It doesn’t sound difficult to rope four steers in 36 seconds. But it seems like at every big roping with a challenge pen, the house wins big. Why is that? Because most of us are not used to the demand that we not make a single mistake. The way to overcome this problem is to turn your practice pen into a challenge pen.
As an example, I still like shooting free throws with my boys. They get aggravated with me because I’m so competitive. I can usally stand up there after a couple days of shooting around, make 10 straight free throws. When I’ve made nine straight free throws and then miss the 10th- that’s very aggravating. So if I try to shoot 10 in a row and get to shooting pretty good, by the time I get to the seventh or 10th shot, there’s some serious pressure.
Go ahead and create that pressure for yourself in your practice pen so you can learn to focus and lock everything out mentally in order to make those last couple “shots.”
In the roping pen, again and again I see people struggle to make five clean runs in a row in the middle of the arena. It doesn’s sound hard. But try to get where you can do it, and then work your way up and do it a little faster on the average. Now rope another five. If you go down in the middle, start over on the first of five.
A big part of my 35-year career has been practicing that way. If it was Salinas or the BFI, I was practicing my dead- level guaranteed sure shot where I would never miss, If I was headed to the NFR, I would be more focused on perfecting my fastest throw than on how many in a row I caught.
But keep in mind, even though I practiced looking for the fastest shot and taking it, I also taught myself to relax and take one more swing if the first throw didn’t look look good. Clay Cooper and I have said for years that the key to heeling is to see one good jump and rope the next.
You can’t just throw in the dark. By throwing in the dark, I mean maybe the steer’s not handling very good or your partner’s hitting him hard and you’re taking an educated guess in hoping the feet come together as your throw. That’s not a way to make a living roping. It’s not the way to be consistent.
You’ve got to see one jump and rope the next. That’s how to make your percentages go way, way up. But you have to discipline yourself to do that. You have to turn down the chance to be a hero, but you’ll win more money all year long. The guys that heel that way at the NFR are still who come out on top- Patrick Smith, Clay Cooper, Martin Lucero.
See one jump, rope the next. Visit SmartRoping.com for more.