Jake Long has been on a Horse of the Year before. Three times, in fact. He just never thought he’d find another one.

Hezaluckysonofagun, the 7-year-old gelding Long calls “Copper,” was voted the 2026 Nutrena Heel Horse of the Year presented by AQHA, announced Oct. 9. The award is voted on by the top 25 heelers in the PRCA world standings, and it lands less than a year after Copper carried the Coffeyville, Kansas, heeler to his first world championship behind Andrew Ward at the 2025 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

It’s Long’s first Horse of the Year since Zans Colonel Shine, the sorrel gelding known as “Colonel” who won the heel horse title three straight years and, by Long’s count, more than $1 million of his career earnings.

“Well, I think it’s always such a cool honor for everybody to vote and consider your horse the best one going,” Long said. “I think it’s just an unbelievable honor, truthfully, every single year. And I don’t know that I ever planned on having another one of that caliber. Truthfully, he’s been such a blessing just to come into our lives. And I thought he was special from day one that I got him. I kind of told everybody, I thought he had a chance to be the best horse I’ve ever had. And I thought that was pretty tough to say after having Colonel, but man, he’s faster than Colonel and he’s got really fast feet and you really can’t put him in a spot that he can’t get out of. And I’m kind of bad to try that every once in a while.”

Colonel’s Shoulders, Copper’s Feet

Long has never been shy about crediting the horse. Copper, he said, does some of the same things that made Colonel great, and Long doesn’t take credit for them.

“I’d get in some weird spots and Colonel could really square his shoulders and get his head out of the way and still let me see the cow at times when I shouldn’t have been able to,” Long said. “And Copper’s the exact same way, and I don’t know what makes him do that. I mean, it’s not like some training secret I have. It’s just a God-given ability, I think. I told Tasha, to me, what’s so cool about him too, he’s amazing in all the great ways of how he works, but what’s really cool too is he wants to be your buddy. He’s just a lover and he wants to be in my space all the time, which I like.”

That personality showed up in the Thomas & Mack tunnel last December.

“It was just so cool in the tunnel last year, which he was only 6 years old last year at the finals, and he would almost pin me up against the wall wanting me to scratch on him. And he requires a lot of attention, which again, I like. So he checked every box that I was looking for in a horse, and like I said, I just can’t believe I found another one. They’re so hard to find and you got to just be in the right place at the right time. And I think it was just a God thing that he was put in my life and he’s been unbelievable.”

Ward and Long placed in eight of 10 rounds at the 2025 NFR and won the average with 44.0 seconds on nine head, 5.7 seconds clear of the field, to claim the gold buckles on the final steer. Copper was the youngest heel horse in the building.

Another Year Older

The 2026 season didn’t start fast for the reigning champs. As of mid-July, Ward and Long sat 30th and 27th in the world. They roped their way back to No. 6 and No. 5, respectively, finishing the regular season with $147,845.55 apiece to qualify for the 2026 NFR, Dec. 3–12 in Las Vegas. Along the way, Copper won the Lone Star Shootout heeling for Tyler Tryan for $35,000 and placed second at The American for $25,000, according to QData.

Long said the only real change in Copper this year has been in the box.

“Honestly, he was a little green when I started him last year. He would almost try too hard sometimes last year, I thought. And that’s really about the only thing where he’s matured a little bit. He’s calmed down. He got a little bit tight in the box early on and he’s calmed down in there. But I mean, really and truly outside of maybe the first couple weeks that I rode him last year, I mean, he really hasn’t made a mistake. It’s just been utterly unbelievable how fast he became number one.”

For context: Long bought Colonel from Dixon Flowers Performance Horses in 2010, and Colonel didn’t win his first Horse of the Year until six years later. Copper did it in his second season at the rodeos.

Andy Pushed

Long found Copper through Dustin Davis of Terrell, Texas—“Double D”—who bought the gelding at the Bob Feist Invitational as a 3-year-old coming 4 and seasoned him at jackpots and UPRA rodeos. On a tip from Clay Tryan, Long called Davis, took the horse on trial and roped on him at Coleman Proctor’s.

“And Double D was just amazing what he put up with for me to buy him. He let me take him, and he was just super great to work with. And we just fit from steer one, really. I took him up to Coleman’s. He’s the most I’ve ever paid for a horse, and so it was a hard decision. It looks fairly cheap now the way it’s worked out.”

Buying him was one decision. Riding him when it counted was another. In 2025, Long had JC Bar Diamond, “Roger,” the horse he rode to the 2024 NFR average title with Clint Summers, and the team was behind. Long credits Ward for forcing the issue.

