When things don’t go according to plan

My daughter has been very excited about her first high school rodeo because the Breakaway and Team Roping is pretty tough in Region 10. During her first year in junior high rodeo, a young man, Logan Moore, talked to her about them roping together her first year of high school rodeo, which is also his last. He’s a senior this year and already a #9 heeler. She’s fortunate to have a partner of that caliber.

Between practicing for breakaway and heading she over did it practicing. This is the third time her shoulder has locked up. The muscles get tight and it’s very painful. The chiropractor blames overuse and a growth spell. Needless to say, when you’re hurt before the weekend starts, things tend not to go according to plan.

In the breakaway she got a great start and took an extra swing. Her horse got her a little because she was going to throw and then second guessed herself. In the team roping they were second team out of forty. Last year you could almost use a World Series start. This year the steers were on the fresher side and I wanted her to be aggressive. Score, let him take a step and go to him. Our steer didn’t run and she broke the barrier. There were some steers that hauled butt, ducked and dived. For the most part it was a good set of steers and if we’d had a rerun it would have been outstanding.

The second day Hali drew a calf on the slower end that ran with his head on the ground, then checked off and came right. She had a rerun on him. She missed the barrier and was a hair late because he was slow the first time. She was 3.6 and didn’t win anything. In the team roping she got a great start and the steer stepped right just as she roped and it waved off.

She was devastated by her first high school rodeo weekend. We talked about being hurt before you start. Sometimes you have to do the best you can. We went back and watched the video and we talked about each thing that happened. It’s going to happen in rodeo because you cannot control all the obstacles. It’s difficult to second guess yourself, especially in a one header. You have to gamble a little bit and the draw plays a major role.

In my opinion the worst thing you can do is get mad at your kids when they have a bad weekend because they’re already devastated. In my case my kids really want to rope and they work very hard at it and not just in the roping pen. Every day they do their drills on the Speed Trainer without being made to. It would upset me if they didn’t want to work at it. But I know the time and effort they put in, and from my own experience I’m very aware of the variables that can cause you to have a bad weekend.

Dealing with and trying to overcome the variables is one reason I’m such a big believer in video. It enables you to break it down, frame by frame if necessary, and see the little things that happening. Being aware of what’s happening helps your odds of having a successful run. It doesn’t make having a bad weekend any easier to accept. Whether you’re wounded, not at the top of your game, or riding a green horse.

We’ve been two full weeks without riding or roping. We’re hoping to get the green light to start back in a couple of days, but we’re not going to be able to practice a lot and possibly overdo it.

Like I tried to explain to my daughter, she has ten rodeos. “Think about the long term, short term and overall goals you’re trying to accomplish. You can’t dwell on last week. You have to block that out and move forward. In your mind you need to believe you did good last week so you have the confidence to take that throw the next time.”