Breaking it Down by Speed Williams – September 2026
Last month we talked about roping right to left versus roping both horns at the same time. Let’s talk about how roping both horns at the same time can be beneficial. Ultimately you want to learn to rope this way. That’s how to reach and go fast.
There are a lot of people who learned to rope right to left but never added roping both horns at the same time to their arsenal. I like to use a golf comparison. You can’t be successful and have one style… like a golfer can’t have just one club. As your roping progresses and your number is raised, you need to learn to use more “golf clubs.” Like how to catch the steer from any position.
There are lots of people who have spent many hours roping the dummy from one spot. At about 10’ to 13’ they rope both horns at the same time, and if they can get in that position once they’re horseback, they catch their steers. The problem is when they don’t get in that position, their rope doesn’t rotate at the correct angle, and they split the horns. The Speed Trainer is ideal for learning this because everything is at the correct height and angle. I have my clients rope the dummy from the Speed Trainer in all different positions and distances. Kind of like playing “around the world” in basketball.
It’s important to figure out your weaknesses and develop the ability to catch the dummy when it’s to the left of your horse; when it’s to the right of your horse and when it’s out of your comfort range. Always work at extending your range. Instead of practicing from your comfort zone where you can catch every time, work at expanding your sweet spot.
Roping both horns is beneficial when the dummy is more than 11’ from the Speed Trainer, or if you have small horn steers. When roping right to left on small horns you tend to wave it off because the loop is too big. Roping right to left can be beneficial when roping big horns or slow steers in the short round and all you have to do is catch.
My general rule of thumb is if your throw is less than 10’ then rope from right to left. Once it gets past 12’ you should rope both horns at the same time. I consider 10’ to 12’ a gray area where you can use either method. I measure from the saddle horn to the base of the head.
With my regular clients we work a lot on high team runs. They have 11 seconds to catch, handle and control the head horse so they can control the steer. When they can do that consistently we start playing around with roping both horns at the same time and throwing on the second swing as they come across the line. The goal for most of my younger clients is to learn to rope faster. It gives them something to look forward to if they can do their drills correctly.
In my opinion you have to be able to score, ride across the line, catch and handle the steer while controlling your horse correctly before we start roping both horns at the same time and going fast. This is where people get in trouble. They learn to reach and rope both horns at the same time, but become inconsistent in catching four in a row because they’re trying to go too fast at the jackpots. Using the golf analogy… we’re using a very different club at the rodeo versus the jackpots.
When I was rodeoing, I would go see what my steer did, or if I knew him beforehand, I would run the steer in my mind 100 times before competing on him at the rodeo. I would program my mind to react to all the possible scenarios that could happen. This way my reaction could be automatic, so I didn’t have to think about what I was going to do.
I used to watch football as a kid and would hear defensive players talk about studying the opponent they were playing the next week. They would study their moves so they could be prepared with counter moves. It’s incredibly helpful to run all the possible scenarios in your mind before you ever run the steer. You’ll be more confident you can catch the steer and know in your mind what to do to make it happen.
They are many different styles of heading and many ways of accomplishing the same goal. As a kid, I used to watch Kung Fu movies on Saturday night and in each fighting style there’s always a weakness. Think about the heading style with the lowest failure rate to help achieve your goals in your roping career.
I’ve always loved math and understanding the preparation needed to eliminate failure in competition. For my whole rodeo career, I tried to figure out way to make my practice harder than it ever was in competition. I prepared for things that happened to me at ropings and then recreate it in the practice pen so I wouldn’t fail again.
