"When August came around, it was the best month of rodeoing I've ever had. And at the end of the day, you can't really complain about your summer after having a month like that." Ponoka's Kash Bonnett & Alliance's Logan Spady put together a monstrous month of August to not only secure themselves a spot at the Canadian Finals Rodeo next week but to also give themselves a serious chance at Canadian titles. Together, the pair would pick up $18,293/man in the month of August with 1st place finishes in La Crete, Dawson Creek, Armstrong, and the SMS Equipment Pro Tour Finals, 2nd place finishes in Regina, Picher Creek and Merritt, a 3rd/4th split in Okotoks and a 5th in Grimshaw... needless to say that this duo is on fire going into the 2024 CFR. Bonnett racked up $30,905.62 in season earnings on the head side to earn himself the prestigious Season Leader title and the #1 spot going into his 3rd CFR. Meanwhile, Spady enters his 4th CFR sitting 2nd on the heel side with $31,246.52 in earnings. Every time that the pair backs into the box, you know that it is going to be fast and I wouldn't expect anything less next week in Edmonton.
*Kash Bonnett & Logan Spady capped off their 2024 Season with a BIG win at the SMS Equipment Pro Tour Finals in Armstrong with this 4.7 second run for $3,000/man. Video by Wacey Anderson*
Question: How's it feel to be heading into another CFR? How was your season?
Kash: It's awesome. After last year not making it, it's sure been nice knowing that I'm not gonna just be watching it this year. Its exciting. The goal is always to be season leader but I kind of never really thought about it until it actually happened. Going into the last weekend I didn't even think I had a chance to be season leader. It was crazy, going into Strathmore week, we were going to quit going south because we didn't have very much money won and then we just got winning and kept going. Pretty crazy how that can all happen.
Logan: I'm excited. It kind of feels weird that it's a week away. It started off we had a really good spring, we were catching a lot of cows and it was looking really good. Then kind of in the middle of June, we took a break for a month and forgot how to catch and forgot that we needed to win. When August came around, it was the best month of rodeoing I've ever had. And at the end of the day, you can't really complain about your summer after having a month like that.
Question: How is it roping with Spady?
Kash: It's good always. He never has a bad attitude. He's about as easy to rope with as it gets, he never misses so there's not much to get mad or worry about.
Question: How is it roping with Kash? What do you think makes your run so good?
Logan: I love roping with Kash. We get along really good and we're both pretty easy going. We were never mad at each other or anything, so that makes rodeoing fun. I think our run works cause he does a good job every time. He sees the score really good and puts it on the head and lets me heel em. We both kind of have it in us that we don't like to safety up, so when our run works we are fast enough to win a good cheque every time.
Question: It will be your first one in Edmonton, how's that feel?
Kash: Yeah, I'm excited. I went up there last week to Rogers Place and everyone there was excited. It was neat, everyone's super optimistic about it, it sounds like it will be better than ever. I damn sure think there's a lot of opportunity there.
Logan: I'm excited. I think it's going to be badass roping in Rogers Place. Obviously I'm an Oilers fan so getting to rope in that building should be pretty cool.
Question: What do you think you learned to make it your best year yet?
Kash: With rodeoing all year I guess, I learned that mine and Logan's run is fast enough that I didn't need to try and do something that I don't practice. At the start of the year it seemed like we were trying to go so fast that we couldn't catch. I switched to the bay horse and he's a lot faster and I don't have to take as much of a risk to make a fast enough run to win a top 3 check most times. More or less I learned that me just catching is fast enough, I shouldn't have to step out of my comfort zone to win. It seems like the more rodeos we did, the more I realized that if I just rode my horse and tried to turn the steer we would win a lot more.
Question: What horses did you use throughout the season? What's the stories on them?
