Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2022 i The Team Roping Journal

Dear Roper, This month's issue goes to press as gas prices continue to skyrocket, on the heels of another mass shooting of fourth-grade school children and teachers in Uvalde, Texas, and the country—and the world—face uncertainty just as we try to shake the memories, losses and repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hay is high. Fuel is even higher. Cattle are dying in heat waves across Kansas. There's a lot that's hard to like right about now. I had dinner with Cactus Ropes' Barry Berg, though, while we were both blessed enough to be in Reno for the Resistol Reno Open and the collection of great NTR and World Series of Team Roping events in Fallon. We had a great group gathered around a table, and if the conversation ever turned…

At the Barrier |industry news | new products | Highpoint Performance Horses is now the official stallion breeding program of the Ariat World Series of Team Roping, marking the start of a two-year agreement between the Western performance industry's leading breeders and the richest recreational sport association in the world. Highpoint Performance Horses, owned by AQHA leading trainers Charlie Cole and Jason Martin, owns leading stallions including Winners Version, Slick By Design and Brace For Bernal. Highpoint also stands 30 stallions, including Miles Baker's and 26-time World Champion Trevor Brazile's stallion, Show Me The Buckles. “The ropers putting up big money to rope at the Ariat WSTR qualifiers and Finale prioritize great horses,” said Lory Merritt, sales director for the WSTR. “So working with the Fiighpoint team allows us to…

College Try Riley Kittle, Woodland, Alabama, and Jace Helton, Stephenville, Texas, won the 2022 College National Finals Rodeo, roping four steers in 34.4 seconds. Kettle attends Cisco College in Abilene, Texas, while Helton ropes for Weatherford College in Weatherford, Texas. Pulse PEMF Signs on with WSTR Sponsorship Pulse is the world's leading manufacturer of PEMF (Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields) technology for human and animal wellness. Trusted worldwide by trainers, veterinarians, farriers, and equine professionals for nearly two decades, Pulse PEMF helps your team stay in the game with cellular energy to outperform and enhance natural recovery. For Wellness. For Performance. For Life. Pulse PEMF is here for you.…

Ropers Jake Barnes In my book, you have offensive roping and defensive roping. There's a scenario every time you back in the box, and you're either going for it and trying to win the round or a one-head rodeo, or you've put yourself in the position of just having to hold onto your lead to close the deal. Circumstances dictate everything from your game plan to the size of your loop, which is also impacted by the size of the steer's horns and whether you're planning to reach or run in close. I always have multiple ropes in my bag of different weights and stiffness. If I draw a steer with bigger horns, I'm going to pick a heavier rope with a little bit more weight to it. People sometimes…

CONTROL WHEN A STEER STEPS LEFT Keeping your horse in his lane when a steer steps left is key to helping the run come together faster. MAINTAINING WIDTH On this run, I kept my width when the steer stepped into me after I threw. I had to stay in my lane to keep the momentum of the run the same. Through the corner, it should be nose, shoulders, then hips for my horse. So to keep that, I'm neck reining him, and I use my feet to move his rib cage over. You can tell in this picture, I didn't do that last part with his hips. I got his shoulders and his nose into a good spot, and I need to ride his hip better. WHY HIPS MATTER My…

I rodeoed for a living for 40 years, and the way rodeo rolls has definitely changed over time. Early in my career, we went to every rodeo that had team roping all year long. At that time, there were no limits on how many rodeos you could count toward the world standings and team roping was not a standard event, so a lot of rodeos didn't even have team roping. One thing that has stood the test of time is that sooner or later in every professional rodeo cowboy's career, strategy and planning based on the stage of your career come into play. Beyond rodeo, what stage of life you're in factors into your rodeo strategy Most of us start our rodeo careers when we're pretty young and don't yet…

