Cowboy Christmas is off to a strong start for Andrew Ward and Jake Long as they climbed to No. 18 in the 2025 PRCA world standings, thanks to their Greeley Stampede win July 2.
Ward and Long pocketed $11,225 a man after winning the three-head aggregate with a 15.9, putting Ward at $41,305.21 won on the year and Long at $39,558.66. The Greeley win continues a hot streak for Ward and Long, who just recently won the West Of The Pecos Rodeo a week prior for $7,703 apiece.
“We had a slower winter than we wanted to have, so we’re definitely having to make up some ground and very thankful that all the rodeos are as big as they are,” said Long, the reigning NFR average champion. “And if you can string a lot of runs together, I think that’s what our team’s designed to be good at is to be able to put a lot of really good runs together. I don’t know that we’re necessarily aiming for first all the time, but we’re both aggressive, and if they give us the right steer, I think our run’s going to be competitive with anybody.”
For a team with 19 NFR qualifications between them, winning is still just fun, especially when a victory lap, plus the fancy Greeley trophy saddles, are part of the deal.
“The fans are real into it, and they’re cheering you on around there,” Ward, the 2021 NFR average champ, said. “And those are high-pressure runs, so you’re excited just to have finished and get to win a big rodeo. You don’t do that every day, so it’s a great feeling–you take a sigh of relief.”
Greeley Success
Ward has won the Greeley Stampede once before in 2022 with Buddy Hawkins. Though the wins come three years apart, one thing remains the same: good steers are key.
“Me and Buds won it kind of the same way me and Jake did,” Ward, 34, said. “We drew good on our first one, placed high in the first day money and then made two good runs. I think just seeing how me and Jake won the first day money, we got ahead enough and then drew another good one, go 5.2, and then we just put ourselves in a spot where we probably got to catch the last one. I enjoy those kind of rodeos.”
The setup was ideal for “Biscuit,” Ward’s famous equine counterpart, registered as Cole E Man.
“That’s about as good a setup you can put him in, so I’ll be riding him there as long as I can,” Ward said of the 14-year-old gelding. “He’s probably better than he’s ever been. I started rodeoing on him when he was 5, and he was probably too green to be out here, but he was the best horse I had. Then it seems like every year he somehow just keeps getting better. Maybe just wiser in his older age.”
Ward and Long kicked things off with a 4.9 to split Round 1 for $3,861 a man. They punched their tickets to the short round high call with a 5.2 in the second round, a lead that held from the start of the rodeo June 24.
Come the short round, Ward and Long drew a steer on the stronger side. Given the large size of the Island Grove Arena, Ward was focused on a sharp start.
“I was still trying to get a good start and then just catch the cow as fast as I could find a good spot to get him caught,” Ward explained. “And then try to set him up as good as I can. Then Jake’s going to rope two feet fast as he can. I wasn’t trying to be scared of getting a good start on a runner because as soon as I see ’em too far, our run looks a lot different; the cows get kind of loose and wild feeling in there, and you’re chasing them in a humongous arena. It just can create some mistakes if I back off the barrier too much.”
Their 5.8-second run in the finals clinched the Greeley title and another $704 a man. For Long on the heel side, the run felt easy.
“I think having [Copper] with all that speed makes that run quite a bit easier because like Andrew said, that steer was a little bit sharper,” Long, 41, said. “He allowed me to run out there around him and be with him and just stay ahead of the cow the whole time. So I was in a good spot, Andy did a good a job–he laid him up.”
Long also credits his young horse “Copper.” Slowly cracking him out here and there, Long had been toying with the idea of riding him more. Having to split their horse herd up for the Fourth run—sending one set to St. Paul (Oregon) and taking the other on the longer hauls—Copper was thrown to the fire. With speed on his side, it made sense to send him to rodeos like Greeley and Pecos where a larger setup is at hand.
“I feel a little bad for him because he’s just about as lovable as you could ask one to be,” Long said with a laugh. “And I feel like we got him a little bit sad from all the hours on the road. But he’s taken everything awesome. Nothing really seems to bother him other than he wasn’t a big fan of the real big longhorns or people whipping them flags, trying to move cattle around. But that’s about the only things that seemed to bother him. He takes everything else great, and he’s just been a heck of a horse. He can really, really run, he gets in the right spot and he’s got really good timing.”
Merry Cowboy Christmas!
With the busiest season of the year underway in Cowboy Christmas, being on a roll can mentally, and financially, ease the long drives and plane rides.
“You got a lot of opportunities to win, but if you don’t draw the right steers at the right time, and if you’re a little bit off your game, man, it’ll feel like you drove 12 hours every day to miss one and go to the next one,” Ward said. “So when you get in a little rhythm and you’re catching, it just makes the drives easier, and you’re stacking up a lot of money if you can win this week. So it is a big blessing, and I’ve been on the other side of it where I haven’t hardly won anything over the Fourth and then I’ve won bunches and it’s a lot more fun to be winning.”
Long looks at through different lens.
“I think it’s easier to get in a roll, truthfully, because we’re running at least one, if not two or three, steers a day,” Long explained. “And if you do happen to mess one up along the way somewhere, you don’t have to think on it too long. It’s kind of onto the next one, and the next one’s not very far around the corner. So I like that part about getting into the summer run here.”
Ward and Long flew into the Northwest after their Greeley win and roped at the St. Paul Rodeo July 3. They head next to Red Lodge, Montana, and Cody, Wyoming, for the Fourth of July, and they’ll close out their Fourth run in Utah July 5, in West Jordan and Oakley City. Jumping from state to state this time of year takes a village larger than many realize.
“I flew my dad in, he had to come in and drive my rig from Greeley to Red Lodge for us so we’ll have those other set of horses there,” Long said. “All the people behind the scenes are really what make this deal go. We get the limelight of it and a lot of times we get to skip out on some of the really tough drives and stuff by jumping on planes, but you got to have people to help you. It’s impossible otherwise.”
