Hailing from just south of the border, Montana’s Haven Meged secured his second Canadian Calf Roping Championship title after a strong performance at the Canadian Finals Rodeo, held at Edmonton, Alberta’s Rogers Place Oct. 2-5, and earning $65,172.26 for the 2024 season.

“It’s just as good as the first one,” Meged said of his back-to-back titles. “It’s just like winning a World title; it’s something you set out for when you buy your card at the beginning of the year, to bet another title. I had a lot of success this year up in Canada.”

The CFR standoff

Meged came into CFR50 in the No.2 spot behind Nanton, Alberta’s Logan Bird with $37,564.57 won on the regular season. The 2019 World Champion calf roper kickstarted the Finals by adding $5,407.26 to his earnings after finishing third in Round 1 with an 8.2-second run.

“I just made a good, solid run,” Meged said. “The calf was soft. We didn’t really know much about her. I just did what I could.”

In Round 2, Meged secured his first round-win of the week with a 7.0-second run on a calf that didn’t necessarily fit the pen, which added $11,100 to Meged’s winnings.

“I probably didn’t have the best calf on paper,” Meged said. “We were roping kind of a smaller, faster pen and she was just a bigger, slower calf. I made a good run on her.”

Before running his third calf of the week, Meged was leading the Canadian Pro Rodeo standings and the average with a time of 15.2 seconds on two head, but a miss in Round 3 took him out of the average race.

“I should have probably started thinking of the average a little more,” Meged said. “I probably got ahead of myself too much and went at her. I was just going at every single calf. That calf stepped left, and I just made a dumb mistake. My horse was sharp. It wasn’t his fault that I missed, it was mine.”

Hungry for more by Round 4, Meged came back with a vengeance and blasted a record-breaking 6.8-second run to win the round, worth another $11,100.

“I knew I had to win the round the get back in the race,” Meged said. “I had a good calf. They missed her before, but I had nothing to lose. I was just going at her again.”

Meged concluded the week roping his final calf at CFR50 in a long, 10.3-second run due to a slight mishap at the start of his run. 

“I hit the neck rope with my rope, and it fouled my rope,” Meged recalled. “I went too many swings, and I knew I did so I kind of panicked and threw my rope and caught a tail.”

With a total time of 32.3 seconds on four, Meged clinched the Canadian Championship with a $1,042.14 season earnings lead over 2013 World Champion Shane Hanchey.

“I thought Shane won [the title]’” Meged said humbly. “But I guess it was God’s plan how it worked out.”

Getting to CFR50

Qualifying into the Canadian Finals Rodeo typically calls for a strong rodeo count, but Meged managed to punch his ticket after just 15 Canadian Pro Rodeos in 2024.

“I did good at Ponoka (Alberta, Stampede), and a couple other the big rodeos,” Meged said, having earned a $12,562.26 share of his season earnings at the Panoka Stampede, where he won the average and placed in all three rounds. “Ponoka really saved my butt. I think I had $8,000 won before Ponoka, so not terrible, but it wasn’t great. I told my traveling partner, Zack Jongbloed, and he was like, ‘Well, why don’t you just fly up there?’”

Meged and Jongbloed were at Colorado’s Greeley Stampede at the time and, when they knew they didn’t qualify to rope in the short round, they hopped in the truck and headed north.

“We drove all night from Greeley slack and got there to rope in that 7:00 a.m. slack,” Meged said, recalling their 16-plus hour drive. “After I roped there, I said, ‘Man it paid off. Thank you for helping to get here.’ The next day we roped in the slack at Williams Lake (British Columbia, Stampede) and I was 7.7 and winning that, too.”

Days later, Meged also won the Calgary Stampede for $61,500—the cherry on top of his $95,600 Fourth of July run.

Meged’s CFR50 mounts

Meged rode For Goodness Shakes, better known as “Lil Punch”—a 7-year-old sorrel gelding who was started as a cutting horse, then quickly turned into a breakaway horse under Haven’s wife, 2023 World Champion Breakaway Roper Shelby.

“That horse is honestly such a blessing,” Meged said. “He’s been lights out. He is amazing inside and does crazy things. He lets me win. He’s fast and flat. We need a little work on the end of the rope but, other than that, he’s been lights out.”

Meged also had “Smoke,” the 8-year-old gelding registered as Seven S Tomahawk that Meged rode to victory at the Ponoka Stampede.

“Smoke was absolutely amazing up there,” Meged said. “What he did at Ponoka just stands out. Not many horses in the world could have done what he did, I think.”

After pulling multiple checks in Canadian rodeo and the PRCA, Meged is in awe at what Lil Punch and Smoke have done for him this season.

“I added all the money up that I’ve won on both horses this year, and it’s just a blessing to have both of these horses,” Meged said.

Everything is better in Edmonton

Meged, who won his first Canadian Championship in 2023 when the CFR was held in Red Deer, Alberta, was more than thrilled to compete and win in the same arena that Edmonton Oilers hockey team play in.

“Red Deer was a pretty good Finals, but getting to go to Edmonton where the Oilers play, that was a big deal,” said Meged, who married into a hockey-loving family. “It was loud, and it was electric.”

After competing at the National Finals Rodeo five years in a row, Meged knows how a packed arena should feel, and Roger’s Place wasn’t far off.

“Friday night and Saturday night there were probably 15,000 people in there, and I mean Thomas & Mack holds 17,500, so it wasn’t far off of the Thomas & Mack” said Meged, who will be headed to his sixth NFR in December. “It was cool to get to go in there and compete. The jumbotron was huge, and it was really loud. It was honestly a good warm-up for the NFR.”

Along with the amped up atmosphere, Meged was exceptionally happy with the cattle that were provided by Lazy B Timed Event.

“The calves were amazing,” Meged said. “Hats off to the Bird family. That is probably the best pen of calves that Canada has ever seen at the Canadian Finals.”

The Shelby effect

Meged cannot stress enough the significant role Shelby plays in the success of his career.

“I could never thank her enough for what she’s done for me and my career,” Meged said. “We push each other each day. It’s amazing to be able to practice with another World Champion in the practice pen because you can push each other, and you know how to hold yourself accountable and not let yourself stoop to a level to where you’re not getting better. It doesn’t matter if we have gold buckles, we’re pushing each other every day.”

Meged is confident that a Canadian Championship and upcoming NFR trip would not have been in sights without the backbone of both the Meged and Boisjoli families.

“Being up in Canada and rodeoing up there, both of our families have helped us a bunch to get rigs in the summertime,” Meged said. “Everyone plays a good part in getting a Canadian Championship and a World title.”

CFR50 Tie-Down Results