Kash: I've got my 9 year-old bay horse, he was kind of an outlaw and still is to an extent. He was sent to Keely cause he was kind of an outlaw and he rode him for a month. I practiced on him one time for the fun of it and I literally bought him right after that. He's been my main jackpot horse, that's pretty much all I've ever done on him. I rodeoed on him a little bit in 2022 when the buckskin was sore and then didn't really use him at all last year. Then I got my 10-year old buckskin that I used at a lot of the rodeos the past couple years. This year I switched back and forth a lot at the start of the year between them but the bay is just really fast. It's no fault of the buckskin's not to ride him, it's just been going good on the bay so there's no point in getting off. I always thought I was going to ride the buckskin at the CFR this year but it just seems like it's going good on the bay, so why would I switch now.
Logan: I rode my old bay horse 'Dandy' a lot and then I rode the grey horse that I bought last summer off of Wayne Skocdopole quite a lot too. It worked out pretty good, I started on the grey and then I gave him a break and roped on the bay for a while and then things weren't working so I switched back to the grey and then at the end of the year got back on the bay a bunch more. The bay is 18 and the grey is 12 I believe.
Question: What rope do you use?
Kash: I normally use a Chief from Top Hand but with rodeoing down south this year, I started to use the Blue Sky 4 strand and they stood up in the heat better for me down there.
Logan: The Powerline. I use the Hard Medium mostly but I've been switching to the Mediums some.
Question: What's your favorite rodeo up here?
Kash: Armstrong's pretty cool. It probably helps that I won the Tour Finals and the rodeo this year. That was a lot of fun. I mean Ponoka of course and La Crete's always a blast. I love that rodeo too.
Logan: It's hard not to like Ponoka but honestly La Crete has always been one of my favorites to go to. It's a blast up there and they treat us so damn good and I always seem to have good luck there. I'm going to have to say La Crete is my favorite one.
Question: Who's been the biggest influence on your roping career?
Kash: I'd have to say my brothers. I grew up watching them and roping with them everyday. I remember going to a couple roping schools here and there as a kid but really I just learned by watching them.
Logan: I would have to say my dad for damn sure. He's helped me the most. He's always turned me steers at practice and always had good horses under me as a kid. I have to give a lot of credit to him. The Flewelling family has helped me a lot too. I lived there at the end of high school and roped there. Glen, Tyrel and Tel, they've always been really good to me. I've ran a lot of steers in their arena so I'd say they have helped me a lot too.
Question: What do you want to achieve yet in your career?
Kash: This year the goal was to try and make the winter indoor rodeos down south but that didn't go as planned so hopefully try and do that again next year. Hopefully I make the NFR before it's all over. And of course hopefully a Canadian title.
Logan: Heck there's a lot left on the table. I would obviously love to win Canada in the heeling. Try to go down south and make the NFR eventually would be pretty cool. I think that's always the big picture but I like to be realistic too so I'm just gonna keep working at it and see how it goes.
Question: Who else are you excited to watch in Edmonton?
Kash: Dawson and Dillon. Normally they come in at the top of the pack but this year with where they are, I can see them being pretty lights out in that building.
Logan: I think as a whole it's one of the toughest 12 teams that I've been apart of at the Finals. I don't think there is going to be any rounds that you can just make a layup run and win in, I think you're going to have to make good runs every night. Trey and Jerry, they're going to be exciting. They hardly missed the whole second half of the year together and they both rope so good that they're going to be fun to watch. I also think that with Dawson & Dillon coming in at the bottom with nothing to lose, it's going to be pretty scary with how fast they are going to be.
Question: What other horse would you like to swing a leg over and take for a spin?
Kash: If I could pick any of them, I would either pick Dawson's yellow, obviously I've rode my brother's horse a lot and think he's awesome but Tee's horse this year I thought was pretty badass. He went to a lot of rodeos and I don't think I ever seen him duck, he looks pretty sweet.
Logan: I really obviously like Dillon's bay horse 'Cruz' that came from Keely. I also like the old horse of Jerry's, he never screws up and I think he'd be pretty easy to heel on.
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