Roland McFadden & Tyrel Flewelling are CFR Bound once again, marking McFadden's 11th and Flewelling's 10th trip to the big dance. Together the pair of old dogs put together a strong season with McFadden picking up $21,149 in season earnings to enter Edmonton as the #9 header and Flewelling racking up $24,299 to go in #6 on the heel side. While they may be on the older end of this year's Finals roster, make no mistake, the pair of Canadian Champions can still rope and drink Michelobs with the best of em.
Question: How was you summer/season?
Tyrel: It was an awesome summer, you never know how your season is going to go. Last year our season, we had a really good June and then it kind of tapered off towards the end. This year it was almost backwards, we didn't win nothing in June and then towards the end it actually turned out to be pretty good. Not that we won near as much as Kash or Spady but our August and September went pretty good for us and that's what made us lucky enough to get into the CFR.
Roland: CFR #11, it still feels like #1, I don't know where the rest of em went. It's still pretty cool, it's still pretty sweet. I was telling my wife, this one feels different, they're never easy to make but this one was the hardest one to make I feel like. Our summer was good, you can't ever say it was too bad when you're going to the big dance. I guess you could say we had some peaks and valleys, we just kind of hung around between 10th and 15th all year, we were just kind of making runs. It seems like every year is different, last year we won a lot in June, this year we won a lot in August so overall it was just a good year, I was glad to finish strong. Nobody get's too excited to watch us rope, we try to make being 4 seconds look boring.
Question: What's it like roping with Pony?
Tyrel: Oh it's great. He's so easy going. this is the 2nd time that we've roped so it's like getting back together with your ex-wife. It's been outstanding, even outside of the arena we are really good friends. But roping together, he's so easy going and he makes it so easy back there. He turns 95% of em too so as a heeler that's all you can ask for. Both times that we've roped he has been outstanding. This 2nd time with him having the grey horse, that's really upped his game. It'd be a real shame if that grey horse doesn't win horse of the year at some point cause he's been an outstanding horse.
Question: What's it like roping with Tyrel?
Roland: We're like those old Muppet characters that just yell at clouds. It's great, you couldn't ask for a better partner, he doesn't really complain about anything. We're good friends and get along so that helps. He's a winner, he's won a lot, I joke around and call him '3 Time' but he's just a winner, I don't ever spend a minute worrying about that guy. I know when push comes to shove, he's gonna be there and rope 2 feet fast. We have a blast, our priorities are aligned so we don't have to overanalyze much. He's got a great mental game, he ropes great, he's not afraid to drive and he's a lot of fun. We're both not afraid of the odd Michelob, which can probably be a detriment to us sometimes at our age.
Question: What's the story on your main horse?
Tyrel: Ole Roo, me and him both have the same amount of grey hair. He's not that fast, he's not that quick. When he lopes around, you'd think he's not going to get the job done, but he's got just enough to get it done and he fits me to a tee. He gets to the inside and he's a little bit tight and that's kind of what I like. I love that he's dog gentle, my kids can ride him and he's been a perfect gentleman to be around, he's been outstanding that way. He's been great for me, he's not gonna WOW anybody but he damn sure gets the job done. I think he's 18 this year.
Roland: 'Doc', that's my main guy, he's 17 years old. I bought him from Peter and Lori Bews. I've had him for 3 years now. He's always on your team, he's a winner, he tries his hardest every time. He's super quick footed and he faces up as good or better then any of them. He's just super well broke and he tries hard every time.
Question: What rope do you use?
Tyrel: I use the NV4 HM Lite by Classic but every 4 or 5 years I seem to switch. When I first started, I was an XR4 guy, then I went to the GT4s, then I went to the NV4s but this last order of ropes, I've actually got some Powerlines. So I'll have NV4s and Powerlines at the CFR.
Roland: Powerline Lite XS, what do they say rain or shine? I get feeling a little bit frisky every once in a while and get thinking I need to try a GT4 or Triton but I always come back to my old gal the Powerline Lite. That's how I feel young, when I see a young buck using a GT4 I think maybe I need to try that on. It feels good but I just can't turn my back on the old faithful.
Question: What's your favorite rodeo up here?
Tyrel: I've been thinking about that after reading all of your articles. I mean obviously Ponoka is great with what Lyle has done there and Armstrong is a super electric atmosphere. A couple other ones that I really like going to are Strathmore and Benalto, they've really stepped their game up getting equal money, they get a ton of people and it's a great atmosphere. I also just want to shoutout all of the committees for adding equal money in the team roping, it's gotten so much better and I just want to thank all the committees that have put efforts towards making it better for us team ropers up here. It's been outstanding, I won season leader in 2010 with $14,000, I know it's 14 years ago but all the added money that committees have stepped up with has just been outstanding.
