World Champion Tie-Down Roper Haven Meged sidelined by back injury

They haven’t had recent-times calf roping world championship race conversations without Haven Meged in the mix. The Miles City, Montana man hit professional rodeo ground running in 2019, winning the National Finals Rodeo average and his first gold buckle the same year he took rookie of the year honors. Think this guy’s not a bad cat? He owns both the 6.4-second NFR record and the 77.4-second NFR average record, and both are still standing since he set them in Vegas in 2023.
 
Haven, who’s 27 and has roped at the last six straight NFRs, had a heck of a year started again in 2025. With $42,000 won before June 1 (he’s only roped at 15 rodeos), he was back on track to contend for another world title. But on Monday, June 23, when his wife and fellow champ of the world Shelby Meged set the new 1.9-second Reno Rodeo record in the breakaway roping, there were two red letters next to her husband’s name on the posted draw sheets stapled to the outside of the Reno Rodeo Secretary Cindy Rosser’s office: DR.
 
Yes, the dreaded doctor’s release. And it could not have come at much tougher a time than rolling right into Cowboy Christmas and all the big-money rodeos before, during and after the Fourth of July run.
 
When Meged was practicing on May 19, he’d “run too many big calves in a row.”
 
“On about the 16^th calf (yeah, you don’t get where this guy has gone without a work ethic that will not quit), I went to flank one and lost all power,” he said.
 
In half a blink, Haven knew something was horribly wrong. But what? He sought medical attention, and was hopeful early on that it was muscle-related. He gritted his teeth, and tried to rock on. But his back wasn’t having it.
 
“I tried roping up in Canada after it happened, and it hurt so bad I could hardly stand it,” he said. “It pinched just trying to be in the truck and drive.”
 
He took a short break—no roping, no riding—then tried it on again at the Snake River Stampede in Nampa, Idaho on June 15. Adrenaline and try allowed him to do his Haven Meged thing in 8.5.
 
“I couldn’t breathe it hurt so bad,” he said. “I couldn’t walk for three days.”
 
He was past the point of playing with pain. He was now playing with fire. Career-threatening, quality-of-life fire.
 
“I told Shelby, ‘I’m going to wreck my body if I stay out here,'” Haven said. “The pain was unbearable, and nothing—not ice, not heat, not the strongest Ibuprofen they make—touched it. It was the worst pain ever for three days. I knew I needed an MRI.”
 
He got one of those, and has been wisely seeking every expert opinion he can find while gathering options. The most positive place to start is 30 days off. The break has done his body some good, as it’s no longer agonizing to just walk around.
 
A few different terms have been tossed around when it comes to the official diagnosis here. But the ones that keep being used are “bulging disc” and “ruptured disc.” The difference can be a fine line. It’s certainly a low-back issue impacting Meged’s L5 and S1, which are the fifth lumbar and first sacral vertebrae. 
                                                    
Haven’s hoping hard to avoid surgery, and is trying all practical treatments—stem-cell and physical therapy, ozone treatments and time on a decompression table included—in an attempt to sidestep the scalpel.
 
The disappointment is real. But Meged’s perspective is wise beyond his 27 years.
 
“It’s a hard pill to swallow, but I have to do what’s best for my body and for my longevity,” he said. “Ponoka is my favorite rodeo of the summer (he won it last year), and I have to miss it. I love hauling ass down that lane there. Calgary’s a big chance (yeah, he won that last summer, too), and I don’t get to go there, either.
 
“There are so many good rodeos coming up that I have to miss—Greeley, Salinas, Cheyenne, Colorado Springs, Livingston, Red Lodge, Cody, Mandan, St. Paul, Oakley, Sheridan and Casper, to name a few. But I’m hoping to come back at Ogden on July 19. And if that works out, I’ll still have a good chance of making the NFR.”
 
He’s telling himself this injury timeout is “part of it.” He also knows he has no choice now but to be brave and work his way back.
 
“It’s tough to sit home and watch all your buddies out there living the dream,” he said. “A lot of people take rodeoing for granted. I know I did. But all the roping, rodeoing and training horses finally caught up, and my body’s tired. I’m thankful for what I have accomplished. I have to try and take better care of my body now, so I can get more years out of it.”
 
Haven and Zack Jongbloed have traveled together the last three years, and though it’s still not possible to cross-event buddy with your breakaway roper wife, the three of them have been making the best of it by entering for the same days and trading to them every chance they get.
 
“I kind of threw a wrench into our plans,” he said. “Nobody saw this coming, and it’s a big eye opener. It’s tough, but we’ll get through it.”