At age 45, he has at least four more years to repeat his championship titles that he claimed in 2013. Those titles are the World Champion All Around, the Reserve World Champion Tie Down roper, and the Reserve World Champion Ribbon Roper, all in the 40’s age class. The 2013 rodeo season was Lyle Kathrein’s first year in the National Senior Pro Rodeo Association. Not bad for a ‘rookie’ year. It was his second year in the Canadian Senior Pro Rodeo Association and he finished on top of the 40’s tie down roping and ribbon roping there, too.
He talks about his 2013 season, “That’s the first time I was able to really compete for those kinds of titles and it was quite an honor for me. Things just sort of came together for me and I had a really good horse and that’s a big part of it. It was really neat to be competing in the ribbon roping with my wife; she was my runner and did great. I was quite happy with it, for sure.” He is quick to give credit to his horse and says that without a good horse he would not have been able to achieve all that he has. He looks at the conformation of a horse first then the papers and says, “If the build is there, then the papers probably won’t dissappoint.”
For Lyle the Senior Pro association has provided opportunities to travel and meet people from all over the U.S. and Canada. “I’ve been able to meet a lot of people that have helped me and they just welcome you into the group.” While Lyle is competing in the tie down roping and team roping, his wife, Michelle competes in the barrel racing.
Lyle had an interest in rodeo and roping from the time he was a young boy. “As a boy I always had a rope in my hands so everything around home got roped. Nobody else in my family was a roper, but my granddad rode broncs when he was young. We always had some horses around and would work with them. I can remember being able to go to the spring rodeo in Edmonton, and I just knew that there was something there for me.” His first rodeo competition was in the Wild Rose amateur circuit. “My mom was the secretary for that and I was a director on the committee several times. I was in some other amateur associations back then and they don’t even exist anymore.”
He tried steer wrestling but eventually gravitated to tie down roping as his primary event. “I never was big enough for the bull dogging and it was always calf roping that caught my interest. You tend to go to the events that you’re better at, and that’s what I did.” To learn the technical aspects of calf roping, Lyle went to several clinics and honed his skills. “I went to some Buck Weimerich schools and Bill Reeder clinics. I’ve probably been to a dozen Larry Robinson calf roping schools. It really helps to go to the guys that you look up to, to learn calf roping.”
He lives in Mayerthorpe, Alberta near where he was born and raised. He and Michelle have a 12-year-old daughter, Dani. During the winter, Lyle does oil field work, stays busy shoeing horses in the warmer months, he does some farming and putting up hay. Lesure time spent with the family and maybe a little golf. Goals for the future are to continue to rodeo in both Senior Pro associations and “…win whatever is available to me.”
