” Boyce said. “But we rebounded and still made a good week of it.”

Lethal MVP, a 4-year-old gelding by Metallics MVP out of Lethal Dually, has been part of the Cowan Select Horses program since birth. Originally started as a cutting horse, he wasn’t destined to stay in that discipline.

“We raised him, and then we started him and everything,” Boyce said. “We actually started him in the cutting, and he really didn’t make it as a cutter.”

Rather than pushing Lethal MVP into another job immediately, Boyce and his family gave him time to mature.

Last year, Boyce rode him only a little, allowing the smaller gelding to grow before putting him to work on the heel side.

“Last year I didn’t ride him very much,” Boyce said. “He just wasn’t very big and kind of scrawny. So we let him grow up, and I’ve been heeling on him a lot this year.”

From there, Boyce had one goal in mind: getting Lethal MVP ready to compete at the Old West World Championships.

“My whole goal was to show him at this show,” Boyce said. “He’s been an awesome horse. He’s easy and real athletic and everything.”

Lethal MVP started the Pre-Futurity class with a good first-round run, but the next two runs weren’t quite what Boyce had hoped for.

The pair scored a 221.10 in Round 2 and a 218.34 in Round 3, leaving Boyce with just enough of a number to remain in contention for the Limited title.

“He was really good the first round, and then the second round I didn’t do a very good job,” Boyce said. “We still had a high enough score in the first round that I was able to do average the second and third round, and then we stayed in it.”

Boyce had initially set his sights on qualifying for the Open short round, but with the Limited finals still ahead of him, he had another chance to make the week count.

He entered the Limited finals second high call with just Lethal MVP remaining in his lineup. Rather than letting the opportunity change his game plan, Boyce focused on giving the gelding the same trip he’d given him throughout the week.

“I try just to stay the same and try not to do more than what I really need to do, because I feel like if I try harder than I actually need to, I always mess up,” Boyce said. “So I just did what I’d been doing all week, but tried to make it better every time.”

That approach resulted in a 224.93 in the finals, giving Boyce and Lethal MVP a trip to the winner’s circle.

For Boyce, the gelding’s natural ability to make a run look good has made him particularly competitive in the judged events.

“He catches your eye, he drags his butt, and he looks good doing it, I think,” Boyce said. “Plus, he’s easy to show.”

Rather than needing much help throughout a run, Lethal MVP lets Boyce keep his mind on his roping while the gelding handles his job.

“Seems like if I just ride him and just rope on him, he does his job and he marks pretty good every time,” Boyce said.

For Boyce, training horses and roping have been the focus since he graduated high school. Between training horses, practicing, jackpotting and rodeoing, he spends most of his time in the saddle.

“I graduated high school, and I knew this is all I wanted to do for a while,” Boyce said.

Winning at the Old West is also an opportunity for Boyce to continue learning alongside some of the industry’s best, including Joseph Harrison and Kollin Von Ahn, whom he looks up to as he works to develop his own skills in the show pen.

“They’ve figured out how to show horses,” Boyce said. “I can always go to them if I need help. And they’ve done it, they failed, and I still have to fail a lot to figure it out.”

With his family in Amarillo to celebrate, including his parents and sister, who was working as a scribe for the judges, Boyce left the Old West with more than just an $8,600 check. The win was another step forward for both him and a gelding the program had given time to grow into his job.

“I’m growing up in a great time when these futurities are getting big, and I get opportunities to do this kind of stuff,” Boyce said. “I think it’s great—I love it.”