Team Roping Wednesday

Caden Tinsley is a man of few words. Instead, the 16-year-old team roper from Midland, Texas, lets his work in the arena speak for him.

Wednesday in the 17 & Under #10.5 division of the Junior World Finals, Tinsley and roping partner Newt Lemond of Andrews, Texas, didn’t have their best day – they had a 12.27-second run in the third round and 11.70 in the third round – but the Texas tandem still enters Thursday’s final round sitting fifth in the average. Lemond and Tinsley have a four-run time of 40.04 seconds and are one of just six teams with four qualified runs.

“I slipped a leg on that last run,” said Tinsley, who heels for Lemond, “but it’s worked out well so far.”

Tinsley is chasing his second world championship after teaming with Tate Thompson to win the 17 & Under #10 title here last year.

A new partner isn’t the only thing that’s different for Tinsley this year. After winning last year’s world title as a header he moved over to the other roping box in order to compete with Lemond, the son of four-time National Finals Rodeo qualifier JoJo Lemond.

“Me and Newt have been good friends for a while so I just decided to heel for him this year,” Tinsley said. “He’s the best heeler here so I said I might as well for him.”

Tinsley will go back to the heading box later this week when he pairs with Brady Fenn of Midland, Texas, in the open division.

One thing won’t change for Tinsley, however. Whether he’s heading or heeling, he’ll compete on Little D, a bay he got from Jojo Lemond.

“He’s trained to do both (heading and heeling),” Tinsley said of Little D, “but I think I like him better as a heeling horse. I’ve got a lot of horses, but he’s my favorite.”

Obviously, Tinsley is one of the rising stars in the team roping world. He teamed with Jojo Lemond to win a #14 World Series qualifier last year in Texas and he lists Jojo Lemond and Bret Beach, the team roping programmer for the Junior World Finals and one of the most respected names in the team roping world, as two of his mentors.

“Bret Beach started Caden with the basics,” Jason Tinsley, Caden’s dad, said. “And then Jojo started training Caden and really took him to that next level. Jojo said, ‘Hey, this kid’s got a lot of talent and I want to work with him.’

“So he learned the basics from Bret and the rest from Jojo. And those guys are two of the best in the business.”

Arizona’s Kenzie Kelton and Denton Dunning lead the average with a four-run time of 27.49 seconds, followed by Texas cowboys Denton Parish and Nicky Northcott with a 34.95. Jackson Roberts from Walnut Springs, Texas, and Garrett Hershberger from Litchfield Park, Arizona, are third with a 35.73, followed by the Texas duo of Jordan Lovins and Zach Nicholson with a 38.52 and Lemond and Tinsley.

Also Wednesday, Texas cowboys Kyler Beshirs and Rustin Baldwin won the third go with a 5.7-second run and Ethan Priefert and Landon Priefert from Mount Pleasant, Texas, won the fourth round with a 5.16.