Pushing the Barrier – Speed Williams – May 2013

Scoring is one of the hardest; most complicated and debated aspects of team roping.  Everyone has their own ideas about scoring and even the top fifteen ropers in the world all do things a little differently. This can create some problems when trying a new horse. There are many factors involved, but ultimately it comes down to communicating with your horse effectively.

Throughout my career I’ve had horses that I had to pull on to keep them in the box, and I’ve had horses I just had to keep light tension on the reins. I’ve also had horses I couldn’t pull on at all. There are many methods people use and there is no specific or correct way to score in order to win.

In school, I loved math and angles, which is beneficial for scoring. If you want to get technical, there are many factors that can figure into the equation when scoring. What you’re looking for is a common start that will allow you to get out from behind the barrier.

If the box and the barrier are both 16’, that’s commonly called “the same.” The general rule when it’s “the same,” is a tail by the plate, or a tail by the pin. However, other factors to consider are the size of the steer, the width of the box, and whether you’re riding a horse with a long or short stride.

There is a huge difference between rope barriers and electric eyes. A horse can push a rope barrier up to eight or nine inches without breaking it. An electric eye barrier is broken immediately. It’s a general rule that you allow an extra foot with an electric eye because a steer’s head can go over the eye and he can break it with his chest. If there are two electric eyes, one for the steer and one for the horse, you would allow two extra feet. In that case, where the barrier is “the same” and 16’ – that would mean it’s an 18’ foot score.

Priefert has come out with a great tool for teaching your horse to score. The Score Chute has two front gates, allowing you to open the first gate without letting the steer out. This is great for teaching your horse not to anticipate taking off when the gate bangs.

There’s a video on my website at speedroping.com about scoring. In the video I break down the methods I use. Being able to score your horse sets up the entire run. If you miss the barrier and are really late, lots of bad things can happen at the back of the arena. If you break the barrier, you eliminate yourself from the chance of winning big money. How you get your horse from the back of the box to the front is a personal preference, but the faster you’re running when you reach the barrier line, the faster you’re going to catch up to your cow. Scoring will usually dictate whether you win or lose when you leave home.

What’s new with me: Currently I’m in California going to some of the rodeos and a lot of jackpots. I’ve loaded all my runs at speedroping.com.

I was at a pretty unique event yesterday. Many people consider Oakdale, California the heart of where team roping started. Yesterday, they had a roping where the header came from the heeling box, and the heeler came from a box next to it, like two heeling boxes. If you’ve never seen this done, it’s how team roping was done in the beginning.

I loaded my runs and the short round of the open roping and they are free to watch. It was a first for me and it was interesting and fun to watch.

Pushing the Barrier by Speed Williams – April 2013

The 31^st Annual George Strait Team Roping Classic, held March 9^th & 10^th, started out with 690 teams this year. This is by far the best paying open roping of the year with $180,000 in cash and prizes per man for first place.

On Friday, the total number of teams is divided by ten and then split into rotations. The top five teams of each rotation advance and start Saturday’s three-head roping with a clean slate. It makes the strategy a little tricky because in one rotation you might need to be 10.0 on two-head and in another you might only need to be 14 on two.

This year I roped with Clay O’Brien Cooper, Kollin Von Ahn, and Travis Graves.  Clay and I were 12.05 on two and did not make it back in our bracket.  Kollin and I were 5.8 on our first steer in what looked like a pretty tough rotation. I broke the barrier on our second steer. Without the barrier we would have needed to be 5.7.

Travis and I were 4.7 and 5.6 and made it back in our rotation. It is a huge accomplishment to make it back and have an opportunity to win over $100,000 for a single day’s activity. When we rode out of the arena I told him that I like to rope aggressive on Saturday to give myself a chance to win first. He said he had always wanted to win this roping.

On Saturday they brought in fifty of the bigger and stouter black steers. Some walked, some ran and they were pretty tricky. You really have to be able to react to what the steer does when the gate opens.

Our first steer didn’t start, then tried, and as I threw, he ducked to the left. It was a very lucky head loop and we were 5.4 on our first steer. Our second steer came left hard and we made a good run and were 5.0 flat.

In the short round we were fourth call back. Now there are four teams within a second in front of us, and three teams after we go, that are within half a second of us. So pretty much it’s a one-header for $130,000. I actually felt pretty confident and enjoy the challenge of getting to rope a steer for that much money.

This challenge was I had to be 5.0 or 5.1 to take the lead and I still had three teams after me. First paid $130,000, plus a truck and trailer, versus $25,000 for fourth. All the hours spent in the practice pen and coming over top of the chute are for this exact situation.

