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No Mid-Stream Horse Change 

By Ruth Nicolaus for Tri-State Livestock News
Charlie with rider Jakob Long is the horse with the most points in the 2021-2022 S.D. High School Rodeo Association. Cowboy Images | Courtesy image
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Versatile horse is able to do two events, wins most points in high school rodeo season 

A female named Charlie has earned Jakob Long a whole bunch of high school rodeo points. 

And that female is his equine partner in the cow horse and cutting pens.  



One Time Irish Rose, “Charlie,” a nine-year-old sorrel mare is a 2022 honoree as the South Dakota Quarter Horse Association South Dakota High School Horse Ridden by a Boy.  

She was purchased by Jakob and his parents, Jeff and Yolonda Long, in the spring of 2022. The family lives near Enning, S.D.  



She not only excels at cutting but she’s just as good in the cow horse, and Jakob rides her for both events, which has garnered her the most points among all horses ridden by boys in the South Dakota High School Rodeo Association.  

Charlie’s sire is One Time Pepto; her dam is Mates Irish Rose. The characteristics of One Time Pepto intrigued the Longs when they looked at Charlie, who was owned by Sonya Atkins at Chadron, Nebraska, and had been ridden in the cutting before.  

The Longs liked what they saw among Charlie’s winnings. After Jakob tried her out, he decided he really liked her.  

One Time Pepto descendants “are just really quick and cowy and quick on their feet,” Jakob said. “They’re just the style of horse that we like and ride.”  

Charlie’s ability to go between the cutting and cow horse events is what makes her stand out among other horses.  

Some horses can go from cutting to cow horse, but it’s a rare horse that can make the transition the other way, Jakob said. “A lot of them struggle coming back, because the cow horse (event) tends to be aggressive.” Cutting requires more patience and a calm demeanor, and horses who are good at the cow horse “love to work cows, so they aren’t always patient in the cutting.” 

Jakob has strategies for how to ride Charlie when there are multiple rodeos and runs within a day, as it is for South Dakota high school regionals.  

The cutting and cow horse events are held the day prior to regionals, so Jakob makes two cutting runs and two cow horse runs on the same day.   

If, at regionals, he has to go from cow horse to cutting with Charlie, he knows how to help her make the transition. “I usually do some fence work, and maybe have a person (move in place of a cow), going down and back along the fence. If I can get her in that mindset, she’s all right.”  

He never makes all four runs on Charlie; he has a different mount he’ll use for a cow horse run, “if I know I can spare a few points, to keep Charlie fresh.”  

The mare is “really quick on her feet and really cowy,” Jakob said. “She likes to get deep into the ground when you’re cutting on her. She’s a lot of fun.”  

She’s little but has a big personality, he said.  

“She’s not very fond of being by her lonesome. She likes to have her friends.” The Longs haul two other horses to high school rodeos (including Jakob’s tie-down roping horse), but if she’s tied up and the others aren’t around, she paces back and forth. “She cuts the trailer, basically,” he said.  

She also hates to be fed after the other horses, pinning her ears back and trying to steal their feed. And if a horse comes up to her while she’s eating, she’ll snap at them. She thinks she’s the boss of the herd, but that’s not the case, Jakob said. “The other horses put her in line.”  

In September of 2022, Jakob won the Youth Cow Horse and the Youth Boxing titles at the South Dakota Reined Cow Horse Association’s Road to Texas event in Rapid City, riding Charlie, and she’s earned points in the National Reined Cow Horse Association.  

A junior at Faith High School, he’s busy with FFA, his own cow herd, and working at the sale barn. He’ll compete at NRCA events, but only ones closer to home.  

Jakob is also a member of the 2022-2023 Quanta High School Rodeo varsity team; he is the only South Dakota high school student on the team.  

Charlie is the 2021-2022 SDHSRA Horse of the Year winner. Jakob finished last year’s high school season fifth in the cutting, eighth in the cow horse and sixth in the average at finals.  

Please join South Dakota Quarter Horse during a their Annual Banquet at the Ramkota Hotel, Pierre, starting at 5 pm. See their website SDQHA.com for tickets and more details.

One Time Irish Rose “Charlie”, is the 2022 SDQHA High School Horse of the Year ridden by a boy (Jakob Long.) Long family | Courtesy photo
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Charlie and Jakob Long compete in the cutting at state high school rodeo finals. Sammy Meeks | Courtesy photo
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Charlie gets a pat from her rider Jakob Long after a good job in the cutting pen. Dede Long | Courtesy photo
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Charlie with rider Jakob Long is the horse with the most points in the 2021-2022 S.D. High School Rodeo Association. Cowboy Images | Courtesy image
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Charlie and Jakob Long won the Youth Road To Texas at the 2022 Central States Fair. Courtesy photo
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Charlie and Jakob keep a cow from the herd. Dede Long | Courtesy photo
Charlie and Jakob keep a cow from the herd. Dede Long | Courtesy photo