Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2022 i The Team Roping Journal

Dear Roper, As this issue hits your mailboxes, our team is loading a U-Haul for Las Vegas, packing with us a giant Vibe TV—one that we use to run our show, “The Replay,” from the Finals. We kicked off “The Replay” last year to bring in experts like Ryan Motes, Nick Sartain, Trevor Brazile and Patrick Smith to analyze the NFR's winning runs over coffee and on air. ‘Think SportsCenter, but team roping. It runs live on our Facebook page and then goes in the Roping.com archives for you to watch. If you love breaking down the nitty gritty of team roping (I know you do), you'll dig it. At our South Point booth, you can meet our staff and check out footage from our Roping.com, BreakawayRoping.com and BarrelRacing.com offerings.…

Colby Lovell and Reys Of Pep had just marked the highest score of the entire 2022 American Rope Horse Futurity Association World Championships at second callback as Lovell coiled up his heel rope and rode back up Fort Worth's John Justin Arena. Lovell rode straight toward his roan gelding, Bartender, near the heading box, slipped off Reys Of Pep and climbed on his PRCA World Champion head horse, At the same time, Cade Rice was shaking out a loop on Sevens Star Glo—the 5-year-old buckskin stallion owned by Marshall Wier, on which Rice was high back, He was waiting for Lovell—Rice's helper at the futurities all year—to back in the head box to try to best his own score. “I missed for Cade at Oklahoma City when he was second…

Ropers ahw IJake IClay O I military salute lother gig Ur. Resistol ICinch Ladies Q: Where did you grow up, and what kind of family did you grow up in? A: I grew up in Halfway, Missouri, which is a little bitty town, population 73. There's a post office, a gas station and a school. My dad (Rick) amateur rodeoed. He heeled until the late ‘80s, then started heading for my brother (Jeff) in the mid'90s. My mom (Susy) announced and my dad flagged for Jeff Smith at his US(TRC) ropings for as long as I can remember. I never high school rodeoed, but I grew up going to those ropings. Q: Besides making the NFR, what's been your favorite career highlight so far? A: Going to all the big…

Most people have only so much time to work on their roping, and there are so many things to work on. They break it down to their loop, their swing, their delivery, their angles, their position and their horsemanship. Obviously, their goal is to catch two feet. So, naturally, they work on the things that have to do with their swing and their loop, but they don't realize that, in the process, they're neglecting horsemanship. And that is what changes their position, their swing and their angles. You can't be in good position and have bad horsemanship. Things will come up in a run that you have to adjust to, and you need to be able to do that on the fly, and you do that with horsemanship. Your riding…

At the Barrier | industry news | new products | The Ariat World Series of Team Roping Finale and The American Rodeo will host their three regional contender finals in February, with 12 teams going head-to-head on one steer for $40,000 in prize money. Tulsa, Oklahoma, will host the Central Contender Tournament Finals Feb. 3-5 at the Tulsa Fairgrounds, and Lexington, Kentucky's famed Kentucky Horse Park will host the East Contender Tournament Finals Feb. 8-10. The West Contender Tournament Finals will take place in Heber City, Utah, at the Wasatch Events Center Feb. 16-18, 2023. Ropers will compete on the final day of competition at each of those regional events. The first-place team at the regional finals will win $20,000, with second winning $12,000, third taking home $6,000 and fourth…

There are five first-time team roping qualifiers at this years Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. Tanner Tomlinson, Lightning Aguilera and Jake Orman will head at the Thomas & Mack for the first time, and Brye Crites and Jonathan Torres will make their Vegas heeling debut. I remember my first trip to The Show like it was yesterday, even though 1980 was 42 years ago. I now have 27 back numbers worth of friendly advice for all you Finals freshmen. I was lucky enough to rope with the reigning world champion heeler—Allen Bach—at my first NFR, so I had the advantage of being on a veteran's team. But I was so green at my first NFR, and as a kid from rural New Mexico I could feel how big a deal it…

| Ropers | other gig A son of a King Ranch cowboy, Marcus Becerra grew up with a rope in hand and started flagging some 15 years ago. “I started flagging when I was in college,” said the now 37-year-old, who began taking in-arena gigs with the Texasbased Team Roping Association. “It was kind of how I made my beer money back in college, or entry fee money.” Becerra took a break from working the arena when he found oil held work, until the Wildfire Ranch's Billy Pipes set out to give his main dagger some assistance. “A good friend of mine, Chuck McAllister, was his main flagger and he called me,” Becerra said. “And they did all the World Series ropings and the Businessman along with the Open to…

