Don't Give Up on the Tough Ones: The Unlikely Horse of the Year Winners

Not all horses are easy from day one and there are some great stories in this year's NFR group

Crush and Ty at the Calgary Stampede / Calgary Stampede/Provided by Cierra Erickson

In 2024, we have recognized the incredible equine athletes that were voted Horse of the Year, but they were not always thought of so highly. Some horses may have gone through a few careers to find the right one, others may have just taken some time to find their stride, and some simply needed someone to believe in them.

Ty Erickson's "Crush"

I always love interviewing the Erickson's. Cierra was candid about the Steer Wrestling Horse of the Year, Finding Meno. While he has now found his calling, he still has his quirks. She laughed as she told me that the horse never goes anywhere without a set of hobbles, because he is notorious for pawing holes to Middle Earth.

"He was a really tough horse," Cierra told me. She had picked him up after his racetrack career, which was not a complete fail, but also was not wildly successful. After two years of ranching with her father, the horse was still a handful and spent many days saddled from dawn to dusk, while Cierra used him at the college where she coached the rodeo team.

Cierra started him on the barrels and determined that was not going to be his event. Her students would tease her about what she thought she was going to do with Crush, but Cierra believed in his greatness. She knew he was good in the box and encouraged Ty to run him by some steers. They never looked back, winning a world title in 2019. Crush brought three cowboys to the NFR this year and has helped them all win at least one check in the first three rounds.

Shad Mayfield's "Lollipop"

The World Champion was completely afoot in the spring of 2023, when he heard Andrew Burks was selling 2021 Reserve Horse of the Year, Figure To Fly. Out of pure desperation, he bought the mare, despite having seen how poorly she was working. After a few disastrous runs, Mayfield just wanted out from under her and tried to sell her. Spoiler alert - he was unsuccessful.

Mayfield decided if he was stuck with her, he better figure it out. He focused on bonding with her and went back to basics and fundamentals. Lollipop went from refusing to score or work the rope to enjoying her job again. The duo came back out on the rodeo road, winning Reno and their summer just rolled from there.

The whispers abounded when Mayfield planned to take her to the Thomas and Mack for the NFR. Lollipop proved the doubters wrong, continuing to work even in the tough setup, winning over $100,000 during the finals and helping Shad tie two in six seconds (one got up, but would have been a new arena record at 6.1 seconds).

Less than a year after what he thought was a mistake in purchasing the mare, Mayfield would ride Lollipop everywhere if he could, but opts to save runs on her when he can - she's that good. Despite significant struggles with his hips this year, Mayfield is back at the NFR and gives all the credit to his gritty bay mare.

Tyler Wade's "Spur"

Purchasing Espuela Bro would not have been Wade's first pick under most circumstances, but he was sitting high in the World Standings in 2019 and completely afoot. After asking around at a rodeo and meeting Spur's owner in the grandstands, Wade tried the gelding on fresh steers in an unworked arena. Although he did not love what he felt, he was without a horse and Spur was... there. So he bought him. Shortly after the purchase, Spur came up lame and had to have a chip removed from his ankle.

When the NFR rolled around later that year, Spur had barely finished rehab and only been to a handful of rodeos in his life. Wade only had a couple options to pick from on the biggest stage in rodeo, so he took a leap of faith and rode Spur in all ten rounds. Five years later, Spur earned the 2024 Horse of the Year title in the heading. Two rounds into the NFR, Spur and Wade earned back to back wins with 3.7 second runs with heeler, Wesley Thorp.

Patrick Smith's "Turbo"

Owned by Patrick Smith, Kadabra King is making an NFR appearance this year with Wesley Thorp, who just earned back-to-back round wins with Tyler Wade. Not only did he help Smith achieve a top twenty finish in the World this year, Thorp knew Turbo would be a game changer for him in the T&M and asked to borrow him. A decade into Smith owning the gelding, he has that kind of street cred - but it was not always an easy road with the 2022, 2023, and 2024 Horse of the Year.

As a four-year-old, Turbo still bucked every single time he was saddled. While the gelding was good to be around, he was a renegade under saddle. Smith had a friend spend six months slowly roping the machine, then spent another six months roping slow cattle. When he was good, he was good, but the horse was still watchy and lacked consistency in his younger years. Turbo made up for it when everything finally clicked. Now at fourteen, the former outlaw has sealed his name in the history books as one of the best there has ever been.