After the regular season’s over, you take your hat off and wipe the sweat off of your forehead. It’s a relief. You get to go home, and regroup mentally and physically. Hopefully, you made the NFR and it’s time to get ready for the biggest 10 nights of the year. Deciding what to ride at the Finals was always the biggest decision for me. 

In my prime, the regular season ended the first week of November, so there was a pretty tight turnaround before Vegas. With it ending September 30 now, guys have two months—this year, from October 1 until opening night at the NFR on December 5—to get ready. 

I lived in Arizona most of my career, but most of the NFR guys live in Texas now, where there are a jillion jackpots to go to. They say iron sharpens iron, and those guys butt heads 365 days a year. That’s a great way to stay sharp. 

I was always chasing horses throughout my career, and it takes such a unique horse at the NFR. I rode so many different horses there, and rarely rode one at the Finals that I rode all season. By the end of the year, they were either worn out or didn’t fit that little (Thomas & Mack Center) building, especially 10 nights in a row. It takes a special horse to succeed there, and it felt like I was always in search of him. 

Speed Williams had an NFR weapon in Viper. That horse was deadly in that building. He wasn’t the biggest horse in the world, but he scored, came across there flat and gave Speedy a layup right there close. Then they pulled those steers off easy, Rich (Skelton) roped them and Viper faced. It’s hard to put a number on what percentage of their success has to be attributed to Viper. 

Ropers have learned how hard it is there at the Finals on a horse. Because of that, most people don’t practice much on their NFR horse anymore. Even I didn’t do it back in the day, but got on a practice horse instead. You need to make sure your good one is in shape and dialed in before you get to town, but you don’t want him worn out and anticipating when you get there.

One of the horses I did best on at the Finals was one I hadn’t ridden much. The year Clay and I set the NFR record (59.1 on 10, in 1994) that held all those years, I sat around the USTRC Finals that fall and watched a ton of runs. One horse caught my eye, and he belonged to a jackpot roper by the name of Carlos Ortiz. I asked if he would consider selling him, and he met me at a little building in Albuquerque. 

That horse had never been in the bright lights before, and actually worked kind of green there at the Finals. But the start was so short, so you could basically just nod and go. I could get a downtown start, and he broke across there flat. The steers were pretty big that year. I would just stick it on ’em, and rein him off, and those steers hopped off and gave Clay an easy shot. 

That bay horse I called Sonny had never been reached and ducked on. He ran right there to the hip, and gave me jackpot throws. I was having to rein him off to get away from the steer, but I wasn’t having to fight for a dally. It was just easy on Clay and I. 

The NFR is a unique rodeo, and it’s ironic to take one that’s never been to the big city before and have so much success on him. The crowd is so loud, and it feels like there are 17,000 people sitting right on top of you. Horses that have never heard or seen that can get their skirts blown up and get lost in that building, because that atmosphere packs a lot of pressure.  

My bottom line was always wanting to make sure my horse was in really good physical shape going into that 10-day battle. And not getting too quick. I only roped one or two on my good one the day we broke in the steers in the Thomas & Mack. 

I always enjoyed going out every morning during the Finals to feed and clean my own pens. And I had a place set up around town where I could go rope a handful of steers in the morning during the week, if my horse or I needed it. Like Joe Beaver said, “If things aren’t going right, I’m going to try something different and change my hat, my rope, my horse or whatever it takes to win.”

—TRJ—

The post Picking a Four-Legged Partner for the NFR appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

In the last few years, the Relentless Remuda has evolved. We’re still looking for the same end product, but the industry has gotten to the point that Miles (Baker) and I are both riding 3-year-olds and up, and we can’t start every 2-year-old we’d like to start.   

Everyone wants to be a futurity trainer or team rope for a living, but there are way too few people specializing in 2-year-olds. There’s a huge market for somebody to take a horse from 2 to 3. There are way more people who can take a 3-year-old on and make him a rope horse. A lot of people can start one, but a lot of horses don’t reach their full potential because those trainers don’t have the right skills to give a horse the foundation he needs to be a great rope horse. 

A great start stays with them a lot longer than someone fixing one later. The great foundation can’t be overplayed. They can be rode poorly after their 2-year-old year, but in the right hands, they can come back to that base. But if they’re ridden badly from the start, there’s no baseline to come back to. 

In my 2-year-olds, my needs are real simple: I want them really broke and broke right. It takes consistency, it takes repetition and it takes riding them for what they are each day. It isn’t going from Point A to Point B in 30 days. It’s looking at the horse as a whole picture. 

There’s some guys who need to spend the first 30 days on a colt, and there’s somebody better for the next 60 days. Some people are good for two months beyond that. It’s just a balancing act. There are not many guys hanging their hat on that profession, and if that’s something you have any passion for, it’s a great spot to make your mark in the industry. 

So how do you get your foot in the door? You’ve got to bet on yourself first. You have to show people what you can do. I’m not going to bet my colts’ futures on anybody I haven’t seen a consistent product that I like out of. I don’t want to bet them on a one-hit wonder, and I want to know they can do it and create it time and time again. By the time somebody gets good, they want to go into another market versus staying somewhere long enough where they’re the renowned 2-year-old guy. Those guys can stay booked up, and for the most part, your overhead costs can be down from rope horse trainers. But you can be charging the same amount.

—TRJ—

The Colt Starting video library on Roping.com teaches you how to lay a solid foundation for young roping prospects. With step-by-step training, his collection is ideal for ropers at any level seeking to enhance their skills and understanding of starting horses from the ground up.

The post The Rope Horse Industry Needs More Colt Starters appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Situation

This is a futurity run on my 5-year-old, Copperton. On the back side of the turn, the steer took his head away from Blake (Hughes) and got flat. When he does that, the only option Blake has is to dump over the front and pull the cow to get back into control. So you can see there, where the steer is taking a big, open jump, Blake’s pulling on him pretty hard. 

LISTEN ON THE SHORT SCORE: Joseph Harrison is the Richest ARHFA Roper

Normally…

Ideally, when the steer is moving pretty round at the end of the rope (rather than flat like this one is), he’ll pull the tip through for you. But when he planes out, having good reach over the steer’s back gets me enough tip through there to get the left leg.

READ MORE: The Ideal Heel Horse Stop

Problem-Solving

I came through shallow and I barely got the left leg. I have more to the back and the right of the cow than I do to the left of the cow. So it comes tight faster to the left of the cow, and it stays lower on the feet—meaning, I can pretty easily lose that leg. When that happens, I know I’ve got to go all the way to the top of my slack and hold it. That means I’ll have to dally sharp.

I held it there to come tight on the legs to not lose one of them. I’m waiting on that rope to come tight where I can see it and feel it to not lose it. Honestly, that steer is tough even if we’re riding our [seasoned] jackpot/rodeo horses. When you’re bouncing saddles and getting off one 5- or 6-year-old and on another, that’s a tough steer.

—TRJ—

WATCH ON ROPING.COM: Joseph Harrison, a seasoned veteran with over $1,000,000 in career earnings and six NFR qualifications, shares invaluable insight on throwing the perfect heel loop, preparing for a big roping and more. Learn from his exclusive masterclasses available only on Roping.com.

The post Barely Hanging On: Don’t Lose a Leg appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

a) Game Plan

We hadn’t been making very many good runs. Then we went up there and checked the draw and we knew we had a pretty good steer, so we just kind of erased all the runs we had been making and decided to start fresh at Cody. It worked out.

b) Steer

He was a little bit slower, and he took the handle pretty good and fast. A lot of the steers kind of ran pretty good and ran left. Ours was just straight and pretty slow and so it helped us out a lot.

c) Handle

This steer came out and he kind of lowered his head, but Kreece did a really good job getting it on him. Kreece has a really good horse, and that horse got the steer legal to heel really fast. Then whenever he was legal to heel, I just cut it down there at him.

d) Horse

Kreece had just turned that steer here, and my horse did a really good job reading the corner and got me in a really good spot. Obviously, I was delivering my rope, so it was honestly just a really good, timed run. My horse felt good and everything was just perfect.

e) Delivery

That steer, whenever he hit, he kind of hit out to the right of me just a little bit. I knew whenever I went to deliver my rope, I was going to hang on to it as long as I could and try to get my bottom strand all the way on the ground.

f) Body language

When that steer kind of hit out to the right, I knew that I was going to have to follow my bottom strand all the way to the ground and make sure I got enough tip through there.

—TRJ—

The post Cooper Freeman Breaks Down Cody Stampede Winning Run appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

As we’re working on this column, I’m on my way between watching my son Treston rope at the National High School Finals Rodeo and the Old West Futurity in Utah. Watching all those kids do battle at the NHSFR left me with a few takeaways. 

1. Your high school career doesn’t define you. 

I can see that now, but I couldn’t see it then because I just wanted to do well.

I made it to Nationals one time in the team roping and lost my rope, and I never made it in the calf roping. It’s two and a short. If Greeley was Nationals, did Kaleb Driggers or Tyler Wade win it? That’s just what it is. We all know the good guys don’t always win. In Texas, when I was a kid,I think I won my region every year, but it’s a heavily weighted two and a short rodeo, and I didn’t get it done. 

2. What Ketch Kelton and Denton Dunning did was impressive. 

That second steer they ran was a risky shot where Denton took it. But that’s when you know you’re in the zone. They looked really professional in context with the pack. Those kids were grinding it out from an early age, eaten up with roping. It’s clear they’ve got so many more hours in the arena than most kids their age, and they’re seeing the results. Other kids can catch up, but it will take a while, and a whole lot of reps. 

3. Ketch is making an all-around statement. 

I’m an all-around guy, but I love the fact that Ketch has a clear, better event, and he still does all the others. He does the cow horse, the bulldogging, the calf roping. I know he’s an Ironman protégé, and I love to watch that. It shows that he can still dominate in his main event while he’s perfecting the other stuff as he goes. He’s becoming a better horseman, a better cowboy, all around. 

Most people would say, ‘Hey, I’m obviously really proficient at team roping, and I need to choose that path.’  But Ketch is proof you don’t have to. He’s still winning in the team roping. To be an all-around guy, at your core, you have to value being a cowboy more than being a whatever-event-you-want-to-put-in-that-space. That has to override everything. 

4. Denton is like “Champ.” 

He seems like a ClayO. He’s so nonchalant about his craft. He’s not flamboyant, but he ropes so well. There’s no flash, nothing wild—he’s just excellent at what he does.

—TRJ—

The post Next Generation Perspective appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

After making a living roping for 50 years, I’ve come to realize that finding your own game plan and having confidence in the fact that it works for you and you’re successful with it is really the main goal. You hear some people say you’ve got to do it this way or that way, like there’s only one way to do it. But that’s really just not the case. 

There are so many different viewpoints of how successful ropers use their own systems, do their own thing and win. And in the end, it kind of doesn’t matter how they think about riding their horse or position, the things they do with their timing, swing and delivery, how much they feed their loop, and whether they feed it on the last swing or not—as long as it works.  

READ: Self-Worth and Your Mental Game with Patrick Smith

If what you’ve been doing doesn’t work, you’d obviously be crazy to stay with a system just because somebody told you to do it that way. But one method might not work best for everyone. 

There are just so many different ways to look at it, and it all comes down to you owning your own style. I started by watching the Camarillos, Walt Woodard, Denny Watkins and local guys like Gary Mouw and Don Beasley when I was really young. I would watch, study and mimic things I saw them do. 

Throughout my whole career, I watched great ropers, right on down the line, including Allen Bach, JD Yates, Bobby Harris, Rich Skelton and Mike Beers. Decade after decade, I saw them all, even in that last little five- or six-year run of being out on the road and back at the NFR, when I was studying kids like Jade Corkill, Kollin VonAhn, Patrick Smith and Travis Graves. 

I’ve just always been fascinated with great roping and great ropers. I haven’t been afraid to experiment, and that’s been one of the most fun parts of roping. I enjoy practicing, preparing and trying new things, and trying to implement things that are people’s strengths and make them the great ropers they are. If I could fit something they did into my system, I was never too proud to do that. 

When I teach roping schools, I tell people that what we’re after is results. Some people get frustrated because they struggle with all the multitasking that goes on within one run, where they have to do three of four things at the same time. Which thing should you put in the forefront of your mind and focus on because it’s most important, they wonder?

The most important thing to me early on was timing. Leo, Jerold and Walt could rope those steers when their hind legs left the ground. I spent several years working on that, and it was a game-changer for me. Once I got timing down, it became pretty natural and easy. 

READ: Can Failure Lead to Success?

When I started rodeoing, I had to work more on my positioning, so that became the most important thing I thought of most. I knew if I could set up the shot I wanted, I was going to rope the steer by two feet.

Sometimes you have to bounce around between which thing is the most important to focus on. That’s what the practice pen is for—to work on isolating things like the mechanics of your swing and elements of your horsemanship, then really drill down and have that be your first focus.

For lower-numbered ropers trying to get better, mastering those core fundamentals is critical. There’s not just one way to execute them, but you have to get good at doing those fundamentals your way. The guys who are successful at every level have done the work and mastered them. That’s why they’re as good as they are.

I like listening to what everybody has to say, and using today’s technology, too. I get on YouTube and Facebook, and read and listen to what people have to say who are successful, because I love information. And if I hear something that’s fascinating or different to me, I can’t wait to go try it and see if I can do what they say works for them. 

It’s just fun to soak up knowledge other people have worked on and believe in. Having video cameras in our phones is part of why roping is getting so crazy good. Instant feedback is in the palm of our hands.

Learn from the best. Looking to elevate your team roping skills? From short, one-minute roping tips to hours of full-length training sessions from World Champions like Jake Barnes, Lari Dee Guy, Clay O’Brien Cooper, Caleb Smidt, and Patrick Smith, Roping.com is the ultimate experience for every type of roper.

—TRJ—

The post There’s More Than One Way to Rope appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

As a rookie coming into professional rodeo, I’d only heard of places with long scores. Where I grew up in New Mexico, there were never any long scores, and most were about average. Then it was all short scores when I amateur rodeoed in Texas.

There are a few basics that help you have success over long scorelines, starting with a horse that scores really good and can run. You can’t be successful if you break the barrier or get left behind. And after that long head start, you need a horse that can catch up. With so much speed built up, a handle that slows things down and smooths out that corner is also important, so you help your heeler and don’t jerk one down. 

LISTEN: Long vs. Short Game Evolution

The 40-foot scoreline at Salinas is the longest in our sport, and it’s the only five-steer average rodeo out there. The steers are chute-run, and both guys come from the left side of the roping chute. 

Salinas is my favorite rodeo of the whole year for several reasons beyond the cowboy conditions and old-school tradition, including the weather. It’s dirty hot everywhere else you go that time of year, so it’s refreshing to be out there on those misty mornings for slack. And everybody loves getting to run one every day. 

If you can stay the course, you can be successful at Salinas. Heelers have a disadvantage there, because with both guys coming from the left, a lot of steers go over to that right track fence and cut in front of them. Heelers stay in catch-up mode, so it’s really important as a header to slow that momentum down to give your partner a chance.

Roping at Salinas reminds me of the NFR grand-entry rehearsal. They make you do it horseback about five times, and all those roughstock guys are whooping and hollering, and having fun making it a horse race while the production people are trying to tighten it up. After about the second run-through, all the horses are acting like runaway racehorses. 

READ: Coy Rahlmann’s Salinas-Winning Secrets

Add 10 performances to that, and you can have your horse blown up before he ever backs in the box. That’s why so many guys ride a different horse, or their backup horse, in the grand entry. Because when the announcer tells all those cowboys to tip their hats to the crowd, those horses go to jumping and wheeling out of there.

After you run a steer or two at Salinas, even as slow as they open the gate there, a lot of horses go to jumping around and are hard to hold in there, just like in the NFR grand entry. I was scared to death the first time I roped at Salinas. It was just so foreign to me, and was not the typical hip-to-the-pin setup. I felt like I had to wait 30 minutes for that steer to get to the line. 

