As roping’s gotten so fast at every level—and I’ve transitioned from not being out there competing at the highest level—I’ve discovered a crack in my armor that I need to fix. I’ve been guilty the last few years of staying so focused on my horses and roping for them that I stopped roping for me. That all-or-nothing mentality is not where it’s at, so my New Year’s resolution is to make a change.
I buy and sell horses, and the roping public needs solid, honest horses that are good in the box and let you rope and handle cattle. So I’ve naturally spent a lot of time slowing things down. I’m a true believer in riding good horses and keeping them tuned up. But I watch so many roping videos all the time, and I can see in the ones of me that it’s all about the horses.
When it comes to competing now, I basically go to two major events—Salinas (California Rodeo; the only five-header in the PRCA, where they also have a PRCA gold card roping) and the (Ariat) World Series (of Team Roping) Finale. Other than that, it’s just a few little jackpots and amateur rodeos here and there.
I watch all these kids rope at a very high level, like Clay (Cooper) and I did in our prime, and it got me to wondering how I can expect to beat anybody when I practice going slow all the time and all the other ropers are going fast at least some of the time.
I’ve changed my mindset from only roping for the horses, and being a horse trainer and tuner, to purposely roping for myself sometimes, like I used to. While I’ve been in horse mode, I’ve very seldom tried to rope fast or reach and stick it on ’em. I’ve been reminding myself on a regular basis to turn up the heat sometimes, so I don’t lose the ability to go fast.
I chuckle to myself about this, because I don’t even really know where I’m going to use roping fast anymore. But if I only go slow, I will get left behind. And nobody wants that.
In our prime, I had practice horses for what I’m talking about here—roping for myself. And I worked at reaching and going fast all the time. My main concern was for my roping. I’ve gone the extreme opposite direction in recent years, and my brain’s gotten so programmed to only rope for the horses that I forgot to keep my roping sharp and to work on keeping my full roping range going.
I don’t remember tuning all the time when I was younger. I scored some steers, but I don’t remember working on freeing my horses up all the time. Then I went from one extreme to the other. It happens over time. Then you stop and realize that “use it or lose it” is a thing, and the ability to rope fast won’t just sit there on the shelf indefinitely if it never gets put into action.
The talent out there these days is off the charts. I was in Wickenburg (Arizona) this winter, and some of the kids will crossfire on the first steer when the entry fees are $500 a man. That’s mind-blowing to somebody like me, who’s roped for a living all these years. They have no fear. And I realize I was just like them at that age.
I tried to crossfire one in practice the other day just for fun. The shot was there, so I took it. I’m trying to make myself do stuff like that. I don’t want to forget what it’s like to be a kid, where you start reaching in the dummy roping. That’s all these little ropers practice now—reach, reach, reach. Then they watch the NFR and big rodeos, and watch the big boys reach, reach, reach.
On the heeling side, the kids rope that Fast Lane (dummy). All day long, the headers are reaching to the end of it. Then the heelers rope that thing right in the switch. They learn early to go fast. It’s all they see and do, so it’s just normal for them.
I’m fixing to turn 67 next month, but I still want to be competitive and to keep trying to better myself. I’ve seen Walt Woodard step up to the plate and get right back in the mix, and he’s older than I am. But if you don’t try to keep up with the Joneses, you’re going to be the guy who gets left behind.
—TRJ—
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