Breaking it Down by Speed Williams – August 2025
Last month I talked about my horse wreck and after five weeks of recuperation I’m healing up pretty well. I appreciate all the texts, calls, and prayers. The first two weeks were kind of brutal with broken ribs and the headaches from my concussion, but I’m feeling much better. I have a massage chair I sit in at night after riding horses all day. I decided I would not get back on a horse until I could withstand all the settings on my massage chair. One of my clients was here when I sat in it for the first time after the accident. My instructions were if I started squealing, he was to turn it off. Thankfully, it didn’t hurt, and I got back on a horse today.
We bought a new head horse for Gabe this year that he rode at the BFI. He’s a Palomino that’s fast but still needs some work on the corner and scoring. So today all I did was score, slow lope out of the box and move around real easy. I think my ribs are good but there’s some soreness I’m going to keep an eye on.
Since I’ve been injured, I’ve been going to some ropings with some of my clients. It gives me a chance to visit with people and I’m often asked how my schools work.
Typically, we start by roping four to six steers on two different horses. I challenge my students with various scenarios like being high team and having to rope in 11 seconds, then 9, 7, and 5. In my opinion you have to practice different situations. You need to prepare to just catch and to go fast in case you have a leg and need to gamble a little. After we rope, we go in and watch the video and break it down step by step of what’s happening in the run. We establish where your weaknesses are, whether it’s riding, swing, position, or delivery.
Then we usually go to the Speed Trainer to isolate problem areas: your legs, how you ride your stirrups, how you swing your rope, etc. I set the dummy up for all different situations. We also film your work on the Speed Trainer. I have an app on my iPad where I can lay your video side by side with a video of me and calibrate the two to play simultaneously where it shows the difference. We can see, step by step, how we’re doing things differently. There are many ways to rope and to accomplish the same goal. But, for me, it comes down to math and eliminating wasted motions – whether it’s breakaway, heading or heeling. My whole thought pattern has always been about how to eliminate wasted motions in a run.
I feel very fortunate to be able to teach people, and my kids, something I’m so passionate about. That’s one reason we have a covered arena, so we can rope anytime. Plus, our most recent addition – a 40’ x 60’ climate-controlled room where we watch video on a huge screen and can rope the Speed Trainer in comfort has made a big difference.
In the past I’ve gone with Hali over the fourth of July. But this year I’m home on the injured list but it was still a special day. Hali was roping at Calgary, and Gabe was roping at Cheyenne on the same day. Hali has done well at Calgary and won second in both rounds and $11,000 so far.
Gabe didn’t draw well at Cheyenne. He did a good job of heading and turning, but his steer ran hard. It took a 10.7 to make it back to the perfs and he was 12.4 clean. They didn’t get much done over the fourth and only placed at one rodeo. Gabe spun two good steers at Reno. They were 5.8 on their first one and had a chance to be another 5, but the steer got out of Faron’s rope.
I think Gabe has done a good job of spinning some steers, but they haven’t been able to put their runs together. They’ve broken a couple of barriers and drawn runners or walkers. I’ll say one thing for Gabe… he’s upbeat and says he’s living the dream, even though we’ve had to send another truck and trailer to him. For all you parents out there with kids who Junior High or High School rodeo – it gets way more complicated when you have two of them going down the PRCA rodeo trail.
I’m very thankful my kids decided to do something I can help them with. I truly enjoy teaching something I’ve spent my entire life studying.