They put a Styrofoam cup out there in the dirt at Salinas to let headers gauge when to go, which on an average steer is about when his head reaches the cup. Some steers walk to the line, and it’s a big advantage if they run one in there for you that’s kind of lost like that. 

The scoreline at Cheyenne is 10 feet shorter than Salinas at 30 feet, and they’re using an electric eye there this year. They draw the steers, which are walking fresh in two rounds of steer roping first. So you get the video on what your steer does from a steer roper. 

Cheyenne just added team roping in 2001. The box is shorter and so is the score, so you don’t have to sit there as long as at Salinas. But coming off of all the one-headers over the Fourth of July, it’s sure enough a lot different. 

Clay and I won Cheyenne the second year they had it, when they roped muleys in 2002. I was fortunate to win it again with Walt Woodard in 2011, and when Walt and I won, we drew the three best steers there and placed in all three rounds. We couldn’t have hand-picked three better steers, and that win was a major factor in us making the NFR that year.

WATCH ON ROPING.COM: Unlock the Secrets of Successful Heading

—TRJ—

The post Handling the Longest Scores in Rodeo appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

a) MENTAL

That first round, we kind of stayed on par up there just because it’s a different setup. We definitely wanted to place in the first round or win the first round to get ahead of the average and get some money won.

b) TIMING

You know the steers are going to be wild at Guymon and you know it’s going to take a lot of loop. So that’s what I focused on. Our plan was to pull the steer—I think they handle better like that as opposed to letting them hang on the end of the rope and fight—so Dustin stuck him and moved. He was taking big wide hops, but I tried to be aggressive and set as much rope down there as I could.

c) BODY POSITION 

To me, that’s about perfect. I haven’t really changed much. I’ve got my feet in between my stirrups, so that means I have weight in my stirrups and I’m squeezing with my legs, so I’m real balanced in the middle of my horse, not leaning forward or backward. Then same with my upper body; it’s not leaned way back or way forward. It’s just tilted forward just enough to where I set my rope on the ground, but it’s not swayed one way or the other. I like how I’m real square in the middle of my horse, and that means I had a good delivery and should be able to get a good finish.

d) SEPARATION

I think I can rope a little bit farther away, maybe, than some guys, so I guess that’s just because I was comfortable there. I mean, I have already probably thrown from a little closer than that, but he was taking a big jump away from me. My horse looks like he was working really well, so I threw. When I delivered it, I was closer than that, but I guess it just kind of looks farther away than it actually was because my horse is stopping as the steer’s taking a big, wild jump away from me. I’m going to have enough rope to pull my slack and dally, and it shouldn’t be any problem.

e) PAULY

He looks like he did perfect. He is hitting his butt like he needs to be and pedaling with his front feet, so it’s going to be forgiving for me to dally. It’s not like he’s trying to cut my hand off or something. He’s just really helping me, and I don’t even have any pressure on the reins but he’s still stopping. You know he knows what he’s needing to do in that spot when I don’t even have pressure on the reins, and he’s still got his butt up under him like that.

—TRJ—

The post A Lot of Loop: Levi Lord Breaks Down Guymon Pioneer Days Run appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Miles Baker stood at the head box during the 2024 Bob Feist Invitational to rattle the back gate for plenty of the other headers. But why?

On Long Starts

At jackpots with long starts like the BFI, you’ll see someone standing by the chute rattling the back gate, looking at the header and head horse.

Hard Crack

We do this for each other for different reasons. Some people need a hard crack of the back gate to trick their head horse into standing in the corner, because the head horse hears that initial “false” bang and then is on go and ready when the actual gate bangs. 

Steady Rattle

More often, guys’ horses need a steady rattle instead, taking their focus off the main noise—essentially desensitizing them to the sound so they have time to hold them on those long starts. 

At Home

At home, I’ll call for the back gate, too. I want to hold one really tight, and when that back gate bangs, I want them not to react to it. I’ll allow them staying steady in the corner to be the release, and then I’ll let the horse walk forward. I don’t want the bang of the gate to be the horse’s release.

—TRJ—

The post Can I Get a Rattle? appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

I have spent a long time putting together a program and a setup that lets me do what each horse needs every day—and along the way, I’ve learned things from guys like Brad Lund, Gary Wells and Bill Myers who’ve shown me pieces of what they do to make great horses.

Here are some foundational pieces of what I do to make horses that can go on beyond my time with them to be successful with their owners at the jackpots or with guys going down the road trying to make a living rodeoing. 

1. All About Control

My program is about slowing things down to where my wife—a 3—should be able to get on most of these horses and head the steer. If she pulls on the reins and wants the horse to come to a complete stop or slow down, that horse should be able to do that.

2. Practice Cattle

We have a bunch of Holstein-cross calves—Jerseys—whatever you want to call them. I like them because they’re not really heavy. You can rope them and your horse can’t just get a hold of them real hard, so you can work on your horse’s control and body position without making them dread it or crave the pull too much. Plus, they tend to be slower, or get slower faster, and that allows me to put more control into my horses every step of the way. A lot of people want to buy fresh steers that haven’t ever been roped because, sure, they can be a lot of fun, but that’s rarely the best practice for your horses.

3. Practice Mentality

Some people want to call their buddies up and drink a six-pack and try to run steers. And that doesn’t usually go well. You’ve got to set yourself up for success, and it all starts with how you practice. If you don’t practice well, then you’re not going to perform well.

4. Diversify

At my house, we’ll score a lot, we’ll breakaway a lot, we’ll make some regular runs, we’ll rope and push our horse forward and circle the steer around us. We do different things like that so we have full control of our horse at all times

5. Tools

You’ll see a scoring lane in my arena. Even on a fast steer, you can let them out because the lane slows them down. Then you can go, or you can walk-start every time as the steer trickles down the lane. That forces your horse to pay attention to you and stay in your hand. Sometimes, we’ll sit in the corner and let the steer out and make the horse make a run up there. The next time, we might just walk-score and walk the whole way out into the arena. It helps the horse relax and build confidence. Kaleb Driggers has one at his house. It’s twice as long and has high steps in it, so they’ve got to slow down to go over it.

Dakota Kirchenschlager’s entire program is on Roping.com, providing comprehensive how-to explanations for all levels of training—from green horses to great horses and everything in between. 

—TRJ—

The post Training User-Friendly Horses appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Riding a horse that suits you—your style and stage of riding and roping—has so much to do with both your success and how much fun you have. Horsepower is everything at every level of the game, but the right fit between horse and human can be even more important than having what might technically be considered the very best horse. And for ropers young and old at each end of the age spectrum, riding the right kind of horse is an important safety factor also. 

Affordability is a major factor when shopping for a horse. The good news is a horse doesn’t have to be fancy or super expensive to be of value to a kid or older roper. We all want the very best horse our money can buy. But I sometimes see parents pull the trigger too quickly on a horse that’s not what their son or daughter needs in the early going. 

While everyone wants their kid to have an edge, overmounting your young roper is one of the most common mistakes I see parents make. Most kids don’t have the riding skills to handle a high-powered horse in the beginning. If your first horse is too aggressive and strong, you’ll be pulling all the time and will learn to be heavy-handed, which is not the goal.

READ: What Makes a Good Team Roping Horse?

If your first horse is too old to want to move much, and a kid has to whip and spur to get him to even untrack, it can teach that kid to be too aggressive. I like to see kids get some riding experience and horsemanship skills before they ever rope horseback. It’s just a safer, more successful way to go about it.

My first horse was a Shetland pony. There are some good ones, but based on my childhood I’m not generally a big fan of those little outlaw suckers. They’re hard to get broke, a lot of them are runaways and it can be dangerous if a kid rides up behind a big horse and gets kicked. 

There’s nothing much more important than a kid’s first horse, and a basic model that teaches a kid how to turn and stop is a good place to start. A lot of kids want to run their horses everywhere, but without basic horsemanship skills they don’t know how to operate the brakes. Everyone wants their kid to be the next Trevor Brazile, and to ride the best, fastest horse. But I think if you look all the way back, Trevor rode some safe, basic models as a kid that taught him the things that took him to the top. 

READ: Top 10 Traits of a Horse for Lower-Numbered Headers
READ: Top 10 Traits in a Horse for Lower-Numbered Heelers

When the goal is a safe, suitable horse, it’s buyer beware on online bargains that really are too good to be true. Some horse traders are more reputable than others, and as parents, it’s our responsibility to weed through the lies that could be dangerous if you don’t see through them. 

A lot of the same traits apply to horses for older ropers. As we get a little longer in the tooth—I turned 65 this year—it’s not quite as cute if a horse crow-hops. If a horse grabs his butt at my age, I’m puckered up and reaching for the saddle horn. I don’t want any part of hitting that hard ground. 

Depending on riding and roping level, an older roper might want a little more run than a kid’s horse. But I’ve always been a fan of horses that are a little older, in that 12 to 20 range, and I’m no longer willing to spend hours loping one down to take some of the spunk out of him before we rope. I’ve had two knee replacements, and have aches and pains now, like everybody else. I want a horse I can just go run a few on without having to keep him saddled all day. 

READ: Do Not Disrespect Older Horses

A horse that isn’t chargy and is just nice and smooth to ride around makes it so much more fun. And if I don’t ride one today, he better not be fresh and humpy tomorrow. I have no interest in a horse that spooks at every trash bag that blows across the parking lot, or is scared by the sound system at the roping. So an older horse that’s been there, done that and seen all the sights makes sense. 

There were times in my career—like the early years I rode Bullwinkle, who acted more like a bulldogging horse than a head horse—when I made some sacrifices for a horse with quirks because I could win on him. There were times in my life when I tolerated trade-offs if a horse was talented. If I needed to spend all afternoon scoring, steer stopping and pulling a log, so be it. But conquering a renegade is of no interest to me now.

—TRJ—

The post The Many Advantages of Age-Appropriate Horses appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

We all rope so much, and we’ve run so many steers at this point, it’s really no different for me no matter what’s on the line. If I miss, it for sure won’t be the first time I ever mess up, and it won’t be the last. I try not to put too much pressure on myself because this is what I’m supposed to be doing for a living, and I know I’m working at it. 

If it doesn’t work out the way I think it’s supposed to, there will be another way it will work out. Last year helped me a lot with that—I kept thinking there were big rodeos I had to do good at to get to the Finals, and I’d mess up or it wouldn’t work out but, somehow, other stuff kept happening. I won [the NFR Open in] Colorado Springs—stuff like that you wouldn’t want to count on. I did good at Pendleton, and that’s a place you don’t want to have to count on as your make-it-or-break-it spot. 

WATCH: Conquering Competition Nerves

All we can do is do the best we can. After that, it’s out of our hands. I try to remember that. I’ve missed a lot of steers on big stages, and it doesn’t feel any better or any worse than any other times. It won’t ruin my life if I don’t do well. I don’t do anything crazy. 

I listened to a podcast with Chad Masters—I’ve looked up to him for a long time. And he said he doesn’t watch the team in front of him go. He just looks at his steer in the back. I picked that up—I don’t really go any more in-depth than that. I don’t know why that sticks with me. It helps me to focus a little more. I’ll get a little scattered now and then and not pay attention to what I’m doing, so that little hack helps.

READ: Mindset Matters

For a long time, I tried to think about too many things. I tried to think about my swing, riding my horse, doing all this stuff. And I just got to thinking one day, if you go somewhere in a high-pressure situation, you look back and don’t remember what happened. I try to just remind myself to watch the steer and not worry about too much else. I just rely on muscle memory and all the practice I’ve had. I want to watch the steer, and when he lets me heel him, I heel him. I don’t want to make something happen. Some guys can make a shot happen, but I can’t. I try to let it develop and, when I see a throw, just take it.

—TRJ—

The post Inner Strength with Tyler Worley appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

a) The mental game

We were first out, so we couldn’t really strategize too much. We knew the steer we had, and we liked him because he was supposed to be straight and pretty strong, so Luke could take a good start and it would give us a good throw. We just wanted to try to make the best run we could and then just see what happened. If nothing else, we were just thankful that we were going to get to place because we were in the four-man. 

b) The steer

They took them all to Chad’s [Masters] two days before, and we roped through all of them and picked those final four steers, then the 10-man steers. The final four steers were the strongest steers on the herd. At Chad’s he wanted to go right, and he ran really hard, so we put him in the four-man because we didn’t want any steers to go left. He was pretty easy to remember—he was the only red brockle-faced in there, so when we saw we had him, we knew which one he was.

c) Casino

That horse is amazing in the short setups. He’s really good in the box, so you can get a really good start on him; he never moves around or anything, he stands there really still, and then when the gates go, he leaves off your hand kind of like a head horse, which makes him fun and easy in those setups. He gives me the same look every time. He runs as hard as he can down the arena, and then when the steer squares up, he just kind of turns his head to the left and basically just gets out of your way and opens the door for you to throw. That’s what he felt like on that run, and that’s kind of his signature move.

d) Position

I felt like I was in really good position, and I set it up exactly how I wanted. If the steer was going to round in the turn, I was in a spot where I could throw on the first jump, and if he squared, I could just take one swing when he jumped away. He kind of squared a little bit, and I just got one [swing] over his back kind of on the crossfire jump, and then I was in a good spot to throw the next jump. It felt like it was an easy shot.

e) Loop

I thought I got my top strand high up in the hocks, and then my bottom strand is below the feet, so I like that. I had a pretty good amount of loop through the steer’s feet, which gives me a good chance to not slip him or to not have anything weird happen to where I would miss him. I thought my loop was pretty good on that steer.

f) Timing

I try to set it up to where my rope is going down around the steer’s feet at the height of the jump, I call it. When the steer’s jumping in the air and his feet are as high in the air as they’re going to go, that’s when I want my rope to go down. The timing of that, then the finish of my horse separating and the steer leaving me all at the same time. It honestly probably came a little faster—the separation—than I thought because I kind of bobbled my dally a little bit, but it worked out good.

g) Left hand

Sometimes if the steer’s going to jump away from me really hard or fast, I will kind of keep my left hand down. That way I have room to send my rope farther or get more rope through the feet. But if the steer’s heavy or if he’s not leaving me, I’ll kind of pick my horse up with my left hand and keep my left hand higher. On that certain steer, he’s about to jump away from me, so I don’t feel like I had much contact with my left hand. It’s in a pretty good spot.

WATCH ON ROPING.COM: Green Horse Competition Prep with Hunter Koch

—TRJ—

The post Hunter Koch Breaks Down First-Out Run at The American appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

There are lessons to be learned about life all around us, if we listen. Golf and roping are hard games that teach you humility, patience and self-control. Both are about managing your thoughts, making a game plan and sticking to that plan. One of the things I love about golf is that it takes 18 battles to wage the war. One of my favorite parts of roping is the horses, and the rewards of what they teach me. 

READ: Applying Golf’s Positives to Roping 

When you start wanting to get good at your roping, you don’t think about the horse that much. It’s all about the roping. I went through a lot of horses early on in my career with that mentality. My plan back then was to rope 100 steers a day, and I expected my horses to take that and then be ready for all the jackpots every week, too. Treating horses as tools when I was young taught me a lot of things that were helpful as my career progressed, and I learned to be better than that.

I learned compassion, and that there is a stopping line. If you burn your horse up in the practice pen, he’s not going to be ready and reliable at the roping or rodeo.

I learned patience, especially when dealing with a younger, greener horse that doesn’t yet understand the pattern and what I’m wanting. Horses are going to self-preserve and protect themselves if we put them in bad positions. Patience gives a horse time to learn what we want from him, so sometimes we need to slow things down and evaluate what we’re asking a horse to do, and how. Don’t be quick to reprimand a horse when he doesn’t know what you want yet. 

I learned that repetition is the key to locking in consistency. If we’re repeatedly doing something in error, our horse will do it wrong. If we do it right repeatedly, he will learn to be right on the money. 

