Tie-down roper Joseph Parsons is known primarily as a circuit cowboy. He missed qualifying for his first Wrangler NFR in 2007 by $1,624 and the next year was 22nd in the world.

This year, he’s had to wait on the return of his horse, X, from injury to get competitive again. A quarter crack on X’s right front hoof became infected and required surgery to fix.

“He’s been off for like a year and he just came back two weeks ago and he was flawless here,” Parsons said.

But his competitors in the short round of the tie-down roping were less than that. Parsons came back as third high call, tied his calf in a businessman’s 9.1 and came away the winner. Of the top five call backs, only Parsons tied his calf under 10 seconds.

“Everybody was trying so hard and they messed up trying hard, and it allowed me to make a good solid run and still win,” he said.

The win was worth $8,155—he tied three calves in 27.9 seconds—which boosted him to 25th in the world standings.