I had a lot of people respond to what I wrote last month regarding age, and was surprised by how many guys were inspired. I guess I’m realistic, so if something affects me, I always wonder how many more people it affects. If I’m doing something wrong, maybe thousands of other people are doing it wrong.
My column was about building yourself back up after taking time off from roping, like if you had a baby or some other major break. For me, taking three months off was completely new because when you think about it, I really hadn’t taken that much time off in my life. In making 30 NFRs in almost a straight 30-year stretch, I never let down. The minute I halfway felt a little something slipping, I did something about it.
Bobby Hurley’s dad said something one time that always rang in my ear, and I kept it tucked away. He said, “Know this Al, if you ever quit or lay off for a couple of years, that’s it. You won’t be able to get it back.”
I’ve always thought about that, because he was a smart guy and I respected what he had to say, so I was careful about it. But the past few years, with my business and schools, I didn’t have much choice really. And then with my shoulder operation, I was simply forced out – I couldn’t touch a rope for four months.
In building myself back up, it’s been amazing how it’s a domino effect. If your swing is weak, you won’t be using your legs as well to ride your horse, and when you don’t ride your horse very good, you start taking bad shots. Now your consistency goes down, which affects your confidence.
I’m used to catching two feet on every steer, and always thought of myself as a top heeler that didn’t hardly miss – whether it was fresh steers or slow or trashy or whatever. Having my consistency dip after surgery was hard on my identity. In fighting my way back, I’ve noticed that trying to keep a really positive attitude is helping.
When you’re young, you can go rope 60 or 70 a day effortlessly, and doing that five days a week is like 350 practice steers. It’s been hard work building back up. I got done practicing today and heeling 20 steers felt like a decent workout!
But that’s okay. Right now I only want to ride my good, sharp horses anyway when I’m practicing because their footwork is perfect. The fact that they do everything right really helps me rope sharp and do everything right. And that just helps them. Iron sharpens iron. If I were to get on a colt or a slow-footed horse or one that isn’t reading the corner, it would throw me off.
So I’m getting better practice and it’s easier on my horses and my body. And that just makes it that much easier to stay positive.
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