I got a good start and got it on as fast as I could. When I grabbed my slack, I grabbed my right rein along with my rope. So when I pulled my slack, it pulled the rope out of my hand causing me to miss my slack and my rope bounced off the left horn.

Certainly I was bummed that I missed. You can’t help but feel bad that you cost yourself and your partner that much money. Still, I have no regrets how I went about it. I can catch that steer nine out of ten times and spin him to win the roping. I’ve won this roping three times and it’s the first time I’ve been in the position to win and failed on the last steer.

In this sport we all fail more than we succeed. 690 teams started with the opportunity to win first. Fifty made it back and only one team was successful. Congratulations to Garrett Tonozzi and Dugan Kelly for capturing the 2013 GSTRC Champion title and driving out with the trucks, trailers, and cash.

It is so important to practice and prepare for specific scenarios. You need to have confidence when you back in the box and know what you can and can’t do. It will be a long time before I forget grabbing my reins with my slack. Though it rarely happens, I will be studying how to prevent this from happening again.

What’s new with me: We are headed to California to the Hork Dog roping, Logandale, Oakdale, Red Bluff, and Clovis rodeos. All of my runs from the George Strait, Houston, and Austin are free to watch at speedroping.com. We will be putting up runs from the California rodeos as they happen.

This month we’re going to talk about hauling green horses and some things that can give you a better chance at winning on them. This subject is dear to me this month because this is exactly what I’ve had to do lately, since my three first-string horses are all on the injured reserve list. I rode Sheriff at the Odessa rodeo, his second rodeo ever. I rode a seventeen-year-old green horse, Doc, at the Ft. Worth rodeo.

When riding and hauling a green horse, I can’t stress the importance of preparation. Now days with all the barriers with electric eyes, keep in mind that rodeos use a barrier rope with a flag. This is one of the most important things I practice at home with my green horses. There’s no worse feeling than leaving the box at a rodeo when suddenly you feel the saddle horn hit you in the chest because your head horse is making a Lipizzan leap over the rope barrier. At some point this happens to almost everyone who rodeos.

I also set up my arena to simulate rodeo arenas with banners along the left wall. One mistake commonly made is expecting your horse to work as well away from home as they do at home where they are relaxed.

At both rodeos I had my horse there ahead of time. At Ft. Worth, Jennifer and I each rode a horse in the grand entry. In between performances I got to ride them in the box and lead them around and expose them to the sights.

You need to give your horse an opportunity to succeed and that takes preparation. If you haul your horse for the first time and he doesn’t perform well, you need to ask yourself what you could have done to help him. Did you get there early so you could expose him to the sights? Did you warm him up well? Did you ride him in the arena and box to let him get comfortable with his surroundings? You have to give him a chance to relax so he can do his job when the gates bang.

The first five times you haul a horse away from home will teach you a lot about your horse and show you what you need to work on. Horses are like people, they’re all different. I’ve had horses that were scared of the chuck wagon, and one that was scared of airplanes. Some horses don’t like music or carnivals. It takes time, patience, and effort for them to realize these things won’t hurt them and for them to relax. I’ve installed sound systems in my barn so my horses could get acclimated to the loud music they play at rodeos and ropings.

One of the best horses I’ve ever owned, Viper, was one of the worst at jumping the barrier rope. He probably did that for a couple of months. At the Houston rodeo he would jump the chalk line every year. You could walk him over it in a figure eight and he would never step on the white line. I always had to throw before or after the chalk line at Houston.

All the preparation in the world won’t make your horses’ first trips away from home perfect. But it will speed up the training process. You have to recognize all the obstacles that can prevent you from winning. If you can simulate them at home and get your horse used to them, it will give you a better chance of winning.

What’s new with me: We went to Ft. Worth, San Angelo, the Open at San Angelo, and the Wildfire roping. All my runs are on speedroping.com and are free to watch. I voice over each run and break down what happened, and what I’m working on to overcome the obstacles I’m currently faced with. I also talk about some things I’ve learned riding green horses at the rodeos while I’m waiting for my first string to get healthy. I’d like to thank everyone who participates at speedroping.com. I’m proud to say we will soon have over 2,000,000 videos watched.

Fast Back Ropes brings back the Pink Patron by popular demand

Granbury, TX – Fast Back Ropes first introduced the “rope with a cause,” the Pink Patron, in 2008. This bright pink rope quickly became a favorite for ropers, many of whom had personal experience with breast cancer. For every Pink Patron sold, Fast Back Ropes has donated $1 to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Due to production and warehouse demands in 2011, Fast Back Ropes had to make this rope available by special order only.

