Travis Tryan was discussing the world standings when he paused and got a puzzled look on his face.

“You know, I’m still trying to figure out how we got here,’’ Tryan said.

The Billings cowboy has qualified for his ninth consecutive National Finals Rodeo by finishing 2009 seventh in the world standings for team roping headers.

While being in the top 10 is nice, Tryan’s final months of the 2009 season were filled with horse problems and missed steers.

“We’ve had no consistency this year,’’ said Tryan, who is roping with Michael Jones, of Stephenville, Texas. “As a team, we kept trading misses. He’d miss. I’d miss. It’s not fun when you drive 500 miles and don’t win anything.

“But the best thing is we’ve kept a good attitude. We’re frustrated we didn’t win more but we’re not frustrated with each other.’’

Tryan and Smith flashed winning form at Reno, Nev., this year, along with Sisters and Molalla, Ore.

“When we catch, we win. We always get a check,’’ Tryan said.

Tryan enters the NFR, which is Dec. 3-12 in Las Vegas, with $85,503 and just $8,000 out of the top three. Chad Masters, of Clarksville, Tenn., leads with $127,749.

It’s been a busy year for Tryan, who turns 29 on Jan. 5. He and his wife Hillary welcomed a second daughter, Payton, in May, and finally finished the house they’d been building in Santo, Texas.

“There are just a few things left to do,’’ he said of the homestead that includes the house, a barn and roping arena. “But we got pretty much everything else up.

“We had the house finished two weeks before we had to leave (for the summer rodeos). We were sick of being in the trailer, we were ready to get out.’’

Tryan’s rodeo season suffered a major setback when his primary horse, Walt, took ill in Caldwell, Idaho. His wife heard the horse whinnying in pain and fortunately for the team roper, a world-class equine center was in nearby Nampa.

“He had to go under the knife,’’ Tryan said quietly of his beloved horse. “We were doing pretty good up to that point, I wasn’t prepared for that to happen.

“I had another horse to ride, but it’s not the same when you’ve got the best horse in the world.’’

The rest of the team roping headers confirmed his sentiment, voting Walt the AQHA team roping horse of the year for a fourth time. The horse also won the honor in 2003, 2007 and 2008.

“He just does his job every time out,’’ Tryan said. “It’s my job not to screw up.’’

The 19-year-old horse returned after a two-month layoff in late September, helping Tryan and Smith pocket $16,833 each at the Justin Boots Championships.

“I felt a little rusty on him but he’s still the best horse out there,’’ said the owner.

Tryan plans to be riding Walt at the NFR.

“I’ve ridden all but five rounds at the NFR on that horse,’’ said Tryan.

Last year, Tryan roped with Cory Petska at the NFR, where they won $32,732. That included a PRCA-record time of 3.5 seconds to win the eighth round. Cory Petska is roping with Clay Tryan this year. Jones and Travis Tryan roped together at the 2007 NFR.

“It’s been a different year than most,’’ Tryan said. “We know what we can do at the Finals. You don’t look at the standings, you just show up and do your job. The rest will take care of itself.’’

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