Dustin Egusquiza and Levi Lord won the 2024 ProRodeo regular season with the second-highest earnings record in team roping history of $201,007.70 a man.

Egusquiza and Lord were just $26,870.30 shy of breaking the regular season earnings record World Champions Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira set in 2022 of $227,878. Regardless, over the span of 80 rodeos, Egusquiza and Lord proved they’re deadly on any and all setups when the season came to a close Sept. 30.

“I think once you get in it, have a chance to win it and get there toward the finish line where you have a chance, you find out how tough it is,” Lord, of Sturgis, South Dakota, said. “Because it’s all season and only one team wins it. Obviously, you’re roping against a lot of good guys, and it is very tough. So to be able to come out on top over the span of 80 rodeos, on all different setups, all different kinds of roping you have to do and have to be able to stay consistent for a whole year—I’m not saying it’s as hard as winning the world or winning the average but, to me, I kind of set it in there for myself as a huge goal.”

If their season earnings aren’t proof enough, their 2024 accolades speak for themselves. Egusquiza and Lord kicked off the year after a tough 2023 NFR with the Sandhills Stock Show & Rodeo (Odessa) and National Western Stock Show and Rodeo (Denver) wins in January, followed shortly by the Rodeo Austin win in March. In May they took the win at the Guymon Pioneer Days, and in July they kicked off Cowboy Christmas with the Greeley Stampede win. They rounded out the season with the coveted Pendleton Round-Up win, demonstrating they’re just as dominant on long scores as they are on short, quick setups. Egusquiza and Lord were locked in from the first steer of the year to the final one at their 80th rodeo

“Keeping your horses sound and keeping your mind together when you have a bad week or two, which luckily we didn’t have too many of those, is one of the toughest parts,” said Egusquiza of Marianna, Florida. “It’s just keep your head on straight and trying to do good every time you show up. Luckily we didn’t have to worry about [slumps] too much this year—it seemed like if we missed one or two, we had a good check coming at the third one.”

Egusquiza and Lord’s 2024 approach

Egusquiza and Lord are in their second year of roping together, and while their run inevitably got better, other important factors like horses made a difference this year.

“We roped enough before we started roping together that it was a pretty easy transition,” Lord said. “I don’t want to say our run got a lot better; I think it was fairly similar to last year. I think our horses stayed together a little bit better this year as Dustin lost his brown horse for the Northwest last year and that didn’t help us any.”

The gunslinging duo also put more emphasis on staying in the average—while still making their typical, fast run—to ensure they’d qualify for the PRCA Playoff Series rodeos like Puyallup and Sioux Falls.

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“We didn’t really rope any different, but we just tried to think about it a little bit more, trying to make sure we got into Sioux Falls,” Lord said. “We wanted to make sure we didn’t leave any money on the table. And we still did, but we tried to keep the dumb mistakes that leave money out there to a minimum. We also probably did a little bit better job doing that this year.”

Nobody’s safe these days

Thanks to their big year, Egusquiza and Lord had roughly a $23,000 lead over second on the head side and a $12,000 lead on the heel side the week of Sioux Falls. But with more money up for grabs at the end of the season with Mandan and Sioux Falls especially, it was still anyone’s game.

“We went back and forth with those guys a couple times this year, and TWade and Thorp, they did the same thing they did last year,” Egusquiza explained. “They finished the year off really good and with Mandan and Sioux Falls right there. The last round didn’t go their way, but if it would’ve those last two rodeos, they could have won almost $70,000. It just didn’t happen pan out that way, but that was one of the most nerve-wracking moments I’ve had all year, just sitting there watching them rope that last one, knowing that they could pass us.”

The entire year was a battle at the top as Egusquiza and Lord fought JC Yeahquo and Buddy Hawkins for No. 1 throughout the spring and Driggers and Nogueira and Wade and Thorp the last half of the year.

“I think the guys that were at the top were really roping good—I think maybe we were just pushing each other,” Lord said. “One week we would do good, then one week Kaleb and Junior would do good, and then TWade and Thorp would do good. The top teams just seemed to win every time they needed to, and it kept it tight. I think $150,000 something won the regular season last year, and we finished with over $200,000 this year and literally had to sweat it out on the last steer.”

Egusquiza and Lord’s 2024 horsepower

Egusquiza and Lord had a relatively small, but mighty, herd of horses that also won the regular season. Egusquiza may have cracked Mohawk out for the grass in Pendleton, but his year was split 50/50 on Cajun Treat, aka “Cajun,” and King Sabre Bar.

“I won Denver on Cajun but, other than that, the bay got Odessa, Fort Worth, San Antone, San Angelo and most of the shorter one-headers this year,” Egusquiza explained. “There are quite a few of those and we do win a lot of our money at those.”

Lord primarily rode Birdie, whose registered name is Zoomin Diamond Prom, riding him at nearly 77 of their 80 rodeos. His grade gelding Pauly may have only gotten the call at three rodeos, but he helped them get the wins at Guymon, Greeley and Pendleton.

“Birdie was pretty handy for me this year,” Lord said. “He didn’t really ever cost any money. It was really good for me. Birdie was also good for me and stayed sound all year, so that’s a big reason we were able to kind of finish strong.”

Looking to Vegas

With the 2025 season kicking off first thing in October, Egusquiza and Lord are trying not to think too much about the Finals just yet and get a solid start on the beginning of a new season.

“Every steer matters, so we’re fixing to start over again and try to go to all these ropings and these couple circuit rodeos,” Lord said. “Then come November, we’ll kind of start thinking about a little bit.”

The team will figure out the right combination of horses they’ll ride inside the Thomas & Mack and stay sharp by entering up when possible. Between events like the CoJo Team Roping, Hondo Rodeo, Texas Circuit Finals and Arizona, Egusquiza and Lord will get some competition runs in before they hit the bright lights.

“I’ve set the arena up before and went hard 30 or 45 days out, but I don’t think I’m going to take that approach this year,” Egusquiza admitted. “I mainly want my horsepower to be good for the setup. I don’t really care to practice that much for it because I don’t think it’s ever the same when you get there. And if I feel stupid when I get there, then maybe next year I’ll set it up. I’ve put a lot into it setting up the arena, buying steers, going hard, practicing and then I get there and it’s something completely different, so that’s more stressful than anything. This year I’m going to try to show up with a clear mind and just rope.”