Derek Hadland and Jeremy Buhler turned a Round 1 win, a 19.1-second time on three, and a solid run in the Showdown round into the Ponoka Stampede team roping title and $20,539.42 each, giving Buhler his third win at the Canadian rodeo.
“It felt awesome,” Buhler said. “Especially now that Ponoka has had equal money here the last few years, it’s a game changer on the season, that’s for sure. It never gets old.”
For Buhler, the win comes in a different season of life than his first two Ponoka titles. The 2016 world champion and five-time NFR qualifier is no longer hauling full time with the sole goal of making another Finals. Instead, he’s running a futurity program and spending more time at home with his young family.
That makes the rodeos he does enter mean more.
“Now that I’m not full-time rodeoing and trying to make it to the NFR, you only get to go to a handful of rodeos as good as Ponoka,” Buhler said. “And, for me, it’s getting to compete with all the meat there, too. That’s the part that I love.”
Ponoka money counts toward the Canadian Pro Rodeo Association (CPRA) and PRCA standings, but not the circuit standings, making Buhler and Hadland’s $20,539.42 week a major boost on both sides of the border.
The win started with a 5.8-second run in Round 1, worth $4,615.77 a man. Buhler said the ground was already soggy, though not as tough as it would get later in the week, and they capitalized on a good steer.
“Honestly, I think we just drew the best steer,” Buhler said. “The steer was really good, stayed right in the middle. Derek smoked the barrier, and honestly, we just made a nice, smooth run. It wasn’t anything crazy. It was just the run that we practice.”
Hadland and Buhler came back with a 6.5 in Round 2, which kept them alive in the average.
“We drew another good one,” Buhler said. “Honestly, it was pretty much the same run. The steer was in the middle, Derek hit the barrier good, caught him, stood him up. I heeled him when I could.”
“I’d say it was consistency,” he said on the secret to their success. “We drew two steers that let us make the run that we practice.”
That consistency mattered in making runs down Ponoka’s alley setup, where Buhler compared to places like Pendleton and Prineville. Their finals steer, the same one Kaleb Driggers and Junior Nogueira had to win Round 2, wanted to be straight or step right.
“We made a plan of, look, we don’t think he’s going to get away from us,” Buhler said. “Let’s just let him run his pattern, and we’ll just go make a run on him over there.”
They were 6.8 in the finals, tying Riley and Brady Minor for third in the round and adding $750 each to their pockets. More importantly, it sealed the average title in 19.1 on three head, worth another $6,923.65 a man.
Winning the average also let Hadland and Buhler go last in the Showdown round.
“Luckily, because we won the average, we got to go last,” Buhler said.
By game time, Buhler said they knew a smooth run would be enough. The flag dropped in 7.9 seconds for them to win the Showdown and another $8,250 each.
“I think that took a lot of pressure off,” Buhler said of being last out. “We knew the steer was good. I think Derek knew that he didn’t have to smoke the barrier this time. I think I took an extra swing on that one and just went and took care of business.”
Buhler rode Hoss, registered as Knight Robber Son, at Ponoka. The 22-year-old sorrel gelding has long been Buhler’s go-to, and Buhler has called him the best horse he’s ever had.
It’s also where Buhler’s futurity-horse work shows up in the rodeo arena. Since spending more time showing and training, Buhler said his position and timing have changed, which helped in the mud pit that was Ponoka.
“Since I’ve been showing horses and working at it, I feel like I’ve changed my position a little bit,” Buhler said. “I get a little bit closer to the cow. In conditions like that, where the ground is heavy and sticky and you know your horse isn’t going to slide, I want to be close enough to the cow that I don’t have to accelerate and then pull off and heel.”
The crossover goes both ways. Rodeoing full time taught Buhler how to handle high-pressure moments, and the futurity pen has made him more aware of every part of the run.
“The showing has helped me as much as the rodeoing helped my showing,” Buhler said. “I would say that the showing has helped me equally as much with the rodeoing, just understanding the horsemanship better and figuring out those nerves a little bit, too.”
And at Ponoka, that balance showed up in full.
Ponoka Full Results
First round: 1. Derek Hadland/Jeremy Buhler, 5.8 seconds, $4,616 each; 2. Brett Buss/Joey Romo II, 5.9, $4,014; 3. Brady Minor/Riley Minor, 6.2, $3,412; 4. Wesley Thorp/Tanner Tomlinson, 6.4, $2,810; 5. Travis Speer/Dawson Prott, 6.5, $2,208; 6. Kolton Schmidt/Paden Bray, 6.6, $1,605; 7. Kash Bonnett/Logan Cullen, 6.7, $1,003; 8. Kaleb Driggers/Junior Nogueira, 6.8, $401.
Second round: 1. Tyler Tryan/Nicky Northcott, 4.9 seconds, $4,616 each; 2. Kaleb Driggers/Junior Nogueira, 5.3, $4,014; 3. (tie) Sid Sporer/Kolby Krieger and Cory Petska and Erich Rogers, 5.5, $3,111 each; 5. (tie) Cory Kidd/Carson Johnson, Kolton Johnson/Carson Johnson, Tate Schmidt/Kagen Schmidt and Levi Schmidt/Trent Tunke, 6.1, $1,304.
Finals: 1. Dustin Bird/Tyrell Flewelling, 6.5 seconds, $2,000 each; 2. Colt Kornfeld/Kade Christianson, 6.7, $1,500; 3. (tie) Derek Hadland/Jeremy Buhler and Brady Minor/Riley Minor, 6.8, $750 each.
Average: 1. Derek HadlandJeremy Buhler, 19.1 seconds on three head, $6,924; 2. Brady Minor/Riley Minor, 19.6, $6,021; 3. Dustin Bird/Tyrel Flewelling, 20.4, $5,117; 4. Colt Kornfeld/Kade Christianson, 21.7, $4,214; 5. Kaleb Driggers/Junior Nogueira, 22.6, $3,311; 6. Tate Schmidt/Kagen Schmidt, 22.8, $2,408; 7. Kolton Schmidt/Paden Bray, 24.8, $1,505; 8. Brett Buss/Joey Romo II, 27.6, $602.
Showdown: 1. Derek Hadland/Jeremy Buhler, 7.9 seconds, $8,250 each; 2. Dustin Bird/Tyrel Flewelling, 11.3, $4,200; 3. Colt Kornfeld/Kade Christenson, 16.5, $2,550.