Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2022 i The Team Roping Journal

Dear Roper, I think a few months ago I wrote this letter about “passion projects” that highlighted what we’re doing on "The Score," "The Breakdown" and Roping.com. And now I’ve got a new passion project to tell you about this month, too. Starting at the Cinch USTRC National Finals of Team Roping at the end of the month, we’re kicking off our new take on team roping clinics. We’re going on a nationwide tour with some of the best ropers and horsemen in the game, running an elite coaching event that will prepare you to take your skills to the next level—with a full course load that touches every element of team roping. During the US Finals in Fort Worth, we’ll host a 4-hour clinic each day on April 27,…

Q: What’s the Pitzer Ranch all about? A: My Granddad Howard started the ranch, and we run about 400 broodmares and cattle on the south half of the ranch. Howard’s daughter is my mom, Kay. My sister, Jane, and her husband, Joel Qualm, run a set of cows on the north half of the ranch. Our kids work here, too, and we potentially have grandkids that will go on with the ranch. It’s all about history and heritage at the Pitzer Ranch. Q: What are Pitzer Ranch-raised horses—which are often described as “good looking using horses”— known for? A: My family started a line of horses in the 1960s that we’re continuing. The horses raised on the Pitzer Ranch are descendants of the legendary Two Eyed Jack, and they make…

Question: What are some good benchmark tasks and corresponding ages to make sure a colt is ready to go for a futurity season? I know every horse is different, but I’d really like to know a baseline to work from. — Paige Meckelberg, Stephenville, Texas Answer: You’re right, every horse is different. While writing this column, my training partner Miles Baker said he couldn’t answer this for that very reason. But that’s why I write columns and he doesn’t, so I’ll start with this baseline: I want my 3-year-olds, by the end of their 3-year-old year, really solid in pen roping. That means they will go to a cow on their own as soon as you point them to the cow. They don’t require a lot of maintenance once they’re…

Charles Pogue’s iconic Scooter makes everyone’s greatest head horses of all time short list. Oklahoma Top Hat’s record six American Quarter Horse Association/Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Head Horse of the Year awards—as voted on by Pogue’s world-class team roping peers—is far from all he achieved in his career. In 2000, Pogue won both the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo and BFI on his dream horse, who died while still in his prime at 17 the following summer. Scooter was a four-legged wonder, and his longevity was legendary. “Scooter was 6 when I bought him in 1990,” said 15-time NFR header Pogue, who’s pretty sure he rode Scooter at nine of them. “A guy named Vollie Wingo had Scooter at a local jackpot. He was a lot of horse, and Vollie asked…

CAUSE AND EFFECT So many people will make a mistake and instantly blame their horse. I know if I don’t take my time, pull myself up and swing out of the box, I’m behind. In our minds we know we’re behind, so we make a movement and our horses check off. People say, ‘Your horse got you.’ No, I got me. And I know that. ACCOUNTABILITY It’s hard to take blame, but you’ve got to. You’re the one who moved and told your horse what to do. They feed off of us. If your horse sets up, you’ve moved, you’ve changed your rope speed, you’ve done something to tell your horse you’re fixing to rope. RESPONSE So you should pet them, and then go whip your own self because you…

ARIAT WORLD SERIES OF TEAM ROPING TITLE FIGHTS XII PAYS OUT $1.4 MILLION The Ariat World Series of Team Roping Title Fights XII, held Feb. 9–12, at Rancho Rio in Wickenburg, Arizona, paid out a record-breaking $1.4 million. “Since Rancho Rio has hosted the Title Fights, it has set records each and every year,” said Ty Yost, President of Roping Operations. “It is now one of the largest, if not the largest, Ariat World Series of Team Roping qualifier of the season. With the addition of the #7, we hope to see it continue to grow.” The Title Fights XII was one of the first events to offer the new #7 WSTR Qualifier pick and draw, which was capped at a 4 roper. Chuck Stewart, of Mathews, Alabama, and Troy…

Everybody’s motives are different. For me, roping was just something I always loved to do. It’s basically been a lifelong addiction for me. When I was out there roping the dummy as a young kid, I had no way of knowing I’d do this for a living so long. Fifty years later, I’m still roping and I still love it. I don’t compete that much anymore, but in my mind I’m still that kid trying to get better every day. I’m pretty sure the only way that’ll ever change is if I get to where I can no longer catch. But I’m still a #9 header, and that’s what I want to be and should be. All I do every day is rope, so I don’t want to be a…

