How to Build Speed Without Losing Control in a Young Head Horse

Every day in my practice pen is different depending on what the horse needs. On this particular day, I’m on a 3-year-old stallion prospect named Bigg Smoke (by Treis Seis out of Vanilas Sudden Fame by Dash Ta Fame), and the goal was making controlled, fast runs.

I start my day based on the day before. If the day before I put the heat on him and turned him up a little bit, I try to come back the next day and make sure his mind is in check—under control, not going too fast. If yesterday was quiet, today I can ask him for more.

It all depends on the horse and what stage he’s at. But that read is only worth something if I can build the day it calls for.

The Steers

I’ve got enough steers around here that I can kind of set up any situation that I want.

For that session, I wanted realistic runs for a 3-year-old. That meant medium steers. A soft launch out of the box—don’t just send him full speed. Close enough to a real run that he has to organize himself, slow enough that he can.

We’ve already introduced quite a bit of speed. What we’re working on now is doing it several times in a row, under control. That’s a good place to be in for a 3-year-old.

The Warm-Up Is Part of the Lesson

How much I ride him before I rope depends on what the day is for.

If I’m going to make realistic runs, I’ll lope quite a bit and let him roll down. If I’m slow working, I think that’s a good opportunity to get on him, trot a couple circles and go to work.

That’s on purpose. What we’re trying to make is a horse that starts and finishes—you tighten up and he goes and gets the job done. The best time to teach one that is on the slow steers. I can lope circles in the arena. I can trot behind cattle. He learns the cue without the run underneath it.

One Pound of Pressure

That horse rates the cow. He is talented and has a ton of speed, so we are working on harnessing that in all the right ways.

There’s a fine line between holding and pulling.

I’m holding, like, say, just one pound of pressure. If he’s in my hand and listening to me, I’m happy with it. But if he ever goes to two or three pounds, now he’s pulling on me. Then I might stop him, or make him come off the bridle for a second, and start over.

The answer isn’t a heavier hand. The answer is that the hand never has to get heavier.

Hip Control

In the corner, I try to step his hip away from the cow. I hate it when the hip goes toward the cow. Obviously, that puts his butt under the rope. Nobody likes that.

But you’ve got to be careful not to confuse the hip with the ribs. We don’t want his ribs going away and him folding in the middle. It’s the hip stepping away, and it’s a couple of strides.

It’s just putting my right foot back a little farther, and the left rein kind of picked up. That keeps his shoulder from falling in while his hip steps away—just a little bit.

I’m setting him up for what I want when he’s finished: I run up, rope, he steps his hip over, gets his hind end in the ground and takes advantage of the cow—still about parallel with her. Then I can start moving his body at the same angle the cow is, into the turn.

The Handle

This all makes a soft turn, and I think it opens up the cow sooner and faster. Not every horse can do it. When your saddle horn is up and your horse’s butt is down, you’ve got better control of the head to open the hops up better and sooner.

The Face Starts in the Corner

When his hip is out from under the rope, you’re already a third of the way to the face. From there you just keep pulling the cow and keep his hip from getting trapped underneath the rope.

Then when it comes time to face, you can just walk his hip on around.

—TRJ—

WATCH & LEARN

Put This Into Practice on Roping.com

Get step-by-step coaching from the best in the business with hundreds of team roping training videos.

WATCH ON ROPING.COM →