National Finals Rodeo qualifiers Rhen Richard and Jeremy Buhler moved to the top of the PRCA’s Wilderness Circuit Standings as the summer run heated up after a big hit at the Reno Rodeo.
Richard and Buhler tied for second in the first round with a 5.0-second run, worth $4,466 each; placed fourth in the finals round with a 6.5-second run, worth $665 each; and placed second in the average with a time of 17.8-seconds on three head, worth $7,882 a man.
“Reno was good,” said Richard, the 2008 Wilderness Circuit Rookie of the year and Resistol Rookie Heeler of the year. “We drew pretty good. We just stuck to our game and made three pretty good runs. The short round was actually pretty easy, and we were fortunate enough to win second.”
Richard was heading on an 18-year-old gelding he calls Midnight.
“He’s a good, solid horse,” he said. “He doesn’t ever want to take your throw from you, and he’ll let you set the steers up however you want. The steers are always pretty fresh at Reno, so that makes it a lot easier on your partner.”
Their Reno Rodeo earnings moved each of them to No. 1 in the Wilderness Circuit standings with $17,248.54 and $13,012.89 in earnings. Richard is now 14th in the PRCA world standings with $29,373.24 and Buhler is 17th with $24,805.88 in season earnings.
“You always want to win your circuit,” Richard said. “There’s a handful of really good rodeos in our circuit. If you can do good at one of those then you usually have a chance to win the circuit. Right now, the way these one headers are, it’s so tough. You hope that you draw decent, and you have to go at them. There’s really no other game plan other than to try and hit the barrier and go fast.”
As they battle through the remainder of the 2021 Pro Rodeo regular season, Richard and Buhler are pushing to attend a total of 20 Wilderness Circuit approved rodeos so that Buhler will be able to compete at the circuit finals.
“Jeremy claimed our circuit, but he doesn’t live in our circuit, so we have to get to 20 rodeos,” Richard said. “We’re dang sure hooked up and going to everything that we can get to.”
