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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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) 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.

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.

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 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.

Cattle are cattle, and some just don’t want to get along no matter what a producer puts into ensuring that he’s got good ones. So, it’s my job as a heeler to stay in a good spot, watch the run develop, and stay committed to my swing. 

Position

Position is key to roping tough cattle. I’ve got to stay in a good spot. What I mean by a good spot is that I don’t want to get too close—if you’re too close, it’s hard to use the right parts of your loop. 

READ MORE: Jeremy Buhler Breaks Down RodeoHouston Winning Run

Swing Speed

If a steer hits weird, I don’t want to take the bait. I want to keep my loop and swing speed consistent no matter what the steer does. I’m not trying to get in time through the corner if he hits weird. I’m just keeping it on there until I see something I like. 

READ: Jeremy Buhler Crosses ProRodeo’s $1M Mark

Sweet Spot

I’d like to say I’m waiting until I see the steer open up. Some will, but others will hit trotting—for me, I like to see some sort of rhythm or control, whether the steer is open or not. I’m waiting to commit until I’d like to see some form of consistency or control in their movement. If a steer hits bad, your header should regain control of his head and that will give the consistency to the back end. 

WATCH ON ROPING.COM: Green Horse Practice Session with Jeremy Buhler

Delivery

I am working on getting my tip through the feet. I’m really wanting to make sure I’m patient in my delivery. That ties into not taking the bait and changing your swing like I mentioned earlier. My reaction will be to speed up my delivery to race the feet, but if I can stay in a good spot and keep the power on my loop, my swing will stay ahead of the feet. I don’t want to get behind, because then my tip gets behind. If I take the bait when they hit weird and slow my swing down, it’s hard for me to not put extra back on my delivery. Then my tip is behind and I’m in trouble. If I can keep the power on my swing, it still lets my tip get ahead of my hand and my delivery. TRJ

The post Overcoming Tough Steers, with Jeremy Buhler appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

It’s very important to follow the steer, from the time you are heading down the arena to making your entrance into the corner. You see the best guys, when they know exactly when to make the turn, they follow the steer and that’s how they can get in time with them. Even when you throw fast, the horse should be ready to follow the cow and hooked up to the cow. You can throw fast because your horse is hooked up to the cow. 

How?

It’s important to learn how to control your horse. Everybody talks about how to get the horse and steer at the same speed, but the goal is to measure and follow the cow. The Smarty helps a lot—you have to learn how to control your horse, and that’s the best tool to do it. Even an old horse can use the Smarty to go whatever speed you want. You can go fast and slow down or slow and speed up so you learn how to find that spot on the cow and follow. That’s good for the horse and the roper. 

On the dummy, I stop and back my horse up if he’s getting too strong, and then I redo it a couple times until he starts listening to me. I don’t like to have to pull on my horse. If they’re pulling on me, it’s not a good feel. You’ll see my left hand holding them up, but I want them to accept my hand on the bridle but not over-pull. If they’re doing that, I want to bring them back to the dummy and stop him a couple more times. I want to change his mind and back him up and get him thinking behind the bridle. 

My approach is to keep it easy and let them find the cow and let them cruise through the corner. I don’t want to be pushing and pushing and getting them confused on their position. If I have them broke and if I use the Smarty, they won’t need to get too strong or too ratey. 

It All Goes Back To…

The main thing is getting your horse broke. Especially young horses need to spend time getting broke and soft. They need to learn how to stop, back up and give their head. It sounds so basic and so simple, but too few people take it seriously and really commit to it. If your horse is unbroke, and they get worked up and hot, they’re going to win. You won’t be able to reel them back in. You will fight. 

When it comes to horsemanship, I learned so much from Robbie Schroeder. And now, I go to Shawn Grant and Kollin VonAhn to pick their brains about what my horses are doing and how I can improve. I call and ask for ideas if I’m struggling. They’re always great, and they have things to say that I’ve never thought of. I work on it every single day. Your horses need to move light, with all the maneuvers, so no matter what the steer does, he can stay in his spot and get you in a good spot to throw. Some horses are better, more athletic. But the basics have to be there. It will make your job catching the steer way easier. TRJ

The post Following the Steer, with Junior Nogueira appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Just when I think there is no aspect of roping I haven’t already thought about, I think of another one. The small details that add up to make a difference are truly endless. I don’t think I’ve ever really talked to anybody about the fact that we’re not taught how to use our eyes to help us be successful when we rope. What I’ve come to realize is that if we can see the big picture of every run and also all the details, we can gather helpful real-time information as the run unfolds that we can use to our advantage.

When the gate latch trips and the steer starts to move, he’s feeding you information. He’s telling you how fast he’s going to run, and whether he’s going to go left, right or straight.

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

The header has more things on his to-do list to set up the run. The heeler is the team’s closer. It’s our job to react to what’s happening in the run, and be at the right place at the right time. We need to develop our sense of sight and how we use it, so we can get there.

A lot of heelers key in on the steer. But how that head rope goes on—whether it’s around the horns, neck or half head, how fast things are moving and your header’s position when he ropes him are helpful factors to see and take in. If you only focus on reading the steer, you lose track of what he’s going to do, because what your header and his horse do is also going to impact what that steer is going to do.

The multitasking part of heeling includes seeing where a steer’s strides are going to be coming through the turn and leaving the turn. This is helpful intel about where he’s going to jump next. By using your vision, and processing what it tells you, you can determine what’s about to happen. And viewing the run like that lets you get a couple steps ahead of the steer, and not behind in your reactions.

READ: The Art of Timing Steers

Developing the ability to see three jumps ahead to where a steer’s about to go gives you an advantage. If you’re at a rodeo and see your header reach and his horse drop out of the corner of your eye, you know things are about to get a little wild and can be ready for that.

I sometimes see ropers’ eyes bouncing all around. You’ve got to be able to lock your eyes on a target, but you can’t have tunnel vision on that target. I want my eyes on that right flank area. But from there, I can also see the position of the head horse, how the loop’s going on, if that head rope is tight or loose, and other tidbits of information that help me read the play.

You have to see the timing the same way, whether that steer’s out in front of you or your horse has him partly covered up. Your eyes feed you the information to see your shot and take it, and let you know where you need to throw your loop. Getting my rope on the ground is a big part of my catch, and I peripherally see where I want to place my rope.

READ: If You Can See It, You Can Do It

Keeping your eyes on the run is so important, all the way to the end of every run. After you do your job, you need to see your partner face and also make sure you’ve gotten a flag before you undally. To do all that, you have to stay engaged with your eyes.

Repetition and a lot of practice runs helps you learn to see all these things as much as anything. And nowadays, another way we can benefit by using our eyes is by using this great asset called a cell phone. We can watch the video of every run two seconds after we make it, slow it down and watch it as many times as we want.

At the end of the day, when all your hard work comes together and you blast one for money, you can look over at your partner, give him a little nod and say, “Great job, man.” That’s the reward and happy ending after learning to see every step of every run as it plays out. TRJ

The post Let’s See It: Taking Advantage of Every Visual Cue appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

It’s always puzzled me in a way that I got caught up in the team roping dream at such a young age. “It” was just in me, like a Divine purpose. And once that dream and vision got inside of me, that was that, and roping for a living was all I pursued from that day forward. 

 In looking at people in our sport and all sports who’ve been able to be successful in doing what they dreamed of, it’s become pretty clear to me that “it” is either in you or it’s not. I’ve seen a lot of people over the years who say they want something. But there’s a disconnect. 

They think what they want would be cool. But for some reason, they don’t make it happen. Seeing that happen to a lot of people makes me wonder if “it” was really in them the way “it” was in me and others who got what they dreamed of. For people like me, there is no Plan B. There’s only Plan A. 

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

It’s funny, because it seems like a smart, good idea to have a Plan A, B and C. But when there’s only a Plan A, you become a fanatic about what you want to get done. Your pursuit of that one thing that matters more than anything else to you becomes your only focus. 

It’s that 100% effort and commitment to that one thing you want to achieve that drives you. I’ve had a lot of moms and dads ask for my advice on how to get their kids to do this or that. My thought on that is that “it” is either in them and they’re not going to give up on the dream, or not. 

I’ve seen a lot of kids with talent who were successful to a certain degree. But they just couldn’t make themselves do all of it. Something derailed what their full potential could have been. A lot of it comes down to work ethic, attitude and lifestyle. 

READ MORE: If You Can See It, You Can Do It

I’ve seen world champions get derailed because of lifestyle choices. I’m not one to be hypocritical. I didn’t have a perfect lifestyle early on in life. But it was the pursuit of my dream of roping for a living that pulled me back up onto the right track.

I felt like my Divine purpose from God was to be who I was called to be in the roping world. The allure and pull of wanting to achieve my dream pulled me out of some patterns of behavior that were not so good. And I’m grateful for that. 

Life changes in stages. The plan and what you want out of life evolves because of natural aging changes. What doesn’t change is the driving force inside of you to achieve your ultimate goals. That strong desire on the inside of me to be successful at roping pulled me out of some bad behaviors. 

What a blessing. I realized roping was my purpose, and with success came a responsibility I wanted to own. That responsibility became as important to me as the achievement itself. I wanted to stand for morals and be a role model. 

READ MORE: Winning When You’re Down

Some people in sports say, “I’m not your kids’ role model, you are.” I agree with parental responsibility, but we should all be role models and do what’s right. We should all do our best, and stand for things that are good for our society, families and lives. 

I’ve lived long enough to see the attack of the wrong side of things, and what it’s done to people’s lives. It’s not a good outcome. It ruins kids and families. It’s heartbreaking. Committing to living a life of moral excellence doesn’t mean you’re perfect. But it’s a better way to live, and I’m intrigued and inspired by people who live a moral life. 

All of this is about what’s inside of you. And “it”—the drive to do whatever it takes to succeed, and the desire to stand for what’s right—is either in you or it’s not. God gives us visions and gifts in our lives. If we commit to doing things in a moral fashion, we leave a legacy people can hold on to. 

Moral obligation is the best. If they write an epitaph on my life, I want it to say that my life was about more than winning. Yes, he committed to all it took to win. But he also was a role model and good example to the next generation. That’s what life’s about. TRJ

The post “If they write an epitaph on my life, I want it to say that my life was about more than winning.” appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Young rope horses need confidence just as much as their jockeys. Here’s how World Champion Wesley Thorp instills it in his green ones.