“But he just fit me like a glove from day one. And then I got to give Andy a decent amount of credit for forcing me on him. Last year we were behind and we were out there at Sisters that first week of the summer, and his great horse, Biscuit, really likes to run, and this horse can really run. And he was a really big advocate for me to get on him and try riding him. At Sisters, I ended up getting his front leg because I caught up just a little bit too fast. I remember Andy was just really pushing for me to ride him, and I was like, ‘Man, I don’t know.’ I’d had so much success on Roger. He’s been a great horse too. I was just like, ‘Man, we’re not in a position for my horse to be making any kind of mistakes. We need to be winning every time we run one right now.’ He was just really supportive of me getting on him, and I thought that was a great attribute to him as a partner for me to get on a horse that young and really just throw him in the fire. And like I said, if you want to call it a mistake, he got me a little bit too close for the first week and a half, and then from then on, it was like he figured out where I wanted to be, and he’s just been spot on ever since.”

From ‘Uh Oh’ to Horse of the Year

Copper was bred and raised by Justin and Megan Janda of 2J Equine near Vinita, Oklahoma. He was born three weeks early and nearly didn’t survive—Megan Janda told The Team Roping Journal in 2025 that the first thing she said when they found him was “Uh oh,” which stuck as his barn name. The Jandas ranched on him, dragging calves and catching yearlings, before Davis ever saw him.

Long has still never met them.

“Whatever they did with him, I’ve heard they did a bunch of pasture work and stuff with him when he was real young, and I guess he about died when he was born. So he’s had a pretty remarkable start. Which that might be part of the reason he’s such a lover. I’m sure he’d have a lot of attention and doctoring and stuff when he was young.”

Telling Colonel

Colonel, who gave Long three Horses of the Year and more than a million dollars in earnings, never got him a gold buckle. Long takes the blame for that.

“Yeah. It wasn’t Colonel’s fault I didn’t get one before now,” Long said of his world title. “Colonel tried to get me one, I just didn’t let him. It wasn’t his fault.”

The old horse is turned out in Oklahoma now. When Long got home from Las Vegas last December, he made a trip.

“As just an emotional story, I did go up to Oklahoma right there when we got back from Vegas, and it kind of makes me tear up a little bit, but I went up and hugged on him and told him that we got one.”

Nobody was there to take a picture. Tasha wasn’t even along.

“It just kind of hit me—I mean, obviously he’s got a special place in my heart too. He’s built everything that I’ve won. He’s obviously been the cornerstone of my career, which he got his accolades. And then I think that’s what’s so cool about the award is it’s not about me. It’s about how great the horse is, and I’m just the one that’s lucky enough to be on him. I mean, you could have put anybody else in the top 50 on him and he was going to be just as great of a horse. It’s not like I’m doing anything special. It’s just I’m the one that is lucky enough to get to ride him.”

A Lifer

The Longs don’t sell horses. Colonel is proof, and Copper won’t be any different.

“Yeah, no, he’s going to die on the place. Yeah. Colonel’s turned out up at my dad’s … Or I guess the place that we’re building up there in Oklahoma. We get too attached to them. We’re not very good at turning them loose, which that’s part of the reason that it’s kind of hard for me to buy them because we don’t sell things, so I’m kind of going to have them basically for life anyway. So I’m pretty picky when I do buy them.”

Long said the thing that matters most to him about Copper isn’t on the clock.

“Obviously he’s a great horse, but one of the coolest things to me is, man, he wants to be your buddy. And I like being friends with him, and that means the world to me. And that’s why I told him he tries his hardest every single time, and it’s just, man, that’s really special in a good horse.”

Hezaluckysonofagun at a Glance

Registered name: Hezaluckysonofagun (“Copper”)
Foaled: 2019, gelding (AQHA 5936454)
Sire: Hired Gun (by Playgun out of Peppys Serenade by Peppy San Badger)
Dam: Rey Dual Lena, by Rey Dual (a full brother to Dual Rey, by Dual Pep out of Nurse Rey)
Bred and raised by: Justin and Megan Janda, 2J Equine, Vinita, Oklahoma
Owners: Jake and Tasha Long, Morgan Mill, Texas
QData total earnings: $498,862 as of Oct. 14, 2026
Highlights: 2026 Nutrena Heel Horse of the Year presented by AQHA; 2025 PRCA world championship and NFR average title with Jake Long; 2025 Calgary Stampede champion; 2026 Lone Star Shootout champion; 2026 The American runner-up