November ~ Pushing the Barrier with Speed Williams

Here is the latest "Pushing the Barrier with Speed Williams" before it's release.

Pushing the Barrier – November 2011 

Rich Skelton and I have been teaching a few schools recently. Recently we had a school in Amarillo and one at Rich’s house in Llano. We have a school in Elk City, OK this weekend, and one in Idaho the first week in November. 

We have made a significant change in our schools where the first thing we do is film students roping steers. Then we stop and watch it on a television to show people what they are doing wrong. This is so much more effective than explaining what they did wrong after their run is finished. This way they don’t have to try and process the information, they can see it themselves and know immediately what we’re explaining. Using this method has made a huge difference in how quickly people improve. 

Video cameras and video technology have improved tremendously in the last four or five years. The biggest improvement is the ability to freeze-frame in high quality letting us be more effective teachers. We can freeze-frame or slow down the video and show students in great detail exactly what’s happening and how to fix it. 

The number of people who have never watched themselves rope on film is amazing to me. Many of these people have roped for more than twenty years. I have used a video camera as tool since I was 14 or 15. The quality was not particularly good back then, but it was still a valuable tool. 

If you are going to spend your time, effort and money roping, you need to take the time to film yourself and watch it. This way you can see what you and your horse are doing and where you need to improve. It is incredibly hard to be aware and able to pin point this while making a run. Seeing it with your own eyes makes all the difference in the world. If you are serious about improving your roping, this is one of the most valuable tools you can use.

What’s new with me:  This week we’re headed to Oklahoma City and the USTRC Finals. I have a terrific opportunity for speedroping.com subscribers. We will have a drawing for a complete NFR package that includes two tickets for the last five performances to this year’s NFR, along with a suite at the MGM Grand Hotel. 

To qualify for this drawing, you need to be a speedroping.com subscriber and wear a speedroping.com patch while competing. To subscribe to our site and/or pick up your patch stop by our booth located in the coliseum, between the Hot Heels and Priefert booths near the concession stand. The drawing will take place on Sunday, right after the #8 roping starts. You do not have to be present to win. Subscribers will also be eligible for the drawing for a private school at my house. 

At speedroping.com, we now have 1,170 videos online and have crossed the 1,000,000 videos watched mark. It is a very exciting milestone for me. Please feel free to stop by our booth at the USTRC Finals.

July Pushing the Barrier by Fastback Ropes!

Pushing the Barrier by Speed Williams – July 2010

By Fastback Ropes

The Handle

Handling steers is one of the most important factors that allow headers to be successful. There are two common scenarios that prevent good handles. One is where the head horse drops his left shoulder and ducks, going left really hard. This causes the steer to jerk away from the heeler and his back end to be wild making him difficult to heel. The other scenario is when the head horse doesn’t respond to the bridle, or is weak, and doesn’t have control of the steer’s head. Here the steer seems to drift down the arena and the heeler ends up inside and has to throw over the steer’s hip where the right front leg is blocking entry of the heel loop.

There are many headers who reach and have acquired good range with their rope but still don’t realize how important it is to protect the heeler and keep the steer’s feet together. The header’s job is to get it on as fast as you can and to give their heeler the best throw possible.

Most jackpot headers who set up their runs and have a lot of steers caught behind them are very disciplined. They understand the importance of taking care of their heeler and setting up the run where the heeler can finish fast. There are a lot of headers who complain that their heelers can’t catch. If you consistently have heelers who can’t catch behind you, take a good look at you and your horse to see what’s causing it, especially if they’re catching for other headers.

The art of handling a steer is to get control of his head as smoothly as possible without breaking stride or changing speed. When I started heading I was taught to slow a steer down and hop him off and that is still widely taught today. The problem with this is once a heeler picks up the bridle reins, he loses all the momentum he had going down the arena. When heelers have to pull on the reins, they quit swinging their rope as fast and when the steer takes off again they have to start over from scratch. Heelers rope better when they can keep speed on their rope. Once they have to pull back a lot of things can happen: their swing goes to the right, it slows down, they lean forward, and all of these can make getting the heel rope under the steer more difficult.

You want to handle the steer smoothly in full stride and come back towards the heading box in a 10 to 15 degree angle. This angle allows for better entry of the heel loop. I learned this heading for Clay O’Brien Cooper.