Behind the Top 15: Shad Mayfield

Age: 25

Hometown: Clovis, New Mexico

Career Earnings: $1,909,779

Major Rodeos: Salinas, Pendleton, Calgary Stampede, San Angelo, Fort Worth, Cheyenne, San Antonio, Reno, Sioux Falls, Walla Walla, Austin, Bremerton, Vernal, Puyallup, Rapid City, Redmond, The American Rodeo, San Angelo Roping Fiesta, Stephenville.

NFR Qualifications: 8 (2019-26)

World Titles: 2 (TD 2020, AA 2024)

Star Horsepower: Lollipop, (Figure To Fly,) Tootsie Pop, (Popular Snow Resort)

A two-time world champion from Clovis, New Mexico, who won a tie-down roping gold buckle in 2020 and the all-around title in 2024, Shad Mayfield won the Pendleton Round-Up, the California Rodeo Salinas and the Cowboy Capital of the World in 2026 and roped his way to an eighth straight National Finals Rodeo, finishing the regular season 14th in the tie-down roping world standings with $139,390 won after a storybook comeback.

Shad Mayfield was raised in the world of rodeo. His father, Sylvester Mayfield, qualified for the National Finals Rodeo in 1985 and 1987 and won the tie-down roping at Fort Worth in 1987; his sister, Shelby, grew up roping too. By 2018 the younger Mayfield had won the National High School Rodeo Association tie-down roping championship, and the horses he grew up on—far from the finished ones he rides now—shaped him into the calf roper he is today.

“It made me appreciate the good ones, and it taught me how to ride them better,” Mayfield said.

That bloodline keeps writing echoes. Mayfield won his first Calgary Stampede bronze in 2025 exactly 40 years after his father first won there, and in 2026 he took the California Rodeo Salinas buckle four decades after Sylvester won the same one.

“My dad won the buckle 40 years—exactly 40 years—before I just won it,” Mayfield said.

The Fast Track to a Gold Buckle

Mayfield reached the top in a hurry. He qualified for his first Wrangler NFR in 2019, earning $36,654 as a rookie, and a year later he was a world champion—winning the 2020 tie-down roping title with $198,399 and backing into the Thomas & Mack with an $89,479 lead on the field.

Maturing as a Competitor

The titles kept him near the top every season after. Mayfield finished seventh in 2021 with $195,910, then second in 2022 on a career-high $269,936, tying the arena-round record with a 6.5-second run in Round 6 of that Finals. In 2023 he placed third with another career best of $309,383, winning Round 4 and Round 10 outright in Las Vegas. Through all of it, he’s leaned into the grind—even the pain of two torn hip labrums.

A Second Gold Buckle

In 2024, Mayfield added the rarest prize in the sport. He won the PRCA all-around world championship with $335,474 while finishing second in the tie-down roping race with $397,408 and fourth in the NFR average on 94.6 seconds across 10 head. For a roper who already owned a tie-down title, the all-around meant something he couldn’t count on getting again.

“I’ll have more chances at a calf roping gold buckle,” Mayfield said, “but the all-around doesn’t come around very often.”

Riding the Sugar High: 2025

Mayfield spent 2025 right in the thick of the world title race, finishing second with $388,931. He won back-to-back titles at Fort Worth, took San Angelo and claimed his first Calgary bronze, then carried it into Las Vegas, where he finished ninth in the average and left with $132,621. He opened the Finals exactly the way he’d always wanted to—winning Round 1 with a 6.8-second run and splitting the Round 2 win at 7.8.

“I’ve always wanted to go out there in the first round and start it with a bang,” Mayfield said.

Horsepower: Lollipop and Tootsie Pop

Mayfield’s dominance rides on two mares. Figure To Fly, “Lollipop,” was named the 2024 AQHA Tie-Down Horse of the Year.

“When I got the call that Lollipop got Horse of the Year, that meant more to me than anything,” Mayfield said in an interview after the win.

She proved it again in 2026 at the Pendleton Round-Up, where the famous grass arena has a reputation for turning good runs sideways. Mayfield had promised himself he’d only bring her back to that grass if he absolutely had to.

“I feel like she’s the best horse on the grass,” Mayfield said. “I don’t think there’s another horse that would stop like she does no matter where she is in the arena.”

His other mare, Popular Snow Resort, “Tootsie Pop,” carried him to the Salinas average title.

“She’s the best horse for Salinas. She just traps those cattle so good.”

With both mares into their teens, Mayfield has also started building the next generation, breeding toward “a cross that could be an all-around horse,” with his two stallions Zak 34 and Rebel Impact.

The Long Road Back

Shad Mayfield had both hips operated on after the 2025 Finals, and the hardest part of the recovery wasn’t physical.

“It’s not that my body wasn’t right,” Mayfield said. “It’s just mentally I wasn’t really trusting my body.”

He strained a quad at his first rodeo back, turned out of Ponoka and a string of Canadian rodeos he might have won, and by midsummer the two-time world champion was a week from loading up and heading home for the summer. What pulled him out of it wasn’t a rodeo at all—it was a roping school full of kids that got his mind off his hips, and a friend, Desmon “Des” Johnson, who climbed on the plane and stood on the fence with him.

“Having someone in your corner out here helps a lot,” Mayfield said.

The breakthrough came at the California Rodeo Salinas. Backed in 11th high call in a loaded short round, Mayfield tied three calves in 30.3 seconds on Tootsie Pop to win the average and $13,576—the first big win of his comeback, 40 years to the year after his father, Sylvester, won the same buckle. Weeks later he carried that momentum into the Pendleton Round-Up, where he picked up the win.

“It was awesome to get that win,” Mayfield said. “I felt like it was what I needed at the moment.”

Pendleton, Stephenville’s Cowboy Capital of the World, the Jerome County Fair & Rodeo and co-championships at Pasadena and the Omak Stampede stacked up behind him. Chasing the standings from behind for the first time since his rookie year, Mayfield roped his way to 14th in the world with $139,390 and an eighth straight trip to the Thomas & Mack.

“I’ve had the right people,” Mayfield said. “You gotta have people to help you.”