CFR 51 Primer Tie Down Roping

– BY DIANNE FINSTAD, CANADIAN RODEO NEWS WRITER

It’s all about the numbers for tie-down roping’s season leader in Canada. Logan Bird knows them well.

Every year, the Nanton cowboy sets his sights on the season leader title. In 2025, he accomplished the goal for the fifth time, on route to qualifying for his tenth CFR.

Plus Bird’s amazing horse Peso won horse of the year in the CPRA for the fourth time.

With a total haul of $44,351, he was just shy of his best-ever 2024 figure, when he also finished the regular season number one.

“It was for sure my best start to the season I ever had,” says Bird, of his 2025 campaign. There was a healthy deposit from his most successful Maple Leaf Circuit Finals last fall, but he followed that up with wins in Medicine Hat and Grande Prairie and then placed at most of the rodeos right up until mid-June.

“I think I had the CFR pretty well made by Wainwright!”

Quantifying the why’s of the results is a lot tougher than doing the calculating.

The hot start to the season may have been partly due to competing on the U.S. winter run and getting some success there, rather than his usual winter work of training young horses.

“It’s hard to train and then just go right back to winning. When you’re training colts, you’re getting off slow – you’re doing a lot of things that you have to change to go win,” comments Bird.

Perhaps it was getting married at the end of May. 

Maybe it was just taking a few more chances.

But then, unusually, July and August were not Bird’s best earning months. However, he got things turned around, and finished in style by winning the last rodeo of the season in Merritt B.C.

“I’m happy to have a lead. But I’m only one for four at winning the title when I was season leader, so we’ll try to make it two for five,” smiled the 2017 Champion.

You can bet Bird has done a deeper dive into his results, noting both more speedy runs this year… and a few more costly mistakes.

“I would say in the past I’ve been more of a conservative ‘catch ‘em all, tie ‘em all up’ roper to win season leader. This year, I’ve been going a little faster, which is maybe going to help at the CFR.”

Personal highlights for the year, along with Peso’s outstanding performance, were winning his hometown rodeo of Nanton (which his family helped get started) in 7.4 seconds, his best for a CPRA rodeo.

And in the ‘monkey off the back’ category…

“I had been to Coleman ten times, and had never won a cheque there, and I won second – finally!” chuckles Bird, who has placed at every other CPRA rodeo he’s competed at more than twice.

Just behind Bird in the standings is Kyle Lucas, who’s also at his tenth CFR, and will also be riding Peso. At just under $37,000 in earnings, it’s been one of his best years in Canada pre-CFR.

Other title contenders include Marwayne’s Austin Hines, who bounced back to make his second CFR after missing out in 2024. He joins brother-in-law Clayton Smith, who is not related to the other two Smith’s – Shane and Jason – on the CFR roster.

Texan Quade Hiatt will make his first trip to Edmonton as the only newcomer among the ropers. A big weekend at the beginning of June set up his plan to drive for the CFR, and a win at Lethbridge put the icing on the cake. Hiatt comes from a rodeo rich family heritage as the grandson of Hall of Fame steer wrestler and roper Butch Myers, as well as being related to Rope and Cash Myers and Ty Murray.

But the feel-good story of the year has to be the eleventh hour clinching of a CFR spot for veteran Murray Pole. The Erskine cowboy hasn’t qualified for the season-end playoffs since 2012, securing the spot by placing on his last calf of the season, at Merritt.

“It’s been a long stretch,” admits the 36-year-old. “But I never walked away. I was trying to get back there. I’d make good starts to the season, but get on different horses through the year, and younger ones, and couldn’t seem to carry it through the whole season.”

Pole credits this year’s return to his nine-year-old mare Gypsy, who has really come into her own on the trail.

“It’s great just to finally get back to this point. It feels like I’ve been close a lot of years. The best part about it is is having a horse again that’s really close to being that solid rodeo horse. Making it back to CFR and getting to run against the best guys and for the most money – it feels like an accomplishment I’ve been trying to get to for a while.”

Surprisingly, to win a go-round doesn’t pay a lot more than when he was last at Edmonton.

“But it’s still pretty good – like nothing else we’ve been to all year, for sure,” he grins.

Guaranteed any CFR earnings Pole collect will help finance not only his own rodeo ambitions, but also those of his daughter Laci, who’s been making waves on the junior high rodeo circuit.


2025 CFR TIE-DOWN ROPING QUALIFIERS