Due to popular demand, the Pink Patron will soon be back in stores. The Pink Patron has been re-engineered with a new fiber and feels better than ever before.

“We received a lot of feedback from customers who missed the Pink Patron,” explains Al Benson. “We used this opportunity to make some improvements before re-introducing the rope.”

The Pink Patron is a vivid pink four-strand poly blend. In addition to high visibility, the Pink Patron, is well balanced with distinct tip feel.

“I lost my mother to breast cancer when I was twelve, so when the Pink Patron came along I was anxious to try it,” says team roper, Hector Hernandez. “I found that I really like the weight and body of this rope, both heading and heeling.”

Fast Back Ropes will continue to donate $1 per Pink Patron sold to Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Look for your Pink Patron at your local Fast Back dealer on April 15, 2013. For dealer locations visit fastbackropes.com or call 800-479-1851.

We just got home from the National Finals. I want to thank MGM Grand for taking such good care of me during my stay in Las Vegas. Every year MGM offers some terrific NFR packages that include hotel accommodations and plaza seats at the rodeo. If you’re planning on going, it’s a fantastic deal that’s tough to beat.

I was at the Thomas & Mack nine of the ten rounds, and yes, sitting in the stands it looks much easier than it actually is. Lots of people thought the team roping was pretty soft. But when teams make runs of 4.3, 4.4, or 4.5 and not win much, it causes others to try to be 3-seconds. And when you try to make a 3-second run, your catching percentage decreases dramatically.

It’s very tricky because some nights it takes a 3-second run to win and other nights a 4.5 may win the rounds. It’s a huge advantage to go at the end when the rounds are soft. And it’s a real disadvantage to be in the first few teams when the rounds end up being tough. That’s why they rotate the start by dropping two teams every night. It gives everyone a chance to rope at the beginning and the end of the roster.

It’s ironic that Chad Masters and Jake Corkill both won the world – while roping with other partners. They had roped together for a couple of years and failed to have a great NFR. They switched partners this year and both came out on top. I read an interview where Jade said he missed more steers than ever before on the rodeo trail this year. However Kaleb roped outstanding for him, but ended up a little short to win the world title.

Clay Cooper also came up a little short in his quest for an eighth world title. I thought he roped outstanding and had some really tough steers towards the end. He won almost $200,000 for the rodeo year, and that’s one heck of an accomplishment.

Though Trevor Brazile and Patrick Smith didn’t win a world title, they roped exceptional this year and had a lot of big wins at big rodeos. I honestly felt like it was their world title this year. But they had some bad things happen on the last four steers costing them a world title. What they accomplished during the year was amazing.

There has been a lot of partner changing already with everyone getting ready for the 2013 rodeo year. Since I will be in the mix this year, roping with Brad Culpepper, I will be talking about rodeos, where we’re going, and what’s happening on the rodeo trail. My goal is to qualify for the NFR and win a ninth world title.

While we were in Las Vegas, Jennifer roped at the World Series of Team Roping finals at the South Point Equestrian Center. Over $6 million was paid out during the finals. Even though she didn’t win anything, she came close to winning some fast times and made some great heel shots. I’m very excited with the progress she’s made. She is turning the corner and starting to catch consistently. This will allow me to start talking about some of the things she has struggled with.

While in Vegas speedroping.com had a Customer Appreciate drawing where all subscribers were eligible to win a customized Priefert Score Chute. The randomly drawn winner was Mike Hicks. Congratulations Mike! We will have more of these drawings in 2013 and prizes will include a deer hunt and a Fast Lane roping dummy, to name a few. Thanks to Priefert for being my partner in this give-away. If you are a speedroping.com subscriber, make sure we have your phone on file on our site, so I can contact you in case your name is drawn.

What’s new with me:  After four or five years of (rodeo) retirement, I’ll be trying to qualify for the 2013 national finals and attempt to win another world title. On speedroping.com I will bring the viewers along on this journey where they can get a sense of what the rodeo life is really like.

I’m currently working on drills for headers, starting on the ground and then using the Hot Heels to make your horse work better.

We now have 1,800 videos online. I’m very proud of our video library and invite you to stop by and see what we’re about. We now have speedroping.com caps and apparel available on our website.

This month I want to talk about a tricky subject, failure. If you will do the homework and are 100% honest with yourself, you can usually turn your failures into great opportunities for improvement.

Headers, if all your heelers miss but catch for their other partners, there’s a good chance much of the blame lies with you. The other day I went to the Biggest East of the Mississippi and entered six times. I broke one barrier and turned all of my steers. All six of my heelers missed or roped a leg. At the time when I was asked what was wrong, my answer was “I’m not dragging them into the heel loops.”

