Roping!!!

I learned English and am just starting to get the true swing of Western and am now hoping on starting to rope. I'm going to admit it...... right now I can't rope to save my life..... I'm wondering if anyone has any tips, secrets, or ways to improve that I could use. It'd be nice if I could get more skills on the ground before on the horse because we don't have a horse used to ropes yet :( but I'll take any advice! Right now I'm just roping a bucket, but I only practice like once every two months, but now I have my own rope on the way

If you're anything like me, you'll need to teach your horse to duck on command

haha, maybe..... i'd prolly even miss his head too even if i aimed at it......

anyone else??

Hi yes i use to rope then had some shoulder issues and didnt use a rope for years then a few months ago i was fooling around on my mustang mare reiata . And i was out in my back pasture and thought id drop a loop on a filly that we needed to work some with well. it had been years since i used the rope and about the same amount of time since reiata had one thrown from some old cowboy while he was in the middle of her back. Well long story short it will be a long time before i do it again. the loop hit it mark from pure luck but the mare said aint no way im staying here while you do that boss and we went for a wild wild ride. and the lil filly didnt want nothing to do with it eather and she went the other way. it will be about 6 months till my shoulder is able to be used in any kind of real work so im not goin a do no more ropeing till my horse is reschooled in the ropeing fundmentals again and by then ill be to old to rope anymore Dave

i think dat u should get ur horse trained first like get it use to ropes and stuff and then get it light on its feet like doin roll back and stuff. on the ground u can get someone to walk and then try to rope them then they can gradually get faster as u get beta!!
hope that helps

I work with a horse trainer so getting the horses used to ropes isn't even a problem. I'm thinking I'm just going to need Practice, Practice, Practice! But doing the same old stuff gets boring so if you guys have any new or exciting ideas let 'em fly!!

Definitly spend most of your time on the ground. Do you want to rope for ranch work, heading and heeling?? If you can afford it I'd definitly reccomend getting one of those plastic steer heads and shoving it in a bale of hay. It's a good way to practice getting your loop big enough to get around the steers horns. (Buckets are good, but you may get into the habit of making a smaller loop and end up being stuck only getting one horn for awhile once youve got actual steers.)

Practice getting your horse to track cows on his own so that it takes a bit more work off of you. If you dont have access to steers, they also make these little things you tow behind a truck or quad and theyre great for practice. (:


As far as actually roping, I cant heel to save my life but I can usually get a steer by the horns. practice makes perfect and once you get the motion down it becomes much less frustrating

Thanks.... sounds good. I actually think we have those steer heads burried away somewhere.... We have long horn bulls to practice on..... even though I'm not excited that they aren't steers...... hopefully they will be soon....

Good luck! =)