This month I want to talk about a tricky subject, failure. If you will do the homework and are 100% honest with yourself, you can usually turn your failures into great opportunities for improvement.
Headers, if all your heelers miss but catch for their other partners, there’s a good chance much of the blame lies with you. The other day I went to the Biggest East of the Mississippi and entered six times. I broke one barrier and turned all of my steers. All six of my heelers missed or roped a leg. At the time when I was asked what was wrong, my answer was "I’m not dragging them into the heel loops."
Little did I realize that when I watched the video at 1 a.m., I would blame myself due to my handles. The situation was a little tough with a heeling barrier and steers that were fresh, ran hard and to the right. No matter the set up, you must keep control of the steer’s head.
Since I’m a heeler at heart and grew up heeling, I understand how difficult it is to catch when a header turns loose of the steer’s head. I’m currently working on a very detailed video on handling steers. For years I worked on my handle when I was riding Bob and Viper. I had control of my horses and could almost always make the steers hop off. The mentality of most great heelers is that they can catch every cow. The truth is if the header doesn’t do his job correctly, it’s very difficult for the heeler to catch regardless of how well he ropes.
Had I not filmed myself at Muscle Shoals, I probably would have thought my heelers had an off day. When I saw how fast my horse was running, it was obvious to me that I need to come home and get control. When you ride a horse with a big motor, it takes more time and effort to keep them working. I will work on this through a series of drills that include bending, flexing and side passing. I will spend some time slowing things down and roping the Hot Heels. Now that I’m going back on the road next year, it’s imperative that I can control the steer’s head. This is a key factor in success at both rodeos and ropings.
Never forget practicing for your horse is much different than practicing for yourself. Also, if you practice on big heavy steers and then compete on small steers, you are not correctly preparing yourself to have a chance at success.
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What’s new with me: I’m very happy to say my kids have been roping a lot lately. Hali, who’s 8, is turning steers consistently and wants to know when she can enter her first roping. Gabe, 5, has been heeling for his sister in the practice pen. Parents: I just posted a free video at speedroping.com about using the Hot Heels to keep your kids safe, in control, and having fun in the roping pen.