Little did I realize that when I watched the video at 1 a.m., I would blame myself due to my handles. The situation was a little tough with a heeling barrier and steers that were fresh, ran hard and to the right. No matter the set up, you must keep control of the steer’s head.

Since I’m a heeler at heart and grew up heeling, I understand how difficult it is to catch when a header turns loose of the steer’s head. I’m currently working on a very detailed video on handling steers. For years I worked on my handle when I was riding Bob and Viper. I had control of my horses and could almost always make the steers hop off. The mentality of most great heelers is that they can catch every cow. The truth is if the header doesn’t do his job correctly, it’s very difficult for the heeler to catch regardless of how well he ropes.

Had I not filmed myself at Muscle Shoals, I probably would have thought my heelers had an off day. When I saw how fast my horse was running, it was obvious to me that I need to come home and get control. When you ride a horse with a big motor, it takes more time and effort to keep them working. I will work on this through a series of drills that include bending, flexing and side passing. I will spend some time slowing things down and roping the Hot Heels. Now that I’m going back on the road next year, it’s imperative that I can control the steer’s head. This is a key factor in success at both rodeos and ropings.

Never forget practicing for your horse is much different than practicing for yourself. Also, if you practice on big heavy steers and then compete on small steers, you are not correctly preparing yourself to have a chance at success.

What’s new with me: I’m very happy to say my kids have been roping a lot lately. Hali, who’s eight, is turning steers consistently and wants to know when she can enter her first roping. Gabe, who’s five, has been heeling for his sister in the practice pen. Parents I just posted a free video at speedroping.com about using the Hot Heels to keep your kids safe, in control, and having fun in the roping pen.

“It was time for a new roping video,” explains Smith. “Technology has advanced so much and this video features angles and camera shots that have not been seen before.”

DRIVEN is a menu driven DVD packed full of information and entertainment. Included are detailed instructions for heelers, 80-plus rodeo runs, and interviews with Patrick’s family and friends.

“I’m always asked how to overcome pressure,” says Patrick. “We have a segment that addresses mental preparation and how to deal with pressure.”

In this video Smith is brutally honest about the ups and downs of his rodeo journey.

“I have been thinking about this for a long, long time. I wanted to offer ropers something that’s hasn’t been done before. We really tried to think outside the box while creating this DVD and I’m very proud of it.”

Available now for pre-order at patricksmithroping.com. DVD will be released, and available for shipping / purchase on December 6, 2012. If you are in Las Vegas during the WNFR, you can purchase it at the following booths:

Fast Back Ropes: Cowboy Christmas, Hilton Convention Center
Teskey’s: Cowboy Christmas, Hilton Convention Center, and Sands Convention Center
NRS/MGM and South Point
Roper Apparel: Cowboy Christmas, Hilton Convention Center, and Mandalay Bay
Time Machine: Mandalay Bay

Great gift item. WNFR/ Christmas Special price: $49.99 valid through 12/15/12.  Regular price $59.99

For several weeks Coleman and I have been practicing a variety of scenarios as we prepare for the USTRC Finals. The focus when practicing for jackpots is not to make any mistakes or baubles. It’s a very different mindset than practicing for rodeos. Coleman had programmed himself to go as fast as possible prior to our 30-day rodeo trip and did extremely well at it.

Being successful at jackpots requires discipline and patience and that’s what we’ve been working on. It’s more about using your horse to your best advantage without making mistakes.

Coleman has been a willing student and anxious to work at this. In the last several weeks we have gotten much more consistent. We went to the USTRC roping in Abilene this weekend and I’m happy to say we made five clean runs and won second in the Open. When you work hard in the practice pen then leave home and put good runs together, it’s a great feeling to see the results of your hard work.

Next we will head to the Biggest East of the Mississippi at Beverly Robbins’ in Tuscumbia, Alabama. Then we’ll make a rodeo and jackpot in Tulsa and then two more pro rodeos in Texas. We didn’t win enough on our 30-day rodeo trip to qualify for San Antonio and Houston next year. The new standings will start October 1st and to qualify for those rodeos we have to be in the top five money winners. That’s our goal and reason for going this winter.

I’m happy to say our hometown rodeo in DeLeon, Texas was a success for the Williams family. I headed an exhibition steer for my son, Gabe, who roped two feet. Hali headed for Coleman and roped her steer slick around the horns. Sadly, I broke the barrier to win the team roping with Coleman, but we had a lot of fun at the hometown rodeo. Hali carried a flag and Gabe entered the Junior Bronc riding and Mutton Busting. He’s fearless and evidently takes after my father in that respect.

