Not everybody in the industry can afford to go buy a finished rope horse that's ready to go to the rodeos. Whether you’re a young kid learning to rope or an older team roper living on a fixed income, you might not be able to go out and buy the best head horse or heel horse on the market. I don’t recommend people trying to learn to rope and training a rope horse at the same time. But if it has to be done, it can be done.

Dont just go buy a reject as a prospect. Its important to start out with the right type of horse, because thatll make things a lot easier throughout the process. Even if someone gives you a horse, it doesnt mean hes going to make a rope horse. The wrong kind of horse will be an uphill battle.

I look for something short-necked, thats not high-headed. I also like a horse thats 15.2 hands or less and somewhat stocky built. Years ago, you needed a bigger horse to head on. The steers are smaller now, so you dont need all that height. Bigger horses tend to be longer-strided, which makes it harder because they dont gather up and use their hind ends to stop as well.

Weve always preached that you need an older horse who knows the drill when youre learning. Sometimes theyre hard to find. But if you start with a young horse, you need to get him broke before you start roping on him. A head horse needs to be on his left lead.

Once you get a horse broke, start doing drills on him, like roping a slow lead steer or a donkey. You dont want to rope hard-running cattle at first or youll blow one up. Tracking something slow teaches your horse position and how to rate. You can do this with or without a heeler.

When you do start running cattle out of the box, its important to start on slow cattle so you dont blow your horses mind. It has to be a slow process, and you dont want to run too many steers at one time.

Logging a horse teaches him how to pull. Start out at a walk, then trot, then lope. Circle to the left, like youre pulling a steer. Use a little right-leg pressure, to keep the rope from running straight over his butt. You want to create a little bit of an angle with your rope, so its out away from his right hip as youre logging him. Youll use similar leg cues when you start pulling steers.

When you start with a horse with the right conformation, then do a lot of drills on him to get him better brokebe it sidepassing or stopping and backing upthen youve got something. It takes a lot of time, day after day, to build from one point to the next. This is a very gradual process.

After youve done a lot of the slower work, its time to teach the horse to face. I like to pull a log around in a circle, in the middle of the arena where Id rope a steer. As I approach the left fence, I turn back up the arena, then face. I ask a horse to pull the log up the fence if he starts anticipating and trying to face too early. If he does that, I make him keep pulling and dont face at all, because I dont want him turning around until I cue him that its time. I do all this at a walk and a trot at first, and even without a log just to get him used to bringing his hind end around to face.

When I face, I cue my horse to start his front end around by neck-reining him. And as I get his front end around, I apply right leg pressure to make him bring his hind end around. You want a horse to rotate around his front end, and basically swing his hind end around when he faces the steer.

As hes kicking his hind end around and getting squared up with the run, I sometimes undally and back my horse up four or five steps. That way, if you face on a slack rope hell know to shuffle his feet to get that slack out.

When Im roping live cattle and have a horse that faces good, I undally right as the heelers starting to dally and drive my horse out of there. That gives him some strength and takes away some of his anticipation. Im telling him that the only time hes going to face is when I ask him to.

If a horse is physically talented and good-minded, its possible that you can be competing on him in six months or so. But if you go too fast and start trying to skip steps, theres a good chance the horse will come unraveled in the box. Its so important to go slow to build a horses confidence. There are so many little things, like how hell take trash blowing in front of him at a fairgrounds, the loudspeakers, the hauling and everything else. All of that factors into the equation. Be patient and take your time. Itll pay off in the long run. STW