Haven Meged showed up ready to work at the Royal Crown in Buckeye, riding seven different horses and earning $22,000.

Meged claimed the 4 & Under Calf Roping title with a score of 353.18 on three head aboard XIT Burton, a 2021 gelding by Kit Kat Sugar out of A Spoonful O Sugar, who is by Hes a Peptospoonful, earning a total of $3,000. Following his victory in the 4 & Under, Meged returned to win the 6 & Under Calf Roping with a score of 360.57 on three head aboard Wares The Hottie, a 2019 mare by Hottish out of Holidayware, who is by WR This Cats Smart, earning $9,600.

Royal Crown 4 & Under Calf Roping

XIT Burton, the 2021 gelding owned by Haven and Shelby Meged, started his training in a cow horse program before finding his way to the Megeds in 2024.

“We’ve had him in our program since this time last year,” Meged said. “He’s really a cow horse. The XIT Ranch started him in a cow horse program. He’s really laid back, but I knew he would make a good show horse. He really wants to stop—he’s just easy.”

Both Meged and his wife, Shelby, make a living in the ProRodeo arena, which makes preparing horses for early futurities a challenging but seamless task for them. Along with full-time rodeoing, Haven and Shelby work together to train calf horses and have built a dominant program.

“A lot of our program is my wife, honestly,” Meged said. “What she does with those horses in the box is amazing. I don’t think there’s anybody else who can do what she does. She truly makes my job easy. I can get the horses to stop and back up, but what she does in the box lays the foundation for all our horses.”

The Royal Crown event, held in Buckeye, Arizona, from February 5-16, 2025, was the first time Meged tied calves on XIT Burton away from home. The four-year-old gelding had only 20 calves tied on him before the event, making this win even sweeter for Meged.

“We are gone so much throughout the year that the horses get behind,” Meged said. “All of our futurity horses have really come along in the last 45 days. In that time, they have maybe had three or four days off. We’ve been trying to keep them progressing, taking them to different jackpots to score on them and breakaway a few calves.”

Meged rode two horses in the 4 & Under class: XIT Burton and Pawhuska (Metallic Cat x Stylish Lizzie x Lizzys Gotta Player). Aboard XIT Burton, Meged won rounds one and two of the 4 & Under and placed second in the short round, securing the average title.

“All the horses felt good,” Meged said. “We took him (XIT Burton) to a couple of places this week, just to get a feel for him. It was a long 14-hour trip over here, but all the horses traveled well. We pulled in late last night and got up early this morning. I was proud of both the horses we had in the 4 & Under class.”

Royal Crown 6 & Under Calf Roping

Wares The Hottie is no stranger to the winner’s circle, having earned over $100,000 with Meged as a four-year-old. The 2019 mare by Hottish out of Holidayware, owned by Meged, had been sidelined due to soundness issues since her big wins two years ago.

“She’s had white line for the past two years,” Meged said. “It’s been a mess trying to get her sound. This was her first show back in two years. We started roping on her again after the NFR, so she’s only been back for 45 days. Most of that time was spent getting her in shape. She has only been roped on away from the house a couple of times since we brought her back, so it was almost like restarting her. I gassed her a little too hard in the short round. I should have just coasted on her and set her up a little better, but she still did really well.”

Meged has high hopes for Wares The Hottie and plans to take her on the rodeo road this summer.

“With that mare, I honestly only have to keep her slowed down,” Meged said. “I rope a lot of trotters on her and score a bunch. She’s got a big motor and has so much talent. I hope to take her out on the road with me this summer—she’s got all the tools I need out there. Every day I try to rope slower calves on her and keep it easy. I have to keep building the foundation under her every day, keep her on the log and working sharp.”

Now that she’s sound, Meged hopes for a bright future with Wares The Hottie.

“I hope there’s a lot of money in her future,” Meged laughed. “She’s one of the few mares in my program that I feel I can rodeo on. She’s got a lot of run and wants to stop. She actually stopped better here today than she did at home. It’s nice to see that she can stop in any kind of ground because when you’re out rodeoing, you never know what kind of conditions you’ll face.”

The Royal Crown Promise

The Royal Crown stays true to its motto of “a royal return on your investment” across all events. Meged left Buckeye with over $22,000 earned aboard seven different horses.

“What the Royal Crown and all futurities are doing for calf roping is great,” Meged said. “We’re trying to encourage more people to come out and support calf roping and breakaway. The futurity deal is well-established in barrels and team roping, but we need more people to support calf roping and breakaway. When there were only four horses entered in the tie-down and I was able to win $8,500, that’s awesome. On the mare, I won $7,000 just in the side pot. That’s a lot of money for competing against only 11 horses. This whole deal is just awesome.”