Of all the rodeo events, roping is definitely the one that impresses me most. You may not get the drama of someone being thrown around by a large animal but you certainly see an amazing amount of skill on display.
The idea here is to rope the calf and tie its legs as quickly as possible. The winners complete the task in 8 seconds or so which, given that they start on horseback and have to catch a running animal using their lasso, is pretty amazing to me. It’s also fabulous to watch how the cowboy and his horse work together to catch the calf. After the cowboy manages to get the lasso over the calf’s head, the horse keeps tension on the rope while the rider jumps off to secure the legs.
I used to help a neighbor train horses for calf roping and have always been fascinated with it. Great shot – love the rope in the cowboy’s teeth! Classic!
Jim Denham´s last post ..The Armory
I’m pretty much in awe of the skill it takes to catch a calf this way. It’s amazing to me how fast these guys can catch it and tie it up. The rope in the teeth is, I expect, the tie-down that the cowboy uses on the calf’s legs once he’s lassoed it and got off his horse.
As you can tell, while I love watching rodeo, I’m still pretty clueless about the rules! 🙂