No. 7 | $147,308.20
- Age: 41
- Hometown: Coffeyville, Kansas
- Career earnings: $3,018,085
- NFR Average Titles: 1 (2024)
- NFR Qualifications: 15 (2010-12, 2014-2025)
- Major ropings: BFI; George Strait Classic; The COJO; Wildfire XX; Wildfire XXI; Hork Dog 21; Yeti US Open at the Cinch USTRC National Finals of Team Roping; Danny Dietz Memorial Open.
- Major rodeos: NFR; North Dakota Roughrider Cup (Mandan, North Dakota); Calgary (Alberta) Stampede Team Roping; Sandhills Stock Show & Rodeo (Odessa, Texas); National Western Stock Show and Rodeo (Denver, Colorado); RODEOHOUSTON; Ellensburg Rodeo; San Angelo (Texas) Rodeo; World’s Oldest Rodeo (Prescott, Ariz.); RAM National Circuit Finals Rodeo (Kissimmee, Florida); St. Paul (Oregon)
- Star Horsepower: Zans Colonel Shine (Colonel); San Badger Gin (Mikey); Hezaluckysonofagun (Copper)
- Rope Choice: Cactus Mojo HM
It took Jake Long seven years to make his first NFR following his 2003 rookie year, but he’s now an NFR mainstay with 15 qualifications to his name.
But before all the runs inside the Thomas & Mack, Long was a Kansas kid with a dream of making the NFR.
“I won a two-horse trailer in Guthrie, Oklahoma,” Long told The Team Roping Journal’s Chelsea Shaffer in 2025. “And then two weeks or maybe a month later, I won another little two-horse trailer in Pasco, Oklahoma. And they raised me fast, and my dad told me—this is going to be a little bit Ricky Bobby—but he said, ‘Your first shot’s your best shot.’ And in my brain, that meant when the steer turns, throw—fast. It took me a long time to learn how to set the run up correctly, so I did things backward.”
Long spent his spare time like many ropey kids, watching old BFI tapes. Make no mistake–while the NFR was always a dream, Long prioritized his future whether it included rodeo or not and got his degree at Northwestern Oklahoma State in agricultural business.
“At the time, it was really huge for me,” Long said. “I know a lot of guys didn’t go to college or they didn’t really give themselves a backup plan. And a lot of those guys are, I don’t want to call them child prodigies, but you kind of knew they were going to make it. I wasn’t one of those guys. I wasn’t. I mean, really, I probably come more out of left field as far as like, ‘Who the heck is this Kansas kid?'”
Long’s ProRodeo big break came in 2007 after circuit rodeoing and attending college. Long won the 2007 Dodge National Circuit Finals Rodeo title with Colt Braden.
“I hadn’t won a whole lot in pro rodeo before that as far as a national-scene victory goes,” Long admitted. “It was kind of my first taste of success on the rodeo circuit.”
Three years later in 2010, Long punched his ticket to his first NFR with Brady Tryan. They placed in five rounds at his NFR debut, including wins in Rounds 4 and 7 to finish the year sixth in the world standings.
“You learn how to win out there on the road,” Long said. “There’s a difference between really good amateur guys who get to go home every night and NFR track. It’s a shock to their system when they can’t go home and fix their horses between rodeo runs. You learn how to fix things on the road, and things like where it’s crucial to go when.”
Long qualified for three straight NFRs before missing his first–and only–in 2013 when he finished 16th in the heartbreak hole.
“It’s devastating emotionally,” Long admitted. “You work all year to rope at the National Finals, and that’s our big reward. To miss your ultimate goal of being there is a big hit financially also. Fortunately, we did some good at the jackpots that year. But when you put your heart into that year’s goal and miss it, it’s not fun.”
After some major self-reflection and honesty, Long was back inside the Thomas & Mack in 2014 and has been a constant contender ever since.