I learned that just like people, every horse has his own personality. I have several younger horses I love to ride every day, and have a different strategy for each one. Some horses are laid back, confident and trusting. Others are fearful and have anxiety issues if we mess with them too much. I evaluate each horse psychologically and deal with them as individuals. 

I learned that the traits bred into horses today are more specialized than ever before and that there will be things to deal with based on what a horse is bred to do. A cutting-bred horse is bred to be fearful and unsure of cattle. We need to help them get past that fear factor that’s bred into them. It will take time and patience to press through certain areas. 

I learned from studying horses the importance of conformation. If you’ve made a living on a horse for very long, you understand that a horse’s bone structure and feet all have a part to play. Some horses with a lot of heart will try to power through problems, but how a horse is made and built typically comes into play as a durability factor. So I learned to look at those things when buying young prospects, before putting in all the work on one that’s less likely to last. 

READ: Riding Is as Important as Roping at the Highest Level

I learned the importance of athletic ability in a horse. Some are smooth and catty with every foot in place. Others aren’t as blessed athletically. They can still be good—and often make great horses for lower-numbered ropers—but the special moves it takes to make it at the highest level are not as easy for them. 

I learned a lot about friendship from my horses. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve gotten really attached to them. I don’t think of them as tools anymore. My horses become my friends now. They all have unique personalities, just like us, and I see them as gifts from God. 

I have horses that meet me at the gate when I have the halter. LB (the bay Clay bought from Kory Koontz) was like that. He wanted to go do something every day, and he wanted to go on the adventure and get it done with me. That connection with horses is one of the great rewards in my life that make me rich. Money in the bank doesn’t make me rich, but my connection with these horses that I enjoy every day does.

WATCH ON ROPING.COM: How To Build A Relationship with Your Horse

—TRJ—

The post Life Lessons Learned From Horses appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

As a little kid, I got to where I could rope the horns. I could get to where I needed to be, or I could make it work by stepping back and letting my loop do the work for me. As a young roper, you can get really good at all sorts of things with a rope. 

But if you don’t ride your horse well, and you don’t put yourself in a position to catch and to win, then you won’t ever get very good at team roping because the horsemanship part of it is huge. It’s actually the part of it that I have worked on the very hardest through my whole career and tried to learn and get better at. 

1. Work with what you have.

I was making NFRs, roping at the highest level possible, but I still needed to do more to get better at how I rode to position to give myself the ability to win more. I went to 19 NFRs, and I didn’t have an arena at my house. But what I did have, was a lot of open country. And I went and rode my horses all the time. I thought about how can I make me and my horse understand each other better every day? How can I get him in shape when I lift here and when I put a foot here, or when I’m asking him to go through the bar ditch and around this tree and do all these little quirky things?

READ MORE: Riding Is as Important as Roping at the Highest Level

2. You’re always training.

I stopped and thought about, ‘What does my horse feel? How does he understand that when I deliver, I want him to get on his butt and stop?’  You can do it by roping a million steers. But you can also do it by teaching him your body. When I ride, when I build power in my swing, when I’m athletic in my saddle, I’m pushing down in my stirrups. I’m squeezing not only with where my spurs are, but I’m squeezing with this part of my leg or I’m squeezing with my calves. What am I telling him? Or how do I tell him in a way that builds consistency with when I make my shot, when I’m coming into the corner, when I leave the box, when I do step by step, how am I communicating with my horse what I want out of him? These things don’t have to be built in the arena. These cues can come outside, making do with whatever you have. 

WATCH: Top 5 Horsemanship Videos of 2023

3. Build success inisde the arena outside the arena.

You can learn your horse in the arena, you can do it out of the arena. You can do it in a lot of ways so that your communication with your horse turns into all good things that build into success in the arena. I learned where I was squeezing with my calves when I’d deliver my rope, and I’d just recreate that scenario whether I had steers to heel or not. I would go just long trotting or loping through a bar ditch, or around a tree or even around barrels—just working on the same cues I was using through the corner and through my delivery. 

READ: Roping’s Much-Needed Horsemanship Refocus

4. Communication is key.

The better we know our horses, the better we take care of them, the better we communicate with them, the more we’re going to get out of them. I had several really, really good horses through my career, but I learned how to communicate with each one. Is he getting the idea that that’s what I want when he feels me do that and I come around the corner heeling a steer? Does he give me what I want? Am I communicating well with him?  

LISTEN: Horsemanship and More with Kory Koontz

5. Horsemanship = relationship

And I like to think that I built relationships with all of those really good horses that I had. I didn’t just use them as a tool, and then get rid of them when they didn’t give me what I needed. I get emotional even talking about it, because my horses mean something. If you need to win, they have to give you everything they have. As ropers, we have to realize that we can’t just do it on our own. Your relationship with your horse is what’s going to determine how much he gives you with how much you’re giving him.

WATCH ON ROPING.COM: The Most Critical Element of Team Roping is Horsemanship

—TRJ—

The post Putting Horsemanship First appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

We all love to rope, and it’s the greatest time ever to be a team roper. As always, recreational ropers—as in, people who rope for fun—make up the majority of team ropers in the world. Guys who rope for a living are gunning at more money than ever before. But with the grueling travel and how tough it is to win out there today, the rodeo road remains a hard life. What’s pretty cool now is that the time has come when the sky’s the limit for people who basically rope as a hobby. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with just roping for fun. 

I personally feel that a lower-numbered roper has a way better opportunity and a better lifestyle than the open-roping pro cowboys. All those guys are out there chasing the NFR, and only 15 teams have a chance to run at the big money those 10 days in Vegas. The recreational ropers run at over $100,000 a man every day out there at the (Ariat) World Series (of Team Roping) Finale. 

READ: Calling All Roping Rookies: Friendly Advice from Jake Barnes

My mind continues to be blown by the young kids coming up today. I just went to a roping in Wickenburg, and watched a $300-a-man #12 roping, which has no age limit. This one little kid comes out and reaches as far as he could on the first steer, his partner crossfired him and they were 5—again, in the first round of a four-steer average. I was like, “Are you kidding me?”

I hustled over to the other arena to see what they were going to do on their second steer, and that same kid reached as far as he could again, and missed. There I was, old-school me, thinking, “OK, I’m not crazy, that’s not the way we go at a four-header.” But that kid stuck with his gunslinging game plan, and sure enough, here he came in the short round. He threw his whole rope again, and won second or third in the average. It was insane. 

Maybe I had no fear when I was his age, but it was a different ball game back then, and was more about consistency and avoiding unforced errors. A kid like that surely has big dreams of roping at the NFR one day. So the good news for the rest of the ropers in that #12 roping is that he’ll soon have his number raised, and you won’t have to deal with him much longer. 

READ: There is No Single Path to Success in Team Roping or Life

We never think there will be a generation gap, but I find myself thinking about how much money $300 is for entry fees. And that was going one time in one roping. Then here came the #12 businessman’s roping, and the fees were $1,000 a man. On a weekday. That kind of money is still hard for me to cough up to rope, but it says something worth noting. Businessmen and women make their money doing something else, and rope for enjoyment. They can afford it. Good for them.

I was raised to never waste anything. Even though I have a rope sponsorship, I still use a rope until it can’t go anymore. Then my sister makes baskets out of the really old, worn-out ones. It’s mind-blowing to see a 12-year-old kid use a rope once, then throw it on the ground and walk away. To each his own, but I’d have gotten my butt whipped. 

I started at the bottom, and worked my way to the top. Some would say roping was my job. But it never felt like a job, because that’s all I ever wanted to do. I’m very thankful for all the doors my roping career opened, including the chance for Clay (Cooper) and I to spend our rodeo retirement helping others reach their roping goals.  

READ: Intermediate, Limited and Numbered Futurities are Next Gen of Team Roping

Ropers of our generation who are over 60 now find ourselves in an interesting position, where we still rope too good to get our numbers lowered, but have a tough time against guys half our age or younger. Luckily, Clay and I love helping other people with their roping. And the horse industry continues to be more lucrative as more and more people rope. 

I guess what I’m saying here is that roping has something for everyone in 2024. There’s a place for all of us, and if you consider roping play, that’s cool, too. The numbering system provides protection for people who don’t rope for a living, and that’s a totally different scenario from when we were the young kids and were thrown to the open-roper wolves.

—TRJ—

The post The Best of Times for Team Ropers appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Where you’re sitting heading into the short round is crucial to your game plan. There’s a time to be aggressive and a time to play it safe. In this video brought to you by Cactus Ropes, Trevor Brazile breaks down a few short-round scenarios and how to strategize for success.

“Whatever rhythm you’ve competed at that day—especially if the scenario plays into that and lets you rope the way you’ve roped all day—don’t change anything.”

About Trevor Brazile:

Roping.com coach Trevor Brazile is the winningest cowboy in professional rodeo history, with $7 million in career earnings and 26 gold buckles. The sport’s elite all-around hand, Brazile has won over $800,000 in Cinch Timed Event Championship competition alone. Since leaving the rodeo arena full-time in 2019, Brazile has changed his focus to making the best young horses in the roping industry. He’s already won hundreds of thousands in American Rope Horse Futurity Association competition, and his training style and philosophy are based on fundamentals and consistency.

MORE RELENTLESS INSIGHTS:

• Conquering Competition Nerves
• Improve Your Head Horse’s Facing
• Develop Your Horse’s Draw to Cattle

The post Trevor Brazile’s Short-Round Mental Hacks appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

a) Situation: On those kinds of deals, the Finals was tough. You had Dustin [Egusquiza] and Levi [Lord], and they started off with a 4.3, and the guys just kept coming with it. I think there were seven clean runs. That takes all the thinking part out of it. You just have to back in there, try to get a good start, throw whenever you think you can and see how things end up.

b) Game Plan: We kind of had an idea of what we had to be to place or if we could try to win it. We were the very last team, so we knew exactly what we needed to do and how we had to try to do it. That’s the part I liked about the whole thing—we were the last team out, so it was all on us. Everything that we wanted to do or didn’t want to do was all on us, it was on no one else.

c) Steer: He was supposed to be pretty good. [Aaron] Tsinigine missed him in an earlier round, but he was good enough. 

d) Throw: Those guys out here, they make you do that kind of stuff naturally. Nowadays you have to rope so fast that a guy has to learn to do that. When it comes time to do it, you’re not trying to think about, ‘Oh, how do I do this?’ The competitive side of it comes to me like, ‘Man, I want to try to beat these guys.’ That part comes out and it just makes you aggressive and makes you throw faster than you normally do and luckily enough it worked.

e) Loop: I was more smiling about the fact that I didn’t throw a very good head loop. It kind of caught the right horn, kind of split the horns a little bit and then went around the left not real clean. At the last minute it goes on, and then Colter heels him, we face, and it didn’t feel like we were fast enough when we looked at the clock and it was 3.8.

Learn roping fundamentals from 10x NFR-qualifier Derrick Begay. Subscribe to Roping.com.

—TRJ—

The post Derrick Begay Breaks Down Finals Run at San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Trevor Brazile jumped into the rope horse breeding business in 2021 with both feet. Since then, he’s moved to the forefront of the industry, but along the way he’s learned a few lessons he can pass on to help newcomers to the game. 

1. Horses are like rabbits. They add up really fast. You’ll decide to start breeding a mare and, before you know it, you’ll have a weanling, a yearling, a 2-year-old and a 3-year-old out of her and have tens of thousands in expenses before you even know if the mare is a good producer. The first time we had a stallion, we couldn’t find enough broodmares or get enough flushes. But now, we know it’s almost better to have fewer horses and make sure they’re in the right hands to get quality time and training spent on them. 

2. Did I mention the bills can really add up? You get used to certain costs of doing business as far as roping and having horses, in general, and then that couple months during breeding season those costs go up exponentially. You almost don’t prepare—you assume you know, but there are a lot of extra fees other than the stud fee and recip mare. There are times they miss, times they abort. You don’t win, but you still win the bills. 

3. Don’t take babies on the ground for granted. It doesn’t always happen perfectly. There are certain crosses I want that sometimes end up being the hardest to get live foals. So much can go wrong that, when you do get a foal that works out, be thankful.

4. Seek counsel. I’ve learned that it is good to think outside the box in some areas. But it’s also good to seek wise counsel when it comes to breeding and crossing. There’s so much that goes into breeding that you don’t think about. Try to learn lessons from people who’ve been in the business and tried different crosses, different strategies. It will take three years to find out you made a mistake on a cross. Those years can stack up before you really feel like you have the crosses figured out. Some people don’t enjoy riding anymore at that point. It’s truly something that needs to have wisdom passed down. Your counsel might not have everything figured out, but they’ve figured out a lot about what not to do. 

5. Play the incentive game. Incentives are huge. You need to do your homework. There are some incentives that are so new, you don’t know if they’ll have staying power. And there’s only so many things studs can buy into right now. I love the opportunity that’s out there, but there’s only a few that will be able to sustain the ups and downs and growing pains of the market. Stallion owners can only do so much, and there will be two or three that really stay and stand the test of time. Finding good counsel on which incentives matter and which incentives are worth your investment is key.

6. Do your homework on colt-starters. There’s way more competition for 3-year-olds than I’ve ever seen. I think there’s demands in all of it, but part of the reason 3-year-olds are so tough to find is that there aren’t enough great 2-year-old guys. I don’t think that the industry knows where to go to find those guys who do a great job, who you can trust and count on their product annually. 

7. Weigh risk vs. reward when deciding to sell or keep. The only thing that’s better than selling a 2-year-old is selling a yearling, and the only thing better than selling a yearling is selling a weanling, and the only thing better than selling a weanling is selling an embryo. Every stage has a cost. Some risk is worth the reward of keeping one, but that’s what has to be weighed. If you don’t sell a horse because you’re holding out for an extra $5,000, did you the factor in the risk of keeping it, feeding it and then having something happen to it? 

8. Invest in a good reproduction facility. I feel like a lot of people get burnt spending the money on stud fees and recips and then they have sub-par veterinarians trying to catch this lightning in a bottle. Using an inexperienced vet will give a lot of people a bad taste in their mouths. Go to a reputable reproduction veterinarian that has all the means and equipment necessary to up the odds of having a live foal. As a stallion owner, I think a lot of the failed attempts were because you were going to people who don’t normally breed on a daily basis. There’s more to it than people realize, and it requires a good reproduction team. 

—TRJ—

The post 8 Hard-Learned Breeding Lessons appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

When your rope horse is strung out, odds are they’re unbalanced and losing hind-end engagement. This can mean slower starts, inefficient runs and sloppier stops. Joseph Harrison breaks down his approach to framing up his horses for better performance.

Why is Framing Up Important?

I had gotten away from putting emphasis on the frame in my horses. I was doing good enough and letting them be what they were more. Some wanted to stay good, and those are the ones I’d be good on most of the time. The ones that didn’t want to stay good, I’d let them find it—but that wasn’t winning and, on maybe two out of five runs, they’d be out of whack going into their stops. 

READ MORE: The Ideal Heel Horse Stop

What is Frame?

Where I first learned “the frame” as a young kid was from watching Kollin VonAhn. His horses looked so cool, with their chin in, poll up and their left shoulder up into their chin just a little bit. Their hips were under them and they were driving. Kollin had them all like that, the whole way through the run: down the arena, through the turn, into the cow and into the stop. The horse was just fixed, welded in spot. 

READ MORE: Getting Where You Need to Be as a Heeler

The How

One common misconception is to put your left leg on them and push their ribs out to get them in frame. It’s not that I want their ribs out. I ride a shorter left rein and have my right leg into the horse. I want the shoulders up and the hips in under the back cinch. Now the ribs are out, but I’m not just pushing the ribs out. If I’m just pushing the ribs out with my left leg, I’m going to push the hips out, too, and that’s not what we want. 

