By 2019, Meged was a rookie in name only. He stormed through the season, claiming the Resistol Rookie of the Year title, the NFR Average and the PRCA World Championship. He became the first Montanan to ever win a world title in tie-down roping.

“Prior to me buying my card for 2019, I asked a couple of people if they could help me,” Meged said. “Honestly, I was on my permit for two years. I didn’t know a whole lot about the rodeoing scene.”

Meged earned $246,013 that season, winning the College National Finals Rodeo, the RAM National Circuit Finals and major rodeos like Deadwood, San Juan Capistrano and Puyallup. Inside the Thomas & Mack, he placed in five rounds and won the average with 85.7 seconds on ten head, racking up $126,135 in Vegas alone.

“Obviously everybody has high hopes to win a gold buckle,” Meged said. “At that time I probably didn’t really understand all of that stuff. I’ve been working my butt off trying to win another gold buckle and in 2019, I was just young, dumb and was just roping having fun.”

The 2020 Shift

The world looked different in 2020. Rodeos were canceled, the NFR moved to Arlington and cowboys had to adapt. Meged did. He won Rounds 6 and 10, placed in two others and finished the year seventh in the world standings with $141,479.

The Climb

In 2021, Meged found another gear. He finished second in the world with $299,091, winning Rounds 7 and 9 in Vegas and placing in five others. He was second in the average and earned $197,237 at the NFR alone.

By 2022, he was making his fourth straight Finals appearance, finishing eighth in the world standings and fourth in the average with $227,897 in season earnings. He picked up wins from Greeley to Redding, from Dillon to Walla Walla, and added another round of Montana rodeo all-around titles to the list.

Record-Setting Year

Then came 2023. Ten rounds in Las Vegas, eight of them with checks. He claimed his second NFR Average title with a record-setting 77.4 seconds on ten head and banked $216,195. The highlight? That 6.4-second run that left the crowd on its feet and the rest of the field chasing daylight.

“In 2023 at the NFR I rode Smoke the first round and I saddled both of my horses, Lil Punch and Smoke,” Meged said. “I kept texting Shelby when she was inside and I said, I think I should get on Punch. And she’s like, well do it if you want to. And then I’d get too scared to boot him up.”

“Smoke didn’t do good and I was like, you know what, screw it,” Meged laughed. “I don’t have anything to lose. If I’m going to try to win another gold buckle, I’ve got to be blasting the barrier, win the most money I possibly can. I drew good calves that week and I was hitting the barrier, making the best runs I possibly could and everything was just working out.”

On the calf that made history, everything slowed down.

“They tied her in 6.9 before I ran her and she was absolutely amazing,” Meged said. “Honestly, I thought I ran through the barrier, but I blew the barrier out and had it on her so fast. She’s just an amazing calf to flank and tie and you just have to stay out of her way and get done with her.”

The feeling when 6.4 flashed on the board was something Meged watched other guys chase his whole life.

“We’ve watched tapes growing up, watching all the guys tying them in six,” Meged said. “Being able to tie one in 6.4, faster than anybody has ever tied one at the National Finals, it is crazy. I was on cloud nine. It’s awesome because the best ropers in the world have been there and roped there. I don’t know if the record will last very long, but it’s cool to say that you broke it for a little while.”

Staying Power

The next season proved Meged’s success wasn’t a streak—it was standard. In 2024, he placed in five rounds, won Round 6 and finished third in both the average and world standings with $387,791. His year included major wins at Calgary, Canby, St. Paul, Ponoka, Armstrong and more.

Then came the setback. In 2025, a back injury took him out of the summer run, leaving him outside the top 20. But when July hit, he went back to doing what he does best: winning.

“I had a L5, S1 bulging disc and I feel like it’d get better and then I’d try to rope and then I’d be pinched and locked up and couldn’t move again,” Meged said. “I finally told Shelby, I said, I can’t do it.”

He flew home for a week, went to work on getting healthy, then had a decision to make.

“I flew to Nampa, roped in the first round and I was completely locked up again,” Meged said. “After that, I called into Mexico seeing if I could get in there. I had a decision to make right away whether I was going to doctor out and miss Reno, Calgary, all those rodeos.

He climbed back to No. 13 in the world with $133,805 won and victories across the Northwest, from Kalispell to Walla Walla, Strathmore to Great Falls. He added another Montana Circuit Finals buckle and kept his all-around dominance alive with another win in Plains.

“We went 33,000 miles in seven weeks,” Meged said. “It was insane rodeoing and I rode Smoke all but four calves. It was some of the stupidest stuff I’ve ever done.”

Mentally, it might have been the toughest season of his career.

“I didn’t sleep hardly at all the last month,” Meged said. “I was so stressed about missing the NFR. My goal had to get changed around at that point. I’m not roping for a gold buckle. I’m trying to make the National Finals. I was just trying to survive to get my seventh straight back number. It was a battle. Smoke was tired, I was tired. It was probably the most stressful summer I’ve ever had.”

Haven Meged’s Rodeo Horsepower

For all the headlines Meged has made, he’ll be the first to tell you he didn’t do it alone. His horsepower has been a driving force in every major chapter of his career, starting with the mare that put him on the map.

Casanovas Cowgirl, better known as Beyonce, carried him to his 2019 world title and NFR Average win. She was second in the 2020 AQHA Tie-Down Horse of the Year voting and built the foundation for the kind of precision Meged expects every time he backs into the box.

“Oh, she’s by far the one that kicked everything off for me,” Meged said. “She changed my life. Everything I have is because of that mare, the place I have, the horses I’ve been able to buy with her, the embryos I’ve sold out of her. There’s a lot of things that she’s the reason why who I am today because of all the opportunities she placed in my life.”

Then there’s Seven S Tomahawk—Smoke. The gritty gelding was third in the 2023 AQHA Tie-Down Horse of the Year voting and reserve Horse of the Year in 2024. Smoke shouldered most of the load during Meged’s 2025 comeback run, packing him across the Northwest when every check mattered.

But one of the most unique horses in Meged’s arsenal is For Goodness Shakes, the little sorrel better known as Lil Punch. Shelby Boisjoli-Meged trained him as a breakaway horse, and Haven didn’t swing a leg over him in the tie-down until a few jackpots right before the 2023 NFR. Two weeks later, Meged used him to set the Thomas & Mack arena record with that 6.4-second run. Lil Punch became a staple mount for the 2023 and 2024 Finals before injuries sidelined him for most of 2025.

“We’ve been very blessed with a lot of amazing athletes at our place,” Meged said. “Everything I have is because of those horses.”

The Horseman

Meged’s impact doesn’t stop in the arena. When he’s not on the ProRodeo road, he’s home training calf horses alongside his wife, Shelby. The same patience and precision that win world titles show up in every young horse he hauls to a futurity.

“Honestly, I think I like riding horses more than I like rodeoing,” Meged said. “I’ve always loved getting to train the horses, take the time. We’ve got to have good horses to be able to keep doing what we’re doing out there at the rodeos. If you don’t have good horses, you’re not going to succeed out there.”

Meged’s string of up-and-comers might be the army him and Shelby have worked long and hard for.

“As of right now, we’ve got probably one of the best strings we’ve ever had,” Meged said. “I feel like our four-year-old class of horses right now are by far our best class of horses. I think once they hit six, we’re going to have a straight up army of horses.”