Long won another national circuit title in 2019, winning the RAM National Circuit Finals Rodeo with Clay Smith in a year that also included the early wins at the Texas Circuit Finals Rodeo, National Western Stock Show and Rodeo and Wildfire XXI.
In 2021, Long etched his name in the history books crossing the $2-million mark in PRCA earnings. Long entered the 2021 season with $1,848,115 in career earnings and proceeded to win $199,062 this year heeling for Clay Tryan.
“It means I’ve been blessed,” Long said. “It’s a cool honor to get into that club and to have that much success. It’s something I don’t think I ever thought I’d do and I’m honored to do so.”
From “Mikey” to three-time AQHA/PRCA Heel Horse of the Year “Colonel,” Long’s career has been blessed with star horsepower, too.
His 2022 season was one that required pure grit. Smith broke his leg in June due to a neck-rope accident in Prescott, Arizona, and was out until the last quarter of the year. Come September, Long had still been rodeoing and was guaranteed to rope at his 12th NFR that December. But the pressure was still on in a big way, as he had to stay hooked to guarantee Smith his spot in Las Vegas. They gritted it out to both qualify and won $42,955 a man at the NFR that year.
Long kicked off a two-year partnership with Clint Summers in 2023 that brought some career highs. Together they won four go-rounds at the 2023 NFR and finished fifth in the average collecting $182,517 apiece. But 2024 was the year. Summers and Long finished second in the world following the 2024 NFR. Together they won the NFR average, placed in seven rounds and raked in $199,355 a man at the NFR.
Their amazing week came off a first-round no-time with a miss on the head side, forcing them to battle back to second in the average going into Round 10, behind Clay Smith and Coleby Payne, who’d led the average most of the 10 days. Smith and Payne went early in that final round, taking their first no-time of the week and shuffling the average and world standings race entirely.
“I would’ve lost everything I own that Clay Smith was going to miss that steer,” Long said. “I just didn’t think it would happen. But I knew if that happened to happen, it gave us a really good chance at the year-end. We were pretty long shots. If Clay would’ve caught, we would’ve really had to have some things go our way. But we just looked at each other when that happened and kind of knew like, ‘Hey, we’re going to try to put a rundown.’ And then we made a great run. I was really happy with it. He just drilled the barrier. And then I thought we made as good a run as you can make on that cow. And we just turned around in the alleyway and were like, man, if they beat us, they beat us. And I’m fine with getting beat. I mean, we came out here, we rope sharp, we roped good all week, I thought. And they just beat us this week. And that’s fine.”
Long roped behind Andrew Ward in 2025 and is heading into his 15th NFR with $147,308.20 won on the regular season. Ward and Long won the Greeley Stampede in late June to push them into Top 15 area, but it was the Rocky Mountain Cup win for $29,440 a man in August that gave their season the boost it needed to then lock in their 2025 NFR spots.
“I guess there’s three checkmarks for me as a team roper. As long as I still love doing it, I want to do it. I love going up and down the road and going to all the rodeos. The kid in me still thinks it’s awesome to be doing this.”
Jake Long, 2021
More with Jake Long
- Andrew Ward and Jake Long Turn 2025 Season Around with $29K Calgary Win
- Signs of Greatness: How Today’s Best Climbed the Number-System Ranks
- Clint Summers & Jake Long Win 2024 NFR Team Roping Average Title, Bank $199K in Vegas
- The CoJo Roping Champs: Andrew Ward and Jake Long
- Summers and Long are Having the Time of Their Lives with Back-to-Back Round Wins at the 2023 NFR
- Inner Strength with Jake Long
- Getting Over the NFR Hump
- Smith and Long Bear Down for Final Push: “If You Don’t Have a Little Bit of Nerves, You’re Not Telling the Truth”
- BACK ON TOP: Tryan and Long Skyrocket to Top of World Standings with RodeoHouston Win
- Jake Long is Team Roping’s Newest $2-Million Man
- Still Rolling: Smith and Long Win the Wildfire XXI