READ MORE: Riding Is as Important as Roping at the Highest Level

Using the Stop

Once colts figure out they want to go into the cow, that’s when holding them in frame and stopping them in the turn and letting the cow get away is OK. If you’re coming through the turn in competition, and you’re wrestling with the bridle reins up at your chin and he’s not down there looking to get in his spot on the cow, you’re not going to win. Respectfulness from the bridle reins is crucial in young horses, period, let alone ones we’re going to show.

READ MORE: Making Smooth Shots on Green Horses

—TRJ—

The post Finding Frame appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Whether getting ready for a big event or prepping a young horse for its first futurity, Trevor Brazile is a stickler for a sharp face in a head horse. Trying to get your head horse’s facing dialed in? This playlist of rope horse training videos is a great place to start.

1. Heading Horsemanship and Facing

From Brazile and Patrick Smith’s Legend DVD, this video takes you through Trevor Brazile’s full philosophy on tuning a head horse in a variety of scenarios, with a strong emphasis on the most overlooked part of a run: the face. Brazile explains his facing techniques and the exercises he uses to get a faster, cleaner finish. 

2. Body Position in the Face

In just 3.5 minutes, Brazile and his Relentless Remuda partner Miles Baker review how your body movement affects your horse’s hips in the face. 

3. Facing Drill with a Tire

Shot at Baker’s Oklahoma ranch, Brazile explains how he drags a tire with a head horse to work on pushing his horse forward and finishing in the middle of the arena. 

4. Refining the Face with a Tire Drill

Baker and Brazile talk through using a tire to work on keeping control of the steer through the face, preventing the horse’s shoulders from falling into the horse’s nose. 

5. Understanding Head Control to Optimize Facing

In less than 2 minutes, Brazile will change your understanding of head control in the face. Brazile teaches a horse to face with cheek control, and you’ve probably never seen anyone explain the face like this.

Roping.com, powered by The Team Roping Journal, offers ropers an elite inner circle to learn and build relationships with some of the winningest team roping legends in the industry. Roping.com provides thousands of tutorial videos as well as personal guidance for ropers of all levels to up their skill. Whether ropers are looking to improve their mental game, watch a roping clinic, learn how to practice with a purpose, or up their catch percentages, Roping.com gives these insights and more.

—TRJ—

The post The Ultimate Facing Masterclass appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

The landscape is always changing in every sport. That’s just life, and sports are no exception. I was reading an article about some of the lesser-known ropers in the generation before me the other day—guys like Don Beasley and Gary Mouw. They were local heelers who I got to see a lot as a little kid growing up in Southern California. The big names, like Leo and Jerold (Camarillo) and Jim Rodriguez, were heroes to a lot of us. But that whole era of team roping was great. And it’s amazing to see how far it’s come since they changed the game.

During their day, dally team roping started to be perfected from a “go catch all your steers around two horns and two feet” mentality, and the emphasis was on big averages. The biggest ropings at that time were the 10-head averages in Oakdale and Riverside, and the eight-steer average in Chowchilla. Dally team roping all started in California, and went from west to east. But back then, it was all about catching and consistency.

In that era in the 1960s and ’70s when I was a kid, the catching part was really perfected by some absolutely great ropers. But there was change on the horizon. My generation was inspired by that one before us. We aspired to live our dream of being like those guys, and as our careers went on, roping got even more perfected and faster. 

Roping exploded for my generation with the USTRC, the number system, the NFR (National Finals Rodeo) moving to Vegas (in 1985) and the addition of big ropings that paid big money, like the George Strait, BFI, Wildfire, US Finals and, eventually, the World Series of Team Roping. The whole landscape of team roping was changing right before our eyes, and we lived it. 

The team roping explosion resulted in so many more people roping, and roping better. Everything changed. Jake (Barnes) and I had our success during that roping renaissance, and our generation in the 1980s and ’90s was kind of a golden era in rodeo that included some pretty spectacular people. 

Then the generation behind us was inspired by us, and Speed (Williams) and Rich (Skelton) took up the mantle in their era. The landscape changed even more, and team roping got even faster. Guys like Speed and Rich then inspired today’s generation. 

I watched all the performances at Fort Worth this year, and it’s just absolutely remarkable how the headers can hit the barrier, throw their whole rope and catch over and over again. The steers can’t get away from them. Speed inspired the reach shot, and now guys like (Kaleb) Driggers, TWade (Tyler Wade) and (Dustin) Egusquiza are standouts of that style, with another 10 to 15 guys who also can throw three or four coils and dally at the knot. 

In my generation, we had the blond bomber, Doyle Gellerman, who I saw do some pretty miraculous things reaching. Before that, the guy who bled over into our generation was HP (Evetts), who was an awesome reacher. 

We’re now watching some pretty amazing stuff, and are wondering how much faster it can possibly get. I’ve gotten to see the generation before me, my generation, Speed and Rich’s generation and now this one. Wow. Team roping just keeps getting turned up to another level. 

The heelers today are good horsemen riding great horses, and every one of them can get around to the right spot, which isn’t easy to do behind a three-coil bomb drop. To get around the end of it and make it look like a layup takes a lot of work, and has been years in the making. 

What drives progress from one generation to the next is inspiration. For me, that was the guys in the generation before me. I so respect and miss that era of ropers. I got to witness some great roping by some really cool people who were the pioneers of the roping and rodeo lifestyle, back when it wasn’t very lucrative. Our dollars went farther back then, but they didn’t even have team roping at a lot of rodeos at that time. 

Roping for a living has never been the biggest money maker. But that same cowboy-adventure lifestyle and freedom that inspired me continues to inspire these guys today. When you can’t get enough of it, you work harder. There was a time when there were maybe 10 elite ropers. Then there were 30. Then 100. The numbers and that depth of talent is what makes team roping so tough today. Every team has you on the edge of your seat. And that’s the way it’s supposed to be.

—TRJ—

The post The Never-Ending Evolution of Team Roping appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Can you make a living team roping?

Back when I started roping, there were no thoughts of making a living roping. Team roping was more of a hobby even for a lot of the best guys, because they didn’t even have our event at a lot of rodeos. Where I grew up in New Mexico, nobody roped for a living. There were guys who loved to rope, but it wasn’t how they fed their families. Today’s young guns won’t believe it, but when my career got rolling, they didn’t even have team roping at rodeos like Fort Worth, San Antonio, Houston, Cheyenne and Pendleton. 

Making money with a rope was so tough when I was younger that for a good part of my own career, I hesitated to encourage young kids to put all their eggs in that basket. But even in the short time since my kids were little, a lot has changed. There’s just so much more money out there to win.  

One thing that’s been true about team roping all along is that there are young kids who invest a lot of time to become talented ropers, then waste that by becoming bums who don’t take care of business. The fact is, with team roping at every rodeo now and all the progress in this booming roping and rodeo business, it is absolutely possible to make a living roping if you’re willing to work hard for it and do whatever it takes. 

Team roping has absolutely exploded, and from the days when I was young and open ropings were the only game in town, there’s so much opportunity for lower-numbered ropers now also. The (Ariat) World Series of Team Roping Finale in Las Vegas is the best gig there is, and recreational ropers have a chance to win hundreds of thousands of dollars in one day with a minimum investment of time and money. I’ve roped all my life, and have never won $150,000 at one event. 

Team roping has come so far that you can compete close to home, enjoy the sport as a part-time hobby at your local ropings, and practice after work if that’s how you want to do it. You can ease around as a family at your own pace, then get dialed in and go for it at the Finale for a shot at a ton of money. Times have changed so much since I was a kid, and it was sink-or-swim at the open ropings, because there were no other options. 

Team ropers today can enjoy all the different stages competing against teams of their own caliber. When I was learning to rope, I was basically donating to the livings of the best guys while I worked my way up the ladder. Most of the ropings were three for $30—$15 a man—and I think they took $10 a team out for stock charge. The other $20 was split between the first round and the average. 

It’s hard for me to even comprehend the difference between then and now, but when I was a kid a team roping horse cost $2,500 to $5,000 at the high end. I realize it’s all relative when it comes to costs and payoffs, but even the local ropings pay pretty well today. And there’s that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow in Vegas each December. 

If I had a kid today who truly loved to rope, I would assure him that roping for a living is not fun and games or easy. I’d make it clear that it’s no bed of roses, and there can be no excuses. But if the kids are eaten up with it like I was, and are all in, it is more possible than ever before to make roping pay. 

Stage-appropriate horses are important. A lot of kids are over- or under-mounted, and both can be bad. If a horse is too strong and overpowers a beginner, it can be intimidating and even dangerous. Being under-mounted on a slow horse that can’t catch up or is really cheaty can be very frustrating. 

A gentle, honest, automatic horse, and starting out roping machines and slow cattle is a good basic place to start for all beginners. As an interesting side note, having a Cadillac at every stage might not be the best bet in the long run. A few pickles and less talented horses along the way sure taught me a thing or two. Keep it safe and keep it fun.

—TRJ—

The post Cashing in on the Team Roping Boom appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

From recreational ropers to the pros, everyone will, at some point in their career, catch a case of the nerves. It’s not a matter of if it will happen, but when—and how you’ll deal with those feelings. In this video brought to you by Cactus Ropes, Trevor Brazile shares the reality of dealing with anxiety, expectations and nerves—and a healthy perspective to take into competition.

“One of my favorite questions is When did you stop being nervous? The short answer is Never.”

About Trevor Brazile:

Trevor Brazile is the winningest cowboy in professional rodeo history, with $7 million in career earnings and 26 gold buckles. The sport’s elite all-around hand, Brazile has won over $800,000 in Cinch Timed Event Championship competition alone. Since leaving the rodeo arena full-time in 2019, Brazile has changed his focus to making the best young horses in the roping industry. He’s already won hundreds of thousands in American Rope Horse Futurity Association competition, and his training style and philosophy are based on fundamentals and consistency.

MORE RELENTLESS INSIGHTS:

• How Can I Speed Up My Run?
• Starting a Rope Horse: Work on Timing
• Develop Your Horse’s Draw to Cattle

The post Conquering Competition Nerves appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Can a good futurity horse make a good rodeo horse?

At this early point in the year, there are some 7-year-olds that are fresh out of the futurity programs starting to trickle out into jackpot and rodeo competition. 

The American Rope Horse Futurity Association started having its World Championship in Fort Worth in 2017, so we’re seven years into this “modern era” of futurity horses. With that, I’ve heard people say that a good futurity horse won’t make a good rodeo horse, and that great rodeo horses wouldn’t have been great futurity horses. There are cases where that’s been the case, but mostly, you can find the best up-and-coming rodeo horses at the futurities, and some of the best rodeo horses I ever rode would have made great futurity horses. 

2024 Rope Horse Futurity Calendar

Sic ’Em would have been a great futurity horse. Boogie would have been a great futurity horse. Wishbone would have been a good futurity horse. Banker even would have been a great futurity horse, even though he turned his head a little. 

There’s not a doubt in my mind our coming 5-year-old Bugatti—Bama Fury—barring any injury, will be a great rodeo horse. And people talk about “great rodeo horses” like that’s one thing. Really, there are summer rodeo horses, there are winter rodeo horses. There are great rodeo head horses that never excelled at the Finals. There have been super NFR horses that were marginal everywhere else. When they score and they move their feet good, if they’re not big-time runners, they’d be good NFR horses or winter horses if they’re strong enough to pull up a wall. On the racehorse side, there are horses that would be great summer rodeo horses or jackpot horses.

The horses that are great in the winter, great outdoors, great at the Finals, those are the unicorns, and making any generalizations about where those ones come from is nearly impossible. 

When you’re watching a futurity, you have to keep in mind that those horses are still learning so much at that stage. So when you instill those fundamentals correctly when they’re in their futurity careers and as they’re coming out of them, you’re letting these horses go be solid in the interim to where they have a great foundation. And then they have the repetition going to the cow, and they’re comfortable in their skin where they’re not doing everything off cues. The foundation is still key, and we put that into the futurity horses too.

Conversely, if you go to teaching them the bad stuff, their career is shortened. If you take one straight from the futurities to tough setups and ask them for their lives, you’re going to struggle and those are the ones that you’ll hear people say won’t make it. But if you’re putting the right foundation into them, there’s no reason you can’t see great futurity horses go on to be great rodeo horses.  

—TRJ—

Want more from Trevor Brazile? 
There’s only one place to find it, and that’s on Roping.com. The Relentless Remuda’s entire training library—including the evolution of some of their best-ever futurity horses that became ProRodeo mounts—is documented from start to finish on Roping.com.   

The post Futurity Horse to Rodeo Horse? appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

I started competing so young. While there’s definitely a learning curve to the physical part, it all comes down to the mental side in the end. A lot of people will work hard enough to reach the highest level with their roping skills. But consistent winning and success also require a strong mental game, and sometimes that winning comes from losing. 

I’ve noticed that some people are overconfident. That cockiness tends to not be based on truth, though, and they can’t back it up. You gain genuine confidence through climbing the ladder of success.

I started out at little jackpots in the area where I grew up, in Southern California, then moved to Arizona as a teenager. From there, my circle got bigger, and I amateur rodeoed in Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico. Roping at the big jackpots in California—Oakdale, Chowchilla and Riverside—is where I first went head-to-head with all the best ropers. I kept working my way up the ladder until I reached my destination in pro rodeo.

At each level, there’s a learning curve. When you work your way through that learning curve and stay hooked, you gain confidence. There’s not always instant success. There are a lot of failures along the way. But the desire in you has to be strong enough to pull you through those failures, and keep you hooked and working at it. 

READ: Winning When You’re Down

When you gain confidence through that process, it’s legit. You can tell when a person has paid his dues and worked his way to the top level. It anchors him because he knows he’s put in the work and has what it takes. 

Learning and trying to get better is a never-ending process. I’ve never seen anyone reach the top and even win a championship, then act like that’s all he can learn. The preparation process and learning curve tell you instinctively that you always have the opportunity to get better. 

You can always go after more knowledge, and that’s your chance to keep improving and getting better. You can keep striving for more, even if you reach the top. That desire to keep climbing those steps and stages never has to stop. I’m 62 years old, it’s 31 degrees outside today and here in an hour, I’m going to go saddle up and rope. The desire to get better and work on my craft is still burning bright on the inside of me. 

READ: Going At It with Focus, Fire and Intensity

Another aspect of competing comes down to learning from your mistakes when you lose. During some of those years Jake (Barnes) and I absolutely dominated, our winning percentage was about 50%. Batting .500 is an unheard-of batting average in baseball, but us winning half the time meant dealing with losing half the time.  

It’s your ability to press through failure, learn from it and use it to fuel you to practice harder, analyze it more and work on whatever it takes to win that will serve you best. Because that desire to win is where it’s at.

I think we all have a love-hate relationship with competing because we love to win and hate to lose. That’s a war that goes on in our minds all the time. But it can help fuel your success if you use it to your benefit. 

One of the most profound examples of this in my career was when I roped with Chad Masters in 2012. I was in my early 50s, and my goal was to make another run at roping at the Finals, and possibly win another championship. When we started roping that spring, Chad was spinning me steers over and over again, and I kept messing up. I was practicing hard, and doing everything I could think of to turn things around.

LISTEN ON THE SHORT SCORE: Clay O’Brien Cooper’s “Student of the Game” Mindset

As we were starting our Fourth of July run and heading to Pecos, Texas, I was running practice steers in my head. And I had one thought about my swing and timing that just clicked. I did that one thing starting at Pecos, and with that next run that one thought totally changed the equation. From that run on, I went from nowhere on the radar to us winning more than any other team over the Fourth of July run, and having the best Cowboy Christmas of my career. 

Chad and I kept that ball rolling to the end, and moved within reach of Kaleb (Driggers) and Jade (Corkill). When it was over, Chad and Jade were the champs, and Kaleb and I were a close second. All that success came from failures, and God injecting that one thought into my head that turned it all around. You’re still in the game if you don’t give up.

—TRJ—

The post Can Failure Lead to Success? appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Back in my day, your best horse was your practice, jackpot and rodeo horse. That might be hard for today’s young ropers to comprehend, but it’s true. There are more team ropers in the world than ever before, and both the caliber of horses and level of horsemanship is at an all-time high. 