In 2020, I won the American Rope Horse Futurity Association World Title in the heeling on a 6-year-old named Juiced Up Cat—a gelding I’d been jackpotting on and taking to the rodeos all that year. 
He was outstanding, and he always wanted to be a winner. But, when I started to throw him to the fire the following winter, I learned a good lesson. 

Rattled 

I had been taking “Juice” to the jackpots once or twice a week, planning to move him into my second-string spot behind my good black horse. But one day in Dublin, Texas, we had a steer that was really fighting the chute and taking forever, and it scared him. He had never been nervous in the box and, suddenly, he was. 

Dialing Back Down

He was so good at such a young age, I needed to be reminded that he still was green. And I needed to still take care of him like a green horse. He needed confidence in me and the situations I was going to put him in. We slowed way back down, and I went to just saddling him and exercising him throughout the week. I’d bring the steers up, and I’d just score and put him up after that. 

End Goal

That taught me I had to really over-focus on my horse’s confidence, and it’s something I do with everything in my program now. I want the edge knocked off of my horses so they’re paying attention at their best, and I avoid putting them in a bad situation and setting them up for failure because I didn’t do my job and spend the right amount of time on the details. TRJ

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

a) Steer: It was a pretty soft set of steers, and our first one ran really hard. But we had an idea that this was an exactly middle-of-the-road steer. We weren’t expecting to do as well as we did, but that’s the way the rodeo unfolded. Several guys drew on the other side of the herd and that let us stay in there. 

b) Handle: I think the amount of rope a header throws being directly correlated to the handle is a general misconception with regard to more rope equals a worse handle. It’s very subjective. A percentage of that rope is what Andrew reached with, and there’s a percentage of the rope that Andrew takes to dally. He throws two coils and dallies on the third. Everything to do with the handles has to do with the angles and trajectory his horse is on. The handle was perfect on that steer. From the beginning of the run until we got the flag, I rode really aggressive. I got a good start on the steer and stepped him a step left. I don’t drop my percentages any unless I get out of tune with my partner. The run we make the most times throughout the year is our most aggressive run. I’ve probably run 50 to 70 steers in a row at this point roping aggressively versus trying to catch.

[READ MORE: Jeremy Buhler Talks RodeoHouston Winning Run]

c) Position: I’m not a surfer, but I think about position like a wave. There’s a sweet spot there. Within it, what I’m aiming for is a position that, as soon as the steer is deemed legal, I can throw. The funny thing about the crossfire is the judgment is always questioned afterward. But I believe I decide when the steer is legal. I’m the one who decides when I throw—not the flagger. He just decides whether it was past said point. I’m trying to ride to a position I can throw as soon as I deem the steer legal. I’m not trying to lower my chances of following the next cow well. But I’d rather be in a bad position for a fast shot than a good position for a slow shot. I’m going to take a better chance of going past the turn than I am getting trapped inside. I would rather be aggressive if I have to than safety up. 

d) Left Hand: Probably where I differ from most trainers and professional heelers is that I don’t ride my horse’s head as much. I explain it like this: The head is a primary balancing mechanism for the horse. Particularly when you look at the shape of a horse, the tail is a foot long and weighs 2 lbs., and his neck is 4-foot-long and weighs 200 to 400 pounds. A cheetah’s tail is longer and heavier than a horse’s, and his neck is much shorter and smaller. The cheetah uses his tail for balance, where a horse uses his head. So my reasoning for having my hand in the middle is that I’m trying to get my footwork right off of my feet. I want my horse’s feet to be an extension of my feet. I have a few cues I make with the bridle reins. My horses are broke enough I can create shape if needed. I just almost never do. I don’t see the value in trying to control the shoulder off the cheek. I understand some but not all of what other guys do. For me, I’m trying to let his legs be an extension of mine and I want him to have some freedom to use his head. I want him to have the option of putting his head to the outside for balance and his shoulders down. 

[READ MORE: Dustin Bird Breaks Down His Record-Breaking Run at the Montana Circuit Finals]

e) Legs: I think that comes back to where the energy initiates. For me, it’s the abdomen, the thighs, the quads, the calves and then finally in my feet. In my understanding of riding, my horse is going to be most sensitive to my feet and my spurs, but I almost never have to use them with my thighs to my knees to my calves. At the point I was launching off the box, I used my feet and a little bit of spur. At the point of this picture, though, I might have squeezed again as we’re rating the steer. That might have given me the step left. If they get squeezed, they accelerate past the spot, and I’ll sacrifice anything to do with my horse or position for the sake of getting out the barrier, getting him caught and getting him turned. I’m coming back to the hips in this stride. My horse’s nose was 4-foot past the hips, and I’ve taken my calves off the horse and gotten hollow and heavy in the saddle. My horse’s feet will go in the ground in response, too. All four of my horse’s feet will go into the ground. It’s more of a hover because, now, Andrew has control of the hips. I’m hovering, and I’ve let my horse hit the engine brake. That steer is still trying to get away from us because we’re both behind him again. That’s about 50% my horse turning the corner and 50% Andrew swinging the steer down the arena. TRJ

The post Stay Aggressive: Buddy Hawkins Breaks Down Rooftop Rodeo Win appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

When I started team roping, there wasn’t a lot of emphasis on good horsemanship and getting your horses really broke, like they do in other disciplines such as cutting, reining and reined cow horse. I was a get-on-and-go rope guy, like just about everybody else. I could ride a horse through a tornado, but as far as knowing how to really have one broke, stopping, sliding and turning around, I didn’t start studying that part of it until I’d already made the Finals and was trying to win a world championship.

The first roper I saw spending time getting his horses really broke, bending and flexing was Mike Beers. I really admired his roping style, and tried to study him quite a bit. Jake (Barnes) and I buddied with Mike and Dee (Pickett) for several years, at the end of our run. 

WATCH: Green Horse Practice Session with Clay O’Brien Cooper on Roping.com

I started riding show horses to make extra money, and roping at the World Show. J.D. Yates was getting into that hot and heavy, and I started paying more attention to what was going on on the horsemanship side, so I could rope better. I watched different guys’ style of riding. People like the Petskas had a good feel for horses. Paul made bits, and Monty Joe mostly just uses that left rein and lets the right rein hang loose. Cory came along with a similar style to that. 

Patrick Smith learned horsemanship before he learned to rope, which has been a great asset in how he gets his horses to work. Brad Culpepper also had a style I admired. Joseph Harrison is really a crossover of horseshow style first, then came over and became successful on the rodeo side. I really like his horsemanship, and how it fits with his roping skills. It’s that next step the new generation has. 

The top ropers of today are just such better students of horsemanship. They understand that the pattern you ride with and the knowledge of what you’re doing impacts how your horse works and his longevity. If horses are broke right and use their hind ends correctly, they’re better balanced. As a result, there are more better horses now. The two worlds—horsemanship and roping—were separate when I came in, but have since really collided. 

READ MORE: Special Horses—My Big Three

The funnest part of roping for me in the last 30 years has been learning more about the horsemanship side of it. It’s a very deep subject, every horse is different and you need to figure out how to communicate what each one needs to do his job well. Jake and I work on this stuff every day. For me, it’s not as much about the roping part anymore. I’ve done that forever. It’s the horsemanship and trying to put the two of them together to where they complement each other that I crave.

Years ago, my strong suit was being able to get on just about any horse. As you get older, riding a smoother, gentler, better-broke horse makes roping more enjoyable. I knew I had an amazing horse when I bought LB from Kory (Koontz). He was so broke, had speed and balance, and could really slide and lift his shoulders up. 

LB never tried to beat you to the punch and take your throw away. The last five years of my career in pro rodeo, when I was in my 50s, I had the absolute best-suited horse at that time. LB was just easy for me to rope on, and my shot was there every time. 

READ MORE: Let’s Hear It for the Horses

Over the years, the great horses made great ropers. Leo (Camarillo) was a great roper, but Stick was just flawless and Leo had him at the perfect time at the peak of his career for probably 10 years. Denny Watkins and Banner was a sight to see. Jade’s (Corkill) had some great horses, too, as has Rich (Skelton). 

Those guys learned how to manage their horses well. They knew how to keep them working, and that relationship brought success. That’s the cool thing about roping. Your partner isn’t just the guy over there sticking and turning them for you, but also the partner underneath you. 

Everyone who ropes good has their own way of getting their horse to work. But you can’t get to the highest level without having that level of horsemanship. If you can’t control your horse’s hips, hind end and shoulders, and if he’s not broke in the bridle, the guys who know how to do all that are going to beat you all day long. TRJ

The post Riding Is as Important as Roping at the Highest Level appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

All the different rodeo events require a lot of multitasking, and the coordination of so many moving parts provides a real challenge. I don’t know that people who haven’t lived it really understand the battle. It takes so much practice to isolate the various fundamentals you have to do right simultaneously to be successful in our sport.

Other sports are that way, too. And what’s unique about rodeo is that you’re adding animals to the mix. So now you’re not only multitasking in what you’re trying to train yourself to do in real-time, but also having to coordinate that with animals. In the case of team roping, you’re trying to keep two people, two horses and a steer on the same page. 

[READ MORE: Getting Where You Need to Be]

Judging the moves of that steer that’s trying to outsmart and outmaneuver you is part of the challenge and fun. When you conquer and win, that’s also part of the reward. It all just takes a lot of repetition to master the many moving parts.

Every event is so different from both a contestant and spectator point of view. A bareback rider’s style is totally different from a saddle bronc rider’s or a bull rider’s. Bulldoggers go at it without a rope. It’s all pretty fascinating when you start breaking rodeo down. 

Of all the events, team roping is the ultimate when it comes to participation. Jake (Barnes) and I have 8- to 85-year-olds at our schools, and ours is the event more people in the stands have a shot at trying for themselves. It’s so fun to help people figure it out, and I try to teach from a point of encouragement. I like to tell people what I see them doing well before I mention the one thing that cratered the deal. Bringing that one thing to their attention can be frustrating, but when that lightbulb goes off it’s well worth it. 
It takes relentless repetition to climb the roping ladder, but if you stick with it, the run starts to slow down in your mind. And over time, things slow down enough to where you can react your way through it and gain some confidence. That confidence lets you know that, “Hey, I can do this.” That’s when you see people get excited. Their confidence grows with a little success, and it’s fun.

