Breaking it Down by Speed Williams – December 2024
Back when Gabe was heeling most of my clients were heelers. Now that he’s heading, it seems to have switched. I’ve enjoyed having clients work at the same drills I do with Gabe: scoring and riding across the line whether we’re reaching or running close and setting up high team runs. As with most young boys, he wants to go fast and work at that. I’ve explained that we have to work on our jackpotting and as his number gets higher, we learn to go faster. It’s hard for young men to see and understand the bigger picture.
Gabe’s’ horsemanship has improved significantly in the last couple of months. We still have a long way to go with his roping and there are many factors and situations we need to work on. We haven’t yet put up a left wall to mimic narrow arenas because we’ve been preparing for Arizona and Vegas. My hope is that he finds a rodeo partner while we’re in Arizona. I’m on reserve until the books close.
I grew up a heeler. When I came home from school every day my dad had four or five heel horses saddled and that’s all I did. I made the NFR heeling when I was 20 and it was there, I realized there was more room for improvement on the heading side than the heeling. I’ve tried to explain to my son if he learns to head and ride correctly, and do his job at a high level, getting a good heeler is a lot easier. There are a lot of guys that heel really well. Heading takes so much prep work, and you need to have different horses for the different set ups. Very few horses work well at both the Thomas & Mack and Salinas.
As a heeler in the practice pen, when I leave the box I’m watching the header score, how he rides and ropes, what direction he goes, and then I try and get in position and heel. Gabe and I placed at two of the last three jackpots we entered. At each roping I caught myself focusing on him instead of my roping and ended up roping a leg. Last weekend we went to Stephenville and roped in the #14, #13, and #12 and I felt like I roped a lot by two feet. In the #14 we drew a runner. The steer was way out in front and I lost focus of my job. I watched Gabe stick and set up the steer and I was thinking about what a good job he was doing. When the steer turned, he threw his head up and broke stride and I missed him. I have done a poor job of staying focused when roping with my son because I end up watching him instead of the steer. It only takes a second to lose focus.
Gabe and I are headed out to Arizona in the morning. Gabe is going to ride some horses with Dean Tuftin and go to some jackpots. Hali comes out Sunday. There’s the huge Kimes Breakaway roping in Scottsdale that she’ll be practicing for, and we’ll spend Thanksgiving in Arizona.
Hali is moving well and most of her body is functioning. Her foots still hurts when the weather is cold. Fortunately, we’ve been able to work on the Speed Trainer in the new room we built that overlooks the arena. It’s large enough for the Speed Trainer and it’s climate controlled. I’ve been using this app on my iPad that tracks your body movement while you’re roping where we can look at the steps involved and how to improve.
The first couple of days she roped on the Speed Trainer there was a long list of what she was doing wrong. By rodeoing all summer and putting no weight in her right stirrup, she had her tip rocked up and her swing way bigger than it should be. The angles were off and not staying square with her body. It only took a few days for her to get lined out and roping the dummy sharp. It’s amazing how much an injury affects your riding and roping. Occasionally I have return clients show up and I’ll ask them what’s hurting because it’s obvious something is throwing everything off. If you’re injured and in pain, your body will protect itself and change the way you’re doing things.
For the first time, I can say that I’m leaving home as a true retired team roper. I’ve informed Gabe if the weather is bad, I’m not roping. We’re taking two rigs so he can go when and where he wants. At this point my body doesn’t function when it’s 30 degrees and raining. If I rope when it’s cold my back gets tight. Now I understand older men telling me, “I’m not roping today because it’s cold.” I’ve officially reached that point. Since I teach, and not compete, for a living there’s no reason for me to rope when it’s 30 degrees.
