CHEYENNE — Ask Shelby Boijolis-Meged and Haven Meged who is the better roper in their marriage and you’ll get a diplomatic answer.
“He is,” Shelby said.
“She is,” Haven said.
As predictable as those answers are, the tone of their voices during their elaborations conveys a genuine respect and admiration for their spouse’s rodeo talents.
Considering the résumés they compiled during their young rodeo careers, it’s hard not to appreciate their skills, even as an outsider.
Shelby has been to the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association’s National Finals Breakaway Roping all four years she’s been a card-carrying professional. She capped a 2023 that was already memorable because of her May wedding by winning the breakaway roping world championship. Shelby set a new single-season earning record in the process. She also was the runner-up in the world standings in 2021.
Shelby is currently No. 5 in the world standings.
Haven has made the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association’s year-end National Finals Rodeo in five of the six seasons he’s held a pro card.
He claimed the tie-down roping world championship in his official rookie season of 2019. Haven also has been runner-up in the world standings twice.
He is No. 3 in the world this week.
The pair has known each other since junior high, and ran in similar circles in the Texas college circuit. However, the 26-year-olds didn’t become a couple until 2020.
Both ropers have their sights firmly set on adding more world championship buckles to their home, which is how their marriage thrives during a June-September stretch where they rarely see each other.
“Our slacks are almost always on different days, even though it would make a lot of sense to hold them the same day,” Haven said. “It’s hard, but we both know why we’re out here. We’ll sacrifice these three months together to chase our dreams.
“Last week, we basically got to hang out together all week but weeks like that are few and far between. We usually see each other about every other week during the summer. Sometimes we just run into each other at the gas station. We just get through it.”
The Megeds unexpectedly crossed paths at the Reno Rodeo late last month, but that only happened because Haven’s flight to another rodeo got canceled at the last minute. Otherwise, the couple only talks on the phone in the morning and after their runs. They frequently check in with each other via text messages. Shelby tries to keep the phone calls brief because she doesn’t want to annoy her traveling partners, Bradi Good and Kendal Pierson.
“We’re usually listening to music or watching a movie while we go down the road, so we try not to step on each other’s toes by being on the phone a lot,” Shelby said.
They cherish whatever time their schedules happen to align and have them at the same rodeo.
The Megeds are able to survive the strain rodeo puts on their marriage because they both aspire to be at the top of their profession. They know achieving that goal requires countless hours of windshield time driving to and from multiple rodeos each week in an effort to earn enough money to not only be one of the 15 contestants that earns a National Finals berth, but be far enough up the standings that they have a shot at a world title.
The shared aspirations help them manage the time apart better than some contestants whose spouse doesn’t also compete.
“If I was married to some guy from town who didn’t understand what it was like out here or wasn’t that supportive of my career, he’d be mad at me, and it would make rodeoing hard,” Shelby said. “Haven understands that when I have days off, I’m going to find a practice pen instead of trying to get where he’s at. Most of the time, he’s the one finding the practice pens for me.
“You have to be a little bit selfish during the summer, if you want to make the finals. You really only have four months to give it all you’ve got and make a big push, so you have to be all in. You can’t beat these girls out here if you’re not giving 110%. They all do it for a living, too.”
Because most rodeos use the same calves for tie-down roping and breakaway, the Megeds are able to share scouting reports.
“We’ll call each other and ask who had the calf we have, and we’ll track that person down and get the info for each other,” Shelby said. “I benefit from that a lot more than he does because the (tie-down) roping slack is usually held before breakaway slack. I just did that with the calf I had at Nampa, and it helped a lot.”
Relationships like the Megeds’ aren’t new in the rodeo world, but they’ve become more common in the past five years due to the increasing number of rodeos adding breakaway roping to their list of professional events. It’s so common now that the WPRA membership is encouraging its leaders to lobby for WPRA and PRCA members to be able to enter rodeos a co-mingled buddy groups.
“We’re not there yet, but they’re at least talking about it,” Shelby said.
The Megeds often remind themselves that it’s only the summer stretch where they’re apart for extended stretches. They’re thankful their jobs allow them to spend nearly all day every day together during the winter months. That makes the time apart tolerable.
Although there are rodeos in the winter, there are fewer of them, and the couple can often travel together to watch the other compete before returning for the other’s competition day. The infrequency of winter rodeos also makes trading competition days with fellow athletes easier.
They planned their May 2023 wedding around lulls in the rodeo schedule.
“We had to, otherwise we wouldn’t have had anyone at our wedding,” Shelby said with a laugh. “October and May are the months rodeo athletes seem to get married.”
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