The new ProRodeo team of Andrew Ward and Jake Long survived the pressure cooker of the CoJo Roping high-stakes short round, walking away with new Bill Fick Ford F-350s and stock-combo Bloomer Trailers, plus $60,000 in cash.
In a roping that had seen sub 5-second times all day long, Ward and Long just had to be 8 to win it all at high back. Ward got out the barrier, and they made a 6-second run in the middle of the pen to seal the deal. We caught up with them after their win.
Team Roping Journal: Okay. Tell me about that short round. What was going through your head as everybody was breaking the barrier? There were barriers, legs—what were you thinking, or were you not thinking?
Andrew Ward: I listened to what we needed to be, and they said eight-something. So, then I’m trying to get out of the barrier. Obviously, I don’t want to break the barrier, but I don’t want to miss it by a long way because it’s not a real long arena, and the steers are running. I thought I did a good job of just sending Biscuit at the right time, and it made my job a lot easier when I got a good start.
TRJ: Jake, how much maturity did you use on your heel shot?
Jake Long: That has not been my forte over the years, but the older I get, the more I’ve worked on that in the practice pen. Truthfully, it sounds stupid to be a high-level heeler and be nervous that you have to go be nine flat, but I’m wired so aggressively that I really have had to work on that. And truthfully, it doesn’t bother me now. I kind of rib around a little bit. But I think the scariest part about it is you look like an idiot if you miss one when you have to be nine. If I have to be 4.2 and if I miss him, it’s like, ‘Well, he’s just trying to win.’
TRJ: Did you know that steer when they ran him in?
AW: I didn’t know. I didn’t watch. It’s hard to watch a lot of the short round, so I sat back there in the warmup arena a lot and then just walked up probably five or six to go and ran the cow. So, I didn’t know.
TRJ: You didn’t know ’em either, Jake?
JL: I don’t know any of ’em. I could rope the same, probably 10 or 12 steers in the practice pen, and they’re always new to me. I don’t pay attention at all. I remember ’em after I run ’em usually, but kind of the same deal. Me and Clint were the 10th call, so I roped and then I was kind of hustling around because I didn’t know how long it’d take me to get around there. By the time I walked around, I think the fourth call was in the box. So, it was kind of weird. I didn’t know what was going on. I had no clue what was winning or not winning. And then I didn’t even realize the last two or three teams before us had to be some kind of eight, I think, or long seven. So, it was crazy.
TRJ: That’s crazy. And what year did you win the George Strait?
JL: I won it in 2010. It’s been a minute.
TRJ: Do you still have that trailer?
JL: I have the trailer. I had to sell the truck pretty well immediately. I was pretty broke back then, so this rig is not going to leave my possession ever—until it quits running, I guess, on the side of the road somewhere.
TRJ: No, Bill Fick will send you something else even then. He’s pretty good about that. If it quits running on the side of the road, he sends you another pickup.
AW: He’s done it. He bailed me and Buds (Buddy Hawkins) out one summer to make the Finals, and he did it.
TRJ: He’s a pretty good dude that way.
AW: He’s amazing. I love Bill. He’s great to us.
TRJ: Andrew, did you get to go to the George Strait?
AW: I did. I won third the last year they had it, and we’ve been saying it all day: We didn’t think that there would ever be a roping for the Open guys that gave a truck and trailer again. Then Cody came up with this, and we’re so grateful to him. It takes a guy like Cody to put something like this on, and he stepped up. That’s amazing.
TRJ: Jake, Roger was Roger today. But what was Roger scared of at the end of the arena after the roping?
JL: I don’t know what got into him. I was away from the house the other day, and my wife called me and said, “Was Roger sound when you came home?” I went to Coleman’s and roped for a few days, and I said, “Yeah, he was fine.” Then she said, “Well, he’s three-legged right now.” And I’m like, “That’s awesome, because the Cody Johnson’s tomorrow.” So, I ran him over to the vet, and I talked to Charlie (Buchanan) at Signature, and he’s like, “Well, what do you want to do?” And I was like, “Well, the problem is the biggest roping of the year is tomorrow, so I kind of need him to be sound.” So, he had some medical assistance in being sound.
I don’t know if he was just feeling his Cheerios, but he did feel better today. I went ahead and gave him the medicine to really make him feel good. And I will say he was really, really running, but he didn’t like the flashes and stuff at the back end for some reason. I don’t know why, but on day one, I waited on the photographer. The team was fixing to go, so I stopped back to let her take her pictures. When they went to flashing, he didn’t like that. And from then on, that end of the arena was not good. Luckily, Andrew turned them all a little closer to the boxes.
TRJ: And Biscuit—you haven’t been riding him as much as you used to, but in these situations, Biscuit is the numero uno still?
AW: Oh, yeah. He’s a special horse. Anytime I need to step on the gas a little bit, like a roping, it’s nice to have him. He speeds it up for me.