[READ MORE: If You Can See It, You Can Do It]

When I was a little kid, I just loved to rope. I grew up in a commercial arena in Southern California, and we were constantly practicing and competing. In my spare time, I was roping dummies and goats. For fun, we had penny-pot matches roping steers on foot. We roped non-stop, and were honing our skills without even realizing it. 

The whole goal was to go win. I saw the guys out there living the life I dreamed of, and knew it was exactly what I wanted to do. When I first started rodeoing, Bret Beach and I hooked up with Jake and Allen Bach as a buddy team. Talk about multitasking to make it all work. We were chartering to jackpots, and it was a non-stop whip-and-spur to get to 120 rodeos a year. We worked time zones back and forth between Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska, and were going slack to slack, perf to perf and slack after to four or five rodeos a day. 

When I first came in, it was like the best time in the world to rodeo. You didn’t think about sleep. You drove all night again and again and again. At that time in my life, all I wanted to do was rope, compete and see what I could do against the big dogs. 

[READ MORE: Winning When You’re Down]

That took a toll at times. I burned out three times, about every 10 years, and had to step back, re-evaluate and reload. There comes a time in life when you want to add home and family time. But when I look back, I marvel at what I was able to experience, and the blessing of being able to live in a country where you can decide what you’re going to do for a living, and go do it.

As a teacher, I try to give people a plan for where they want to go. In 40 years of doing schools, it’s fun to see guys who were little kids at our schools achieving their goals and roping at the NFR, because they set their goals and followed the plan. TRJ

The post The Battle of Making All Moving Parts Work as One appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Graves is rodeoing and jackpotting this year on Decent First Down, a 2012 gelding by Lenas Sonny Chex out of Helens First Down. | Jamie Arviso Photos

WHEN DO I THROW MY HEEL SHOT?

Watching a steer hit and then figuring out when to throw is an element of heeling that takes repetition, experience and practice. In this run from the 2023 Lone Star Shootout, you can tell, frame-by-frame, what I’m looking at, what I’m waiting for and how I deliver. 

1) THE CORNER

My tip is pointed toward the steer’s butt as I’m making my entry. I like the angle of my swing in this photo—it’s correct, and I like the distance I have between my horse and the steer. Because right there, the corner is just starting to happen. I’m trying to figure out what the next hop is going to be, so I’m not too far away or too close. This is the Lone Star Shootout, so it’s a faster setup. The steers this year were juicy and wild, so you have to be ready to react. I set myself up so, whatever happens on the next hop, I’m not too far or too close. 

[GEAR: Powerline Lite Team Rope]

2) THE SWITCH

This steer’s hips are switched out pretty good. He’s all the way out, so now I have to wait for him to come back to where I can rope him. His butt is to the outside pretty good, and I’m waiting for him to come back and still have that forward momentum to where I can rope him on the next hop. My horse has cowed off, and he’s trying to figure out what’s the next play. 

3) FORWARD MOTION 

The steer is still whipped out, but he’s almost back to me. I am still waiting for him to get in a straight line to rope him on the next hop. Now we’re going forward, though, so the next hop will be where I can throw my rope. My body is forward—I’m always forward when I’m riding. I don’t really just sit straight up. I like to be forward helping my horse. 

4) PATIENCE

You can tell, that steer is really hitting. I’m in a dead spot. I have to wait for him to line out. He’s almost ready to rope. I can see my shot now where I can put it down. I might be backing off my swing here, because I know I’m going to throw. More, though, the separation is fixing to happen as I set my rope down. 

5) STRAIGHT HIPS

I see my shot—the steer’s hips are straight, his feet are together, and he is in a straight line with me, and my horse is stopping. I’m picking my horse up for separation and his head is out of the way. TRJ

[WATCH: Travis Graves breaks it down on Roping.com]

The post Travis Graves Breaks Down Finding That Sure Shot appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Leo “The Lion” Camarillo timing a steer behind Tee Woolman at the 1980 BFI, which they won. | Brenda Allen photo

In the beginning, I actually wanted to be a header, and was having some success heading when I was 10-11-12 years old in the junior-senior and local ropings. Then my stepdad (Gene O’Brien) made me start heeling. He wanted to go to some of the bigger ropings and couldn’t heel, so my heading days were over.

But even at that age, I was studying both ends. And when the big-dog professional ropers would come through—and we’d go watch them rope at big events like the Riverside (California) Rancheros 8 Steer—I knew timing was a big deal. 

I could see from a very young age that the best ropers’ loops entered into the catching zone at a very specific time, and at the exact same time every run. It was just a vivid picture in my mind. 

At that time, about half the guys who roped good stalled their swing and waited for the next jump to come before they let loose of their loop. That’s how I started trying to time steers, with that stalled, slowing-up method, where you’re looking ahead and pulling the trigger on the second jump. Leo (Camarillo) hung it a little bit, but could also time steers with his swing. And he was the icon. 

Leo was the best of the best at that time, so I was really keen on watching how he did everything. The next guy who was a real hero to me was Don Beasley. I got to head for him at some of those junior-senior ropings, and he never missed. 

As I was starting to learn to heel, I would ask my mom to take videos of Don. Then I’d watch those super-eight projector films on the wall. Don didn’t stall his loop. He had the ability to synchronize every swing with every jump the steer took. It was just like jumping a rope, where there’s one revolution per jump. Watching that told me that going one jump for one swing was how he could rope 40 steers in a row and not miss. 

When you stall your swing, you’re taking power off of your rope. You also signal your horse that you’re throwing, so he gets a little stoppy. That never happened to Don Beasley. 

I started trying to perfect that timing, and it was a game-changer. Winning the Junior World Team Roping in Oklahoma with Eddie Green (Rickey’s cousin) gave me confidence that precise timing worked. 

I’ve listened to a lot of theories, observed and studied roping all my life, and I’ve always said the key that unlocks the door to heeling is timing. Timing is what took me from being just kind of average to being a pretty good heeler overnight. By the time I was 13–14–15 years old, I could hold my own in our neck of the woods in Southern California. And that’s where a lot of the toughest team ropers in the world came from. 

When I got my driver’s license and started traveling to Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, and encountering all the tough ropers in all the different areas, I still saw some hanger-stallers, and a few that could time steers one swing for one jump. It always seemed like the one-swing-one-jump guys had the edge on the hangers and floaters. When they put that swing right in rhythm with the jumps leaving the corner, those were the guys who could rope two feet all day long and had an advantage over all the rest.

To this day, one of the hardest things for me to teach is timing. Some people see it and do it naturally. Others have to really figure it out, because it’s confusing to them. At the end of the day, the elite group of heelers—the top echelon of 8s, 9s and 10s—have the ability to throw at a specific time in a steer’s jump virtually every time right on the mark. 

As you move down the line, a 7 is a pretty good heeler, but just not quite as sharp in the timing. As you move down from there, the timing issue is again a big part of what separates levels of heelers. The ability to throw at the right time is the main separator. TRJ

Learn from the legends by watching the best of the best. Decades of long-hidden Rodeo Video archived footage is rolling out on Roping.com.

The post The Art of Timing Steers  appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

a) Mental Game: I didn’t have it in my head that first paid $50,000 and second paid $20,000 and there was a leg already. All I’m really trying to do is go through my checklist of my fundamentals. For me, in those situations, it’s easy to get caught up in the big payout. I try to focus on the process and what I’m trying to do. Because, there, even if they come out and beat the crap out of us, even catching two feet, we’ll win $10,000. 

b) Hoss: He’s really trying to get on his butt and separate when I deliver. That separation allows my posture to stay forward so I can stay with my heel loop. If the horse isn’t on his butt and separating when you start your delivery, it’s easier to make the mistake of making the separation happen with your body, and that throws everything out of whack. This isn’t the greatest ground for a horse to stop in, so I like that he’s really working here no matter what. 

[READ MORE: Dustin Bird Breaks Down His Record-Breaking Run at the Montana Circuit Finals]

c) Right Hand: Basically, what I’m trying to do right here, as the loop is leaving my hand, I’m waiting for my tip to get ahead of my hand. Before this picture, I let off just a hair. I want to get my top strand to come in high. If you think about it, from a logical point of view, if your top strand comes in higher in the flank—say there’s 2 feet of room below that for your tip to come through—if you aim for the right hock instead of the flank, it leaves you a bigger area for the rest of the loop to come through. 

d) Feet: I wish my spur wasn’t into him here. I feel like pushing one through the stop with my spur is a mixed signal. If I have a right spur in his ribcage, if he were listening right there, he’d be getting off of my spur. If I could fix that, I’d have my right toe turned in more. 

e) Position: Especially at Houston, the team roping didn’t look rough because everybody roped badly—it looked rough because those steers were fairly fresh; they were hitting super far down the arena, no matter what your header did. My header did a great job there, but they were still wanting to wash and hit down away. My game plan was to get farther down the arena so that, when they hit down like that, I wasn’t to the inside. 

[READ MORE: Riley Minor Breaks Down First Run at Mike Cervi Jr. Memorial Team Roping]

f) Steer: Cody Snow and Wesley Thorp ran that steer twice. The first time they ran him, they had to win that round of their set to advance, which they did. So I was talking to Wesley about it, and he said that steer would be better if he could see you right off the bat because he wanted to be stronger and right. So our game plan going into it was that I was going to try to get a really good start. I didn’t want to jump him to make him go left; I just wanted him to see me. I wanted to trickle along with him. 

g) Distance Between Coils and Right Hand: I like how that rope is tight between my coils and my right hand. That helps the top strand hit high, too … because Walt Woodard says so. That’s something I struggled with in 2019. I slipped a lot of legs, and it was because my top strand was hitting low and a lot of that stemmed from having too much between my hands.  

h) Rhen: His angle to the steer here really helped us. On a deal like this, especially when the steers are strong, it allows him to keep the steer’s head bent to where he can’t get loose. It’s easier to open up that stride. If he were more out in front of the steer, it would make the steer harder to heel because he’s not going to open up as much. TRJ

Did you enjoy A High Top Strand: Jeremy Buhler Talks RodeoHouston? You might also like :

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The post A High Top Strand: Jeremy Buhler Talks RodeoHouston Winning Run appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

I was blessed to have a long career that basically stretched over three different eras. The first part of it was spent trying to scrape, scratch, climb the ladder and claw my way through the jackpot and amateur ranks. Then came the transition into professional rodeo. The third chapter of my career were some fun comeback years in my 50s. Special horses were a big part of my whole career, and looking back, there were three that stood out: Blue, Ike and LB. 