Competitive Edge 5 flat next level game plan Brazile freeze frame fix it video horsepower SPACING THROUGH THE TURN I wanted to talk through this set of pictures from the Lone Star Shootout because of the position I'm riding throughout this run. I was heeling behind Luke Brown, who absolutely gives a guy some of the most predictably great spins in the sport. And these photos show my best-case scenario for spacing and timing through the corner and into the finish. 1 I like how I'm close enough to the cow to where I can heel him but, at the same time, I'm still far enough away that I'm not running into him. I can see the steer and, if something bad were to happen, I still have enough space…

Competitive Edge Trevor Brazile I don't turn my horse any certain way riding into the box. Most people have a pattern, and they stick with it. But for us, riding young horses, I want them to be able to not have a set way they have to turn. I just want them to back into the box. If you look at the guys rodeoing, they usually have a pattern. But I want my horses to not have a set pattern. I want to be able to ride into the box, turn in either direction, ride to the front, and be between my legs backing up. On young horses, I want them exposed to everything. One run, I'll ride into the back of the box. On the next, I'll ride into…

Plenty of GOATs agreed that the longest-lasting head horses are made of heart, crossed on toughness. Now, we tip our hats to even more road-warrior heel horses. With them, being in a hurry seems to be the common denominator. That is, of course, along with love of the game. We've got a runner Just about any heel horses that lasted up to 15 years on the gold-buckle highway had both lightning speed and the fire-breathing motor that goes with it. Not many people know that Hall-of-Famer Rich Skelton's late, great Roany backed into virtually every box he encountered over his 12-plus years on the road on a hefty dose of acepromazine. Switchblade's face was plenty scarred from spooking and running off, but the super-fast bay hummed along for a steady…

High Call…

Ropers | at home with | Jake Barnes | Clay O | US programs Q: You grew up at the racetrack, right? A: Yes, my brothers and sister (Chuck, Cody and Cheyann, who's married to National Finals Rodeo steer wrestler Birch Negaard) and I grew up on our parents' (Cliff and Glenna Lambert) place in El Paso, where we rode and roped every day. Dad was a jockey. He won the first All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs (in New Mexico) riding Galobar in 1959. We had a really good life, and spent summers in Ruidoso. We didn't grow up rich, but we didn't lack for anything. Q: You followed in your dad's footsteps, first as a jockey and now as a racehorse trainer as CTL Training. Is it true…

Understanding Backswing Knowing how your ropes really work can elevate your game. WHAT IS BACKSWING? Upchurch: When the loop is in front of you, say at the 1:30 or 1:00 mark of your rotation, the pinky side of the rope has to go over the index side. Back swing is when the pinky side of the loop wants to almost come under your index linger. It's harder to get it broke over in the front of your swing. Heelers like it because, when they deliver their loop, the pinky side really wants to get into the ground, so they just worry about the top strand getting to the right hock and they don't have to worry about stopping their rope. Backswing allows the rope to get it into the ground.…

Competitive Edge horsepower There was a very sad and unexpected twist at the 2022 Reno Rodeo this summer, when Wrangler National Finals Rodeo header Jason Stewart lost his promising young head horse Boss to a sudden bout of colic. No hauling hardships or changes in feed. It just happened. Thankfully, cowboy camaraderie kicked into high gear in Stewart's time of need. It was also a friendly reminder to contemplate colic-related decisions before disaster strikes, as these things have a way of happening after hours. It was June 17—the eve of the 2022 Resistol Reno Open, and right before Stewart was also set to rope with BJ Campbell at the Reno Rodeo. Boss, a 9-year-old sorrel horse who was actually registered as George And Rus by the American Paint Horse Association,…

The American Rodeo is now the official sponsor of the Ariat World Series of Team Roping's Open division, setting up a new, tournament-style qualification structure tor tamed $2-million rodeo and kicking off a partnership that will open new doors for team roping, already the highest-paying event in all of Western sports. “Teton Ridge is committed to working with the very best in the Western Sports industry to elevate the sport, so when seeking a partner to bring more team ropers to The American Contender Tournament it made perfect sense to turn to the WSTR to bring more ropers from across the country to our contender events,” Joe Loverro, President of Teton Ridge Sports, said. “It makes sense to work with those who are already the best at what they do.…