I was at a roping in Buckeye, Arizona, today, and visiting with a friend while watching a roping. We couldn’t get over the quality and quantity of good horses in every roping, open guys and recreational ropers included. 

Everything about roping has advanced so much, also including the opportunity to win big money. That, in turn, has made making and investing in high-end horses make sense. Naturally, this is all being reflected in horse prices.

What’s a good horse worth? I bought a horse from a guy by the name of Al Gomes in Chowchilla, California, back in the early 80s. He had navicular, but he was a nice horse and Al didn’t really want to sell him. But there’s always a price. I’ll never forget Al telling me that if he was going to sell his best horse, he had to get enough money to buy a new truck. 

I paid him $10,000 for that horse, and at that time, that’s what a new truck cost. Since Al told me that, I’ve always used the price of a new truck as my Kelley Blue Book on horses. Just like a used vehicle, there are always factors like soundness and age to consider with horses. But that’s a pretty fair rule of thumb as a baseline. 

Today’s rope-horse futurities are playing a part in this also. People now specifically breed horses for roping, and the way even the young horses look and ride these days is just so impressive. The rope-horse economy is making it worth the time and effort to make all of these nice horses. 

Paying a fair price for a good horse goes hand-in-hand with people now having a chance to go to Vegas and win $150,000 to $200,000. It makes sense, because riding a nice horse is one of the most obvious advantages a roper can give himself. And more ropers than ever before at every level keeps demand for good horses high. It’s a wise investment. 

One size does not fit all when it comes to rope horses. A horse that might not fit me and my style might be a great fit for you. But you can only go so far with your talent with a rope, I don’t care who you are, and you can’t win if you’re afoot. 

The great ropers and great horses in every era are just that. But there are so many more today than ever before. And in my heyday, there were a lot of guys with one horse that defined their career, whereas a guy like Kaleb Driggers has several really nice ones at all times. 

I see people riding lower-quality horses at roping schools all the time. They might not have the budget to buy a good one, or the skills to keep a nice horse working. But regardless of the reasons, riding a lesser horse handicaps them and makes improving their roping an uphill battle. 

It’s important to keep developing your horsemanship skills along the way, so you can keep upgrading your horses. And so when you do get your hands on a good one, you can help him last. I see most people taking better care of their horses now than ever before. They’re keeping them fit, and taking advantage of modern veterinary technology and maintenance programs. 

There are better bits and saddles now, too. People used to always ride saddles they won, no matter what brand or size of seat. A lot of people are riding good-fitting custom saddles now, and there are a lot more good saddle companies today. It’s again a matter of supply and demand. 

Leg protection for horses has evolved over time also. We used to use some splint boots and bell boots, maybe, but team roping horses never had boots on all four legs, like they do now. 

Never stop trying to rope better, and never stop trying to upgrade your horse herd, whether it’s improving the ones you have or getting a better one every chance you get. And don’t let foolish pride get in your way. I’ve never taken a horse from start to finish. I’ve ridden young, green horses, but have never started a colt and taken him all the way. With all the futurities, I’m seeing some phenomenal 4- and 5-year-olds. They’re nice horses to start with, they’re being exposed to more at an early age and it shows.

—TRJ—

The post Today’s Rope Horse Talent Pool Runs Deep appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Kollin VonAhn has won two world titles on horses that didn’t just dirty drag it. What does he look for in a heel horse stop?

The Horn

A horse needs to stop, but more important to me than the stop is what they do with the saddle horn. Them stopping pretty is not that important if they bring the saddle horn to me. A horse that stops pretty and brings the saddle horn is probably ideal, but to me, it’s more important that they have good timing with the steer and the saddle horn comes up. If they do both good, they usually stop good. 

READ MORE: Following Your Steer’s Tracks

Slide or No Slide?

I really don’t put sliders on mine to speak of. That isn’t that important to me. If they don’t have much slide but keep the saddle horn coming to me, I’m good with it. 

READ MORE: Spacing Through the Turn

Shoulders UP

That one sorrel horse I had, Hock, he was a no-stopping son of a gun. But he raised the saddle horn up. What he did best was leaving his shoulders up. If a horse drops his shoulders, I miss my dally. A horse has to track a steer good to keep his shoulders up. If the horse can stay in the same spot for five or six jumps at a time, that timing is good. As they quit going forward, it’s not as pretty, but the art of tracking that steer really well is what makes great heel horses—I don’t think there’s been a great heel horse that doesn’t follow a steer good.

WATCH ON ROPING.COM: Teaching Patience in a Heel Horse

—TRJ—

The post The Ideal Heel Horse Stop appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

A smooth, balanced, flat departure from the box sets the stage for a successful run. If your horse is squatting back, requiring them to lunge into action, their balance is skewed and you risk missing the barrier and poorly setting up your first swing. In this Roping.com video, Trevor Brazile shares his tips for leaving flat from the box.

1. Gauge the necessary rein pressure

Every horse is different and requires a different level of pressure to stay light and responsive. Maintain a strong enough hold so that your release cue is a clear signal, but not so much that you’re sitting your horse back too far. The lighter the horse, the more definite you have to be with your “leave” and “stay” cues.

2. DON’T sit too forward

“A lot of times, people want to get to the front of their saddle faster,” Brazile says. “And in order to do that, they get their toes down and get their body over the horn. And to me, these horses are too powerful for that. I think that’s setting yourself up for failure. Because once these horses leave the way they should, if you’re already up, your horse will shoot out from under you and you’ll pull up the reins.”

3. DO sit back and use your horse’s momentum

“When I’m sitting in the box, I’m pretty much as far to the back of the saddle as I can be,” Brazile says. “When the horse leaves, I’m already as far back as he can put me. And so when I feel like I can use his momentum, then I’ll be with the horse when I get to the front.

“I see a lot of people trying to stand up and be to the front, but they can only stay there for a second and then they have to fight back to the front.”

PRACTICE WITH A PURPOSE WITH ROPING.COM

Roping.com, powered by The Team Roping Journal, offers ropers an elite inner circle to learn and build relationships with some of the winningest team roping legends in the industry. Roping.com provides thousands of tutorial videos as well as personal guidance for ropers of all levels to up their skill. Whether ropers are looking to improve their mental game, watch a roping clinic, learn how to practice with a purpose, or up their catch percentages, Roping.com gives these insights and more.

The post 3 Tips for Leaving Flat From the Box appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Whether you have 10 minutes or 10 hours to binge team roping instructional videos, you’re bound to learn something from the Roping.com coaches that will improve your skills. Here’s where we suggest you begin your deep dive .

1. Stay Driven

Patrick Smith’s STAY DRIVEN is the ultimate team roping instructional video, exploring the partnership element of the richest recreational sport in the world. STAY DRIVEN breaks down the elements that make a header and heeler successful together, teaching ropers how to build a run as a team to catch more steers clean, win more ropings and get more out of their time in the arena. Over three hours of instruction, with special guests Tanner Tomlinson, Tyler Wade, Wesley Thorp and Junior Nogueira, STAY DRIVEN uses never-before-seen camera angles and visual technology to give ropers a deeper understanding of how to win in team roping than ever before.

2. Driven  2.0

While made 10 years ago, Driven 2.0 remains Roping.com’s most-watched instructional video. Along with detailed roping instruction, Patrick Smith talks about what it takes to make a career out of rodeo. He provides tips on how to handle the roller coaster ride that comes with competing, attitude, mental game, what it takes to get sponsors, and much more.

3. DT Horses’ Circle Drill Masterclass

At DT Horses, ground zero for heel horses revolves around circle drills. Dean Tuftin explains how and why he uses circle drills on the dummy and live cattle to train young horses and help them gain confidence. Part of a 12-part masterclass, this video breaks down the fundamental theory behind Tuftin’s training program. 

4. Practice Session on The Darkk Side

Trevor Brazile and Miles Baker have fan-favorite futurity horses, and in this training session the Relentless Remuda talks about sharpening up some of their favorites, including the famed stallion The Darkk Side. Brazile explains how he refines scoring and facing, and Baker heels on one of their older horses to talk about maintaining a good one.

5. Hox and Pipe Sawhorse Session 

Nine-time NFR heeler Cesar de la Cruz believes the heel loop is never thrown; instead, he says it’s placed in position. As part of his team ropers’ fantasy factory masterclass, de la Cruz talks about how to finesse his heel loop to the ground with his fingertips without even swinging the rope. This is part of a day-long series with de la Cruz reviewing his full practice routine, from the ground dummy to goats and donkeys to live steers.

PRACTICE WITH A PURPOSE WITH ROPING.COM

Roping.com, powered by The Team Roping Journal, offers ropers an elite inner circle to learn and build relationships with some of the winningest team roping legends in the industry. Roping.com provides thousands of tutorial videos as well as personal guidance for ropers of all levels to up their skill. Whether ropers are looking to improve their mental game, watch a roping clinic, learn how to practice with a purpose, or up their catch percentages, Roping.com gives these insights and more.

The post 5 Masterclasses to Improve Your Roping Game appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

A head horse that finishes strong with a good face can mean the difference between winning a check and being out of the money. In this video brought to you by Cactus Ropes, Trevor Brazile explains how he manages his horse’s head position for better, faster, sharper facing.

“If his head’s up just a touch—up and in—versus down and in, it makes a big difference on the intensity of the face.”

Watch “Improve Your Head Horse’s Facing” now:

About Trevor Brazile:

Trevor Brazile is the winningest cowboy in professional rodeo history, with $7 million in career earnings and 26 gold buckles. The sport’s elite all-around hand, Brazile has won over $800,000 in Cinch Timed Event Championship competition alone. Since leaving the rodeo arena full-time in 2019, Brazile has changed his focus to making the best young horses in the roping industry. He’s already won hundreds of thousands in American Rope Horse Futurity Association competition, and his training style and philosophy are based on fundamentals and consistency.

MORE RELENTLESS INSIGHTS:

• How Can I Speed Up My Run?
• Starting a Rope Horse: Work on Timing
• Develop Your Horse’s Draw to Cattle

The post Improve Your Head Horse’s Facing appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

a) STEER: That steer was slower and hung on the end of the rope pretty good.

b) HORSE POSITION: I got tighter than I had been because of how that steer hung, so for me to feel like I was getting him backed off, I’m sort of leaning back and creating the separation with my body. That was a safety measure, really, because that horse will stop on his own and I should have known that.

c) REIN CONTACT: I have contact on the reins to feel like I was getting backed off. But like I said before, it wasn’t really necessary because that horse read it.

d) LOOP: That horse stopped hard as soon as I put it down. In the back of my mind, if that horse didn’t read it like he did, I’d either heel a front leg or lose a leg. When I put it down, he wasn’t overrunning it.

e) SLACK: I held my slack up to be sure to keep two feet. That high slack will really ensure I don’t mess up.

f) SADDLE HORN: That horse is stopping hard. The saddle horn is coming up making it so easy to dally on.

g) BODY POSITION: I stayed more square and in my saddle to help finish the run. I didn’t have to be up pushing him—I sat down as I was bringing it, and he read it and stopped. Normally, I’d be up more off my pockets. That horse liked being drove. He was the ‘Push your hand down and push the whole time’ kind. He wasn’t going to overrun the run to make you have to pick up on the bridle reins. When you threw, it was over. He was strong to the horn. He had a really, really good feel.

h) MENTAL: The first couple, it was just a normal roping, not a show deal, so it didn’t matter how it looked. I was just worried about catching. The first year they had it, it was just catch five steers clean. On this last one, I wanted to not mess up right there. There’s always a little bit of nerves. The nerves add to the thrill.

i) HORSE: This is Time Toget Wreckless, a Hickory Holly Time 5-year-old owned by Melissa Fischer and trained by Andy Holcomb. He was easy and push-style, and made my job just to heel.

— TRJ —

The post Riata Buckle Champ Douglas Rich Breaks Down Winning Run appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

When I started roping—watching the best ropers’ every move and entering at a very young age—I was always studying styles of ropers. Within those styles, you had naturally aggressive guys who tended to compete that way. They sometimes run over themselves and shoot themselves in the foot. The upside of that cavalier attitude, though, feeds into being a winner. At the other end of the mindset spectrum, you have guys who are a little more conservative-minded in their approach to competing.

On the heading side, the guys who could reach wanted to utilize that asset. Others who weren’t reachers had a really good, snappy head loop. They scored great, ran in close and used their horses better. Guys like Charles Pogue, Matt Tyler and Clay Tryan really used those great horses they rode. They were more aggressive with their horses than their ropes.

READ: Riding Is as Important as Roping at the Highest Level

Speed (Williams) revolutionized the heading by being able to do it all. Speed came in when Charles was dominating with his style, and used his reaching at the buildings and one-headers. He worked to develop into the all-around package, to where he had all the range.

On the heeling side, Rickey Green was at the wild extreme. He would ride by, rope steers on the left side of his horse and dally on the right side. He was Helter Skelter. Rickey’s the reason the crossfire rule came into effect. He sometimes didn’t even wait for the header to rope the steer.

Some heelers live and die by the sword, and rope everything on the first hop. Others figure out how to rope every steer by two feet. Bobby Harris was so aggressive early on in his career, but learned how to go catch every steer, and became one of the most effective catchers.

Bobby was very versatile, but his style changed from the first time I saw him rodeoing in Wyoming. When he came to Texas and started roping with Tee (Woolman), they built a very snappy, consistent run. Bobby Harris did not miss. He took the Helter Skelter out of heeling, and became a world champion.

This is a conversation worth looking at for you young guys coming up. I’ve used Speed and Bobby as examples from days gone by, but both of them made up their mind that they wanted to be versatile and not one-dimensional. The way roping continues to get faster and tougher, I think that’s how you’ve got to approach it. There’s a way to throw fast, and there’s a way to catch every steer. I love both styles, and being able to do both fits an arsenal quite nicely.

READ: Your Riding Style Impacts Your Roping Longevity

There are times you have to back in there and be 3.4. Then there are times you need to back in there and be 9 flat in a 3.4-second setup. We saw that at the last rodeo of the 2023 regular season in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. All you had to do was get a time on your first two steers to make it back. But then in the top eight, you had to be fast. A 3.4-second run won first, and you had to be 3-something to finish in the top four. At that one rodeo you had to be able to switch it up and do it all.

It’s sometimes like that at the NFR as well. You can get to the last day and have to be really fast to have a shot at the championship, or just need to catch. You better know how to do both. I’ve backed in there needing to win the 10th round to win the world, and other times all I had to do was get a time to win it. I like the second scenario a lot better, but being able to do both is where it’s at.

This is all part of learning the ropes of the game. Every setup throughout the year has a winning run. The heading side is so tough now because everybody’s going at ’em full bore and maxed out. Heelers still have a little bit of leeway, because it’s a different shot depending on how each run sets up and what kind of steer you run.

This is all just part of savvy gamesmanship as a heeler. If you get one spun to be 3.5 at a big-money rodeo, then the 3.5 shot is a snappy, high-percentage throw on the second hop. If you have one that’s trying to run you into the 4.5 hole, you’ve got to bang him right on the pop to be 4 flat. If your back’s against the wall, you might have to crawl out there another stride to set up your position to go him on the first hop. Because when it’s do or die, that’s what it takes to win. TRJ

Jake Barnes and Clay O’Brien Cooper won seven gold buckles and were unbeatable—and still are, to this day. What helped these two masters of their craft get to where they are today? And how can YOU apply the same principles to your own time in the arena? Watch Gold Buckle Secrets on Roping.com.

The post What’s Your Roping Style? appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

It’s time to set your team roping goals.

A lot has changed for team ropers since I made my first National Finals 44 years ago in 1980. Team roping became a standard event, which means it’s mandatory at every professional rodeo, and more rodeos than ever add equal money. More people are making a living with a rope than ever before in 2024, and that’s progress. But make no mistake, it’s still a tough way to go financially, whether you’re a professional team roper or just rope for fun. Why not do whatever it takes to give yourself the best chance at winning?

