Brad [Culpepper] and I just finished our first week of competition in 2013. We went to open ropings in Andrews and Odessa, the rodeo in Odessa, and the USTRC roping in Waco. Since the horses I had planned to rope are all on the “injured reserve” list, I had the luxury of starting a green horse, Sheriff, at the rodeo. Sheriff is a full brother to Two Moons, one of my better horses.
Riding a green horse at the rodeos is pretty tricky. You have to figure out how to get in the arena and expose him to the sights like banners, lights, etc. before you actually compete.
At the open roping in Andrews, I rode Two Moons and he did pretty well. I missed for Clay. Brad roped a leg on our third or fourth steer. Kolin slipped a leg on our third steer. Two Moons jerked a shoe off so I rode Sheriff in the short round. I planned on riding Sheriff at the Odessa rodeo and so it made sense to ride him in the open roping there as well. It’s in the same building and would give him a chance to get a feel for the situation. The jackpot is a five-header and Sheriff needed the experience. Though Two Moons is much faster, Sheriff can pull back up the wall and face well. The flaggers at rodeos are much stickier about facing than at jackpots. I’m happy to say the rodeo went well overall. I got a good start, split the horns, fished it on and we were six-flat on our first one. The second steer tried and I reached a long way. Brad roped him on the second hop and we got hung up in the fence a bit and were 5.2. We didn’t make a great run on either steer, but got them both caught and are currently winning fourth in the average with 10 teams left to go.
All of my runs from the roping and rodeos are on speedroping.com and are free to watch. I will be slowing them down with comments and discuss what I need to work on. We’re up in Ft. Worth the first of February and did get confirmation we made it into Houston but don’t know yet when we’re up.
My assessment of the first week being back on the rodeo trail is that it’s difficult without seasoned horses. I’m very happy to have had some success at the second rodeo riding Sheriff and I’m excited about the potential these horses have.
The competition is very impressive. When I was going there weren’t many guys who could reach. Now there are lots of guys with a lot of range. The young guns can throw it and are fun to watch. That’s one part of the game that’s changed. There are more teams capable of winning first. A lot of them miss, but when they catch it’s impressive. One and two tenths of a second can make a big difference now days.
For those guys who have considered going pro but have never been to these rodeos, I will be uploading all my runs this year to my website. Feel free to visit speedroping.com and check them out.