My first really amazing horse was Blue. He’s who I won my first championship on in 1985, then rode at three or four (National) Finals after that for my first three or four championships. Blue came from the Doy Reidhead Ranch up around Holbrook, Arizona, and (NFR heeler) Rick Stock was instrumental in me getting him. Rick’s good horse, Pork Chop, came from that same ranch. They made really good horses, and were well-known in Northern Arizona. 

[LISTEN: Time to Stop the Team Roping Rut with Clay O’Brien Cooper]

Blue was the first horse that had it all, and really fit me. He was honest and athletic, he scored great, had lots of run, a great stop and perfect timing in his stop. Blue just fit me to a tee, and I got to ride him for a little while before they agreed to sell him to me. I rode Blue in the beginning of 1985, when Jake (Barnes) and I went on a winning rampage. Blue was a big part of that. 

Unfortunately, Blue didn’t last very long. But I still hold that horse in high regard. He really worked, and I also loved the way he looked. Blue was just a gorgeous horse, in my eyes. He was sound the first couple years I rode him. After that, I had to cut down on his use to keep him going. 

After Blue, I struggled with my horses for a while until 1992, when I bought Ike from Ozzie and Judy Gillum. Ike was Driftwood on the bottom, and he lasted me 12 years. I think I rode Ike at 11 NFRs, and that kind of longevity is unheard of. I won my last two championships on Ike, along with the BFI, George Strait, US(TRC) Finals and Houston. That horse had a lot of speed, and knew how to get to the right spot, no matter what. I couldn’t mess Ike up. When the steer squared up, he gave me a good shot. 

Ike was tough, and that had everything to do with why he lasted so long. Ike’s right there at the top of my all-time favorite horses list, because I had him the longest and did so good on him. He was just a neat horse. 

Ike did have his quirks. I was roping a lot of calves at the rodeos back then, but you couldn’t tie Ike up or he’d set back. I just left the reins over the saddle horn when I went to rope a calf at the rodeos, and Ike would just stand there. Most of the cowboys knew to leave him alone, but when someone came along, thought he was loose and tied him up, I’d go through another headstall or set of bridle reins. 

[READ MORE: Going At It with Focus, Fire and Intensity]

Ike was funny. He’d go to sleep in the trailer, and a lot of times I’d have to wake him up when we got there. He sometimes fell asleep with me sitting on him. Ike was just a unique character, and in a good way. Ike was awesome. 

My third great horse was LB. By God’s design, when I wanted to make a comeback in my early 50s toward the end of my career, I was able to buy that horse from Kory (Koontz). I had the best five years of my career riding LB, and got to win the NFR average, The American, George Strait, Houston and US Finals on him. 

LB was just incredible, and like Blue and Ike before him, he fit me like a glove and was such a character. If LB hadn’t been a great heel horse, the best place for him would have been a petting zoo. When you came to the corral, LB met you and without words was saying, “Put the halter on me, please.” He loved people, and was an amazing athlete, as well. 

They say we only get one great one, but I’ve been blessed by three of them. And I’m very thankful for that.

The post Special Horses: My Big Three appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

We don’t want horses thinking every time they ride in that they have to give us their lives. We score the first one a lot to help our horses relax and give them a little bit of relief. 

Why it makes sense

A lot of times, these young horses, the first time you ride them in the box, they’re thinking go. We’ll ride them in there and can feel their heart beating, so we want them to know we’re not asking them for their life. 

Process

I’ll score, ride them back in and, hopefully, run one with that frame of mind. I’ll ride them in, turn toward the cow (or however is most comfortable for the horse) and then ride up. 

Why ride up?

People pull and hit the corner, and those are the horses that get mad in the box. We’ll ride up, sit there for a minute and ease them back. I don’t mind if they turn their head in a bit if they’re relaxed.

READ MORE

• 7 Tips for Managing a Rope Horse That Gets Too Strong
• How to Keep Your Head Horse Running Straight to the Steer
• Scoring Suggestion with Tate Kirchenschlager

The post How Trey Yates Helps Young Rope Horses Relax in the Box appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Timing. Is. Everything. Heelers have to react quickly, process information in real-time, make a plan and make a play. It’s a skill that separates contenders from pretenders and requires constant honing to improve. In this video brought to you by Lone Star Ropes, Patrick Smith shares his tips for how to improve your sense of timing.

“Timing is the essential ingredient to consistent and good heeling. I don’t care who it is or what they tell you. I’ve heard people say timing doesn’t matter. That is the absolute most absurd thing I’ve heard. Timing is everything.”

Watch “How to Improve Your Timing as a Heeler” now:

About the Lone Star Thunderbird Heel Rope:

The Lone Star Thunderbird Heel Rope is a uniquely engineered 4-strand rope, with a nylon/poly blend, combined with a multi-directional, double-twisted core, to allow the center core to counterbalance the rope as a whole. This rope has a very even weight to it, an exceptional tip feel, and a good bite on the horn.

If you enjoyed “How to Improve Your Timing as a Heeler” we think you’ll also like:

• How Dustin Egusquiza Angles His Head Swing
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The post Heelers, Here’s How You Can Improve Your Timing appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

The role of visualization in team roping.

One size does not fit all when it comes to how people learn. Some of us are visual learners, and others are better able to grasp things by hearing how they should be done. We’re all different when it comes to how we learn, and what makes things click for us. 

I’ve always been a visual person. So when I was a kid growing up with the fantasy of being a roper, living the rodeo life and roping for a living, like the Camarillos and Rodriguezes were doing, I paid careful attention visually to what the best ropers did. I could see myself roping like that or riding like that, and it put that vision in my mind. 

I was blessed to be raised in Southern California. Back then, all the greats of dally team roping were in California. When I practiced roping the dummy, goats or steers, I would try to mimic the different styles I saw. I studied styles, and tried to make parts of them work for me. 

[READ: The True Cowboy Capitals of the World]

I also tried to understand why people did what they did. Why did Leo (Camarillo) sit straight up in the middle of his horse, and swing his rope behind his head riding down the arena? Why did he get the tip of his rope over the withers of the steer? Analyzing what I saw visually was where it was at for me as I was trying to hone my skills and get to that level. 

This still works the same way in my mind today. I’ve now watched four eras of great ropers. About every 10 years there’s a new wave. Guys like Junior (Nogueira), Jade (Corkill), TG (Travis Graves), Patrick (Smith) and Paul Eaves are the fourth decade of great heelers I’ve gotten to watch and study. 

Team roping is such a fascinating sport. There are so many great ropers, and they all have differences in everything from how they ride their corner to how they time the steer. Every part of it is interesting to study, and it’s easier than ever. We can video all of it with our iPhones, and watch it as many times as we want.  

[WATCH: Mental Game Playlist by Clay O’Brien Cooper on Roping.com]

When I first started out, my mom would take eight-millimeter projector movies. We watched them on the wall with a movie projector. That’s what home movies were back then. Today’s technology is so advanced that with our iPhones we can break every detail down in slow motion. It’s easy to see for ourselves why things work—or don’t. 

Today’s great teams, like Kaleb Driggers and Junior, Andrew Ward and Buddy Hawkins, and Tanner Tomlinson and Patrick Smith have worked hard for several years, stayed hooked and built their runs. Now they’re reaping the rewards. If you can see it, analyze it and break it apart, you can get good at the things it takes to do the job and be successful. 

In football and virtually every other sport, they analyze game films. Every detail is broken down by watching. There’s no reason ropers can’t benefit in the exact same way. It starts with our ability to visualize, and from there we mimic what we see or come up with ideas that are out of the box. This process is where innovation comes from.

[LISTEN: The Score: Season 3, Episode 8 with Clay O’Brien Cooper]

Visualization also works in the future. I can see what I want my future to be, and what I want my career to be. From there, it’s a building process—coming up with a plan for how to get there, then walking it out with hard work. 

Our memories capture images, good and bad. Using past positive images in our mind can be very beneficial. There have been times I was searching for an answer with my roping. I went back and retraced mental pictures of successful runs—mine, and some made by other ropers. I run those mental videos through my mind, and BAM—a confirmation comes to my mind that puts the puzzle together. 

This also works with confidence. Looking back and replaying big wins and successes can build confidence and self-assurance, which we all need sometimes. It’s easy to crater in the summertime when you just had three straight all-night drives and roped three legs. Pull out past positive memories, and pull yourself out of the ditch. TRJ

The post If You Can See It, <strong>You Can Do It</strong> appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

The best reason for throwing a flat heel loop? Better coverage, says five-time National Finals Rodeo heeler Joseph Harrison. “

If I’ve got it big and flat and over his back, I can come right out of my swing, set it down, and I’ve still got that big tip coverage to get the left leg.”

In this video brought to you by Smarty, Harrison explains why a flat loop means better coverage—and better success.

Watch “#1 Reason for a Flat Heel Loop” now:

ABOUT THE SMARTY PIPES:

When originally designed by four-time World Champion, Allen Bach, the Smarty Pipes were built to help him demonstrate techniques while teaching at different roping clinics. Since then, he has perfected the ground heeling machine to practice timing and other techniques.

The Smarty Pipes are made out of durable powder-coated metal with realistic legs that are just like the ones found on the Smarty and the Smarty Xtreme. The Pipes are compact and durable and can be quickly adjusted to different heights for your personal preference when practicing.

The Smarty Pipes are the perfect heeling machine for practicing at home or to load up in your truck or trailer when you hit the road.

TRAIN LIKE A PRO WITH SMARTY:

• This Smarty Drill Will Help You Master Distance and Angle When Heeling
• This Smarty Drill Will Help You Master Top and Bottom Strand Control
• This Smarty Drill Will Help You Master The Fundamentals of Heading

ABOUT JOSEPH HARRISON:

Joseph Harrison is a five-time National Finals Rodeo heeler and three-time American Rope Horse Futurity Association World Champion from Overbrook, Oklahoma.

The post #1 Reason for a Flat Heel Loop appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

The secret to getting consistent heel shots? Patience and practice—and getting set up for that second hop.

