Choose a Horse For Heading

Video Transcript

"This is Randall Powell for Expert Village and in this clip we are going to talk about how to select a head horse for team roping. If you are going to head steers in team roping, you need a horse that is going to be really big, muscular and stout. The horse you are going to have after you rope the horns and head, after you dally the horse is going to have to be strong enough to pull the steer off without any problem. You need a horse that is going to be stout and the most important thing is that you need a fast horse. One that break really hard out of that box and get to that steer as fast as possible because team roping is a timed event. So you need a horse that is going to be stout and the most important thing is you need a super fast horse. One that can break really hard out of the box and get to that steer as fast as possible because team roping is a timed event. So you need a big horse that carries lots of muscle and that is also very fast and can break hard out of the box and get you that steer quick. It is also important to find a horse that can rate well off of cattle. What rating is when you run up to the steer, your horse needs to stay where his shoulder is parallel to the steers back feet or his hips. Horses that will rate will stay right there until you delivered your rope and signaled him to go ahead and turn the steer. Other horses may not work for heading horses that would run past the steer when they get there, they won't quite go to one. You know they will hang back too far and it makes your shot a lot harder. So it is important to have a bit stout horse that can pull the steer, a horse that is fast and breaks out of the box really hard and a horse that rates well one you get to the cattle. This will all help your shots and improve your roping quite a bit. Horses are the most important thing in team roping. "