Shad Mayfield was having perhaps the biggest year in the history of ProRodeo before the COVID-19 outbreak put the brakes on the regular season, already winning $130,700.52 in the first three months of the year.
With rodeo starting back up this weekend at Arizona’s Cave Creek Rodeo Days, Mayfield is putting the world on notice that he wants not one gold buckle, but two, this December. Mayfield has his sights set on trying his luck at the all-around race by adding team roping to his entering. Mayfield will heel for Cash Fretwell at the Cave Creek slack the morning of May 23.
“I’ve always wanted to be someone like Trevor Brazile, where I can change it up and do whatever,” Mayfield, who also won $600,000 at this year’s RFD-TV’s The American, said. “I had a few people kind of put it in my ear that this year would be a good year to go for the all-around with everything that’s going on. After The American I thought it would be a good thing. I’ve always team roped in junior high and high school, but I never took it seriously. I just never practice it. Once I realized that I wanted to go for the all-around this year I started taking it serious.”
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In 2019, 19-year-old Shad Mayfield took the world by storm having qualified for his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo as a Resistol Rookie. The calf roper from Clovis, New Mexico, ended his first ProRodeo season 12th in the world standings with $127,074.77 in PRCA earnings.
Mayfield has been working on his heeling with 2016 All-Around World Champion Junior Nogueira at Nogueira’s new arena in Brock, Texas.
“He’s come by the house a couple times,” Nogueira, who wears the 2016 World Champion All-Around Cowboy buckle, said. “I talked to him after The American and he likes team roping and loves to heel, so if he can get $3,000 won in the team roping then he has a huge chance for the all-around with everything shut down.”
Read:
Team Roping Journal Extra Volume 1: Junior Nogueira
The biggest tip Nogueira gave Mayfield was to work on his timing with the feet. Mayfield has been focusing on that ever since and continued to get help by spending a day with Allen and Joel Bach to get a few more pointers.
“The first time I roped with Junior, he was telling me, ‘You’re roping good. It’s just your timing.’ That is all I was lacking at that point. Then I went to Allen’s and he helped me a lot with my timing. He said that’s really all I needed to work on and everything else really looked good. It was hard for me to get my timing. With Allen, I got to rope that Smarty Xtreme and he gave me one of those to rope. That Smarty Xtreme—you really have to be in timing to rope that. That has helped a lot. I’ve still been working on it but just what I’ve heard from Allen, really, last week helped me out a lot about just watching the timing, where to look and all that. Junior has helped me out a lot with everything else. They’ve been real helpful.”
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Mayfield will be heeling on “Claus”, a 6-year-old chestnut gelding from BFI Champion Heeler Lane Siggins.
“He’s an ex-cutter. He’s so broke and everything that he’s just easy. He’s tough. At first, I had to really get with him because he’s kind of a next level heel horse to fit Lane. I just started heeling a lot on him and got with him really well. He’s just so easy. He’s solid every time. I always said he’s a good horse. I really am looking forward to riding him at some rodeos.”
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At present, reigning and two-time PRCA World Champion Header Clay Smith leads the all-around race with $52,818.90, followed by World Champion Tie-Down Roper Tuf Cooper with $49,796.27. Stetson Wright, the reigning all-around champion of the world, is third with $21,946.23. TRJ
