After recovering from a separated pelvis, torn groin and hip flexor, Tyler Waters will make his third Cinch Timed Event Championship appearance, filling in for world champion tie-down roper Haven Meged this February 29 to March 2, 2024 at the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, Oklahoma.
Waters, originally from Coshocton, Ohio, now lives in Stephenville, Texas. The 36-year-old competed at both the 2021 and 2022 CTECs, but in the summer of 2022 he had a horse accident that put him out for nearly six months.
“I got hurt last year and had a horse buck with me,” Waters said. “I tore both groins and my hip flexor, separated my pelvis, and I fractured my L2 vertebrae on my back too. So I didn’t even try to get in last year.”
Waters didn’t need surgery, but he spent a lot of time at the chiropractor getting right. He was off until January 2023.
“This is the soundest I’ve been [going into the Timed Event],” Waters, who will wear back number 24 this year, said. “The very first year I got called just a few weeks before, and, at that point, I hadn’t bull dogged. I went to K.C. Jones’s several times to get ready for it, and I broke some ribs. So I was pretty sore before it started.”
Waters won a go-round that first year, broken ribs and all, wearing a jockey vest under his button-down shirt while he bull dogged even.
“This year, I had seen guys falling out, and Dan Wall said there was a pretty good chance they were going to need me,” Waters said. “The first year you don’t really know what to expect. The second year I went, I thought I had a better grasp on it but had heck right off the bat in the bull dogging. Now, being physically sound, spending 30 days in the gym, no alcohol, and a better-suited calf horse and bull dogging horse for strong cattle will be my change of attack this year. Nothing went right my second appearance, and I’d like to change my results.”
Waters won’t jump a steer until right before the event, but he’s been regularly team roping, busting and calf roping—all events he’s worked at the ProRodeos. He’ll have the standout young-gun Nicky Northcott for help on the backside, but he’s still figuring out details on horses and a header.
