One veteran. One rookie. Two wins.
A critical CPRA weekend turned into a lucrative payday for a number of rodeo athletes including a veteran returning to action from an injury and a promising rookie showing the rodeo world he’s the real deal.
With the weekend events comprising the first two stops in the recently unveiled Massey Ferguson Pro Rodeo Tour, bull rider Jordan Hansen topped the field at the Buffalo Lake Metis Settlement Pro Rodeo with an 87.5 point ride on Outlaw Buckers’ 130 F.A.F.O. to collect $4130. And a few hours south where the Red Deer Pro Rodeo made a welcome return to CPRA ranks, 19 year-old rookie sensation Tate Beierbach blistered a 3.9 second run for the steer wrestling win and a $3997 payday.
Hansen, the 2016 Canadian Champion and three-time NFR qualifier, had seen the bull he’d drawn a couple of times but F.A.F.O. changed things up for his Buffalo Lake trip.
“Usually he’s out a couple of jumps and goes to the left,” the Amisk, Alberta cowboy noted, “but this time he was the exact opposite—one jump and around to the right for about six seconds, then a big jump ahead and back to the left.” Hansen was ready for the change of plans. “I try not to set any traps. If I’d been banking on him doing his usual two jumps and then left, I probably would have ended up on my head. Some of these bulls are pretty smart and they can make a fool out of you real quick. So I try not to rely on a game plan and just ride them for what they are, jump for jump.”
And just as important as the ride itself was the fact that the cowboy and rancher felt good after the ride. Hansen had surgery in December to repair a shoulder he had dislocated in 2023, which had deteriorated since that time. But now with a handful of bull rides under his belt since the return to competition, the shoulder feels good. “Every other muscle in my body feels like it’s taken a beating,” the 32 year-old quipped, “but the shoulder feels really good.”
With a 125 head cow herd, three daughters (five and under), and wife Sarah a full-time nurse, it’s a busy schedule for the ten-time CFR qualifier. “Yeah, I’m kind of a full-time dad now and with the cows and kids there’s no shortage of things to keep me busy.”
Hansen will be hitting the rodeo trail as well as getting to PBR Canada events as he and traveling partners, brother-in-law, Lonnie West and Camrose talent, Coy Robbins look to add to their career successes in Canadian bull riding. “Yeah, there’s only three of us in the camper now since Jared (outgoing Canadian Champion) Parsonage retired after the 2025 season. “It’s a little roomier in there now that we got rid of the tall guy,” Hansen chuckled.
For Tate Beierbach, the early success in his pro career should come as no surprise. The Maple Creek, Sask. bulldogger had already excelled at high school rodeo, winning several titles including a national steer wrestling championship in his grade twelve year. Then at the semi-pro CCA level he became the youngest ever CCA Finals qualifier in steer wrestling and tie-down roping.
And as was the case with Jordan Hansen, the southwestern Sask bulldogger relies on preparation to get himself ready for every rodeo and that was again the case at Red Deer.
“Harley Cole had run the steer I drew in slack and he had a video so I got to see the steer,” Beierbach explained. “That gave me a pretty good idea what I needed to see for a start and what the steer was gonna be like. And I had Tanner Milan hazing for me and he’d actually run that steer at the Hoover Hays jackpot. So that was really helpful too. Plus we came to Red Deer the night before to watch the steer wrestling to see how the barrier was set and how the cattle were leaving.”
It’s all part of the preparation process that goes into every run. “Yeah, it’s about doing your homework; that’s something my mom and dad have talked to me a lot about.” It doesn’t hurt that ‘Dad’ is a many time CFR qualifier and ‘Mom’ is an outstanding barrel racer and horse trainer. “You want to know as much as you can without overthinking it,” Beierbach noted. “Knowing what to expect lets me set my horse up to make his job a little easier too.”
The horse that the rookie rode to victory is a product of the Beierbach horse breeding operation. In fact both Pirate, who is rather unique in that he is a one-eyed bulldogging horse courtesy of an injury when he was a foal, and the hazing horse Milan rode, Larry, are sons of the outstanding stallion, Ninety Nine Goldmine, that stood for a long time at the Maple Creek Beierbach ranch.
The talented cowboy was very clear about how important his family has been to his development in the sport all of them love. “It’s just huge, the amount of stuff my family have done to help me, the support they’ve given me to be able to rodeo, the horsepower, the practising, the horse training, there’s so much they’ve done and know—I’m not sure I can even describe how much it has meant.”
The major win will undoubtedly help Tate Beierbach with his goals for the 2026 season “At the very least I’d really like to make the Maple Leaf Circuit Finals and if it worked to get to the CFR, that would definitely be right up there.”
And there’s the Rookie of the Year title that he has a shot at as well. He was leading the rookie standings before the weekend and his $4,000 cash injection will certainly not hurt those aspirations. “I’ve always thought it would be great to win the Rookie of the Year so that would definitely be a big deal for me.
There were several other success stories on the dual Massey Ferguson Pro Tour weekend.
Veteran steer wrestler Curtis Cassidy was the big money winner, enhancing his bank account by almost $7,000 courtesy of a second place 4.2 second run ($4568) at Buffalo Lake, and a second 4.2 at Red Deer that earned the Donalda, AB dogger a 4-6 split and $2331.
A pair of American cowgirls took home top honours in both weekend barrel races – Texan, Sydney Graham, 17.18 seconds, $6965 at Buffalo Lake and Idaho’s Meagan McLeod-Sprague, 13.99 seconds for $5555 at Red Deer.
Still on the south side of the 49th parallel, bareback rider Jacob Lees (4th ranked in the world standings) split the top spots at both weekend events. The Idaho native shared 1-2 with Ty Taypotat at Buffalo Lake (Lees was 83.5 points on C5 Rodeo’s 712 Winning Rose) with each cowboy earning $3880. And Lees was also part of a four way first place traffic jam at Red Deer (86 points on R 633 Broken Arrow) alongside Dantan Bertsch, Orin Larsen and Clint Laye for $2196 each.
See complete unofficial results at rodeocanada.com
The next week sees plenty of CPRA action including the third stop on the Massey Ferguson Pro Rodeo Tour, the Grande Prairie Stompede May 28-31 along with Leduc Black Gold Pro Rodeo, also May 28-31 and the 108th Hand Hills Lake Stampede May 30 and 31.
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About CPRA
The Canadian Professional Rodeo Association (CPRA) with headquarters in Airdrie, Alta. is the official sanctioning body for Professional Rodeo in Canada. The CPRA approves 60+ events annually with a total payout just shy of $8 million. The organization oversees the CPRA Pro Tour Finale September 2-5 in Armstrong, BC, holds their premiere event–the Canadian Finals Rodeo (CFR) at Rogers Place in Edmonton, AB October 7-10 and endorses the Maple Leaf Circuit Finals November 25-28 as part of Canadian Western Agribition in Regina, SK. For details, please see RodeoCanada.com
For more information:
Barb Poulsen
CPRA Communications and Media
Phone: 403 625-9225
Email: media@rodeocanada.com