Nanton, Alberta’s Lakota Bird is currently leading the standings on the Maple Leaf Circuit leaderboard with $6,273.46 on the 2024 season.
“That’s news to me; I didn’t even know that,” exclaimed Bird, 28, who works as the accountant and does bookkeeping for her family’s Cowboy Country Western Store in Nanton. “The only reason I didn’t really know that is because I pay attention to the Canadian standings.”
Bird’s distraction from the circuit standings is justifiable since she’s currently No. 2 on the Canadian Pro Rodeo Association’s leaderboard with $12,713.02 in earnings. Her circuit standings lead is a narrow one, however—an edge she holds over Longview, Alberta’s Bradi Whiteside by just $148.
“I’ve had a pretty good year this year,” Bird said. “It will be my fourth year in Pro Rodeo. Kind of a cool fact about how much breakaway roping has grown is my first year was 2022, and I won $5,000 and won season leader. This year I’ve won $12,000, and I’m sitting second [in the CPRA standings], and the year is only half over.
“That’s how much it has advanced,” She continued. “It’s a good start. It’s the most I’ve ever won up to this point in the year, but there’s still a lot more money to be won than there has been in the past.”
Maple Leaf layout
Still, Bird knows that making the Maple Leaf Circuit Finals, which will be held in Agribition, Regina, Saskatchewan, Nov. 27-30, 2024, takes a little more entering throughout the year.
“The cool part about that is really the girls who make the Maple Leaf Circuit Finals are the girls that kind of go all year and go to a lot of the smaller rodeos because only our smaller rodeos count for the circuit,” Bird said. “It is funny because you’ll be like, ‘Well, I’m good in the Canadian standings and I’m good in the [SMS Equipment Pro]) Tour, but I need to win some circuit money to get to the circuit finals,’ or the other way around.”
The setup requires breakaway ropers to hit a lot of different rodeos throughout the year.
“You really need to place at some big rodeos and some smaller rodeos and pull some good checks. Ultimately, the goal is to make the Tour Finals, the Canadian Finals and the Maple Leaf Finals. It’s a pretty big goal to try and get in to all three.”
In the SMS Equipment Pro Tour Standings, Bird is currently in seventh place with 302 points. The Tour Finals will be held in Armstrong, British Columbia, on Aug. 31, 2024.
Soaring to No. 1
In the last few weeks of Pro Rodeo, Bird’s first place finishes have propelled her to top of the Maple Leaf Circuit leaderboard. She won the Sundre (Alberta) Pro Rodeo with a 2.7-second run and the Raymond (Alberta) Stampede with a 2.3-second run, adding a total of $5,524.24 to her earnings.
“I don’t feel like it’s gone amazing, but I have had a couple good hits,” Bird said. “Sundre was a big rodeo, and I got a win there and at Raymond. I’ve just have been placing along and I definitely need some good checks here in the next while. I try to just take it one run at a time and make the best run I can on my calf, and hopefully it works out.”
Lakota Bird’s season of success
- Raymond Stampede: 1st, 2.3-second run, worth $2,297.13
- Sundre Pro Rodeo: 1st split, 2.7-second run, worth $3,227.11
- Wainwright Stampede: 8th, 3.3-second run, worth $588.09
- Daines Ranch Rodeo: 5th with a 2.1, worth $801 each
- Stavely Indoor Pro Rodeo: 7th, 2.4-second run, worth $481.75
- Lea Park Rodeo: 10th split, 3.1-second run, worth $67.68 each
- Newell Pro Rodeo: 3rd, 2.8-second run, worth $1,456.40
Finals focused
Despite the complexity of trying to qualify for three different finals, Bird has her game plan lined out.
“I would say the Canadian Finals is first,” she said. “We get to rope in all six rounds this year, and it pays the best. It’s the most opportunity to win and it’s the most prestigious. Then it’s the Maple Leaf Finals. It’s the next biggest. It’s kind of a big deal to set you up for the next year because you get to rope four, and it counts for the Canadian standings for the following year.”
Meanwhile, the Tour Finals allows competitors a last chance to add more earnings before the season closes ahead of the Canadian Finals.
“It is a big deal to make the circuit finals, and it’s an opportunity to rope at the NFR Open as well,” Bird said. “The Tour Finals is only one day, so it’s not a huge, big deal. It’s only one round. It’s cool to make because it counts in the Canadian standings. It’s right at the end of the year, so it sucks if you don’t make it and someone right behind you makes it. Then they can pass you [in the standings,] and you don’t even get a chance.”
Qualifying on ‘Fifty’
Bird is riding a 9-year-old sorrel gelding she calls “Fifty,”, whom she bought from a sale nearly four years ago. Since then, she’s turned her amicable sale horse into an exceptional breakaway horse with the help of her father, Manard Bird, who owns and runs Lazy B Timed Event which provides nearly 70% of the cattle for Pro Rodeos in Canada, and her 2017 Canadian Calf Roping Champion brother, Logan Bird.
“He was just a riding around horse when I got him,” Bird said of her young gelding. “Last year was the first year that I rodeoed on him. I felt like it was more of a seasoning year for him. He’s getting more solid. He’s a little bit freer, but he’s fast.”
When needed, Bird has also pulled her old faithful, retired 21-year-old gelding, “Dynamite,” out of the pasture to help secure paychecks though the season.
Sights set on season leader
Before heading out on the 2024 rodeo trail, Bird, who is also celebrating her June 24 engagement to Chase Segboer, a grain consultant and marketer who jackpots when his workload allows, set goals to qualify for the Canadian Finals and the Maple Leaf Circuit Finals. Now that she is confident she’ll qualify for each, her goals have shifted.
“Now that I’ve been having a pretty good year and I’m closer to the top, I would like to try to win season leader. That would be a lofty goal.”
In 2024, the Canadian Finals will include breakaway ropers in all six rounds at the event in Edmonton, Alberta, Oct. 2-5.
“In the past we’ve only gotten to rope in 3 rounds,” Bird explained. “My big goal is to get to the Canadian Finals and to get to the circuit finals, as well. That really sets you up for the next year and gives you a chance to get to the NFR Open.”
2024 Pro Rodeo Maple Leaf Circuit Breakaway Roping Standings (as of July 16, 2024)
- Lakota Bird, Nanton, Alberta, $6,273.46
- Bradi Whiteside, Longview, Alberta, $6,125.46
- Shaya Biever, Claresholm, Alberta, $4,688.84
- Kendal Pierson, Wardlow, Alberta, $3,398.69
- Jessie Armstrong, Big Valley, Alberta, $2,780.05
- Quinn Leslie, High Nanton, Alberta, $2,656.09
- Jenna Dallyn, Nanton, Alberta, $2,634.74
- Caitlyn Dahm, Destin, Florida, $2,078.72
- Macy Auclair, Ponoka, Alberta, $1,528.09
- Darby Wilkinson, Arrowwood, Alberta, $1,305.42
