Ep 120: Reframing Your Approach to Roping
Back in the competitive days of my rodeo career, I worked both ends of the arena–roping calves, team roping, and riding saddle bronc horses. While my rodeo career is much more casual these days, I still spend a lot of time in the roping pen training horses and helping other ropers refine their skillset.
One of the most common conversations that pops up in the roping pen has to do with how we approach practice. Oftentimes, when someone comes to me for roping advice, they are having trouble catching consistently. Naturally, they ask me to watch their swing, analyze their delivery, or fine-tune another portion of their performance. But, what is happening with their rope is usually not the true source of the problem. Instead, I always look at the horse first.
Have you ever noticed that some people rope really well on one horse, and not-so-great on another? When your horse is in the proper position, roping consistently becomes quite simple.
However, many ropers have challenges keeping their horses in that correct position consistently.
Many ropers are in search of that ‘big stop’ from their horses. In pursuit of the big, flashy stop, horses have a tendency to get short or ‘front-endy,’ making the roper’s job that much more difficult. Keeping your horse’s front end freed up is a big component of getting that nice stop.
To some, this might seem contradictory– ‘how do I get a big stop when part of my horse is still moving?” When your horse’s front feet stay loose, it allows the back end to slide up underneath the horse, creating a nice, fluid stop. When your horse has a fluid stop, it allows you (the roper) to stay in a proper body position throughout your delivery.
Roping consistently is an area that we worked on in-depth at a recent private clinic I had with Mike and Rayne Grant and Paula Cooper. You can hear more about our experiences and discussions in Ep 117: Incorporating Fundamentals into Your Training Program and Ep 118: Preparation and Confidence.
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