For Sherry Robinson, 66, team roping and catching two feet is just about her favorite thing to do.
“We try to rope about every night of the week in the summer,” Robinson said of herself and her roping partner and husband, Gaylon. “I enjoy it. I started out heeling and then I headed for a while, but oh man, I tell you what, heeling is just a gas. You rope two feet and it’s just awesome. You can’t hardly explain it. It’s addictive.”
Robinson, a 3 roper on both ends who also runs barrels and competes in breakaway, has won plenty in each of her disciplines, but her 2012 Cruel Girl win tops her career highlights. Well, that, and roping with her nephew, recent winner of RFD-TV’s The American, four-time NFR qualifier Coleman Proctor.
“I roped in the Pro Am with him at Hugoton (Kansas) last year. They draw your partners and I drew him last year and I was like, ‘Alright! We get to rope again together!’ And we’ve won a whole lot of places. He’s a great teacher, too. That’s the great thing about Coleman. He’s so much fun to be around and he can get things across to you pretty easy.”
For Robinson, who was spared March’s flooding but has spent most of her winter digging out of different snowstorms, roping weather can’t come soon enough to her Cimarron, Kansas, home.
“I want to get more consistent in my delivery and work on my horsemanship. I mean, I like to heel, cause it’s a gas. But, back when I started roping, you just roped with the Open guys. Now, I’ll heel in all the lower number ropings and some of the higher numbered roping I’ll head for some of those good heelers. It just depends, but I’m not getting any younger so, just keep going forward. That’s what I’m thinking.”
By the NUMBERS
60 Robinson’s age when she won the 2012 Cinch Cruel Girl Championships.
$1.32 The amount by which Robinson missed the KPRA Breakaway Finals one year.
2nd Since she missed the KPRA breakaway mark, she went ahead and ran barrels and ended up winning second in the average on her breakaway horse.
4 The number of parts Robinson has had replaced—two knees and two hips—none of which slow her down.
3 How many months it took Robinson to get back in the saddle after hip surgery.
40-plus The number of years Robinson has been team roping.
