Tyler Wade, who qualified for his first trip to the Thomas & Mack in Las Vegas in 2016, started out the season roping with Trey Yates. Now after five years, Wade will be seen entered with his rookie-year partner Tyler McKnight, who made his first appearance in Las Vegas just last year. Wade and McKnight will be roping at the 41st annual Bob Feist Invitational to kick off their summer run next week.
Kaitlin Gustave: You’ve been having some issues with sore horses lately. Tell me about that.
Tyler Wade: My horses are older so it’s hard to keep them together sometimes. I had a few horses and I’ve been looking to find more, but in about a week two of them went down and I was down to one 18-year-old horse. I went from decent shape to not very good shape at all. It’s hard to keep them together. I know it’s a never-ending struggle.
KG: What are you riding at the BFI?
TW: The vet gave me the go-ahead this week to ride my good bay over there—the one I won Cheyenne (Frontier Days) on.
KG: You and Tyler McKnight are roping together again, right?
TW: We just got the old band back together. I needed a run and he needed a run. We’ve won together before and we’ve definitely matured so hopefully we can win together again even more.
KG: And you and your wife, Jessi, are about to have a baby.
TW: Oh yeah! Knightrider (Tyler McKnight) just had his about a month ago and mine is due July 8.
KG: Are you prepared?
TW: I think so. If everything goes as planned I’m entered correctly to where I can get home two days early and stay a day after.
KG: Will Jessi come on the road with the baby?
TW: She said that if she felt like it she might take her mom and dad and go to Cheyenne, but it just depends. She’s probably ready to go back to riding her own horses. That’s the plan so far, but we’ll just see when it gets here.
KG: Are you going to be home more this summer with Jessi?
TW: She’s been very supportive of this whole thing. I was just planning on staying home all summer but staying home wasn’t an option for her. She’s like, ‘no, you’re going.’ so I didn’t argue with her over it.
