Team Roping

continuing from previous post:
I wasn't able to spend Mother's Day with my Mom or my daughters. So I did the next best thing, spent the day with the cowboy and our horses. I had a wonderful day. First we went to Church. Then we went Trail Riding. Finally we went and practised roping! Yeehaw!

I have always wanted to learn to rope. I rode Hunt seat style for most of my life. You know, the cool way to ride; to jump, 'ride to the hounds', ride cross country. Well there are not many English riding ropers, something about not having a saddle horn to dally to.

Since moving to California and riding in the mountains, my main saddle is a Western saddle. I expressed an interest in roping and Jerry started me on the basics of roping when we started riding together. I can carry a rope, throw it while on my horse, she can get whacked with the rope, caught up in it, and she doesn't mind at all. We have talked about team roping together since we started hanging around together. It is just not easy to find someone to teach it without going to very expensive roping clinics.

Sunday noon I got a call from an old riding buddy I hadn't seen in about a year. He called to invite Jerry and I to join him at his friend's arena later that day. His friend is a team roper with his son and they wanted a few interested people to join them in roping practice. Yeehaw.

So we went.




I've borrowed these pictures from the web site ad. This is the 'steer-o-matic'. I hope I am not breaking any copyright laws! This is what we roped. There were 5 of us and it was a blast. I have to get a new lariat. Mine is a 3-ply and he wants me to get a 4-ply. See how much I've learned! My horse did OK, she wasn't too sure about loping along next to the funny calf. I was able to rope the calf several times. I do need to practice... lots....
We have been invited to join them weekly. Most likely Sunday afternoons.

This one is 'smart steer', it is motorized and doesn't have to be pulled along by a quad. I copied this picture too. I hope they don't mind. When Jerry gets our roping arena built, this is the calf that I want. I am still not quite sure that I want a live bovine at the end of my rope while I am on a horse. The big warning is to keep thumbs up! Dallying is tying the rope around the horn when you rope a calf, I guess folks lose thumbs while roping by not keeping thumbs up. *gulp* I am kind of attached to both of my thumbs, and I want them to stay attached to me.

So we worked and played and roped for about three hours. We were beat, happy and filthy. So, one day if we work hard enough and I get over my fear of thumb detachment, maybe we'll make it to a rodeo as Team Ropers.