What hasn’t changed over time is the commitment it takes to make it team roping. That statement stands at the highest level, and actually also applies to ropers at the recreational level, who rope as a hobby. We all know everything’s more enjoyable when you’re doing your best. So whether your goal is a gold buckle or to have a good time going to ropings on the weekend, what are you going to do to make this your best year yet?

There will typically be partner changes, even at the top. Heck, Speed (Williams) and Rich (Skelton) won eight world championships in a row, then quit roping together. That just seemed insane, but there’s so much more to partnerships than anyone ever realizes, and people need to do what works for them.

This time of year is always a time of self-reflection. You need to be brutally honest with yourself when it comes to your roping, your horse and every aspect of being a good teammate, and do something about your own shortcomings. Whether you’re staying hooked or are going to try on a new teammate, be open and honest in your communication with your partners.

The guys who just won gold buckles don’t want to change a thing and just want to keep the ball rolling. Everybody else is looking to take it up a notch and give themselves a shot at knocking them off the throne in 2024.

This all applies to the dreams that just came true at the (Ariat) World Series (of Team Roping) Finale also. There are people with jobs and families at home who just won more in Vegas than the big dogs. If you want to have a chance at that being you this December, what are you going to do about it?

Whether you feel the need to take it up a notch or turn things totally around, ropers at all levels are making changes in themselves and their teams to try and kick off the new year on the right foot.

I’m big on loyalty when it comes to partnerships, and my long-term philosophy on that is based on mistakes I made when I was younger. Sometimes, you really would be better off making a change. If you’re the kind who never thinks anything is your own fault, you’re going to figure out the hard way that the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence.

Ringing in a new roping year is almost like reloading your gun. The new year is a great time to do everything from getting your finances and horses in order to analyzing the way you practice. Doing things the way you always have is not usually the path to improvement.

I sometimes hear people say they want to protect their number. Don’t make the mistake of letting that hold you back. I want to win as much as I possibly can. Go win, and give them a reason to raise your number.

I always set the goal of winning the world championship as my mission going into every new rodeo season. A lot of guys always say it’s to try and make the Finals, but that was never enough for me. Suit yourself on that, but the higher you set your sights, the better in my book.

There will be recreational ropers who win life-changing money again this year. If you want the chance to hit the roping lottery, you need to be roping in Vegas next December. You’ve got to play to win, and if you only go to one roping a year, that has to be the one. Because if it happens to be your day, and you draw good and rope good—boom. That’s the best game in any roping town, and really is a no-brainer.

Let yourself dream a little going into 2024, and set your goals higher. Stay out of old ruts, and get to work. TRJ

The post Work to Make 2024 Your Year appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Colby Lovell rode 5-year-old stallion Pepinstep by One Time Pepto out of Better Sue by Bet On Me 498 to a $51,750 payday with Jace Davis in the Riata Buckle’s #14.5.

Pepinstep had only been in training with Lovell for five months before working both ends at the 2023 Riata Buckle, capping off his time in Guthrie with a win on the heel side in the #14.5. Here’s how Lovell trusted a green 5-year-old in a high-pressure run.

1. Ride Where You Want to Be

My position riding down the arena depends a lot on how much skill and talent a young horse has and how much trust I have in him. That horse really hooks up to the cow and, since day one, he’s made a good corner. I’m riding him where I want to be to haze and heel that steer—not really protecting him or worrying about setting him up. I’m up around this steer.

2. Finding the Spot

Jace (Davis) had got a neck on that steer, and it took a second for things to come together. The corner was longer, so I didn’t want to cheat the corner and be at the cow’s ribs and be at a dead spot and have my horse slow up and lose momentum. I’m just making a good sweep to give my horse forward motion and confidence to trail the cow.

3. Shape to the Cow

I want my horse to take shape to the cow, and I want him to hold shape. I almost want him to have confidence and read the situation on his own, where I’m not having to pilot him and tell him what to do. I’m in my position where I’d be if I were on an old horse or young horse. The way he’s naturally shaped up to the cow since day one, that makes it easy so I don’t need to teach him shape. If I put him up and around, he’ll make a good entry to the corner. He won’t pull on me or turn his nose to the right. He won’t be too cow fresh or shape up in the wrong direction.

4. Following Through

That steer took big, long hops. When Jace turned him, he was deep around the neck—as in, he roped him deep in front of the point of the shoulders. When it’s tight there as you’re turning, the rope will move up the neck 5 or 6 inches going toward the horn wrap, and that will get under the steer’s head and jaw line and make him throw his head up and sit on the end of the rope and make him hop real long. I saw that through the corner, so I knew to ride my spacing and time so I didn’t get into a dead spot.

I don’t want my horse to quit me—I need a lot of forward momentum when I go to deliver my rope, and I need to stay with my loop the whole time. I’m trying to keep my horse following through: I want his butt to go down the bottom my rope goes down. That’s always been a rule for me. If that happens, it means he isn’t cheating me.

5. Staying True

I’m at the end of my delivery. You can tell he had forward momentum, and everything is coming back to me. If my horse was true to the corner, true to the stop, true following the cow and true to the bottom of my loop and not trying to outsmart my shot, the picture will look like this. His butt is in the ground the same time as my strand is going around the feet. His head is going up and my loop is coming back to me. TRJ

Colby Lovell will be one of 25 contestants competing at the 2024 Cinch Timed Event Championship, streaming live on Roping.com, Feb. 29–March 2.

The post Making Smooth Shots on Green Horses appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Keep your eye on the prize! In this video brought to you by Professional’s Choice, Coleman Proctor shares his top strategy for fixing the most common misses in team roping.

“For me, my common miss is blowing it by the right horn… And a lot of times, if I’m honest with myself, my focus wasn’t really on the target.”

Watch “How to Fix the Most Common Misses in Team Roping” now:

About Coleman Proctor:

Since turning pro in 2004, Coleman Proctor has qualified for the National Finals Rodeo seven times. In 2022, he finished sixth in the team roping (heading) world standings. Throughout his career, Proctor has earned more than $1.5 million in prize money, cementing his status as one of the top earners in the sport. Proctor, his wife, and two daughters live in Pryor, Oklahoma.

More Professional’s Choice Pro Tips:

• Get Your First Swing on Target with this Dummy Drill
• Tack Adjustment Basics
• Making the Most of Scoring Drills

The post This One Change Could Help Your Catch Percentage appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

I first started taking an interest in rodeoing in, like, 2006, when I moved in with my dad and my family in Colorado. Chad Masters was one of the best at that time—and he still is—and that was right when he won his first world title, in 2007.

I always wanted to rope with Chad, because of who he is as a person and because of how great of a header he is. So to rope together and not make it is very hard to take. For us, to go to Denver and have full intentions of taking the world by storm and you don’t, it’s a bitter pill to swallow. But around Caldwell, I told him there’s nobody I’d rather be out here doing this with.

What happened? In my career of rodeoing that started full-time in 2018, I rode Dude, and Dude and I were just a match. In 2023, I rode him at San Angelo, but I didn’t take him to California. Then Chad came up in May to practice, and I felt Dude go off on one steer. And he was hurt.

I can be an overwhelming person at times, and Dude being out affected me, and I let it affect our year. Nothing seemed to go right. We never got in a rhythm. I didn’t rope good, I didn’t have the best attitude. I tried to, but it ate me alive. I’ve always had trouble handling my emotions with roping, but when you have someone you want to do so good for, and then you screw up, it hurts even worse. I did my best not to let it eat on me, and I learned a lot about that this year, but it did.

I learned you have to find a way to brush it off. Everybody screws up—some less than others—but nothing is impossible, because as terrible a year as we had, we were still within range. We were never out of it. So, what if I’d have had a better attitude here or there or been more focused? Three steers could have changed everything, and a guy’s got to be pretty strong-willed at times to make it.

I roped scared a lot this year. That’s a hard thing to say, but I roped scared to fail and you can’t do that out here. There’s too many guys that rope good. You work all year at home, and you jackpot and you practice, for what? Why would you be scared to fail? You get to do it again. If I could do it over, I would try to have that attitude more. You’re programmed to heel the steer—when the steer turns, heel the steer. If it doesn’t work, get in the truck and go heel the next one. The winners are wired that way. TRJ

Read More

• Tanner Tomlinson’s Confidence Game
• There’s Always Something to Learn
• Winning When You’re Down

The post Mindset Matters appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

After a summer of having to be 3.0 in tough setups, I’ve had to transition to being more patient in the corner and letting the run develop, making sure I hold my lane until the steer makes the first move. I work on not trying to guess what’s going to happen. I want my horse’s shoulder’s up, so I can ride him all the way around the tracks of the steer. 

1. Find the right pace

The further you go in the summer, the steers get older and the times get fast, and my internal clock gets to going fast. At the end of the year, I can be trigger-happy, and the process seems to speed up. When I get home and go into jackpot mode, the process happens slower and the steers are sharper, and I have to be more patient to smooth myself out. 

READ MORE: Building Confidence in Young Rope Horses

2. Let the steer make the first move

I’ve been working on having control of my horse in the corner and letting the steer make the first move before I start my entry in the corner. That way I can drive with my feet and ride all the way through the steer’s tracks.

READ MORE: Make Your Steers Last Longer

3. Don’t cut the corner

For me, when you’re coming from behind, at the World Series a lot of times, the heelers start the same place as the header, and the box is deep because the score is so short. You’re chasing the run, so most heelers will make the mistake of cutting across the corner. When you do that, you’re not only too far to the inside, but you’re trapped and have no momentum. It changes the angle of your swing, your horse and your position. It’s a riskier shot. 

READ MORE: Heel Horse Box Work Tips

4. Drive

I try to tell people to make sure, no matter what angle you’re coming in from, you should follow the tracks of the steer. You want your horse’s shoulders up, and you want to drive all the way around the arena with the steer. 

READ MORE: 5 Challenges Heelers Face

5. Stay light and smooth

I want my horse coming off the bridle, and I want him real light with my left hand so I have control at all time. I want his shoulders to be up the whole time as that corner starts to happen. If he starts pulling his shoulders before the steer has committed his direction, you’re guessing. If I can remain in control until the steer starts to get pulled, everything can flow forward and smooth and I have a spot to ride to. TRJ

WATCH: Learn from world champion heeler, Wesley Thorp exclusively on Roping.com

The post Following Your Steer’s Tracks appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

One of the most important parts of heading is getting that first swing on target. Set yourself up for success by…hooking the horns upside down? In this video brought to you by Professional’s Choice, Coleman Proctor explains the dummy drill he uses to help headers who struggle with turning their rope over too late.

“Heading is the only discipline where your first swing is required to turn over outside your elbow. A great drill that I came up with for beginners who would to turn their rope over too late is to have them—on their first swing—hook the horns upside down.”

About Coleman Proctor:

Since turning pro in 2004, Coleman Proctor has qualified for the National Finals Rodeo seven times. In 2022, he finished sixth in the team roping (heading) world standings. Throughout his career, Proctor has earned more than $1.5 million in prize money, cementing his status as one of the top earners in the sport. Proctor, his wife, and two daughters live in Pryor, Oklahoma.

The post Get Your First Swing on Target with this Dummy Drill appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

The cold weather is here. Winter coats are forming. Yet ropers everywhere are ready to saddle up and hit the last big-money ropings of the year or prepare for winter in Arizona. But, do team roping horses feel the same? Maybe they’ve spent a little extra time in the stall because the rain, cold and bustle of the holiday season has made it hard to hit the practice pen. Some horses are more stoic than others and can push through their fatigue the pressures of the Ariat World Series of Team Roping Finale. But, the next day when every part of their body is sore, they might not be as excited to back in the box.

Find a Happy Medium

Dr. Wes Vogt is a team roping veterinarian who has spent the majority of his career on the backside of a racetrack. At the track, he sees horses that epitomize fitness. When he goes to the roping pen, he doesn’t expect those horses to look like racehorses, but said they shouldn’t look like a pasture ornament either. After all, a rope horse is a performance animal. Dr. Vogt, who has served as an official veterinarian many times at the USTRC Cinch National Finals of Team Roping, suggested ropers shoot for a happy medium level of fitness for their horses.

“I think a horse’s physical fitness is still an overlooked component to being a successful team roper,” Dr. Vogt said. “We are getting better than we used to be, but there are still a lot of horses I see that I can tell have not worn a saddle since the last roping they were hauled to a month ago. And, that is just not fair to the horse.”

Team roping horses can get by being less fit than a racehorse because they are only performing for about 50 yards and then given breaks in between runs, as opposed to a racehorse who might run a full mile before they get a break, Dr. Vogt said. For the average jackpot team roping horse, Dr. Vogt suggested the horse be ridden (not roped on) two days per week, practice roped on two days a week and then competed on as the roper’s schedule allows. He said he tries his best to follow this schedule with his own heading horses, one of which is still able to compete at the golden age of 26.

Fit is Fast

Kathy Harrison and her husband, Elsworth, train and raise AQHA show horses for a living at their ranch near Tulsa, Oklahoma. The couple has trained numerous AQHA World Champion heading, heeling, and tie-down roping horses, and because they primarily rope in the horse show arena, they have to have horses that look fit and slick year-round. Harrison ropes on her horses three to four days per week and then spends one day a week taking them through conditioning drills. This keeps them looking like they are ready for the AQHA World Show, even if she is only taking them to a local USTRC jackpot, she said.

“Even in the dead of winter, I have to keep my horses looking sharp because I represent our business wherever I am,” she said. “But, I think the time I put into my horses really pays off and is worth it not just aesthetically, but physically and mentally for both them and me as well.”

The first time Harrison realized what an advantage having horses that were always tuned up and fit was at the first all-girl team roping at the Windy Ryon Memorial, she said.

“It was back in 1986, and it was kind of a big deal that they were going to have a WPRA-approved team roping at the Windy Ryon, so I went and got there in time to watch the men’s roping before our’s started. It wasn’t but a few runs in before I realized the horse underneath me was going to be my biggest advantage in this set up,” Harrison said.

READ: Secrets to Keeping Your Rope Horse Sharp with Trevor Brazile

The score was set at 17-feet, the arena was long and wide open, and the steers were big and fast. Many of Harrison’s competitors were anxious about the challenge their horses were up against just to get them close enough to throw their rope.

“That was the first time I fully appreciated the hours my husband and I are able to dedicate to our roping horses because while the other women were stressing about scoring and getting out late and not catching up, I was focusing on my roping because I knew my horse was prepared to do his job and trusted that even in extreme circumstances like this, he would be able to handle it. I knew we had him physically and mentally ready for any roping,” she said.

The first Windy Ryon all-girl team roping drew 42 teams, even more than the committee hoped for, and was just a one-header, Harrison said. Harrison placed, and attributed it to her horse, One Tam Tag, patiently scoring and then having the physical ability to break hard, catch up to the steer and then handle him so her heeler could be successful.

“Ever since that first Windy Ryon, I actually look forward to roping in set ups like that. These days everyone ropes well, but I feel like I have a competitive advantage because not all of those good ropers have the time or the desire to invest in their horses the way I do,” she said.

Harrison has placed numerous times at the Windy Ryon since that first year and said even on the years she did not come home with a check, she was able to find great satisfaction in the way her horses performed.

“I want to win every roping I go to just like everybody else, but winning is not always in our control. Because I take so much self-pride in my horses and how they work, it gives me a goal more within my control to accomplish at each roping. Maybe my heeler didn’t catch or I didn’t draw well, but if I can honestly say I roped well and my horse worked well, then I can walk away feeling successful,” she said.

Ride with Purpose

Ropers who follow nine-time WNFR qualifier and long-time clinician Tyler Magnus know his program is all about improving people’s roping ability through their horsemanship. Magnus encouraged ropers to not only keep their horse fit to give them a fair chance at being competitive, but instead of just mindlessly loping circles to check the exercise box, challenge themselves every time they get in the saddle to have a plan and a purpose.

