story by Lily Weinacht
“I love going down the road. I love the people you meet going new places, and I’m addicted to roping – I don’t know what I’d do if I couldn’t rope anymore!” Tyler Hoagland of Birmingham, Alabama, caught his roping addiction when he was 10 or 11, and after several years of playing Little League baseball, he wanted to follow his dad’s example and become a team roper. “I started in the junior high rodeos and worked my way up, and I did one year of college rodeo at Ranger College in Ranger, Texas,” says Tyler, 23. “I did some tie-down roping, but I mainly team rope. I just like being in a team sport.”
A header, Tyler ropes primarily with Phillip Kelce and Steven Bland. Tyler and Steve are currently sitting second in the SPRA team roping standings. “I’ve known them forever, but this is the second year I’ve hauled down the road with them,” says Tyler. “My whole family has really helped me out a lot and they’ve all been really supportive. Most of my family rodeos, so we all work together and help each other out. A lot of people have helped me get down the road – more than I can name – but my family has been the biggest help.” Practice is a daily event on the Hoagland farm, provided the arena is dry.
Tyler is involved in nearly aspect of the farm, from working and hauling cattle to cutting and baling hay and harvesting their cotton crop. “We’ve got seven hundred acres of cotton, and a good crop yields a bale and a half to two bales per acre,” he explains. “It’s pretty flexible for me to get out and rodeo. The only time I really need to stay around is when we start harvesting cotton, which is in October, Lord willing.” Tyler also took over running the Lazy H Farm boarding business full time in February, which his father started years ago. “It’s going pretty good, and we have several horses in the barn. It’s work, but it’s an enjoyable work. I’m always working to build my cattle operation,” he adds, “and trying to find more land for that or my horse boarding.”
His own horses include Dunny, his 23-year-old head horse. “I got him when I started my freshman year of high school, and we bought him from Ed Allen. He’s been my main horse since, and I’ve had others come along but they’ve never been as good as him. I have another horse coming along and I’ll start hauling him next year. I don’t do a lot of starting and training, but I do wish I had more time to start horses.” In his very spare time, Tyler is roping, along with spending time with family and friends at events such as cookouts. “I like steak – that’s one of the reasons I’m in the cattle business because I do like to eat steak,” says Tyler. “There’s not a lot of sitting around. I hunt whitetail deer just about all winter long. We have a lot of older folks in the community that can’t get out to hunt, so we help them too.”
While Tyler has also competed in USTRC ropings in the past, the SPRA is his primary focus these days. This is his fourth season competing in the association, and he qualified for their finals for the first time last year and finished in the top five of team roping. “They do their best to get the best stock they can and make it as fair as possible,” he finishes. “I’m always trying to better my roping, and I’d really like to win the year-end in the SPRA on the head side.”
