Shad Mayfield’s Popular Resortfigure mares haven’t been to the ProRodeos this year, and neither has he, but while the two-time PRCA World Champion recovered from the first of two hip surgeries after the 2025 NFR, the foundation of his horse program quietly got to work.

Mayfield went under the knife on his left hip immediately after the NFR, fully expecting to miss the building rodeos—but not realizing the layoff would open the exact window he needed to finally invest in Figure To Fly “Lollipop” and Popular Snow Resort “Tootsie Pop.”

“While I’ve been down, it’s given me the time to reset and do some things I haven’t had the opportunity to do while on the road,” Mayfield said. “With my two mares, it gave me the opportunity during breeding season to send them to breeding farms and pull embryos out of them because I’m not hauling them. I feel like the best time to do it is when you can give them some time off.”

Two Mares, Two Crosses, One Plan

Tootsie Pop spent the spring at Outlaw Equine’s breeding facility, where her embryos were crossed on Kaleb Driggers’ Riata stallion Metallic Payday. Lollipop went to Solo Select, where she was bred to Woody Be Tuff, the legendary sire of more than $15.3 million in earners.

Mayfield flushed two embryos from each mare. The plan is simple—keep one from each cross and sell the other two.

His stud selections were anything but random.

“I feel like a couple of the hottest studs right now across every discipline are Stevie Rey Von and Woody Be Tuff,” Mayfield said.

For Lollipop—the 16-year-old 2024 AQHA Tie-Down Horse of the Year—Mayfield was hunting size and versatility.

“With Lollipop being kind of bred to run, to put her on a stud like Woody and have a little bit of both, I think it could be a really good cross,” Mayfield said. “I think it will be a bigger horse—one you could head on or rope calves on. That’s what I want. I want a cross that could be an all-around horse.”

For Tootsie Pop, Metallic Payday checked every box.

“I’ve watched him go, and I know he’s dang sure gritty enough to be a calf horse,” Mayfield said. “So I talked to Kaleb this summer. I said, ‘Hey, I want to put one of my mares with Payday.’ And he said, ‘Let’s do it.’”

And he’s already mapping the next round. Lollipop to Payday, and both mares eventually to Stevie Rey Von.

“I feel like putting Lollipop with Stevie—he’s kind of a go-at-’em type of horse—that’s a cross I’ll do eventually,” Mayfield said. “But it’ll be a higher-paced horse than what a Woody cross would be.”

The keep-one, sell-one approach isn’t a compromise—it’s the engine behind the machine Mayfield is building.

“I feel like if I kept all the babies, I wouldn’t be able to build the program I want,” Mayfield said. “I need to sell them and let other people go do what they want—put them in futurities and all that. I want to give people the opportunity to own a baby out of one of my mares, too.”

Adding a Stallion

The program isn’t just built on mares anymore.

Mayfield, alongside Canaan and Jennifer Barrilleaux, recently purchased Rebel Impact “Boosie,” a 3-year-old stallion by Metallic Rebel out of Annie B Rey. Boosie is in training with Corey Cushing and is aimed at the NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity this October.

The Futurity Vision

Mayfield is also partnered with Canaan Barrilleaux on several futurity prospects, leaning heavily on trainer Cody McCartney.

“I feel like the top horse trainer right now is Cody McCartney,” Mayfield said. “To make everything work, you’ve got to have him training your horses. I don’t have enough time to train horses and rodeo, so I told Cody, ‘We’re going to send you some horses—I want you to train them and let’s show them.’ And he said, ‘Let’s do it.’”

His plan is straightforward: futurities at four, five and six then transition to the rodeo pen.

“Once they turn seven, I feel like we’re going to have so many rodeo horses,” Mayfield said. “Cody is a great guy to lean on because I won’t be able to ride and show them all, but I think we’ll be able to sell horses to anybody looking for a top-level horse.”

It’s a long-game investment built on futurity earnings now, with the end goal of rodeo-ready horsepower later.

“That’s my vision—go to the futurities, try to win as much as we can, build a name for them, and then they come out ready to go rodeo,” Mayfield said. “Even if it’s not with me, I want them going down the road with somebody who needs a top-level calf horse.”

Why These Mares, Why Now

Mayfield doesn’t hesitate when he talks about what makes Lollipop and Tootsie Pop different.

“I’ve ridden a lot of horses, and I feel like I’ve never been on anything with the amount of power those two mares have,” Mayfield said. “So crossing them with these studs and building that foundation—while also getting my name out there—I think that could be big.”

Both mares are 16, and by his estimate, they’ve got two to four prime years left. That timeline lines up perfectly with his program’s pipeline.

“In two years, we’re going to have a whole crop of rodeo horses coming out of the futurities that I can just go pick from,” Mayfield said. “I’m ready for that.”

Built on Mediocre

Mayfield built his career on horses that didn’t make it easy and he credits them for everything.

“I feel like the horses I grew up on that weren’t the best, that was the best thing for me,” Mayfield said. “It made me appreciate the good ones, and it taught me how to ride them better. You’ve got to learn on the mediocre ones before you can really learn on the great ones.”

It’s the same mindset driving his program now—ride the great ones, build the next generation, and keep the pipeline moving.

“I feel like we’re just getting started,” Mayfield said. “I’m still learning, but I think we’ve got the opportunity to do some big things.”