“The cool thing about focusing on your horsemanship is that you are spending more time in the saddle teaching your horse how to better use his body throughout your run. That makes his job easier and more enjoyable, which will improve your roping. A lot of people come to my clinics thinking they have a roping problem. Most of the time, improving their horse position through a little closer focus on their horsemanship solves the problem,” Magnus said.

Magnus also said he sees a lot of ropers buy four or five horses and then try and spread their already limited time between all of them, when in reality they would be much better off owning one or two horses and spending more time keeping them fit and more money keeping them well-fed and cared for.

“All the time I hear ropers wanting to get a new bit, saddle, horse, pad, etc. to try and fix something. In reality most of the issues they are having could be resolved if they just spent a little more time with their horse working through their weaknesses. If you want to create a quicker delivery, you have to do so by getting into position quicker. And that can only be achieved through your horse and his ability,” he said.

Two exercises Magnus utilizes that are often overlooked by many ropers are backing the horse up and trotting. He trots his horses both directions and in figure eights to keep their bodies in shape and keep them in control of where they are putting their feet, he said.

READ: How Your Rope Horse Feeding Program Can Solve Your In-Arena Problems

Dr. Bronson Springstead, who heels and served as the onsite veterinarian at the USTRC’s Cinch National Finals of Team Roping prior to Dr. Vogt, said Magnus is doing his horses a favor by trotting them every time they are ridden.

“Long trotting is a great total body workout for the horse and really the most telling gait to detect any potential soreness or lameness issues,” Dr. Springstead said.

“If ropers have not consistently been long trotting their horses, they should start slow and gradually work their way up to long trotting them often like Magnus does,” Dr. Springstead said.

Magnus also backs his horses to help strengthen their hindquarters and maintain control of their mind by asking them to perform a maneuver that requires concentration.

“Every time I ride my horse, I back him up in a controlled fashion about 20 feet, two times. I think that strengthens their hips, stifles, and tendons, and it is so good for their minds. There is a common misconception that backing a horse makes him not want to run, when in reality you are strengthening their hindquarters, which gives them more power to run,” Magnus said.

As long as the roper has a plan and purpose every time they ride their horse, no time in the saddle is ever wasted, Magnus said.

“People who ride more, ride better. And, people who ride better, rope better. It’s that simple,” he said.

Injury Prevention

Dr. Springstead’s practice is primarily comprised of team roping and barrel racing horses and he said many of the injuries he sees could have been prevented if the horse had been properly conditioned before asking him to perform.

“My main concern with a team roping horse is their back. Heading and heeling horses have to have strong, fit backs to do their job. If their backs are strong and fit, everything below it seems to fall into place. The hindquarters, shoulders, and legs can all assume their full capability if the horse has a strong back,” Dr. Springstead said.

Horses who are fat might appear to have a lot of substance on either side of their spine, but if you feel it and it feels like soft, fatty tissue, that is not a truly strong back, Dr. Springstead said. A strong back will still look full across the topline, but will be full with muscle, not fat.

“I inject a lot of backs due to soft tissue soreness along the spine, and that is not cheap. And it is not an instant fix either. Most ropings you go to will not pay enough to cover the cost of a vet bill you might incur from an injury your horse sustains from not being in adequate shape before you roped on them,” Dr. Springstead said.

Once a horse has experienced pain, they might start compensating to try and protect themselves, which can also greater their risk of leg injury, Dr. Springstead said. One such injury that might result is damage to the dreaded suspensory ligament. Although this injury can happen to any horse, both Drs. Vogt and Springstead said suspensory ligament damage is more likely to happen in horses that are not physically fit and is one of the slowest healing injuries in the horse.

What to Watch For

The definition of “fit” is a bit ambiguous, so Dr. Vogt suggested following your horse’s lead.

“The best way to really get a handle on your horse’s ability to perform their workload is to assess them during and the day after you rope on them,” he said.

Dr. Vogt said the signs a horse has been overworked during a workout are:

• Excessive sweating/frothing
• Flared nostrils/labored breathing
• Mental anguish – box issues, ducking out, anxiousness, etc.

The day after the horse is worked, Dr. Vogt said ropers should spend just a minute or two running their hands over their horse’s body to check for heat, swelling and/or soreness. If any of these signs are detected during or after exercise, Dr. Vogt said the horse has been overworked.

“Even if the horse is fit, you can still push him beyond his limits. Getting a horse fit doesn’t make him invincible. The horse is a very forgiving animal and they will often do what we ask even if it pains them. It is our responsibility to not ask them to do more than we have prepared them to do. We have to be fair to the horse,” Dr. Vogt said.

Know When to Say No

Ropers don’t need to train their horses for months on end before they are able to be roped on, Dr. Vogt said. He suggested spending two to four weeks just legging them up a few days a week before roping. Being veterinarians for a profession and only ropers for a hobby, Drs. Vogt and Springstead both know first-hand how difficult it can be to get in the saddle often enough to keep a horse in shape. And, unfortunately, sometimes that requires staying home from the roping.

“I try to ride my two heel horses at least twice a week and will saddle and tie them to the fence when I don’t have time to ride to keep their backs accustomed to carrying that weight, but that said, there are some weeks when I just can’t get to my own horses. And when I know my horses are not prepared, I have to turn down going to ropings. It is just not worth it,” Dr. Springstead said.

Only One Piece of the Puzzle

Drs. Vogt and Springstead, as well as Harrison and Magnus, all mentioned exercise is only one piece of the fitness puzzle. Maintaining annual or bi-annual assessments from your veterinarian, a regular schedule with a good farrier and keeping the horse on a nutrition program that fits his activity level and age are also important components in giving your horse the athletic advantage he needs to do his job. 

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The post Define Fit appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Back when I was coming up the roping ranks in California, we didn’t go to many indoor buildings. We almost always roped at outdoor venues, and it was the same way when I moved to Arizona at 16. We roped outside. It wasn’t until I started rodeoing that I started roping inside buildings. Odessa, Denver, the Cow Palace in San Francisco and Billings were all indoors, so we learned to rope in small-building setups. You’re more confined when you rope indoors, and there was a learning curve for me. 

There’s also a learning curve for our horses when we take it inside, and this is a timely conversation as the best in the business get set to rope inside the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. In my book, a horse that scores well, has a lot of speed and is able to really collect his stride in the corner and hit the spot gives you the best chance at being successful in that building. When your confined area starts to shorten down, you only get maybe three hops and you’re on the wall. 

I went to the NFR four times at the Myriad in downtown Oklahoma City, where it was pretty confining and small. When we moved to Vegas in 1985, we were so excited that the money doubled. But the tradeoff was roping in one of the smallest arenas we’d ever roped in. We’d been in Salt Lake’s small building before that, but now we were talking about the Finals and roping 10 head for all that money. 

By 1985, my horses had gotten better. I’d gotten the blue roan I called Blue, and he was flawless. When I took him to Vegas in 1985, I had a lot of confidence in him. But by the time Jake (Barnes) and I got to the NFR that year, it almost felt like we could have been riding donkeys and still won it. We blew everybody away that year. We went in with a $20,000 lead, and at that time the day moneys were paying $5,000. 

Riding good horses had everything to do with the phenomenal year we were having. Jake’s horse Bullwinkle and my horse Blue fit us and our run. We were on top of our game, and we had horses that fit us in that Thomas & Mack arena. 

When Blue was done, I had a little horse trouble for a few years until I got Ike. Ike had a lot of speed and slide, and was really savvy at hitting the corner just right. He was just a really easy horse for me to ride, and fit me really well. Ike lasted a long time. I think I rode him at 11 NFRs.

I was kind of spoiled having two great horses like Blue and Ike that got me through 14 NFRs. The money kept getting better and better every year, and roping was getting tougher every year. But when you’re on a good horse, and put in the work with your practice to show up prepared, things are probably going to go well for you. And they did for Jake and I. We won our first of seven gold buckles at that very first Finals in Vegas in 1985.  

Even toward the end, I had LB for my last four NFRs. That horse fit me like a glove, and was maybe the best horse of the three for the simple fact that he was so easy for me to ride when I was in my early 50s. By then, I needed an easy horse to ride to make up for not being 25 anymore. That horse was the key to having the best five financial years of my rodeo career right there at the end of it. 

During the great Jake and Clay years, we won about $100,000 a year between the jackpots and the rodeos. During those last five years, I was winning $250,000 a year, because the money had gotten so much better. That’s $1.25 million in five years. 

It’s all about the horses for the great ropers who’ve dominated at the NFR. Take Rich Skelton, for example. Those horses he rode were good everywhere, and fit that building great. Jade Corkill dominated there for 10 years riding older, seasoned horses that were awesome there. Being mounted on a top-of-the-line horse that fits you and the conditions makes all the difference, no matter how good you rope. I was blessed to ride some great ones. TRJ

WATCH ON ROPING.COM: Gold Buckle Secrets with Jake Barnes and Clay O’Brien Cooper

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I qualified for 27 Wrangler National Finals Rodeos in the 35-year span between 1980 and 2015. I roped at my first one with Allen Bach, and made my last two with a kid from Brazil by the name of Junior Nogueira. A horse fell with me when we were practicing for the 2015 NFR—and I got a pretty serious head injury out of that—so I unfortunately didn’t get to make the trip to Las Vegas after qualifying. My last NFR hurrah in 2014 was Junior’s first. Talk about a year of fast learning curves and unforgettable memories. 

I didn’t orchestrate any part of my time with Junior. It was all God, and roping with Junior was a godsend. I’d had about enough of rodeoing at the time, and Junior had a dream to come to America and rope for a living. Toni and I were empty nesters, and I’d been on the road so long that I was going to start spending more time at home with her. 

But people were persistent about introducing me to this kid from Brazil. They kept saying he could really rope, and wanted to meet me. I knew about bull riders from Brazil taking over the bull riding world, but didn’t even know they roped in Brazil. I wasn’t buying that some kid from over there could hang with the best guys here.  

The first day Junior came to the house, he worked the chutes and ran the steers up on foot all day long. I felt kind of sorry for him, so I told him he could come back the next day and I’d spin him a few on my practice horse. The plan was to rub mud in his face, and make those guys bragging on him eat some crow. I had a handful of stronger, ranker steers, so I spun those for Junior. I was reaching and ducking, and he was pulling off some crazy shots and crossfiring most of them on a low-caliber horse. 

I kept turning up the heat, and ducking harder, thinking each one was just a lucky shot. But I never could mishandle one bad enough to make Junior miss. And he could somehow get a dally on that horse that was jumping up and down and sideways. 

Junior had $500 to his name, and not enough English for me to even understand him. With help, he told me about his dad dying riding into the box to rope at a rodeo when Junior was really young. And that his mom had taken him to some roping clinics back home in Brazil. I wanted to help fulfill this kid’s dream, so I told Junior that he could come stay with me, and that I’d give him a taste of what rodeo here was like. 

I had no intention of trying to make the Finals again. But Junior was such a polite kid with such a warm spirit. Neither of us had a good enough horse, and all I had was an older single-wheel crew-cab truck and a stock trailer. This was all 10 years ago, at the end of 2013. 

I had to be the bad guy a lot in the beginning, but there was a huge learning curve if this kid was going to stand a chance. A friend and I bought a horse just to get Junior by, and with $500 to his name, Junior went to work building his own empire. He started on his permit when we roped at the Denver qualifier in January of 2014, and away we went. 

Junior had everything to learn, and had never been in cold weather before. I remember his teeth chattering when we went to Rapid City that winter. The poor kid didn’t speak English, didn’t know anybody and had no earthly idea where he was in this country. Every rodeo was new to him. I get emotional thinking about all he had to overcome, but Junior would always say he wasn’t scared. 

If there would have been a bonus for whoever made the Finals on the worst horse, Junior would have won it hands down. I was hard on him at times, and there were times he threw his sucker in the dirt and threatened to go back home to Brazil. The savior of the whole deal that first year was Jade Corkill, who let Junior finish out the regular season on one of his horses. 

It was meant to be for Junior to come here and rodeo. We’ve developed a really close bond, and him and Toni are like mother and son to this day. He’s built a name and great career for himself. I’m proud of Junior like he’s my own son, the same way Leo (Camarillo) was proud of me. TRJ

The post My Last NFR Was Junior Nogueira’s First  appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

The Ariat World Series of Team Roping Finale is one of the richest equine events in the world. Are you ready to rope for that kind of money? Look no further, Roping.com has an entire playlist to prepare you for the 2023 Finale, with tips from some of the industry’s best. Here’s a few of our favorite videos from the Ariat WSTR Finale Prep playlist to get you started.

1. Ariat World Series of Team Roping Finale Prep: Heeling Strategy-Clay O’Brien Cooper

How should you approach your heeling position and strategy at the Ariat World Series of Team Roping Finale? Clay O’Brien Cooper gives his advice.

2. Deliberate Swings in Short Arenas-Trevor Brazile

The arena at the South Point Equestrian Center can force ropers into a speed trap if they’re not careful. Trevor Brazile explains how deliberate swings can eliminate that problem, resulting in faster, more consistent catches for big money at the Ariat World Series of Team Roping Finale.

3. Practicing for the Ariat World Series of Team Roping Finale-Jake Barnes

You cannot be afraid to run at the barrier at the Ariat World Series of Team Roping Finale. Jake Barnes talks about how you should prepare to win and what sort of start you need.

4. Preparing Your Head Horse for the Ariat World Series of Team Roping Finale-Kolton Schmidt

How do you need your head horse leaving in the South Point Equestrian Center’s arena? Kolton Schmidt talks about what you need to focus on in the practice pen to be ready to rope for millions in Vegas.

5. World Series of Team Roping Finale Mental Prep-Patrick Smith

The Ariat World Series of Team Roping FInale is undoubtedly the most money any roper has ever competed for. How do you prepare to be under the bright lights of Las Vegas, in the South Point Arena, with your money up? Two-time World Champion Patrick Smith talks about how he suggests you prepare your nerves.

The post 5 Roping.com Videos to Prep for the 2023 Ariat World Series of Team Roping Finale appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Whether you’re starting a heel horse, breakaway horse or calf horse, a good foundation of the basics will set you and your horse up for success. In this video brought to you by Cactus Ropes, Trevor Brazile and Miles Baker explain how they start their rope horses to go in any direction by helping them develop an ingrained sense of timing.

“This is how we start all of the horses, and then we can choose which way they go. But they all have the same foundation of finding a cow and having great timing before we ever choose which direction we take them.”

About Trevor Brazile:

Trevor Brazile is the winningest cowboy in professional rodeo history, with $7 million in career earnings and 26 gold buckles. The sport’s elite all-around hand, Brazile has won over $800,000 in Cinch Timed Event Championship competition alone. Since leaving the rodeo arena full-time in 2019, Brazile has changed his focus to making the best young horses in the roping industry. He’s already won hundreds of thousands in American Rope Horse Futurity Association competition, and his training style and philosophy are based on fundamentals and consistency.

About Miles Baker:

Miles Baker builds some of the best horses in the roping industry, ringing a bell at horse sales and winning big at the rope horse futurities. His ranch-raised horsemanship is why the King of the Cowboys, Trevor Brazile, relies on Baker for his in- and out-of-the-arena training help.

Miles Baker joins Brazile, seven-time World Champs Jake Barnes and Clay Cooper, two-time World Champs Patrick Smith and Matt Sherwood and other NFR talents on Roping.com.

More Relentless Insights:

• How Can I Speed Up My Run?
• Head Control in the Box
• How Important is Your Horse’s Footspeed?

The post Starting a Rope Horse: Developing Timing appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

The day we shot these photos, I was riding green head horses all day, and we were roping some easy muleys to help build these young horses’ confidence. Ryan Motes was getting ready for the rope horse futurity in Fort Worth, so we were really focusing on making controlled runs that felt easy and helped our horses feel comfortable in their position and fundamentals. 