When I started out, the emphasis for heelers was on consistent catching. The elite ropers of that era I grew up in were the guys who could rope two feet every time all day long. Back then, there wasn’t really an emphasis on being fast at it. Some guys would hit the corner and throw. But they weren’t the ones who left with the money most of the time, because taking higher-risk shots made them more hit-and-miss. The guys who got where they needed to be, made good shots every single time and caught all their cattle were the stars. 

There are stages of development to this concept and virtually all aspects of roping. I started out junior rodeoing, then jackpotting and amateur rodeoing. I then joined the PRCA , got my card (1981) and learned how to rodeo rope. When I was jackpot roping, there was an art to where you wanted to be to set up a jackpot-style, consistent shot. As I started to move into rodeo roping, it became a whole lot more critical to be in the right place at the right time. 

Patience is a Virtue

Part of what I learned early on at the amateur rodeos was that I needed to be more patient, and not rush in and overdo things trying to be fast. Just because you were at a rodeo didn’t mean trying to be too fast to the point of missing. Learning how to slow things down, gain more control and not run over myself was the more successful play. 

When I was competing against the Camarillos, Walt Woodard, Allen Bach, Denny Watkins, Rickey Green and all the top guys when I turned pro, I started to learn by watching those guys how to better hit my corner. With more rodeo roping, you become more accustomed to being in the right place throughout the run. You get more of an awareness and a feel for it. 

[WATCH: Scoring on Head Horses vs. Scoring on Heel Horses on Roping.com]

It’s critical to learn that, because being at the right place at the right time is what gives you the ability to close the deal and rope two feet as fast as possible—first, second or third hop. If you mess it up and aren’t where you want to be, you have to go another jump. 

I started trying to be in the right place by the second hop. If you watch the top ropers in the world today, 99 percent of the shots taken are on the second hop. Riding that corner correctly and maintaining good position in the corner helps make that consistency possible. 

Want Consistent Heel Shots? It’s All About the Second Hop

Sometimes you’re in such a good position and the steer handles so good that you’re presented a perfect shot on the first hop. And if everything is just right, you take it and can be really fast. But generally, headers have some rope out and are going left trying to make things happen fast. So it was my goal to be in the right spot when steers took that second hop. That let me be consistent with my positioning, and when the steer left the ground on the second hop, I had a high-percentage shot to pull the trigger on. 

Other guys who roped in my era were more helter-skelter. 

They tended to ride further down the arena, and only go for the first hop. They took shots even when things weren’t right. But that’s not as consistent as being where you need to be in any run and every scenario, where you can hit the right position every single time, no matter what happens. 

[READ: Corner Position: It’s Up to You]

The top heelers who have the top headers are the guys who ride the best position and are the most consistent ropers. They know how to ride that fine line just right, and be in the right spot and position no matter what kind of run develops. They have learned to have a knack for being in the right spot at the right time. 

One thing to always remember when it comes to being in the right position no matter what scenario you run into is that this is team roping. Being on the same page as your partner is a big part of it, as is being mounted on a horse that fits your style. The bottom line is that the only way to get good at it and get it all dialed in is to make lots and lots of runs. There are no shortcuts to success.

The post Getting Where You Need to Be appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

This is our (Colby Lovell & Dakota Kirchenschlager) third-round steer from the 2022 Riata Buckle at the Lazy E Arena. We’re using this run because these pictures really show the kind of run I want to make when the money is up on five head—especially on a young horse. In these images, I’m riding DT Misty Cat, a Hickory Holly Time mare owned by Dean Tuftin’s DT Horses. We’ve showed her to some success throughout the year, but this futurity was about throwing her into the fire, and she didn’t disappoint. 

1. THE START

Colby (Lovell) was nodding, and I wanted a good exit out of there. I really had a hold of her. I like her facing the middle of the box. I don’t want my horses breaking too much to the pin or down the wall. That steer went a little left, and if that horse broke right down the right wall, then I’d be behind. If your horse breaks too much to the pin, and the steer goes right, you’re not in a good position. It’s not a judged event, so I can get a hold of her more. In a show environment, I keep my reins shorter so I can get a hold without anyone seeing what I’m doing. But I liked not having to do that here. At a judged show, when I leave the box, the reins slide through my hand so my horse can get its neck down and do what’s needed. In the box here, I don’t have to worry about sliding my reins as I’m leaving. Horses’ necks comes up in the corner, and that makes your reins longer. When you’re in pursuit of the steer, they put their neck down and they need to do that without you pulling on them. 

2. DOWN THE ARENA

Robbie Schroeder was one of the greatest horse trainers in the world, and he said the only way to get around the steer to be 3 is for your heel horse to be in the right lead and change leads in the corner. From when the head rope hits the steer, as long as they change leads right then and slow down, then we can do whatever we need to do moving forward. If they’re down running and don’t change leads—for a split second, as soon as the head rope goes on—they have to elevate and change leads to be able to run to the next spot when you throw your rope. Everyone has a different opinion, but as long as I can control the horse and use my feet, I’m perfectly fine with it. When you pick up your hand when the head rope goes on, when you’re roping behind Colby [Lovell] or Kaleb Driggers, you’re not thinking about getting yourself in a good spot—they’re about to handle good so you can rope fast. 

WATCH: Green Head and Heel Horse Runs on Roping.Com

3. FULL CONTROL

All the time we spend at home, and all the things we do at home that lead up to those five steers, it’s all those hours that lead up to runs like these where I turn the control over to her. I spent a lot of time getting her to that point. I want my horse to get in the position to haze the steer so my partner has the best chance to rope it, but when you get to that level, you can’t be micromanaging. At some point in time, you have to turn them loose and they have to crave it. I see people win who can micromanage, but you’re going to have to trust that they can do it because it will be all you can do to catch the steer in a timely manner. I learned that a lot this year. We haven’t been as successful as I’ve wanted to be this year, and I thought if I could just help them more, we’d do better. In the spring of this year, Brad told me I was trying to manage everything—and once we had that conversation, we did way better. At the end of the day, winners want to win. A lot of it comes from learning and growing. This sport has made it so that, no matter how good you think you are, somebody is out there working harder than you are right now. It doesn’t matter what the weather is—whether they’re in the snow in Colorado or the rain in Texas—someone is out there grinding more than you. And you’re working against that every day. 

4. INTO THE CORNER

I have put my life into this. For me to decide to do something, I’m going to put every ounce of energy I’ve got into it. Now that I’m older, I’ve realized how much it takes. If I ride my horses every day, they will get tired of me. But if I let the people who work for me pull them around, that takes the foot off the gas every day. That keeps horses like this one ready to respond to me when I ask—which is what I’m doing while lifting my hand right here. I feel like I’ve got myself set up for success in this shot. She’s not doing anything wrong, and she’s changed into the left lead. I know where Colby is going with the steer next, and I’m forward and she’s going to read that steer. In the heat of battle, I’ve got my tip pointed at the steer. 

READ MORE: Setting Up Your Arena for Well-Adjusted Horses with Dakota Kirchenschlager

5. FINISH

That steer just rolled around there good, and I didn’t want to do anything too crazy. She stopped plenty good, and she stayed even with the steer. Check out her inside left leg—they have to have their inside foot far up under them, and both feet need to stay down depending on what position you put them in. For them to make the turn, they need to put that inside leg down. Some can slide all the way around the corner. Some can pick their outside leg up and then put it down. Here, you can see she’s dropped the anchor and is really ready to finish this run fast.

MORE WITH DAKOTA KIRCHENSCHLAGER:

Dakota Kirchenschlager Pilots Rancho Rio Sale Grad Make Ita Double to ARHFA Redbud Spectacular Heading Championship

The Score: Season 3, Episode 22 with the ARHFA World Champions Dakota Kirchenschlager and Wesley Thorp

The post Riata Buckle Run Breakdown with Dakota Kirchenschlager appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Roping for a living is kind of an ebb-and-flow process of peaks and valleys. It’s nice when you get on a roll, and ride that roll. I’ve ridden rolls for a year, when it seemed like roping was easy, and I didn’t even have to think about the process that much. Everything was just working, and I was winning, winning, winning. But that’s not always the case, and sometimes you hit a lull. At the bottom of that valley you have no confidence, because you haven’t been roping up to par. 

When you’re down in that low place, nothing comes easy. You’re searching for answers on how to get it all turned around, and as one of two partners on the team, that’s just your side of the equation. There’s the other person, the horses and every other component that’s part of your team, too. 

Learn from Clay O’Brien Cooper on Roping.com 

Jake (Barnes) is a great teammate, because he’s a non-stop whip, spur, we’re going to win, no matter what guy. David Key and Matt Tyler were like that, too, when I roped with them. Their optimism pulled me out of low places, because they were always exuding confidence that we were going to win. 

From 2009 to 2011, my daughters were graduating from high school, and I felt like I needed to be home. I rodeoed a little regionally around the house, jackpotted and amateur rodeoed quite a bit. But I didn’t try to go to the NFR (National Finals Rodeo). I went to enough rodeos in 2011 to get qualified into the 2012 winter rodeos, and started the 2012 season with the goal of making the Finals. 

When I made my comeback in 2012, I was really blessed to start roping with Chad Masters that spring. I have no clue why he roped with me. When we started roping together, I roped terrible. Chad was spinning me steer after steer, but I had my horse messed up and I was failing. 

Read: Clay O’Brien Cooper: Keep Challenging Yourself

I remember the drive to our first rodeo that Fourth of July run in Pecos, Texas. I was searching in my mind for how I was going to start roping two feet. I borrowed a horse back that I’d owned before, and on the way to Pecos—in the midst of despair and hopelessness—something clicked in my mind. I went back to a strategy and a pattern of what had worked for me years before. 

We got to Pecos, and BAM, we placed in both rounds and won second in the average. We went to Prescott (Arizona), placed in both rounds and second in the average. On to Cody (Wyoming), where we placed high in both rounds and won the rodeo. Third at Livingston (Montana). We were on fire, had the best Fourth of July we’d ever had, and it took us from down around 20^th to way up in the Top 15 almost overnight. Then we kept riding that wave, and winning about $5,000 every week. 

When Chad and I got to Labor Day week that fall, we won Ellensburg and Walla Walla (Washington), and the bonus that went to the team that won the most money at that year’s (ProRodeo) Tour rodeos. In that week, we won over $25,000. Then we went to Omaha (Nebraska) and Kansas City (Missouri), and won $22,000 at those two rodeos. That’s the week I bought LB from Kory Koontz. 

