6/19 Drew Horner: Uncoiled. Preparation and Experience

We’ve been practicing for a couples days, to get mentally and physically ready for the busy summer. Its more mental, but you still have to stay physically roping sharp. Practice consists of keeping our horses scoring well and running as hard as they can.

With me, staying mentally prepared means knowing where I’m headed and what the setup is like. I need to know where we’re going and mentally aware of the setup, then I’ll do better. Typically, I will know what the setup is like and what the steers are like. There are different factors all the time, but I am a lot more comfortable knowing I’ve been there before. Some rodeos I’ve been up to 5 times now, so I know what to expect.

If I haven’t been there, I sometimes look up YouTube videos that show team roping at those rodeos. That helps me visualize the arena. I did that with Salinas, CA, Cheyenne and a bunch other rodeos I didn’t know when I first started. I would look up “team roping at Salinas, CA rodeo” and Derrick Begay and Cesar de la Cruz showed up. I could see what kind of barrier it was. Everyone was talking about how it’s a totally different setup with something like a 20-foot barrier, and the header and heeler come from the same side.

There is also a big difference in the slack versus the performance.
In the slack, there is no one around, but there are 20 teams that run off smoothly. In the performance, there are only 10 teams, but you have all the spectators, clown acts, announcers, etc. You might get all mentally prepared for your run and then the flow is interrupted with a clown act you didn’t know about. You have to know how your body works and how you have to get mentally prepared. If you’ve been there, you probably will know how the rodeo is run and where the breaks are.

The same goes for the big jackpots, like the BFI. This will be my 4^th time. I know that it’s an all day roping, and I’ll get tired about 2 or 3 o’clock in the afternoon and the short round isn’t until about 4. I know that I’ll need some water or something to eat to help boost my energy.

I’ve never been to Santa Fe, so I’m not sure what to expect there. But, now that I’ve been rodeoing for a few years, I have more confidence going to a place I’ve never been.

Besides watching videos, I can also call guys that I trust that have been. Although, I’ve found that people like to exaggerate. Some may think the arena is really, really long and I get there, and it’s about average. So, I have to remember to take everyone’s opinion into consideration before I can experience it for myself. Experience is vital in everything – rodeo, business, life…

Until next time, DH.