1. Use a scoring lane

We’re using a score lane here, and it’s got three hurdles the steers have to go over before they can run. I like the scoring lane for both young and old horses. The majority of box problems come from two main causes: 1) Horses that want to be over-achievers and want to run to catch the cow. 2) Rodeo and jackpot horses that have to go off the back of the box hard, time and time again. 

2. Getting hooked

The lane allows me to take all the sting out of the box as they wait for the steer to trickle out of the lane. If a horse is anticipating the gate, the cow has to go over all three of the hurdles, which gives me time to leak off the back, walk-start, then lope, all by the time the steer hits the end of the lane. I’ll start them at a walk, and I’m right beside the chute when I open it, he sees the cow and I’m in the range of being in position and hooked up with the cow. I can see them out to where I have to gain, go all the way down the arena, and, eventually on the slow steers, I can see them all the way to the end of the lane. Then I can teach them to go to them. You can turn a horse up in three runs. Getting them to leave controlled and calm is much harder.

3. Rope muleys

We rope a lot of muleys because they’re a little lighter and smaller so, on young head horses or green head horses, very seldom do I get them afraid of the weight of the steer. I can shape them and keep them confident. They’re usually decently fresh, and we never rope them where they start dragging. Our head horses don’t have to take any bad hits, so their confidence in their strength stays up. 

4. Staying careful

The muleys will keep their own forward momentum. If you’re not careful, if your horses take bad hits, they’ll beat you to take the weight and they’ll load onto their front ends. They’ll stay true running to the steer but, then as your dallying, they’ll know the weight is coming to the saddle horn, and they’ll be afraid of feeling weak. They’ll dump their shoulders to the left, kick their butts under the rope and dig on their front ends. When they do that, the pull is a lie for a heeler, and those steers will give a read through the turn and they’ll rabbit hop or double hop as your heeler is picking up his timing. Your heeler will get beat to the ground and miss, and it fouls up the rhythm of the run instead of having them tapped and roping on the second or third jump. 

5. Patient into the turn

When I’m roping these muleys to build my horse’s confidence, I’ll make sure my horse goes to the spot where I want to throw, I’ll take a couple extra swings and rope. I want to make sure he’s caught up, with his legs under him to where, after I rope, it’s easy to push him into the turn. I want to be patient into the turn and, after the turn, it’s really important to teach these horses to pull and keep control of the cow. The muleys generally make that job pretty easy on me and the horse, so I can focus on shaping him how I want him across the pen. That lets my heeler work, even if I am slow in the turn. Once I take control, he can sure enough work his horse. TRJ

WATCH ON ROPING.COM: Green Horse Confidence-Building Practice on Muleys

Year of the Horse coverage brought to you by Fast Back Ropes.

The post Building Confidence in Young Rope Horses appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Whether you’re getting ready to rope at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo or Ariat World Series of Team Roping Finale, team ropers at every level are in preparation mode as they get set to migrate to Las Vegas next month. Ropers at all skill levels are down to the two-minute warning and the last chapter of the 2023 season at the Thomas & Mack Center and the South Point.

The top dogs of team roping are practicing hard every day, and trying to get their horses ready. I’ve always been one to show up totally prepared in both my roping and my horses. And make no mistake, roping big steers in that small of an arena at the Thomas & Mack is really hard on your horse.

The score is really short, but that building is small and the cattle are big and strong and fresh. And that left wall is right there. You can stick it on ’em pretty fast, but then you have to turn and come back up that wall with some momentum and get faced.

My old horse Bullwinkle was perfect for that setup. He didn’t score that great during the regular season, but that short score suited him, and he could pull the horns off of those big old cattle and face really good.

Having the horsepower you need is the biggest factor for headers, in my opinion. The conditions change, ranging from Salinas and some of the big ropings to all the short-score rodeos now. Guys having to be 3 all the time to win today makes it even tougher on your horses.

I think I won three championships on Bullwinkle. Once he was done, I spent a lot of falls searching for something to ride at the Finals. One year, I went to the USTRC Finals in Oklahoma City, and stayed three or four days after the open roping to see if I could spot a horse that might work at the Thomas & Mack. I sat around there watching people rope all day long.

I got a horse scouted out, and asked the guy if he might be interested in selling him. He said maybe after the roping. When it was over, we met up in Moriarty, New Mexico, I tried that streak-faced bay and bought him. His name was Sunny, and low and behold that’s the horse Clay (Cooper) and I set the NFR record on in 1994.

The last year I rodeoed and made the Finals (with Junior Nogueira in 2014), we set up a small arena to practice. I roped a steer, turned and came straight back up the arena. That’s when my horse fell and I got a bad head injury that kept me from roping at the NFR.

To each his own, but Clay and I never set up an NFR-sized arena to practice for it. I had a practice horse, and reached and roped a lot of steers on him. But I didn’t want my good horse ducking so bad that I’d miss, lose my rope or give Clay a bad handle. We made our run in Clay’s regular-sized arena, and we didn’t bring in bigger steers. We practiced roping fast, but wanted our good horses to go into the Finals fresh.

I think it was Speed (Williams) and Rich (Skelton) who came up with setting up a smaller arena with the exact measurements of the Thomas & Mack, and more power to them. They’re the all-time champs, and that system worked for them. Doing that is not a big deal on the heel horses, but it’s very hard on head horses. That said, I know heelers want some realistic shots on big, strong, wide-legged steers that are wild, because they’re a lot harder to heel.

Lower-numbered ropers getting ready for the Finale will face totally different conditions over at the South Point. The boxes will be really deep, and when a steer sticks his head out the end of the gate, you better be rolling. My best piece of advice for both buildings is don’t get left in the gate.

You Finale ropers will be running at more money than the NFR guys, and that can be intimidating. But try not to let the bright lights blind you, and don’t show up with a hangover just because you’re in Vegas. It’s basically a bulldogging start at both places, so get out of there and don’t be late. Being tentative at the barrier puts you in a bind. Get your game face on, and don’t get left behind. TRJ

The post Vegas Prep Beast Mode appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

I started roping horseback as a little kid. I was cruising down the arena and throwing at ’em at 5 years old. I don’t remember people telling me what was right or wrong. I’d had a rope in my hand since I was 3, but it was a game of trial and error. Because I’d roped on the ground non-stop, 24-7, my swinging and throwing were actually pretty well developed. But when I got horseback, I started developing some bad habits.

I headed a lot when I was really young, and don’t remember leaning down to head. That makes sense, since the horns are out in front of you. But when I’d have a chance to heel one every now and then, I would really lean over to throw. And I see that a lot at my schools today, especially with little kids, older men and sometimes women.

MORE FROM CLAY: Taking Advantage of Every Visual Cue

I think the reason for that has partly to do with loop size and the strength factor. It takes a lot more power and strength to swing a bigger loop. Naturally, kids, seniors and women—like me when I was a little kid—tend to use smaller loops, because they’re easier to swing. And it feels like leaning down there helps get that oop to its destination. But leaning is a habit best broken.

When I switched over and started mostly heeling at 12 or 13, I immediately started watching and studying the guys who were really winning a lot. The Camarillos sat right in the middle of their horses, and did not lean over much at all. Leo was really stylistic. He sat up so straight riding around that corner and threw such a pretty loop in there. His upper body looked like a statue.

Leo made such an impression on me, and trying to copy that style took me out of the habit of leaning down to throw. He was the guy winning championships, so he was the guy I wanted to watch, study and mimic. That Leo did things so correctly was such a blessing to me.

MORE FROM CLAY: Riding is as Important as Roping at the Highest Level

By the time I got into my teens, I was also starting to get enough strength to swing my rope fast enough and hard enough to rope live cattle. I got out of the leaning habit, and that was a good thing.

Leaning happens when you ride to a certain spot, then stop riding. You lean to finish off your shot, because your horse is stopping. You’re leaning to maintain your position. If you sit in the middle of your horse, you have to ride him more. And when you sit straight up and your body posture is upright, you’re riding better and all the way to where you need to be. That stops the need to lean.

I also studied Allen Bach. He turned pro a year or two before me, and we became really good friends. I was living in Arizona by then, and he was over in Queen Creek at the time. So we conversed a lot and broke it down, and he let me ride his horses. When I was roping with Bret Beach and Allen was roping with Jake (Barnes), we buddied together. Allen was the first guy I really got to talk to about heeling.

I had a lot of respect for Allen, and we went on and competed together and were the best of friends through 30 years of rodeoing. Allen’s built different than me. He’s tall and long-armed, so he could really reach out and make shots away from him. He’d say I rode my horse better, but I had no choice but to use my horse more. I had to sit in the middle of my horse to ride him to the right spot where I knew I could catch.

MORE FROM CLAY: If You Can See It, You Can Do It

There are guys who bend at the waist a little more, like Allen did at times, and can make a little leaning work great. But leaning way over is not good. It cues your horse to stop, and steepens the angle on your throw. I teach people an upright posture, because leaning tends to have a negative effect on what you’re trying to do.

Extreme cases of leaning is a hard habit to break. If you’re catching two feet every time, I wouldn’t worry about it. But if leaning is causing you to not be able to deliver a loop that works every time, you might want to break a habit that’s detrimental to your goal. TRJ

The post Break the Leaning Habit appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Dick Yates qualified for 13 Wrangler National Finals Rodeos with his son J.D. in the 1970s and 1980s and, since then, he’s won hundreds of thousands of dollars competing at every level of team roping competition. Alongside J.D. and now his grandson Trey, the patriarch of the Yates family has helped make some of the best horses in team roping. We tapped him for his team roping tips and timeless wisdom. 

#1: Smaller Steers, Smaller Horses

Several years ago, when we first started rodeoing and jackpotting, it took bigger horses because you roped bigger steers and normally the scores were longer. The steers have gotten smaller and, in most instances, the scores are longer. The good horses back then were outstanding because they were bigger, stronger horses. Today, you can rope on a smaller horse that’s probably more athletic because they don’t have to be as strong to pull the steers.

#2: Slow and Steady Rope Horse Training

But the breeding—these well-bred horses will train themselves if you stay out of their way. Too many young people and young trainers want to go too fast, instead of let a horse grow at his speed and get better. If you go to hurrying it, you’ve got a lot of harm in your horse. He don’t really make. Give him time to make and don’t pick on him. A lot of these young trainers pick on them too much, and they’ll find a way to get even with you, one way or another. A lot of these horses are easier to train because the breeding is better. They have a lot more cow in them, and most of the well-bred horses anymore, you don’t have to worry about them bucking you off.

#3: Adapt to Your Horse’s Style

Most of my horses, I like them to turn their head in a little, on just a slight rein, and just roll them out of there. Every horse is different the way you score them. The young ropers, they don’t realize you have to adapt to the horse’s style, how he will score, than think he has to be standing there just perfectly straight every time. I don’t think a horse needs to stand there straight, if he scores well. 

#4: Start Quick

The hardest part to me is getting started quick enough. With quick scores, I always trained horses to stand there and score off my hand. Sometimes, I don’t get started quick enough. That’s really changed. That’s another thing you get into with the short scores: you don’t have to score perfect. Sometimes, my horses score too well.

#5: A Good Horse is Better Than a Good Throw

I used to have quite a bit of game of course. I could reach a little. But the ticket is, I still say, if you have a good horse and he scores good, you don’t have to throw all that rope. You have to score and you have to draw good, and you don’t have to throw two and three coils. I just want to get out decent and measure him off. I don’t get my arm up as quickly as I used to, and I want a jump or two to measure him off and catch him. But I want to just give that heeler a chance.

The post 5 Pearls of Team Roping Wisdom from Dick Yates appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

One time, I read an article on Joe Baumgartner, famous bullfighter, and he said reading cattle is something nobody can teach you. You have to be around cattle as much as you can, looking at them, watching them move through the herd, watching them eat. It’s just the same thing as when you go in an airport and watch people walk by—you wonder what they’re like, who they are, what they do for a living, what they’re thinking, and you can judge them. It’s the same thing in a steer pen—and you might not always be right.  

READ: Knowing When to Throw with Derrick Begay

Here’s a quick, not-fool-proof-at-all way of thinking about cattle: 

Flat horns: He might lower his head. 

Cow horns: He might roll his head back

M-Brand: They’re the best. 

Paints: Everyone wants a paint, or a Hereford with a white face. 

Straight black: Usually not the one you’d want if it’s a mixed herd. 

If I were to draw up a perfect steer when I go to check my draw, I’d want a cute eye, standing off over in the corner kind off by himself. I don’t want him as full-looking and full-bodied as the rest of the herd, and a dull hair coat is a good sign he will lope. I prefer a steer over a heifer, and the next best thing after that is a bull—a bull is always more sluggish and slower. 

If you have one that’s just standing there in the pen and doesn’t really want to move, that’s what you’d want. If you walk up to the pen and one’s pushing through the whole herd, that’s probably one you don’t want. 

READ: Humble Beginnings: Advice From Derrick Begay

Remember: Animals will fool you—so this is all just a judgment deal. If your steer meets all the guidelines to be a loper, and then they break and run, don’t hold it against me—these are more like guidelines, anyway. TRJ

The post Reading Cattle, with Derrick Begay appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

What is ‘draw’?

I use the phrase “draw to cattle” a lot, and I have to be careful because, in the cutting, “draw” means pulling away from the cow. But in the heading, when I say I want draw to the cow, I mean I want my horse to be physically drawn toward the steer without having to be coaxed or guided. I want my horses hunting the cow. 

A lot of people, especially in the heading and tie-down, talk about a horse really needing to run to cattle. The heading is so competitive now, you’ll see a lot of horses reached on a lot, or they learn to run a route or pattern but they don’t have the magnetic draw to the cow that keeps them good over the test of time. 

If you have a rodeo horse whose first instinct is to naturally get to the cow, they won’t get as smart to reaching and you’ll be more versatile in more situations. They’re the horses that always stay honest longer. Their instinct is to hunt the cow. They don’t want to lean on your left rein, and they react by going right if the cow goes right or moving left if the cow goes left. When you drop your hand, the main thing they know is to get to the cow. Horses that don’t have that, they’re always looking for a way out. When you expose them to going fast, going to the cow is second on their list of things to do. I’d prefer a slower, honest horse that wants to get to the cow over a faster horse that has other things on his mind.

How do we create draw in training?

We want to put that draw into horses from an early age and, while some have it in them naturally, there’s a lot we can do to build it, too. We do it with a breakaway hondo at first, teaching them position without the hit or pressure of turning the steer. 

Most of our 4-year-olds rate really well, so a lot of times, I’m teaching them to go to a closer target than I would if we were turning the steer. Without a heel horse going with us, they already know to get a little close. I hate to back them off too much, because that back-off will come naturally in competition. I ask them to run up under my swing so I can dictate the tempo of the run. I want them running all the way to the horns to make it look like I’m in control. I want to be able to push them up under my swing without taking all the rate out of them. 

READ: Evaluating Your Team Roping Practices with Trevor Brazile

How does this factor into competition?

We don’t mind our horses running until their nose is even with the steer’s flank, to where it’s a tick closer than you’ll go for money. There’s a certain position there where you go to roping on them—our horses have more rate away from home—you’re trying to win, and you’re out in front of them, and they’re reading you more at that point than you are at home. We’ll almost push them too close sometimes so they’re hunting that spot when we’re away from home so they don’t start hanging on us. 

If he’s running to the spot right next to the steer’s hip, he’ll feel the timing of my rope. He’ll feel my intensity, but he’ll be running under my swing, and I can set up the run from there. If he’s free but reading the cow, when I pull my slack, he’s more apt to hit his butt than if I instilled too much rate in them. If they’re already rating when I throw, they’re bowing me out and I don’t get a chance to do too much expression with my horse because they’ve already done it and I’ve almost pushed them through it, so that corner doesn’t look or feel half as good. TRJ

The post The Magnetic Draw to Cattle appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.