The top-earning horse of the 2026 Old West Futurity is a homebred.

DT Hickorys Evita is a small mare—about 14.2 hands—and DT Horses’ Dean Tuftin, who raised her out of one of his best mares, gave her the extra time a smaller filly needed before she ever went down the arena.

“He told me the first day I saw her, ‘Yeah, she’s a little small, but you know what? She deserves a chance,’” said Jeremy Buhler, who rode her to the 6-&-under heeling championship and $80,000 at Heber City, Utah. With go-round money, Evita finished the week at $88,000—the highest total of any horse at the futurity.

She is by Hickory Holly Time out of Slynking Sugar Whiz, owned and bred by DT Horses, LLC, and she won with a 907.77.

Buhler showed her first at Scottsdale after riding her only a handful of times—“that’s Dean’s horse,” he said—and at Heber she got stronger run to run.

“She’s a good little gritty mare,” Buhler said. “She just pins her ears and goes to the cow. She literally got better every run. She’d pin her ears and try her guts up.”

He credited the program more than the mare’s scope.

“It’s honestly no shortcuts,” Buhler said. “There’s no drugs, there’s no shortcuts, there’s no mashing to make them do it. It’s literally putting the time in and giving them exactly what they need to stay bought in. Then you can come here and just go rope.”

The box, he said, was the one place the mare had to grow—and the fix was on him, not her.

“That was probably one of my bigger personal wins of the day,” Buhler said. “Every horse I had was good in the box.”

For a smaller mare, taking the jerk could be a question. Buhler said it isn’t, because of how she’s built and how she’s ridden.

“That comes 100% to confidence,” Buhler said. “I’ve ridden horses that are 1,150, 1,200 pounds and they get pulled around on the end of it. But when they’re confident and their weight’s in the right spot on their hind end, and you’re dallying at the right time, if they want to jerk the steer, they will.”

DT Hickory Evita’s championship was also the headline of a banner week for her sire. Hickory Holly Time was the top-earning stallion of the futurity at $119,215 on six head, almost all of it on the heel side, and Evita’s $88,000 led that charge.

She also wasn’t the only DT Horses heel prospect making noise for Buhler, either.

Buhler pointed to stablemate DT Hickory Stinger—already a $60,000-plus earner—as the next one up.

“He’s waiting for his day,” Buhler said. “His day’s coming.”

Futurity Heeling — Full Results

2026 Old West Futurity (6-&-Under), Heber City, Utah. Average (aggregate) standings by division, plus go-rounds. Divisions are nested; a horse may appear in more than one. Full-week total = average money + go-round money.

Open (average)

Intermediate (average)

Limited (average)

Go-rounds

• Round 1: DT Hickorys Evita (Jeremy Buhler) $4,000 · DT Hickorys Stinger (Jeremy Buhler) $2,000
• Round 2: DT Hickorys Evita (Jeremy Buhler) $4,000 · Hat Six Meow (Cade Rice) $2,000

2026 Old West Futurity by the Numbers: Hickory Holly Time, Rhen Richard Cash In; the Million Goes Unclaimed

READ: Jeremy Buhler, Dt Hickorys Evita High Call to Defend the Old West 6-&-Under Heeling on Another Hickory Holly Time Mare