Situation:
Short round at the Wildfire XXII Open to the World in Hamilton, Texas.
Time:
6.95 seconds
Outcome:
Won the roping with a time of 51.54 seconds on six head, worth $12,000 a man.
Setup
The steers were strong, and they had the barrier out there a little bit. It was a survival type roping. The conditions weren’t easy. Guys had to try and stayed hooked and complete the course.
a) HIGH CALL:
I think we had to be 8-something to win. I don’t back in there telling myself where I’m going to throw, but I was telling myself to be aggressive. I just wanted to take my first good throw, but be aggressive at the same time. In the past, I’ve done the opposite—maybe take an extra swing when it wasn’t necessary. For me, it’s hard to live with myself knowing that I safetied up when I didn’t have to.
Even though we had to be 8, Charly scored good, turned him right there and I came around and thought I had a good throw, so I took it and thankfully it worked out.
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b) STEER:
This was probably the best steer we drew that day. He ran medium, straight—right down the pen. Charly did a good job of just setting him up and it came together good. He took the handle good. I wasn’t going to plan on being overly aggressive, but I wanted to take my first throw. His feet came together good so in the turn I went ahead and fired it.
c) HANDLE:
Charly did a good job all day. When steers are strong like that and bigger, the header is the biggest part. He did a good job of setting them up and making my job as easy as possible on those types of steers.
d) LOOP:
I have my bottom strand down, which is something that I constantly work on. I try to be cautious about getting enough bottom strand on the ground. Sometimes I have a tendency to put it in front of the feet too much. You can tell right here that I have enough bottom strand down on the ground, which allows your loop to work the right way and you don’t slip as many feet.
e) DRAGO:
He looks good there. He’s collected and under himself. A big part of what I look for in a picture is that he’s pedaling with his front feet. That’s crucial. Somebody might pick a really cool picture of a horse that’s stopping hard, but both front feet are sticking straight forward. They’re punching a little bit more in the front end. He’s pedaling in the front, which allows me more time to finish my delivery and it’s easier to dally.
[Read: Crawford and Medlin Win Wildfire XXII Open to the World]
f) FEEL:
I’m kind of squeezing with my feet as I’m delivering, which helps keep him pushed up. That all comes from riding with your feet, which is something that I work on.
g) HANDS:
My left hand is up because from my last full swing I cue my horse to start getting into a stop by pulling on the bridle reins a little bit. Both hands are up. My left hand has contact on my bridle reins, which is going to help him stop. At the same time, it goes back to me wanting to cue the stop, but I don’t want him to stop too hard. I think a lot of that comes from practicing on them. They know they have to start getting into their stop, but they have to be forgiving at the same time.
[Read: Headed to Arlington: Wyatt and Medlin Win RFD-TV’s The American Semi-Finals]
h) BODY POSITION:
I had a really bad habit for a long time of leaning back too much in my delivery. By doing that, it makes a guy set a trap in front of the feet rather than get the bottom down on the ground. It’s something that I’ve worked on for a long time and I still have to work on staying up through my delivery and trying to stay square. It looks like in this picture, I was able to stay forward and, by doing that, it helps keep your horse pushed up. It looks good that I was squarer in my delivery, and I wasn’t leaning back too soon.