A friend of mine, Tallian Thompson, owns this 6-year-old stud, Goin Down For Real, and he wants to be able to ride this horse later on in his career. We were lucky enough to get Corey Cushing to ride him last year, and he was successful in the hackamore. When we were at the Royal Crown in February, he’d probably only had 50 steers heeled on him. So in this series of shots, I’m not trying to ask him for the best he can do in every single run—I want him smooth through his stop and taking the jerk smooth to set him up for the rest of his career, so when I do get further along, I can ask him for a little more. Less is more on a…

This year’s Cinch National Finals of Team Roping marks the 33rd edition of the storied event. It’s the roping at which nearly every top talent in the game cut their teeth—learning the ins and outs of roping for big paydays under the bright lights alongside their heroes, with famed announcers booming their names and music blasting in the high-pressure short rounds. New this year at the Cinch USTRC’s National Finals of Team Roping, the association presents the Resistol Junior Champions NFTR Bonus Awards, giving a $1,000-bonus, 40X Arena felt hat, Wildfire straw and Gist buckles to the high-money 18-and-under header and heeler of the event. “This program gives the up-and-coming ropers a little more opportunity and something to look forward to,” said John English, manager of team roping operations for…

“There is so much more to life than winning. I always thought, ‘If I don’t win, then there’s nothing in my life worth it.’ Nora (Hunt-Lee) kind of opened everything up for me and she was like, ‘You have to look at the positives.’ Like, ‘Yeah, OK. I didn’t win, but what was positive about this run?’ Reflect, but move on.” —Abigayle Hampton-Williams, 2017 WPRA Breakaway Rookie of the Year, in Season 1 of the “The Breakdown” podcast, available to stream or download where you listen to podcasts.…

Fast Wrap [Horn Wraps] fastwrapco.com , $27 Fast Wrap horn wraps offer an easy-on, easy-off approach to wrapping your steers. You can spend more time roping and less time wrapping. Fast Wraps are so easy to take off, you can remove them while on your horse at your stripping chute. They provide exceptional horn and ear protection while being durable and reliable. Easy to clean and maintain. The wraps work for both large and small horned cattle. Vent holes allow for proper air circulation. NRS [Olathe Umber Elephant Men’s Boot] nrsworld.com , $680 This Olathe Umber Elephant Vamp boot is a new item to the NRS Olathe collection. It has a 15-inch cherry buffamonte top, a long-based riding heel and a oxbox sole. Available in-store or online. Style…

Sarah Toole, 17, is ready. At her second Ft. Worth USTRC National Finals of Team Roping this April, she plans to take advantage of any opportunities she’s given. “I try to go in there with confidence and knowing that I have a chance,” said the high school rodeo athlete. “I feel like I always have a chance. When I enter, I want to know that I can win it. That’s what I go in believing. Everybody has a chance and I have a chance to win as much as anybody else does.” Toole also traveled to Texas for the 2021 USTRC NFTR as a Cinch Ladies Year-End Award contender, but she did so on the heel side. She wasn’t able to take the title, but she finished in the notable…

If you watch my horses at a futurity, you might notice I use nylon nosebands on just about all of them. Here’s why: FOUNDATION AND BALANCE I start my rope horses on cattle in a tie-down. I think as team ropers, we all wish we could be better with our hands and not need a tie-down and have our horses softer and more broke. But we’re going fast enough we need to pick up and pull. With a tie-down, they won’t be popping their nose and getting in our way, and they collect more naturally. WHY NYLON? This tie-down—all of mine come from California’s Ali Bilkey—isn’t super wide and, if you tighten it down, it has some good nose pressure to back one off. These last really long, to the…

When Brad Lund feels a horse getting behind the bridle in the box, he pulls an old-school Matlock Rose combination hackamore out of his toolbox. What he’s feeling: I go to this bit when I’ve got a horse that wants to get a little behind the bridle in the box. I want to keep his nose out there a bit and give him some balance. Sometimes ex-reiners have the tendency to get behind the bridle, and if I put a straight hackamore on them, they can get heavier than I’d like in their front end. How it works: These are old, old bits. I’ve even had it re-done a time or two. It’s part hackamore, with a light correction mouthpiece. When I engage the bridle reins, the hackamore part works…

At a fall video shoot, three-time World Champion and BreakawayRoping.com coach Erin Johnson ran calves aboard her world-class horses and offered professional advice to the camera while keeping a mindful eye on her young daughter, who happily entertained the off-camera crew. As covered in previous articles about the growth of the sport, being a woman of the rodeo road comes with unique challenges. While the men have long been in the practice of piling in a rig to cut the cost of covering miles, for instance, the women share their rigs with not-quite-ready-to-contribute kiddos. For the athletes who are also mothers, the inherent responsibilities of womanhood can be burden and blessing in one. Burdens and blessings, highs and lows, wins and losses. Rarely does one exist without the other, but…