Breaking it Down by Speed Williams – September 2025
When Hali started rodeoing, one of the things I talked to her about was the importance of blocking off a week to come home, get your horses checked out, get some good practice and let your mind reset. There’s never a perfect time, but usually it’s best when things aren’t going well. It’s better to turn out at a few rodeos and come home. I learned this by watching Jake and Clay back in the day. Through the years they would disappear for a week and when they came back out, they were usually winning again. Rich and I also adopted this philosophy. If things weren’t going well, we’d load up and go home for a week.
Two years ago, my daughter was struggling after Dodge. She turned out a few rodeos and came home for a few days. I think she won close to $18,000 the week she went back.
This year, if she didn’t make the short round at Cheyenne, she was going to come home after Spanish Fork. But she did well at Spanish Fork, placing in both rounds and winning the average. She decided to keep going, after which I don’t think she had a qualified time in seven rodeos.
At Dodge she broke the barrier and she and her mom were going north to more rodeos. I don’t tell Hali what to do. From the time she turned 18 or even younger, I just give her my opinions and let her make her own decisions. I’ve taught her to think and it’s her decisions to make because it’s her life. Especially now since she is financially independent. She does have my wife with her… so I do encourage her to come home now and then.
While the girls were at Dodge, I got a call from Clay O’Brien Cooper who said he had an incident with a young kid who just half dallied and wanted my opinion. I put him on speaker and called Gabe to the phone. I said, “Clay wants to know what I think of half dallying when you’re heading.” Gabe responded, “He hates it Clay and gets on to me all the time for doing it.” I’ll admit I have some photos of me with half dallies, but the percentage of it working out versus the times my heeler misses, or it causing some kind of mishap outweigh the good. It’s better to get a dally and use your right leg to move away from the cow.
I told Clay, “I’ll trade one with you. If you’ll send me your partner’s number, I’ll send you my daughter’s number so you can give her your opinion about coming home when things aren’t going well.” He said, “Deal!”
I called the young man, gave him my opinion and visited with him for a few minutes. I hung up and Hali calls, “We’re headed home Dad. Did you call Clay?” I told her I had talked to Clay, but I didn’t call him.
When she got home, we took her horse to Charles Buchanan at Brazos Equine to be checked out. We also had our chiropractor, Kim Gillespie, work on her horses. Blaze had a strain and is off for two weeks.
The first day she’s home, I had Hali rope on the Speed Trainer. I have a golf app on my iPad that can track various parts of your body. After roping, we watch it on a big TV screen. My child, who I have worked with all her life, was doing all kinds of things wrong. Her swing was off, her angle was off, her delivery, body position, etc. From the video I see she has no weight in her right stirrup, and her toe is turned outside.
I told her, “We cannot throw our rope correctly without weight in the stirrups. When did you tweak your foot again?” She dropped her head and said she stung it one night when it was cold. This was a habit she created when she was roping with an injured foot. I had her tie her stirrup where she couldn’t turn her toe out to help break the habit.
When she began riding her stirrups again, her roping started looking good. Once that happened ,her swing, angle, and delivery all lined out. I was nervous for her first rodeo back. At Lovington she split 2/3 in the first round, placed in the 2nd round and won 2nd in the average. She’s won money at all four rodeos she’s been to since she came home for four days.
I’m not saying when things aren’t going well that coming home will fix it. You need people at home who can help and can recognize any bad habits you’ve created. Having a support staff at home that can help line you out is very beneficial.
I’ve spent most of my life studying the little things that keep you from winning. Being able to recognize what is wrong and knowing how to fix it is so important. Sometimes you can’t see the problem because you’re looking in the wrong place. You have to look where the problem arises. It’s all math, angles and eliminating wasted motion. Everyone needs someone who can help them see what they’re doing wrong or different.