Read: Roping Progress Doesn’t Happen Overnight with Clay O’Brien Cooper

We won the NFR average, and Chad won the world. (Clay finished the reserve champ of the world, just $1,131 back of 2012 World Champion Heeler Jade Corkill). What an amazing year, and it all started at the lowest emotional and mental state I could find myself in. There’s always hope, if you’re willing to keep searching it out. It can all turn around in one moment, and if you just keep grinding, you’ll find the answer. 

Being in a deep, dark valley, then finding my answer like that has happened half a dozen times in my career. That’s when I ask the one I know has all the answers, and it’s funny how God leads us. Because I’m a Christian, He’s always the first and foremost part of the equation. But he doesn’t give us all the answers at one time. We have to walk it out day by day. We sometimes take wrong roads or get complacent, and we find ourselves in a place we don’t want to be. But if we are faithful and fierce, we can always search our way out and get back on track.

The post Winning When You’re Down appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

To fix a shouldering heel horse, I use the Heel-O-Matic ground-driven trainer to simulate a run while isolating the issue I need to address.

Don’t Move Until the Heel-O-Matic Moves

Wait until the dummy goes to cue your horse to follow the sled. I want my horse to work the Heel-O-Matic like a cutter works a flag—until the sled moves, I don’t want him to move. When it moves, I go ahead and ask him to lope behind it.

Nick Sartain is Coming to Roping.com in 2023 

Stay Wide

I want my horse to stay out wide through the corner, and I want to avoid him trying to cut across that corner as the steer turns because that collapses my pocket, messes up my timing and puts me in a bad spot. When that happens, here’s how I address it.

Stop Pushing

On the next lap around the arena, with the driver  in a square behind the Heel-O-Matic, if he starts to push across before the corner, I stop him and keep him in my hand the way I want. But before we turn in, I track the Heel-O-Matic for a full three turns around the arena—turning in only when I get to the same corner I’d turn in if it were a live steer. This ensures that I’ve got my leg in him and him picked up with the bridle reins to keep his shoulder up. 

Lift Up

At that last turn of the 4-wheeler, if I feel him starting to cut in and push on me on the corner, I stop him and lift him up. I’m not getting after him, but by stopping him and backing him off the dummy, that lets him realize that was harder than I wanted him to drive into the corner. I let him sit there and think about it. 

Time to Throw Your Rope

When we start again, I go ahead and go around the arena again for three turns of the 4-wheeler in a square, and if he feels good and I have control of his shoulders, I let him go to the steer and I rope.

The post Fix Your Shouldering Heel Horse appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Most people have only so much time to work on their roping, and there are so many things to work on. They break it down to their loop, their swing, their delivery, their angles, their position and their horsemanship. Obviously, their goal is to catch two feet. 

So, naturally, they work on the things that have to do with their swing and their loop, but they don’t realize that, in the process, they’re neglecting horsemanship. And that is what changes their position, their swing and their angles. You can’t be in good position and have bad horsemanship. Things will come up in a run that you have to adjust to, and you need to be able to do that on the fly, and you do that with horsemanship. 

Roping’s Much-Needed Horsemanship Refocus

Your riding affects your swing and your angles, and your position always affects your angles. If you get too close in the corner and have to pull back, that messes with your swing in the process. When you’re accelerating and then pulling back, your chin or your shoulders will go backward or forward, changing the angle on the tip of your rope. If you can’t hold your position coming into the corner, you’ll be too close and pulling, and then you’ll get behind and have to accelerate, and that will throw your torso forward and back and change your angles. People have decent horsemanship will just call it having discipline because they know to keep their position through the corner. 

What Makes a Winner: Heeler’s Edition

If your horse isn’t responding to your cues and you haven’t focused on it, you can be putting yourself through an obstacle course on the way to the steer. If your horsemanship and riding isn’t where it needs to be, you’re putting yourself through a physical challenge to keep your angles the same. 

I know people feel like they don’t have time to work on horsemanship, but they have to understand that it affects every other entity or segment of the run—even if you think your horse is push button or completely automatic. You are either training or untraining no matter how good that horse is.

Trevor Brazile’s Guide for Protecting Your Horse Investment

How do you work on your horsemanship? Make sure your cues on your horse mean something. So when you’re doing your dummy work, when you pull on the reins, make sure your horse isn’t getting hard or speeding up. He needs to come back to you. You need to stop him and teach him that patience. Don’t just heel because you can. Hold him in a pattern to where he can’t get all the way to the steer so it teaches him patience.

Money Well Spent: Investing in a Good Trainer

Whatever you’re doing on your horse, swing your rope in the process. Don’t separate riding and roping all the time. It’s muscle memory and core strength and stuff you can’t emulate anywhere else. It does take riding, simulation, keeping your angles and keeping your horse in your hands.

The post The Heeler’s Struggles appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Inevitably, team ropers think that the harder you pull, the harder your horse will stop. 

But when you’re pulling hard, so often your heel horse will peg his front feet into the ground and stop his front feet, which can stop your rope from staying open while going through the feet.

Steve Orth Has Won Four Futurities on Four *DIFFERENT* Heel Horses in 2022.

Outside the Run

To keep one from pegging on the front end, I steer stop on my heel horses to teach them to stay with the steer and keep their timing and slide. 

In the Run

When I’m in a run, my goal is to teach them to stay on the left hock coming around the corner, and that will keep them peddling into their stop. First, I am leading my horse through the corner rather than pulling or lifting through the corner. I keep my right leg into him to keep the left hock down through the corner. (If you use your left leg and your horse is trained correctly, you’ll kick his butt to the outside and lose your forward momentum.) 

I teach my horses to keep an arch through the corner with their nose and left hock the same direction—like they’re coming around a circle. They have that driving wheel that’s their left hock. The shoulder will be out of the way because they’re coming around the circle in line. They’re strong with the saddle horn to keep their shoulders up. And with their shoulders up, they can really take the jerk, and they can keep their front feet moving as they slide to a stop.

The post Get Your Heel Horse Peddling on the Front End with Steve Orth appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

How do you work on your horse and your roping at the same time? World Champion Matt Sherwood talks about how he approaches the corner on a horse that needs help through the turn and how he still is able to heel fast in the process.

The post Slowing Down the Run appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

What’s the best way to handle your nerves? Hunter Koch explains how he tackles high-pressure situations heeling.

MORE ABOUT ROPING.COM COACH HUNTER KOCH:

Hunter Koch is a standout young heeler with horsemanship and business savvy from Vernon, Texas. Having heeled for Thorp, Matt Sherwood, Kolton Schmidt and Luke Brown in his professional career, Koch understands what it’s like to ride great position and throw fast. He is the 2019 Canadian Team Roping Heeling Champion and went on to place in four rounds of the National Finals Rodeo that year.

BECOME A BETTER ROPER:

Roping.com is the online training resource for team ropers. In addition to thousands of videos and exclusive roping films in your back pocket, members get private access to World Champion coaches like Jake Barnes, Matt Sherwood, 26-time World Champion Trevor Brazile and more every day. Join now for only $29.95/month and take advantage of step-by-step tutorials, run critiques, private members-only Facebook group, live video demos and other benefits available exclusively to Roping.com members. 

Visit Roping.com to subscribe, or get your Key Card Max membership to get Roping.com with your Ariat World Series of Team Roping, USTRC and NTR cards!

The post Handling High-Pressure Situations with Hunter Koch appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

I wanted to talk through this set of pictures from the Lone Star Shootout because of the heeling position I’m riding throughout this run.

I was heeling behind Luke Brown, who absolutely gives a guy some of the most predictably great spins in the sport. And these photos show my best-case scenario for spacing and timing through the corner and into the finish.

Stop Beating Yourself With Billie Jack Saebens

Heeling Position Into the Turn:

I like how I’m close enough to the cow to where I can heel him but, at the same time, I’m still far enough away that I’m not running into him. I can see the steer and, if something bad were to happen, I still have enough space to react. Here, I have started to come into the turn, and the steer has already changed directions pretty good. I’ve got my hand picked up, and I’m not doing a whole lot with my feet. I’m holding my horse’s shoulders up through the turn. 

Heeling Position in Delivery:

I really like how my horse’s butt is down, and he’d tucked at his chin and not through his neck. That sure helps me get the loop down that you’re seeing right there. With his butt down and shoulders up, it makes my delivery a lot easier. You can see that he’s still moving and, with my loop not through the left leg yet, that keeps the loop going through. He’s stopping, but going forward, with his front feet walking through his stop. He’s staying forward enough in his stop to keep my loop going through the feet. 

Body Position Through the Corner with Billie Jack Saebens

Heeling Position With Patience:

At this point, I’m trying to not get too excited and dally too early. If I were to go to the saddle horn too fast, I’d lose a leg. I’m watching the cow, and trying to be reactive. Sometimes, you can tell if the header is letting up and you need to hold your slack longer. That’s about muscle memory right there. 

Pulling Slack:

This is really where I want him to stop. That keeps my loop open through the throw. Especially on that horse, his neck is so high. If I do pull on him early, his neck is in the way. I’m trying to be quiet with my left hand and not do too much with it. I’m trying to be quiet and get to the saddle horn. I don’t really know if it’s a good thing or not, but I separated my hands to take a little bit out of my slack. I’m pulling my coils out of my way to make more room for the saddle horn. Putting my hand to the left clears that out of the way for an easy path to the saddle horn. A lot could go bad doing that, but there’s slack in my left rein here. If you do too much, you could start your horse quartering. 

The Comebacks of Billie Jack Saebens’ Kevin

Horse Position in the Stop:

I like that my horse’s butt is still down when I’m dallying. That sets him up to take the jerk and finish the run fast. The saddle horn is lifted up, and the finish is stronger. That will keep him from getting sore because he’s taking the jerk with his butt still. 

The post Spacing Through the Turn with Billie Jack Saebens appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Situation: 

Round 3, Guymon (Oklahoma) Pioneer Days

Everybody got a walking fresh steer every run. This one was actually really good. He was trotting and waiting for us. We weren’t even trying to be fast. Chad did the same thing on all three of them, and he rode that new horse, Roy, that’s so fast. Chad just pushed forward every time. He made it easy for me to throw fast. We were just trying to make a run, and we were 7.4 right there. 

