We’re all hardwired a certain way, and not all the same. I always had a tendency to rope too fast. I had a clock in my head that never stopped ticking. I paid attention to what was going on in the roping—where the leaders were, and where I was sitting—which will sometimes cause you to make mistakes. I recognized early on in my roping career that that urgency and my tendency to overdo it to keep up with or pass the leaders was a weakness for me.

I had a lot of success heading when I was young. But my stepdad Geno (Gene O’Brien) made me start heeling because he wanted to head for me at the big ropings there in California and Arizona. He made the decision that I was going to heel, and that was that. That’s when I started figuring out how to heel, because that’s what I was allowed to do. 

When I started heeling, I was winning with guys like Danny Costa. But I didn’t do as good with my dad, because he was slower. I wanted to win with my dad so bad. I wanted him to be happy, and I wanted that pat on the back from my dad. But I would always mess up heeling for him, because I was trying to overdo it. 

I felt like I had to pick up the pace to make up time, and it caused me to make mistakes. But it taught me a valuable lesson, because I realized it was a weakness. I wanted to overachieve instead of just doing my job. Learning this lesson early on has served me very well in my career. 

When I was a kid, the Roers Ropathon was a big deal in Arizona, and it included a father-son roping. I roped with my dad, and made myself stay in check and just go rope my cattle instead of trying to help us keep up with the leaders. I just did what I could do on each steer, and bam, we won the roping. My dad was so proud, and I was so happy. That lesson of just doing what I could do has stayed with me my whole career. 

One year at the BFI in Reno, I came back second high team with Tee (Woolman). I safetied up a little and took an extra swing or two to make sure I caught our last steer. Mark Arnold and Rickey Green came back high team, and won the roping. We won a big check. And more times than not it served me well to just not make a mistake. But making a mistake in a crucial situation was the worst feeling in the world for me, so I made sure.

Learning my tendencies early on was a good thing, and to this day I try to make a decision, then stay hooked without letting my emotions get me off track. Because that’s when I make a mistake, and that’s a lost opportunity.

I remember another example of this when I was practicing at Clay Tryan’s one time. He was roping with someone who in my mind is one of the top five heelers of all time. His trademark was roping on the first hop more than anybody consistently. He knew that was his tendency, and he was asking me what he could work on to maybe not do that all the time. I told him I thought his ability to do that was his greatest strength. And that if he didn’t want to throw fast, he could mess up his corner so bad that he couldn’t throw. Then he’d be throwing about the same time I do. We both laughed.

We all evaluate our own strengths and weaknesses. The challenge for each of us personally, even though we’re all different, is to engage in that battle and work on being better by conquering our weaknesses. Making a mental note, and loading that information into your pregame plan is a strength. Because going in mentally prepared is part of your game. And when we overcome our weaknesses, we give ourselves the best chance to win.

—TRJ—