STOP THE POP OFF with Hope Thompson

Ah-ha moment

One day, I was at a photo shoot for Heel-O-Matic, and Chad Masters saw me roping the dummy. He came to me and said, “Hey, can I show you something?” I said, “Absolutely.” We roped the dummy together, and he told me I was roping a steer like a calf, and not really roping the horns. He showed me how to turn my rope over at the right horn, and it stepped up my heading from that moment on.

BREAKING IT DOWN

Your rope should turn over under the right horn. If you take a kid who has been roping calves, their hondo would turn over past the left horn and they wonder why they can’t catch the horns. It’s got to turn over behind the right horn.

DELIVERY POINT

It’s your delivery point-if your rope is turning over at the left horn, then you aren’t covering your right horn in your swing. You’ll let go and split the horns, and it can split them both ways. Sometimes you just throw to the right one. Sometimes, you’ll throw it where it’s turning over and you’ll rope the left one. You’ve got to turn it over on the right and pull across the left. That means you’re covering both horns in your swing. If you’re turning it over in the right spot, you can deliver at any time. You don’t have to change the speed, the angle, the momentum to deliver. All you have to do is let go of your rope.