LISTEN: The Short Score: 2022 Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo Champions Chad Masters & Cory Petska

Result: 

7.4-second run to split third in Round 3, winning the average with a 22.1 on three head worth $4,912 a man

Breakdown:

Header:

Chad did an amazing job scoring. He was the easiest guy to heel behind there. He roped and pushed them forward, almost like in a practice pen breaking fresh steers in. I like all of my steers rolled, pushing forward. That’s the way Rogers handles them, too. That’s how I like heeling them, and Chad gives that same amazing handle and he’s fun to heel behind. It makes you feel like a real heeler when you can heel behind guys like that. 

READ: Chad Masters and Cory Petska Add First Guymon Pioneer Days Rodeo Championship to Resumes

Horse:

This is Annie (Driftin Orphan Annie), and right now she is the best horse that I’ve got that’s sound. She’s amazing in all aspects of her life right now. She’s 18, and I’ve always just jackpotted on her. But now she’s just coming into her rodeo prime. 

Position:

You couldn’t ask for a better position. Annie’s right to the inside for a clear shot of the steer’s legs. I stayed back and left the box the same time Chad did, and she’s so freaking fast that, when I needed to throw, she was already there. 

Left Hand:

I always have constant contact with the horse. When I leave the box, I never give her head back. I’m not pulling, but I have constant contact the whole time. 

Loop Size:

My loop size varies from horse to horse. I use a smaller loop on her because she’s free. On Chumle, I use a bigger loop because I need more forgiveness. But on Annie, I’m always ahead of the steer, so I can get the same big gate I like with a smaller loop. 

Legs:

Annie’s so broke that she’s up in my hand but I don’t have to kick. She’s so fast and so free that I don’t really have to push. 

Bridle:

This is just a ported Petska my dad makes. She just wants to be a little heavy in the front end, and with that bit she’s super light, so I have to barely pull to keep her up. She’s not naturally a big slider, so this bit is the help I need.

READ: The Roper’s Bit Man: Paul Petska

The post Walking Fresh: Winning Guymon Pioneer Days appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Some heelers tend to keep to the outside coming around the corner. That’s their style, and how they like it. Others want their horse to get to the inside as the steer squares up in the corner, so they’re on that left side and can see him clearly on the right side. The style of how you ride position is a personal preference, and there are pluses and minuses on both sides. 

READ MORE: Why Position Matters on the Heeling Dummy with Joseph Harrison

I started heeling pretty young, and I was watching and studying it before then. I didn’t really think about my position in the corner all that much in the early stages of my roping career. Most guys back then tended to get to the inside, and maybe even a little more to the inside to where they blocked ’em off. They used the old saying, “block and tackle.” Leo and Jerold Camarillo—who were the best heelers of that era—used that style to ride position. 

I can still see runs in my mind of Leo riding old Stick in the corner. It seemed like he would aim for the flanks or that last rib on the steer, and as they squared up, he’d be in there kind of tight. He’d let the steer start to move away gradually, and it was one-two-boom—make the shot. It was a very consistent style.

READ MORE: 5 Steps to a Better Heeling Position with Hunter Koch

When I started traveling a lot, and watching some of the younger guys, one I paid particular attention to was Rickey Green. He wasn’t afraid to ride to the outside and almost ride by. He was coming with his shot with the steer well to the left of old Cowboy. Rickey was kind of Helter Skelter, live by the sword, die by the sword. But that was just Rickey’s personality—to try and win first every time.

Another guy who impressed me from the first time I saw him when I was in my teens was Mike Beers. He rode that outside position out there to a certain point, but at the very last second let his horse make the move to the inside right at the right time. It was a precisioned, calculated way to ride the corner. 

READ: Key to the Heeling Delivery

As that steer squared up and left the ground that very first hop, Mike’s way of riding the corner had him in a spot for a quick shot. If the first hop didn’t look good, he could keep his horse moving and still have a good shot on the second hop. Sometimes Rickey’s style of being a little bit too high left him with only one shot, but Mike’s style was a little bit more forgiving. 

READ MORE: Crossfire King: Rickey Green

This all evolves as time marches on. I adopted my jackpot style from watching Leo, Jerold and Walt Woodard, who rode inside position. But when I transitioned into professional rodeoing, I thought Mike Beers’ style was the way to go, because it opened up the opportunity to rope the steer fast, but was also fine-tuned enough to give you a choice between the first, second or third hop, if you did it right.

That’s the work part of you and your horse dialing that corner in, so you’re on the same page. It separates you from the rest of the competition. No matter what kind of spin you’re getting, you’re in the right place at the right time and can close the deal by roping that son of a gun by two feet as fast as he can be roped, both fast and consistently without mistakes.

WATCH: Breaking the Heeling Barrier with Clay O’Brien Cooper

In our younger years when we were going into a new breed of guys like Rickey, Al Bach and me, it was about maximizing your opportunity by the way you rode your horses. If you look at the top guys then and now, they all get to the inside at the right time. 

I always loved to watch Rich Skelton ride his corner. He was just so good at being in the right spot when the steer turned back. Some guys are just naturally good at riding the corner. Others have to work at it relentlessly to get to that very top level of heeling that gets you the best headers. You’re not going to get those guys if you can’t ride your corner to set up a good quick, consistent shot. The best guys have it dialed in and make it look effortless. 

The post Corner Position: It’s Up to You appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

When you grow up riding horrible horses, they usually learn that you’re about to throw—that’s something I learned and relearned as a kid.

Slowing your rope down, or “floating it” is something I’ve done my entire life. I grew up on bad horses. My dad bought and sold a lot of them, and as soon as they got a little better, they went down the road. Even the horses I rodeoed on, I had to sell as soon as they got good to afford to keep going (with the exception of when I got to ride Diesel and Rooster from Randon Adams).

So, what is floating a heel shot?

Floating it is a way to deliver your rope to get in time in your delivery because you were not in time in your swing throughout the run. It’s slowing your rope down just enough to get back in time with the steer to hit the feet when you need to even if you’re out of time because your horse is not listening or not fully in the right position or speed.

How do you float a heel shot?

The main thing is that you have to have enough speed on it going down the pen and through the corner so that when you let off, your loop still makes it to where you want it to go through the feet. If you’re not swinging hard enough, it will land right in front of you and won’t do anybody any good. You have to have enough power on it and you’ve got to have your loop the size you want. You can’t feed through your delivery when you float it, because it won’t make it where you need it to go.

Slowing It Down vs. Floating It

Technically, I think the greatest heelers in the world slow it down when they throw a bit. Jade Corkill, Travis Graves, Junior Nogueira—I think they slow it down when they deliver, but it’s usually not because they’re out of time or their horses are out of time. They slow it down because if you’re swinging as hard as you can through your delivery, your loop will wad up at the feet. That’s just my opinion, but I wouldn’t say they float it because they are doing slowing their rope down just a bit to intentionally deliver the rope through the feet.

The post FLOAT IT! The Heel Shot You Don’t Want to Take But Just Might Have To. appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Joseph Harrison gives tips on how to avoid common mistakes people make when it comes to positioning your body near the Pipes:

I rope the Pipes a lot, and the more I help people rope, the more I use it. I see a lot of people making some easy-to-fix mistakes, though, when it comes to how you position your body close to the Pipes. 

Standing Too Far Away

One thing I see people do heeling the dummy is standing too far away, with too much angle on their heel swing. You’re leaning toward the steer if you’re too far away. Also, if you’re too far away with a steep angle on your rope, your tip is down. You go to throw, and you have no left-leg coverage. 

Mirroring Your Horse’s Body Position with Joseph Harrison

What I try to do is to get plenty close enough that my swing is up over the back, with the tip raised up. If it’s right down his back, I’ve got a chance of hitting him in the head with my tip. The steeper your angle is, the less coverage you have. If I’m high over his back, I get a lot of coverage for that left leg because I have a lot of coverage. 

The Strong Stop with Joseph Harrison

Standing Too Far to the Inside

People [also want] to rope the dummy too far to the inside, with their bodies too much at an angle toward the dummy. Your horse would have to really have his nose tipped to the inside and be pushing left for that to be realistic. A lot of times the steer will hit and come back to you, but if you’re going to throw from there, you’ve got to have even more tip coverage than if you’re square at him. If you’re too far to the inside, from that angle, there’s a lot more things that can go wrong. When we get square with him, if he comes inside, we’ve got a better chance of being able to follow him. If he pops outside, we can set it down and watch him get in it. But from too far right, and he pops away from us, our bottom strand will come up and our tip will fall and, if he picks that leg up, we’ll lose it. 

Controlling Your Horse’s Shoulders and Hips with Joseph Harrison

What I like better about being square with the Pipes and live steers: If I’m square with him, and my partner has him in tow and he takes off away from me, my rope has a better chance to be in the crease of both hocks. My bottom strand will come up and stay there if he’s got forward momentum to him. That will keep both legs [caught] on a steer.

The post Why Position Matters on the Heeling Dummy with Joseph Harrison appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Multitasking is an absolute necessity when you heel. It’s mandatory to your success, and it’s also what makes heeling fun, challenging and sometimes hard to do. You need to concentrate on several areas at the same time, and they have to be coordinated correctly for things to go smoothly.

One of the areas of this equation that I find myself helping people with most is how your horse’s stop coincides with your throw. Most of the top ropers are just really in tune with their horses and the timing of their stop. You very rarely see a horse short their throw out or be too free to the point that it affects their throw. Lower-numbered ropers don’t yet know how to make it come out right every time, which is a big factor in their lack of consistency.

READ: The Kind of Heel Shots That Build Confidence

A really good horse knows when he needs to stop based on feeling when you’re going to throw, and there are two ways to look at that. Do you just rely on that horse reading your body language as you start out of your swing to throw your loop? You can get away with that more if you’re really roping a lot, and your horse picks up that signal.

There can be a guessing game on both the horse and roper’s part in play, typically more so for ropers who maybe only get to practice a couple days a week. When Jake (Barnes) and I used to rope 80-100 steers a day, our horses were finely tuned into what was going on and the signals were clear.

I’ve also found that you can signal your horse to stop so it’s not a guessing game. You’re riding him, then you pick the bridle up, sit down in the saddle and cue your horse to stop right on time. You’re telling him right now is the time, so he’s not having to try and read your mind. That lets you control how you’re setting your shot up and asking your horse to stop.