What’s new with me:  We now have over 1,700 videos at speedroping.com. All of our runs from our summer rodeo trip are free to watch. Those runs with commentary and our practice sessions are available to subscribers.

My goal for speedroping.com next year is to take people on the journey with me. I want to show a behind the scene view of what it’s like on the road and exactly what’s involved in trying to make the national finals.

We will have a speedroping.com booth the USTRC Finals this year. If you are roping there please feel free to come by and say hello.

Pushing the Barrier – September 2012

We’ve made it home from our thirty-day rodeo trip and I’m sure glad to be home. We didn’t win a whole lot, but the trip was successful in providing me much needed information. I’ve got two good horses, Carmine and Two Moons, who I thought were good enough to take down the road, but just didn’t know for certain. I’ve committed to rodeo next year in an effort to win a world title. The last thing I wanted was to leave home for the winter rodeos with green head horses. Coleman Proctor volunteered to heel for me on this trip while I tested my horses. He wanted to work on his heeling and he got a long very well with Jennifer’s heel horses.

I have to say the head and heel horses did well, Coleman roped outstanding, and I did a poor job of overcoming the obstacles presented to me. Some of that comes from not knowing what to expect from my horses in various situations. That’s the reason we went. Overall, I’m very happy with the progress my horses made during our trip. Carmine did a good job scoring and gave me a lot of chances to spin steers. Most importantly, I feel I’ll be prepared for next year and will have the chance to execute and do what I know how to do.

Rodeo is a very much a mental game, for both headers and heelers. I’ve always said you learn more from failure than you do success. Whenever I fail, I come home, watch videos, break it down, and try to eliminate those mistakes from happening again.

I have to comment on “my header that is heeling for me.” When we started this, he asked what his chances were of being my heeler next year. I told him then that he needed to be one of the top five heelers in the world by the time the USTRC Finals was over. Well, that’s going to be hard to accomplish, but he has really impressed me. He pulled off some shots this summer that were pretty remarkable. He’ll be here September 1^st and we’ll start practicing for the USTRC Finals. It’s hard to contemplate choosing a header as my heeler for next year, but he is definitely on the short list. He ropes well and he’s great to be around.

Overall, I’m happy we made the trip this summer. I don’t like to miss, but to have a chance next year I needed to go out there and see where my horses and I were at, and what kind of runs we could put together.

All my rodeo runs are free to watch on speedroping.com. Coleman and I have both voiced over a few and I’m finishing the rest now. Coleman does a great job on the voice-overs. His college education really comes through. He’s articulate and very funny. If this roping thing doesn’t work out for him, he could be a stand-up comedian.

Stop by and watch our runs at speedroping.com.

Pushing the Barrier by Speed Williams

When headed to the practice pen I always have an agenda in mind. Practicing for my horses is much different than practicing with or for my partner.

As a header, when I practice on my rodeo horses I want to make sure they do everything right. I try to make them score, run, and stay in my hand. Usually my corners are slower because I want to make sure my horse is under control. This is not the same kind of corner my partner gets when we’re practicing for an event.

When I’m practicing for my partner, I like to give him “full contact runs.” That means simulating full competition runs. I like to give my partner fast throws just like the shots he will need to make for us to win. If you don’t practice this, when the time comes he won’t be as comfortable or familiar with this shot as he needs to be.

These runs need to be limited, or made on a practice horse. Head horses have so much more to do than heel horses. Too many full contact runs can make your head horse short and quick.

When my horse works well I don’t make many runs on him. I have a new horse, Carmen, who I’ve been working on. We started out making eight or ten practice runs per session. Lately he’s been doing well, so now I only run two or three on him. As long as he continues to work the way I want him to, I won’t run very many on him.

My horse, Frisco, is my play toy to practice on. There have been some guys who have tried to buy him, but I tell them that he can’t run fast enough to be a good horse. I have fun on him and don’t want to sell him. His job is to let me work on my roping and to spin steers for my heelers.

It’s very important to find out what kind of steers you’ll be roping. It defeats the purpose if you practice on fresh steers and then end up roping big, worn out steers during competition.

What’s new with me: Due to my current herd of head horses, I’m going to leave home in July and rodeo for about 40 days to try and qualify for the winter rodeos. I’m going to attempt a run at a world title in 2013. I’m going to share this journey on my website as I upload all my runs and show a “behind the scenes” look at the rodeo trail. For more information and to hear my thoughts on this decision, visit my website at speedroping.com.