There are two sides to the coin when it comes to the conversation about one head horse’s ability to handle every setup. And for me, a lot of it’s a timeline issue. In my heyday, most of us had one horse and rode him everywhere. But it seems to me that if you want to be a world-class header in today’s world, you need more than two good ones. There are so many more ropings now. The guys in Texas jackpot against each other every day of the week, and might go rope at Cowtown in Fort Worth on the weekend when they’re home. So the number of runs alone is too much for one horse.
In our day, you could take a younger, greener horse to the jackpots and season him. But that’s a thing of the past with all the pressure at those ropings now. You need a phenomenal horse to be able to compete out there today. When you’re making 3- and 4-second runs, the heat is on every time.
There have been some great head horses over the years. Mark Arnold’s Rebel was a phenomenal rodeo and jackpot horse. Charles Pogue’s Scooter was great everywhere, with scoring and running being his strengths. Then there was Bobby Hurley’s Spiff, and Steve Purcella’s Butterbean. Tyler Tryan’s Walt was great at the rodeos and the jackpots, and the horse he rode everywhere for a long time. In my opinion, how well he scores is what makes a head horse great, and those horses all scored great.
My old horse Bullwinkle was a phenomenal rodeo horse back in the day. He didn’t score the greatest, but he was tough as iron. The cattle were really big back then, and he was really strong and had bulldogging horse speed. If you could just get him out of the barrier, he’d give you a chance to win. You were actually better off on Bullwinkle if you didn’t draw the loper.
I helped Leo (Camarillo) win a championship on Bullwinkle, and won my first three gold buckles with Clay (Cooper) riding him. But Bullwinkle was not a good jackpot horse, because it was too hard to get out of the barrier on him making that many runs. You could count on him to come unraveled in the box before the day was done.
The year Clay and I set the record at the NFR (with 59.1 on 10 in 1994), I was riding a green horse that had never been to a rodeo. He was talented, but had never been roped on under pressure. He didn’t have the experience to want to get quick and duck. I could take a downtown start, and he let me run up there to them. I basically had to rein him off to turn the steers. He could barely pull those big old steers, but it made it easy for Clay to heel them.
Speed Williams had great situational horses in his career. I don’t remember him riding Viper all that much during the regular season, but he was one of the all-time great NFR horses. Then there was his long-score jackpot horse Bob, who would not have fit the Thomas & Mack like Viper, but was really good at a lot of other places.
Speed was good at managing his horses, and I think most guys today are better at doing that than we were. They realize how valuable they are, and there are just so many more things you can do for your horses today. When we were going hard, our horses got hay and grain. There’s a supplement for everything now. And generally speaking, guys are smart enough to take good care of the horses they earn a living on. And to have more than one in the trailer.
The World Series (of Team Roping) has done a good job of leveling the playing field and making conditions consistent for recreational ropers, who can have a ton of success on one head horse. What’s always been the case for all team ropers is that a good horse that fits you is the No. 1 key to winning. And until they make a robotic head horse, we better take care of the horses that take care of us.
—TRJ—
More from Jake Barnes
- Can One Head Horse Do It All?
“You need a phenomenal horse to be able to compete out there today.” - Rope Horse Futurities Have Raised the Bar
“There have never been more good horses out there, and these rope-horse futurities is where so many of today’s standouts got their start.” - There’s More to Life Than Gold Buckles
“What we win does not define who we are as people.” - It’s Anybody’s Ballgame Now
Today’s professional team roping world is booming, and I hope the big dogs get how great it is as it just keeps gaining ground. When we first started roping for a living, we had Odessa and Denver to kick off the year before Scottsdale, Tucson and Phoenix, then the California spring run before summer. There… Read more: It’s Anybody’s Ballgame Now - Picking a Four-Legged Partner for the NFR
“It takes a special horse to succeed there, and it felt like I was always in search of him.”
