Number and End 

I’m a 5 heeler. 

Louisiana Ropings

We can go to a roping every weekend. We don’t have the little jackpot ropings during the week. When you get east of the Mississippi, you’re dealing with the blue collar people that work eight to 10 hours a day, Monday through Friday, and they’re off every other weekend, so they don’t go to ropings during the week. And they have to pick and choose where they go on the weekends. But if the horses are sound, we’re going every weekend. 

Favorite Roping

They’re kind of all my favorite because I love to rope. If I miss, sometimes I start laughing and smiling, and you know, I’m not laying in a hospital bed dying of cancer and I’m able to work every day to provide for my family, and to go up and down the road and do what we love to do. 

For the Love of TR

It’s an addiction. I’ve always been just obsessed with it and the horses. When all the kids were partying and going out and getting drunk all through high school and high school rodeo, I didn’t do that. I didn’t care. I wanted to rope.

Anticipation

I never try to take my eyes off that steer. My biggest pet peeve as a heeler is if you don’t get a start and help your header, it never sets your run up correctly. And so many of ’em will sit there and let the steer get to the right fence. You can’t do that. Learn how to get out. When that gate cracks, when that steer’s head drops, my horse, Bucky, reads the cow. He’s leaving. And I will not track a steer across the pen. Every horse I ride stays high and tight, and when that steer bends his head, my horse is squared up. And that’s where I rope.

Daddy’s Girl

My dad, Bobby Keeble, roped. He died in January, but one of the greatest last memories of him is when we were roping. ‘Ol Booger (Bobby) Barter came to Florida and had a truck roping. In one of the rotations, me and Daddy won the fast time and Booger gave us rope bags. To this day, I still carry that same rope bag. And it’s just a plain, black rope bag. Nobody knows.

Passing it On

I always said I wanted to have that for my daughter, Brandi Hines, and we had that at Oklahoma City in the All-Girl. We won the incentive at the Finals. All we had to do was basically stop the clock. And as soon as she roped, our steer just cut her horse off and she roped her front leg. I kept telling her, you know it’ll come together. Don’t worry, it’ll come together. We rope too good together and Daddy always said, just keep going, it’ll happen. Then, at the Patriot this year, we did wind up winning second, and it was wonderful.