TRAINING FIXES Working through challenges on a green head horse. The horse I'm riding here is 8 or 9, and he was a heel horse. I've had him about 30 days, because the owners want me to transition him to the head side. On this day of practice, I was working on getting him to stay wider going to the steer, getting on his butt across the pen and keeping his shoulders where I want them. POINT 1 This horse likes to fall to the right behind the steer, so to help keep his shoulder up and to keep him in his lane, I keep my right rein a little shorter. POINT 2 When a steer steps into this horse, he can get too narrow in behind him. In that…

Horse racing has long been called the Sport of Kings. Bolstered by royalty who've gained wealth thanks to centuries of class structure, colonialism and, of course, black gold, the Thoroughbred racing industry is oozing with wealth. And team roping? Well … it's cowboy golf, for lack of a fancier description. And roping, as we know it today, is the sport of the weekend warriors: ropers who are doctors, day workers, roughnecks, teachers, insurance agents … you name it. Team roping is every man's game (and every woman's, too), yet thanks to decades of ingenuity through the handicapping system, the Ariat World Series of Team Roping Finale is breathing the thin air at the top of the payout list alongside the richest horse races in the world. What's more, team roping…

| At the Barrier | news Rhen Richard and his herd of horses have won a monumental 10 futurities in 2022 alone, so it makes perfect sense that the Utah switchender and his great horse Chics Magic Corona would finish the season as the 2022 American Rope Horse Futurity Association World Champions. The 2016 Flag Ranch-bred gelding by Furyofthewind out of }RS Chics Smart Lena by Chics Magic Potion has been dominant in Royal Crown competition with a season-leading $38,801 in earnings. But hed not yet had the chance to shine in the ARfiFA. Until the 2022 World Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, Oct. 20-21, that is. With ProRodeo World Champ and 2020 ARHFA World Champ Wesley Thorp helping on the heel side, Richard came tight at second callback for…

| Ropers | Clay O'Brien Cooper I grew up dreaming of living like my heroes, and making a living with my rope. It intrigued me that cowboys like the Camarillos could make a career out of doing what I also loved to do, and it fueled my motivation to try to make the (National) Finals (Rodeo). Winning the world was the ultimate fantasy dream for me back then. After having some success while climbing the roping ranks, I gained some confidence that making a living at it was possible. I amateur rodeoed a couple years in Texas and Oklahoma, and was hot and heavy on the jackpot trail. Each time you make it to the top of another level of competition, it's a shot in the arm. Then comes the…

| Competitive Edge | next level As I prepare to rope at my first Finals, and as I work on my roping in general, I've been trying to ride farther down the arena to set myself up for a faster shot. POSITION When the head rope goes on, a heeler can want to chuck his or her horse to the inside too quickly. I've been trying to trust being up higher on the steer, I want to be on the left hip hen the steer hits, but I need to know that my horse is reading that play and I'm working to keep him riding down the arena so I'm not in there too tight and lose sight of the feet—forcing me to track across. MAKING IT HAPPEN In a…

| Competitive Edge | game plan The Heel-O-Matic allows me to separate my roping from my horsemanship, breaking things down into manageable parts that I can address one at a time. Here's how I work on a heel horse that wants to be strong through the turn. STEP 1 Wait until the dummy goes to cue your horse to follow the sled. I want my horse to work the Heel-O-Matic like a cutter works a flag—until the sled moves, I don't want him to move. When it moves, I go ahead and ask him to lope behind it. STEP 2 I want my horse to stay out wide through the corner, and I want to avoid him trying to cut across that corner as the steer turns because that collapses…

TEAM ROPING TITLES TIMELINE Jake Barnes and Clay Cooper won their seventh set of world team roping titles together in 1994, which was the last year a lone team roping titlist was possible. Each got his own gold buckle, because their earnings were identical. Flip the page on that rodeo records book back just one year, and you'll find that Bobby Hurley took center stage solo as the 1993 world champion team roper. Not header, Team roper, The reserve world champ that year was Allen Bach, so by 1994 standards on, Big Al would haveshould have—been the 1993 world champion heeler, But not in 1993. “It was such a long grind to get team roping at every rodeo, equal money at the NFR (National Finals Rodeo), world champion headers and…

“For the first 30 days, it was ugly, just teaching that horse to come back to me. I had him elevated, because he was just not broke. You're pulling on him, and he's wanting to go. I think most horses that don't know how to come back to you, they're going to elevate. I probably want them more up in the front end than most because I know my strengths and weaknesses in my roping. If I can't hook onto the steer in the right spot with my horse in the right body position, it's just not good. I want to make my horses get strong. I don't want to hold them up. They have got to be soft and on their butt when I put it on the horn.…