A lot of times, people come and ask me if I know of any heel horses for sale because they’re not happy with how their horse is working. That’s when I ask them a question of my own. "Are you sure?" I ask. "Have you done everything you can to help your horse in his stop?"
There are ways you can adjust your heel horse by simply riding differently. I have a great drill with Smarty or any sled that can help. With Smarty’s legs, I can rope and hold my slack or rope and dally, whichever helps me work on my horse’s finish.
Most heelers let off with their feet as they prepare to throw. Then as the steer moves away, they don’t get enough loop delivered. Even if you follow through really well, sometimes your horse is stopping so hard and the steer is moving away so fast that you’re simply going to catch a right leg. So here’s the drill for those right-leg blues; it has really helped my students that were getting trapped as their steer moved away too fast.
Start out at only a walk or a trot following the sled. Get your horse in position and then make sure you squeeze your legs as you deliver. As you pull your slack, go with the sled a couple of strides more at the same speed as its traveling. Let your rope slide and then stop your horse and dally.
The first time or two when you lean forward to deliver, your horse will probably try to stop abruptly. But as you learn to squeeze with your feet, you’ll get that horse to take a step or two with his front legs as he stops. Naturally, the goal is not to kick your horse out of his stop in the rear end. But doing this at a walk or trot doesn’t hurt anything.
Has your horse been quartering a little or doing something else in his stop? If you’ve been leaning over, gouging your horse with your left foot, or reining him out, you’ll notice what you’re doing at this speed. Instead of those bad habits, keep yourself more balanced in the saddle as you pull your slack, keeping your horse straight with his shoulders and hips lined up, and staying in lane two from the steer.
If your horse moves out of lane two, correct him as you keep him moving forward through your delivery and the pulling of your slack. Go ahead and let him stop in the rear end, but your goal is to have him take a step or two in the front end. You want him to loosen his shoulders up to where he starts doing this faster and faster until he’s doing it a medium lope.
Once your horse is moving forward through the stop, nice and straight, you’ll discover you have about three extra feet of loop coming out the left side of the steer’s legs. And that’s just smart roping.
For more on my clinics and Smart Roping program, visit SmartRoping.com.