I have to clear something up. There is nothing complicated or hard about the way Rich Skelton, Patrick Smith, Clay O’Brien Cooper or I heel steers. You tend to think because we’re so advanced, we must be using advanced techniques. In fact, what we do is the simplest way to heel steers (we just rarely make mistakes).
For too long, beginners have been told that it’s too hard to learn to rope like us. But I love watching people get that sense of “I can do it” – even on the second day of a school. Timing is not reserved for higher numbers. I learned it the first couple of years I started roping, and so did my boys. Basically, you’ll never heel better than a #6 if you don’t learn timing.
The first thing I do is have my students learn to swing in time with their horse’s front stride. And when they’re not roping, I have them watch every steer go down the pen and they say “Now, now, now” each time the steer’s hip comes up all the way through the corner. After two days, they’ve studied the strides of a lot of runs and are starting to see timing.
Going down the arena, watch your target (the hind legs) but use peripheral vision to catch the hip motion, too. The steer’s hip goes up and down like a jump rope as he runs. Each time the hip is up tells you “Now, now, now.”
If the header changes the tempo on you in the corner, just keep your swing smooth but notice that change and pick the tempo back up out of the corner… “Now, now, now.” You come around swinging in time with your horse’s front foot and as the steer’s hip and feet come up, place your tip in front of them. It’s as simple as that.
So many people want good information but their teacher gives them a kindergarten mentality, like just go rate and then swing over their back, etc. Yes, some people need that. But others don’t.
Usually at a school I’ll have that one college-age header who ropes good and needs advanced help. I can speed that sled up so he can read his distance as he learns to reach. I can keep challenging him to come at that dummy eventually as hard as he can, reading the right amount of rope to throw and getting that steer’s head quickly without ducking his horse. If he makes a mistake, he just tweaks it and immediately tries again, for 30 runs in a row on Smarty.
I recently had a header with a horse that wouldn’t really rate. After the above program, instead of being worried about pulling on his horse to rate, he’d already dallied and the horse had a nice, smooth stride coming out of there. He just went to another level in two days.
You can learn to rope like us, too. Visit SmartRoping.com for more.