Breaking it Down by Speed Williams – October 2026
As most people know, last year I had a horse wreck in the arena where I ended up with broken ribs and a brain bleed and I was pretty much a zombie for 90 days. Then one night while getting into bed, in the dark, I banged my head hard on the headboard. Fortunately, this rearranged the cranial bone in my skull, and I woke up the next morning feeling like my old self and have been pretty good since then.
Last year, when Global Handicap lowered me a full number, from an 8+ to a 7+ I had mixed feelings. I spend my days teaching people to ride and rope and very seldom do I compete. I’ve had a 7+ heel card for over a year and have been to six ropings, all with clients, who wanted to go. For someone who was the best in the world for close to a decade, I don’t get the same enjoyment competing at ropings when I don’t prepare ahead of time. Most of my day is spent watching people learning to rope, breaking down the video of their runs, and showing them the importance of learning to ride better, and what it takes to do it.
I don’t prepare for or practice heeling. I’m always coaching or training horses. I did make the NFR heeling as a 20-year-old kid. But it’s been 40 years since I’ve been locked in on heeling steers. Last weekend I had two clients who wanted to rope in #11 at the World Series roping at Hamilton, TX. I admit I wasn’t really looking forward to it. It’s 106 outside but my arena at home has a tall roof and we have a nice breeze most of the time. I ended up drawing an extra run in the #11, a #4 header who I didn’t know. We drew three lopers and were second high call. We needed to be ten-seconds to go in the lead. He roped a neck, and I held out and then swung over him and we were a long nine. We ended up winning the #11.
I’ve never won a #11 roping in my life. Social media lit up on Facebook. People were talking about classification numbers for me and Boogie Ray and us roping in the #11. I took it more as a compliment than an insult of people complaining. I appreciate their opinion of my roping that I shouldn’t be in the #11. Had I not almost died and become an invalid last year, I would probably agree with them.
Injury or not, father time takes a toll on all of us, no matter what we were at one time. They didn’t lower my number without the data showing I hadn’t been winning on the heel side. In fact, I only rope with my clients and don’t enter the max and haven’t done so for the last six or eight years.
I rope with my clients who are working on their roping. I like it because I can teach them in real life situations and watch them under pressure. It allows me to see how well they’re able to implement what we’ve been working on. It gives me insight because it’s very different competing versus roping at home.
They did lower my heading number to a 7+ and I’ve been to one slide with my son at Billy Bob’s. We came back 4th high call and I broke the barrier. Other than that, I haven’t entered any jackpots with a 7+ head card.
I did tell Gabe if he didn’t have a partner for the $75,000 added rodeo at Stephenville I would enter with him there. In his mind that was a good reason to enter me the week before at Stephenville and Tyler. When I asked what he was doing, he said we needed some practice, so now I’m heading at three rodeos for my son. Now I have 15 days to practice and get ready to not embarrass myself heading for my son.
For those who think my number is too low, I encourage you to speak to anyone who has had a head injury, or brain bleed. You will find out that your body does not function the same. It’s been over a year and I’m just feeling like my reaction is getting close to what it used to be. The scary thing is there’s nothing doctors could have done. I’m told there’s people who go the rest of their life with their cranial bone out of place. The Lord works in mysterious ways because had I not hit my head that hard getting into bed, I may not have roped another day in my life.
Admittedly, my pride wasn’t entirely happy with getting my number lowered. But the truth is now I enjoy teaching people to rope and don’t crave competition anymore. I’ve become the guy I used to laugh at who doesn’t want to rope when it’s below 50 degrees. I don’t really want to go rope away from home, and I have no reason to rope or practice like I used to.
The sport of team roping has gotten so big, and breakaway is growing so fast. This gives many of us who were successful an avenue to make a living by teaching others. My advice to the people who load up, haul their kids, or themselves, and put up $5,000 to $10,000 per month in fees and expenses – find someone who can help you improve. Most every professional sport has coaches. I’m not the only one who teaches, there are lot of great teachers in our sport.
I’m expensive. I have a covered arena and access for people to ride horses. I have a Speed Trainer in a climate-controlled building where we can work on every aspect of riding and roping. A nice building with a big screen where we can break down runs, frame by frame. I work as hard at teaching as I did my roping back when I was winning world titles.
At the end of the day, I’m very grateful I’m able to help people, and my kids, learn and improve in a sport I love.