WATCH: How To Have Confidence In Your Horse – Clay O’Brien Cooper

This really comes into play with guys who train horses. The last few years when I haven’t been rodeoing, I’ve been riding some young horses for myself. When starting that process of teaching them when to stop, giving them a clear signal is important. You’re helping your horse know when you want him to stop, and that’s an important process for lower-numbered ropers to learn.

READ: The Process of How We Learn with Clay O’Brien Cooper

The majority of lower-numbered ropers let their horses stop too quick. They ride their horses good until they start thinking about their throw and quit riding. Then that becomes a tipoff and a signal to their horses to stop too early, which in turn results in too much separation and sets off a domino effect that causes the run to go downhill. Others have horses that are too free. They lean forward and turn their horses loose with the bridle. So those horses dribble forward and don’t really get into their stop.

One of the main factors that top-level heelers are keen on is their horse’s stop being precisely connected with their delivery. That’s where the consistency comes from. Their horses aren’t late or early in their stop, but exactly on time in coordination with the delivery and the throw.

WATCH: The Heeler’s Grip – Clay O’Brien Cooper

WATCH: Loop and Coil Size – Clay O’Brien Cooper

If a high-level roper ever feels his horse gets too quick and stops too early, you’ll immediately see a correction. He won’t let that stand, and will correct that horse by squeezing with his legs and asking that horse to move forward after the run. A roper of that caliber knows what that feels like and how to keep it corrected, and he won’t let slip-ups go unnoticed. If a horse is too free, a top-level roper is going to pick that bridle up and back that horse up after the run to get that horse paying attention.

What I see over and over again with the lower-numbered guys is that there’s no correction, and that tells me that they don’t realize the importance of a horse stopping correctly on time—not too early or too late. These are the things you need to pick up on. Because your horse stopping in unison with your throw is what allows you to rope two feet over and over and over again. 

The post Multitasking is Mandatory in Every Run appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

We all preach the benefits of roping fundamentals. I’ll take that a step further by saying that if you have a fundamentally correct riding style, it’ll add to the longevity of your roping career.

When you heel, your horse is a big part of the athletic equation that helps you do the job. How we ride—our posture and our riding style—has a part to play in how long we get to play the game. With 20/20 hindsight, I can look back now and see that there are so many things in my career that God lined up perfectly for me, including me getting to see and learn the right things from the right people.

One important roping-career component was my riding style, which I copied from Leo Camarillo. Maybe because he was the greatest and so far above everyone else, but of all the ropers I watched as a kid, Leo was the one I tried to mimic.

I really loved Leo’s style of riding a horse. He was like a statue with his posture. He was right in the middle of his horse all the time, and the mechanics of his roping was just his right arm. Leo was always sitting straight up on his horse, so I copied that. And I think that’s one of the reasons I was able to have a long career in doing what I loved to do for a living, which was roping, jackpotting and rodeoing. I copied the right guy, and really made that the focal point of my riding style.

I always wanted to stay in the middle of my horse and have him help me do my job. When you do it that way, you’re maximizing your horse’s ability and minimizing getting all out of whack or getting off balance during the run.

I started roping horseback when I was 5 years old. Until I was about 15, I was fighting for strength, because I was so young. From 15 to my mid-50s, I felt like during all parts of the run—including making the corner and making the stop, where you have g-forces pulling on you—I had the strength I needed to do the job. Always practicing staying in the middle of my horse made making the NFR (National Finals Rodeo) in my mid-50s possible.

I see so many people who are out of position in their posture, and it causes them to get leaned out and thrown down or forward. So I teach ropers about correct posture, and explain to them how that helps you so much with your balance and counter-balancing your horse’s moves. Riding that way puts a lot less stress on your body.

Your horse is stopping when you’re throwing to make your catch. If you can’t keep your body where it’s supposed to be, it’s hard to connect with your delivery. If you practice with the correct posture and stay in the middle of your horse, you’re building your core strength.

Using your legs, hips and stomach muscles to stay centered is where it’s at. You sit down when you throw, and that counter-balances the stop, keeps you in your seat and lets your upper body stay in the correct position to make your catch, get your slack and dally.

Once we get our strength in our teens, we don’t think much about it until we start to lose it. That time comes for all of us. The best thing to do to prolong your prime is to keep riding your horse correctly. It pays dividends in your success, and increases the longevity of your career.

As I look back now on my career, I’ve just been very blessed. I’ve had some mentors who maybe didn’t even know they were mentors. I’ve always learned from watching others, whether it was how to rope right or how someone conducted his life. I’ve been a student, and have been fortunate to learn by witnessing the right people at the right time when it came to roping and living a good life.

I’ve always focused on my riding and my horsemanship. And now that I’m 60, I realize how important mimicking the right people has been to me in my roping career and in life. 

The post Your Riding Style Impacts Your Roping Longevity appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Through the Corner

At the end of last season, I felt like I was rushing my corner. I’d see the head rope go on, the steer’s head bend, and I’d attack the steer. I’d commit to the corner with my left hand too soon, and not have the discipline to hold my spot.

I would end up being on top of the steer and not being able to see both feet. I’m a firm believer in the fact that you can’t catch what you can’t see, and I couldn’t see two feet. I’d get on top of him, and I would see just the right leg or neither leg, and all I’d catch is what I was seeing.

I’ve really been working on seeing the steer through the corner and following the tail bone around the corner and shadowing what the cow’s doing. I don’t want to rush my hands, my body, my feet or my horse to get there too soon.

I can create a bad habit in my horse, too, from rushing the corner. He could almost get pushy through the corner because that’s pretty much what I’d been telling him to do. So while I’ve got to address the cause of the problem, I’ve also got to use the Smarty to dial my horse back down. I’ll let the Smarty make the corner, and then I’ll let my horse coast to it, keeping him in control and dialed back down the whole time. This could take some repetition, but it should address the problem on his end.

Pulling Your Slack

I’ve been working on being patient in pulling my slack, too. I want to see both feet go in the loop before I pull the slack. If I’m not patient, I lift the bottom off the ground before the steer goes in the loop. That also gets ahead of the horse, and the horse will try to catch up to you to help themselves. That will make him feel like he’s punching on his front and stopping with both feet at the same time instead of peddling. TRJ

The post Patience in the Corner appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

A friend of mine, Tallian Thompson, owns this 6-year-old stud, Goin Down For Real, and he wants to be able to ride this horse later on in his career. We were lucky enough to get Corey Cushing to ride him last year, and he was successful in the hackamore. When we were at the Royal Crown in February, he’d probably only had 50 steers heeled on him. So in this series of shots, I’m not trying to ask him for the best he can do in every single run—I want him smooth through his stop and taking the jerk smooth to set him up for the rest of his career, so when I do get further along, I can ask him for a little more. Less is more on a younger horse, and you can make them look further along than what they are by just staying smooth in your riding.

 1) I’ve got my left leg in him to keep him round through the turn, keeping his shoulders and rib cage picked up. I helped him just a little bit to the inside—a little earlier than if I were rodeoing. I want him locked in on the left hip all the way through the turn. He’s so trained to stay in that spot from doing the cow horse, because I’m not even touching his face right there.

2) His body is in a great spot. He’s not going to stop off my rope just yet, and I probably pulled on him more than I want to in this shot. I like where his shoulders are and where his left hind leg is up underneath him. That’s where the power comes from to get him set up to take the jerk correctly.

3) He’s in the middle of his stop right now trying to get completely stopped. I’m trying to stay quiet on him, because he’s really good-minded but on the green side. I’m trying to just let things happen rather than force something to happen. I don’t want him to have a huge, big stop as much as I want him to stay in the same spot and take the jerk. The big stop will come with these fundamentals.

4) He’s back down in this picture more than I’d want him to be. I’d like for him to be more elevated on the front end, but he keeps moving his front feet, which allows him to never take your throw away. That’s his natural feel and I don’t know if I’ll get it out of him. I try to sit back in the saddle after I throw anyway, to where it looks better if I’m sitting down, allowing me to find the horn in the same spot. I am just trying to get to the back of the saddle and let it happen.

 5) The goal is for their feet not to move after the dally, so I maintain tension on the reins. With this horse being a hair greener, I pulled on him more to make him stay in his stop. On a seasoned show horse, I try not to touch them at all. I don’t want them backing up or moving forward. Teaching them to back up teaches them to peg their front feet through their stop, which can—in the long run—create soundness issues and take your throw away. TRJ

The post The Kind of Heel Shots That Build Confidence appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

The heeling delivery can be tricky. Walt Woodard breaks down the key to the heeling delivery for ropers the help maximize their catching percentage. 

The post Key to the Heeling Delivery appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Walt Woodard has worked on his team roping day in and day out. That is why he knows what steps a header needs to take to perfect the heading swing. 

The post Walt Woodard’s Four Steps to the Heading Swing appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

When I’m getting ready to go compete on a young horse, I want to spend the week leading up to the competition making sure my horse’s basic fundamentals are in place.

I want him free, functioning correctly and watching the cow. I want him connected to the steer and not over-anticipating me throwing and wanting to cut in.

When we get to the roping, everything will speed up and our reactions will get quicker, and that can lead into the horse if we have him too sharp in the practice pen.

Position down the arena

I’m going to make sure he’s in the right spot and keeping his spacing the whole way down the arena, not getting too close to the steer but not jumping out too wide, either.

Learn: 5 Steps to a Better Heeling Position with Hunter Koch

Connection to the steer

I want to make sure he’s paying close attention to the cow through the corner as I turn in, keeping good distance so I can keep the feet in sight and keeping his shoulders up and his hips down.

Listen: Ready for Pressure: Knowing When Your Green Horse is Jackpot Ready 

Free through the throw

I want him to stay free for two or three or four hops. I want him to relax across the pen, keeping his feet moving by pushing him up with my legs and keeping my left hand up and forward.

Settled in the stop

I’m not going to cram him into the ground when I heel the steer and hold my slack up. I’m not going to dally and take the jerk.

This way, he will have the basic fundamentals where they need to be to allow me to win. 

Watch: Colt-Starting Series: Introducing a Stop

Learn more from Hunter Koch on Roping.com

The post Green Horse Gameday Checklist appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.

Walt Woodard has perfected the heeling swing. In this video, Woodard shares the team roping heeling swing drill he uses to help ropers take the next step in their roping. 

The post How to Get the Team Roping Heeler’s Swing appeared first on The Team Roping Journal.