Through the Corner

At the end of last season, I felt like I was rushing my corner. I’d see the head rope go on, the steer’s head bend, and I’d attack the steer. I’d commit to the corner with my left hand too soon, and not have the discipline to hold my spot.

I would end up being on top of the steer and not being able to see both feet. I’m a firm believer in the fact that you can’t catch what you can’t see, and I couldn’t see two feet. I’d get on top of him, and I would see just the right leg or neither leg, and all I’d catch is what I was seeing.

I’ve really been working on seeing the steer through the corner and following the tail bone around the corner and shadowing what the cow’s doing. I don’t want to rush my hands, my body, my feet or my horse to get there too soon.

I can create a bad habit in my horse, too, from rushing the corner. He could almost get pushy through the corner because that’s pretty much what I’d been telling him to do. So while I’ve got to address the cause of the problem, I’ve also got to use the Smarty to dial my horse back down. I’ll let the Smarty make the corner, and then I’ll let my horse coast to it, keeping him in control and dialed back down the whole time. This could take some repetition, but it should address the problem on his end.

Pulling Your Slack

I’ve been working on being patient in pulling my slack, too. I want to see both feet go in the loop before I pull the slack. If I’m not patient, I lift the bottom off the ground before the steer goes in the loop. That also gets ahead of the horse, and the horse will try to catch up to you to help themselves. That will make him feel like he’s punching on his front and stopping with both feet at the same time instead of peddling. TRJ