Q&A with Canada's #1 Team Roper- Jeremy Buhler

No team roper in Canada had as hot of a year rodeoing as 2x Canadian Champion and 2016 World Champion, Jeremy Buhler. His season included nearly $48,000 in earnings to earn himself the season leader title and set the new regular season earnings record. Buhler also earned the Horse of the Year award for his equine partner 'Hoss' and the SMS Equipment Pro Tour Championship. It was a lot of fun getting to chat with him about his season, his partners and his horsepower as he gears up for the fall futurities and the 2024 Canadian Finals Rodeo.

Jeremy Buhler sets it down for 2 feet on his way to setting the 2024 CPRA Regular Season earnings record. Photo taken by Tiger Kaufman

Question: Who are you roping with in Edmonton?

Answer: I'm gonna rope with Trey (Gallais). It went really well, I really liked roping with Bird too, it was a hard decision to make but the way that it went with Trey I think that I've gotta stay hooked.

Question: What do you think made you and Trey's run so good?

Answer: Trey, he's talented in a lot of aspects of heading but I think one of the things that makes him very good is his ability to work the steer. It seems like it doesn't really matter what you draw necessarily, he's got a good handle on what needs to happen to give me a lot of warning on where the first hops gonna be. He's got a lot of control and makes my job easy with that much warning and that much consistency, that's a heeler's dream. On top of that I don't think he broke a barrier for me and maybe missed 1 or 2 that were hard/tough steers.

Question: Tell me a little bit about the Horse of the Year "Hoss"?

Answer: He's 20 years old, I bought him off of the Campbells in June of 2021. He's been a game changer for my heeling. That horse I think was a big part of getting me back to the NFR after not being there since 2017. He's the old veteran , he's real consistent and he tries hard. Having him on the heel side, you might draw a stronger steer that's harder to place on but the way that he's able to get there makes him a game changer for me. He's one of the ones that I don't think you replace, I think he's sort of a once in a lifetime heel horse.

Knight Robber Son aka "Hoss" is the 2024 CPRA Heel Horse of the Year. The 20 year-old gelding has been a 'game changer' for Buhler's heeling.

Question: What other team are you most excited to watch this year in Edmonton?

Answer: Honestly there's so many good teams there. It's crazy how it's evolved up here where literally every single team at the CFR is capable of being 3 (seconds) and they're capable of doing it 5 times in a row. I think it's going to be rank, it's going to be real good roping, especially with guys like the Grahams or Brady & Calgary coming in towards the bottom where there's nothing to lose and everything to gain... it's pretty easy to know what their gameplan is going to be.

Question: What's your favorite rodeo up here in Canada?

Answer: I got so many favorite ones. I went to high school in Princeton so the whole Okanogan/BC vibes make Armstrong almost start to feel like a hometowner to me. Ponoka is prestigious, with Lyle (Kurtz) making it even money over there, it's just a game changer for a guy's year. I went into that week with $5,000, I was way behind the pack and came out in a spot where I was pretty good. The hospitality and the people around La Crete turns that one into a good one. The list goes on, I just love rodeoing up here.

Question: Do you think you'll ever go back down South to rodeo?

Answer: Yeah, I've never thrown around the retirement word, I think I've got more in my tank. Just this year the way that it worked out with having a baby and I didn't have a great winter, on top of having a pretty great lineup of futurity horses for this year kinda made it where the writing was on the wall for what I needed to do this year. And honestly, I didn't heel very good last summer so from a fundamental heeling standpoint I wanted to take the summer where I could really practice and work on my heeling. I think how it will change from here on out is it won't be like prior years where it was Do or Die on making the Finals down south. Now I think it's going to be based on the financials, if the futurities keep going good and it's paying the bills and I get to make a living with a rope in my hand and spend a lot of time with my family, that's pretty hard to beat. If I did get qualified for the winter rodeos and have a great winter and a great spring/summer up here, I'm not gonna say that I wouldn't enter the Northwest and try. I'm going to say that I would go down there but the stars are going to have to line up.

Question: What's the rope of choice?

Answer: Every single time, a Hard Medium Powerline Lite. I never get away from it.

Question: Do you have any regrets in your rodeo career?

Answer: I think the only thing that I've ever regretted is how obsessed I've been with it and how I haven't controlled my emotions. To compete at the highest level I feel like there has to be a certain amount of obsession in order to compete with those guys but my biggest regret is with that and not controlling my emotions I kind of regret what I've put some of the people around me through. I'd hate to change anything but I almost wish that I had been one of those guys where you couldn't tell if he was winning or losing. In my second half that's something that I've now become obsessed with is just trying to be better on that front. As far as how I've played the game so far and the guys that I've roped with and my decisions on rodeoing and doing the futurity game this year, I don't have a single regret.