If the name Faron Candelaria seems a little familiar, there’s a good reason.
Though still a permit holder, Candelaria played a role in one of the most competitive PRCA All-Around World titles races in recent memory last year. He heeled for eventual 2024 champion Shad Mayfield at a handful of rodeos, helping Mayfield add $3,150 to his total. Mayfield won the championship in December by just $676 over Coleman Proctor.
A year later, Candelaria is looking to etch his own name into ProRodeo’s record books as he chases the 2025 Resistol Rookie Heeler of the Year title. He is ranked fifth with a little over $6,400 won, including a win at the Resistol Rookie Roundup to close out April.
The win that defined serendipity
Candelaria had no plans to enter the Resistol Rookie Roundup until his girlfriend, Mireya Martinez, talked him into it at the last minute. Then, with just minutes left before entries closed, he found a partner who was similarly needing a run at the event held at the Fort Worth Stockyards.
“I had entered the California run, and I wasn’t going to go but my girlfriend said I needed to,” Candelaria joked. “I found out Gabe (Williams) didn’t have a partner for it and called him up.”
Both cowboys missed check-in at the event, Candelaria due to a missed flight home to Isleta Pueblo, New Mexico, near Albuquerque, from California which pushed his arrival in Texas back to just before the first performance. They survived a tough first round and then turned it on on championship Saturday, roping the fastest steer of the event in the final round for the win.
“It just came together,” Candelaria said. “We didn’t really have a game plan, it was just go catch and see where the chips fell.”
Williams and Candelaria won $3,309 apiece toward the Resistol Rookie title, adding to money won at major events like Rodeo Austin and the Red Bluff Round-Up so far this year.
Like father, like son
Candelaria has been immersed in the sport since he rode his first sheep at 2.
“I did junior rodeo, gymkhana…team roped, breakaway roped, rode sheep. If they had it, I would enter,” Candelaria joked. By high school rodeo, he had pared it down to tie-down and team roping.
His dad, Faron Sr., was a jackpot team roper who traded hay hauling for entry fees and taught his son almost everything he knows about roping.
“He roped in high school rodeo,” Candelaria said of his father. “He set me up and taught me on a machine. Trained me from the bottom up. He did take me to a two-day Patrick Smith clinic, and I won a saddle there. But it was mainly my dad.”
The elder Candelaria headed for his son, who was roping tied on at 7.
“My dad headed for me and my brother,” Candelaria said. “I just won a little more on the heel side, so I’ve been full-time since I was 13 years old.”
Business Man
Though he just turned 21 in March, Candelaria has his own business apart from rodeo, Eagle Mountain Enterprises, LLC.
“We’re an Indian-owned federal contracting business,” Candelaria said. Eagle Mountain supplies Federal, State and Tribal entities with materials and equipment, everything from construction materials to office equipment to tractors. “We make sure our customers have the supplies needed for all their projects.”
A member of the Isleta Pueblo tribe, Candelaria got started when he helped his cousin, Bailey Edmond, secure materials for her business, Blue Corn Landscape.
“It works out good,” Candelaria said. “I can do almost everything over the phone and computer. As long as I have WiFi, I can get things done.”
Tupac
That freedom is critical for Candelaria as he pursues his rodeo goals. So is his bay horse, the 14-year old Tupac.
“He’s the one that started my career,” Candelaria of the gelding he’s owned for about six years. “I went from a 6 to an 8-plus over the first summer I had him.”
“I went from a 3 to a 6 in about five months when I was 13 years old, but I was needing more to get to the next level,” Candelaria admitted. “He’s the one that got me where I am today.”
Candelaria’s partnership with Tupac has produced two New Mexico High School Rodeo state championships and a win at the Best of the Best Junior Rodeo. More recently, Tupac carried Candelaria to fill his permit and help Mayfield achieve ProRodeo’s most prestigious title.
“That was a great experience last year,” Candelaria said of roping with the now two-time PRCA world champ. “I loved it.”
Helping a world champion
Much like the Rookie Roundup win, it all got started by chance.
“We were at Clovis, New Mexico, and my partner didn’t show up,” Candelaria said. “Shad did a walk-up replacement, and we ended up splitting fourth and fifth.”
Mayfield called on Candelaria again in Pecos, Texas, where they won go-round and average money, and they roped at several events down the stretch run.
“We roped at about 15 rodeos including Pendleton,” Candelaria said. “I was grateful to get to help him out. It was a cool experience.”
Candelaria showed remarkable poise and maturity, handling the pressure of roping behind Mayfield, knowing the end game.
“I always have a little bit of nerves at any rodeo but kind of more, just ready,” Candelaria explained. “I wanted to do good for him. But once I back in there, it’s game mode; I focus and it all goes away, the nerves, the announcers, all of it.”
A year after first roping together, Mayfield may get to return the favor. He roped with Candelaria at Clovis again, as well as Guymon, Oklahoma, and some Turquoise Circuit rodeos.
Rookie plans
Candelaria will also call upon his Rodeo Austin partner, Teagan Bentley, for a few runs and is lining out his summer plans.
“We’ll got to a few and play it by ear,” Candelaria said. “It it clicks, we’ll go more. If not, we’ll change up.”
While he has some experience from 2024, Candelaria is looking forward to new adventures and roping at places like Ellensburg, Washington, and St. Paul, Oregon.
“I’ll got to as many as I can as long as I don’t run out of rodeos,” he said.
Adding his name to the list of Resistol Rookies of the Year is definitely on his mind.
“It’s one of my goals, something I’ve always wanted to win,” Candelaria admitted. “It’s like the Rookie Roundup, you only get one shot at it. I’m excited to see what this year has to come.”