Roland: That's a loaded question, there's so many good ones up here now. Everybody says Ponoka obviously with what Lyle Kurtz has done adding equal money and what that committee does for the cowboys. But to go off the board, I really love Wainwright, I have since the 1st year I went there. They got that big slack where everyone's there, it's a 2 header, used to be 3. The committee tries their butts off. I just really like that rodeo, it's a great rodeo. For electricity though it's got to be Armstrong, that place is unbelievable.
Question: Who has been the biggest influence on your roping career?
Tyrel: My family for sure. Mom and Dad started us out and we always had great horses to ride, always had tons of steers. I got to rope with my brother everyday and he's got one of the nicest string of horses in Canada and then I got to rope with my sister Gina everyday. I'm the only heeler in the practice pen besides Coy McBride so you got Glen, Tel, Gina, Taylor and my wife Carla heading. It's pretty sweet, those guys have definitely been one of the biggest influences for sure. Scott Auclair has helped me a bunch and I went to a Dwight Wigemyr school that was really really good at the right time for me. There's been lots.
Question: What else do you want to achieve in your career?
Tyrel: I don't know, I'd just like to go up there to Rogers and have a good finals. I know I'm on the back nine of my career, I might be on the 18th hole even but I still feel like I'm competitive and I just like to compete with everybody. It's so competitive with the guys we have up here now and I just love to compete and rope with those guys, I don't always get the better of em but sometimes I do and it's satisfying when you do.
Roland: What a question for the so called old guy haha. I don't know, honestly this year I just want to try and take it all in and enjoy it. I've reached more goals than I ever thought I could achieve at this point. I just want to be competitive, I want to ride great horses. That's my big thing now, I want to always have good horses, I got some young ones coming up. I'd love to keep making the CFR and win another Canadian title but we'll see. I always told myself I'd quit if I made it 10 times and won it twice but I haven't, I've made it 10 times but I haven't won it twice, so we'll see.
Question: If you could ride another horse up here, who's would it be?
Tyrel: Well I voted for Jerry's 'Hoss', I really like the looks of him, he looks outstanding. A couple of other ones that I thought looked really good were Braden Brost's roan, I thought it looked good all year, I liked the looks of him. And I wouldn't mind throwing a leg over that 'Cajunish', I know he's not going to Edmonton but he looks like something I could get along with. I have rode quite a few of em, me and Spady's 'Dandy' I think are 100% when I've rode him at the rodeos, I like him quite a bit too.
Roland: Man I've been reading these and I've been thinking about it. There's just so many good head horses right now, that's a tough question. One that I haven't got on that I would like to get on at a rodeo is Kolton Schmidt's mare, I rode her when she was younger but I'd like to ride her now or Kash Bonnett's bay. If I got to crawl on one that I've rode before, I'd get on Logan Bonnett's 'Tito', I've rode him before and that horse is so easy and so much fun. I've rode Trey's yellow a lot, I actually had him when he was young and started roping on him, he's pretty cool.
Question: What other team are you excited to watch in Edmonton?
Tyrel: I'm just excited for the roping in general, I think it's going to be outstanding. With it being a month earlier I think everybody's staying just a little bit sharper, guys are still rodeoing in the states and even up here, we had rodeos up to Hanna and Olds. I think the roping will just be outstanding. Having it in Roger's Place, will be really cool, it's just going to be electric in a venue like that and I think the roping will match up to it.
Roland: Oh man, all of em. It's a pretty stacked group. It's always exciting to watch Bird, I had to go after that guy for 2 years back when it was in Edmonton and when he went I just had to stare at the ground cause if I try to do what he does it just won't work out well for me. I'm excited to see Bird back. Levi always, he's unbelievable in that setup. Brady Tryan and the Grahams, the way Trey and Jerry ended the year, I'm excited to watch every team. All those young guys, it's going to be pretty sweet.
Question: What's your game plan in Edmonton?
Roland: Just not to beat myself, there's certainly a buzz and a lot of stuff going on when you're at the CFR and it's pretty easy to get caught up in. For me, it's execute each run as it's own rodeo, I want to beat the cow. My game plan is always hit the barrier, you gotta nail the start there, you gotta be in the barrier every night. You're almost better to break the barrier then be late in that setup, the steers are sharp, the arena is small, you put yourself in a bind if you're too late. I just try to drill the barrier, do my job, give my heeler a chance to rope 2 feet and if I execute that 5 times, it should be pretty good for us.
Question: What's one thing you've learned in your career that you'd share to the next generation?
Roland: Oh man, that's kind of a deep question for an old guy on an early morning. I guess the hardest thing to figure out in rodeo is how to get through the valleys. In baseball if you bat 300, you're probably going to win the batting title and in rodeo if you're batting 300 or 500, you're killing it. If you're winning every 3rd rodeo, you're kicking butt. So it's hard trying to find a way to get through not winning 60% of the time. It's a marathon not a sprint. Don't get too down and don't get too high. At the end of the day, if you're a good guy, nobody cares how much you've won. You gotta keep a positive attitude and not to get too down when it's going bad, it's not the end of the world. I think that's the biggest thing that has kept me going, you gotta love it.
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