Your perspective in a run—how you see things, and what you’re looking for—is important. We sometimes hear different people who teach team roping tell us to focus on a certain spot. It might be the right horn, left horn or back of the head for headers, and things like the right hock, top of the hips or whole picture for heelers. I’ve heard all of these things, and that’s what works for those people. But issues sometimes arise when we take what works for others literally and it doesn’t work for us.
For instance, if you hear someone say you have to see the feet to catch when you’re heeling, you might develop the habit of waiting to throw until you can see both feet. As I look back on my career, when I was a little kid learning to heel, I hardly ever saw the feet until the steer was starting to go into the loop, because I had to ride up against the steer.
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That was kind of the style back then. Leo and Jerold (Camarillo) would overlap their horse’s shoulder with the steer’s hips, and stay in that position for two to three jumps looking for their timing and their shot. They perfected heeling a steer by two feet every time doing it that way in that era.
They could rope two feet all day every day. But from that tight position, you really can’t see the feet until the steer’s jumping into your loop, because you’re looking at the top of his back and hips. And if a steer gets heavy and wants to drag and you’re riding that position, you can’t see his feet very good. You just know where those feet are from where that steer’s hips and top of back are.
If you watch the top ropers of today on the Cowboy Channel, you see when they hit the corner that the steer isn’t way out in front of them with the feet in clear view. Their horse is up against the hip of the steer for just a moment. The top ropers learn to read what’s going on, and to see the timing and the shot they’re about to take from that top view and rope the steer as the feet come into sight. That’s how they’ve learned to use their eyes.
That rodeo shot is a lot like the shot from Leo and Jerold’s day of throwing as the steer is separating from them and the feet are coming into view. A lot of times you don’t see the feet the whole time.
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In my career, I was always comfortable with that top view and looking at the whole picture. If I can see the feet, fine. If not, that’s fine, too. I never felt like I had to wait to see the feet. You know right where the feet are based on looking at a steer’s back and the top of his hips. They show you his timing and where his feet are.
I used to buddy quite a bit with Kory Koontz. His analogy of roping a steer was basically opposite of mine. He talked about roping a steer on separation, and I always explained that I roped a steer on the gain. But we were actually trying to set up the exact same shot, even though we were looking at the mountain from opposite sides. I rode my horse to gain and get there, and not beat me out of a shot. Kory basically rode to the same shot, then saw his shot in the separation. We were both doing the same thing, just looking at it from different perspectives.
That’s the thing that’s kind of intriguing about roping. I watch all kinds of runs online, and what guys say about their runs. I think that’s so cool, because it gives you information on how they’re looking at it. I just love breaking down perspectives and knowledge, because in doing that, I find different bits and pieces that will work for me.
WATCH: Heeling Fundamentals Collection on Roping.com
Position is one of the key elements you have to figure out and control. One of the misconceptions for lower-numbered ropers is they want to have cattle out in front of them too far. When I ask why they’re in that position, they tell me they want to see the feet. But to get to be a high-level roper, you have to be up over the steer and able to throw from there. The top ropers set up their position closer than the end of their range—when they’re not able to see the steer’s feet clearly—and are still able to calculate and pinpoint a great shot.
—TRJ—
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