Winning the Seventh Round at the 2019 NFR with Cody Snow

Cody Snow breaks down his and Wesley Thorp's seventh round win and the fastest time at the 2019 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

SITUATION: Seventh round at the 2019 Wrangler NFR

Time: 3.6 seconds

Outcome: Won the round and won the average at the 2019 Wrangler NFR.

The 2019 National Finals Rodeo Average Champion Header Cody Snow. Jamie Arviso Photo

a) The Round:

Going into it, I guess we had a good steer. It was a real soft round. We didn’t draw very good, so I wanted to take advantage of having a good steer. I wanted to stay with my game plan without having a “Hail Mary” run. I got a good enough start so I could take my first shot and opportunity. I just made sure I didn’t hit the steer too hard and let Wesley heel him fast and it shaped up really fast. My horse worked really good and his horse worked really good—kind of the perfect run. It went exactly how you’d want it to go.

b) Annie:

She scored really good and she really kept the steer’s head faced straight. She was as perfect and as automatic as she could have been right there. She was out of my way and let me rope but didn’t cheat me at all. She felt great. She has enough speed as a fast horse, but gives you a slow horse feel. She’s fast enough to catch any of the steers but she’s easy enough to rope on. It’s hard to find horses that have enough run but also are easy to just catch on. That’s why I wanted to ride her. She doesn’t duck and going at a steer on her is just making a good, controlled run because she’s so snappy. There’s not a lot of wasted movement when you ride her.

[READ: Eliminate Wasted Motion with Cody Snow]

c) Left Hand:

I am just trying to get out to the front of that steer. I knew he was going to hang on it so I didn’t want to come back up the arena and make a “V.” I wanted to get straight to where, when he heeled him, we were going to get a flag right away—no hesitation. I just roped that steer and got my rope tight and pulled him out the front because I knew he was going to hang at the end of it. I just wanted to get up to where Wesley could keep kicking and heel him—just kick through there.

[READ: Bit Pick with Cody Snow]

d) Wesley:

He got around him good. He got far enough down the arena. I could see where he was so I knew that if I turned him and got him legal, we were going to be straight from each other. He was in a great spot and I knew he had him heeled.

e) Steer:

He was a softer steer. He was dead straight and got hung on the end of the rope. I knew there wasn’t much to it, once I got a good wrap around the horns I tried to pull him across the arena. He wasn’t much of your standard steer.

[READ: The BENEFITS of a team roping Warm-Up Routine with Cody Snow]

f) Mentality:

I try to keep a pretty even mindset all week. I tell myself to try not to get out of my element too much trying to win. It’s hard watching teams win a lot of money in the beginning of the week and you aren’t winning money. This year I just told myself that, no matter what, I’m not going to change what my plan is. It’s just roping the steer whenever it feels comfortable. The good ones you’re going to win big checks on and then decent ones you’re going to win smaller checks on and some people are going to win big checks on decent steers, but they also might go out of the average. My goal this year was to win the average and that’s what we went for. When we make a good run on a good steer, we’re going to win a check. There’s no use in taking ourselves out. I just tried to keep that mindset.

[Listen: The Short Score: Season 3, January 28, 2020 with Snow and Eaves]