Rope the Heels In Rodeo Team Roping

Video Transcript

"This is Randall Powell with Expert Village and in this clip I am going to explain the specifics in heeling a steer. When you are heeling a steer, you need to have a pretty good size loop. Like I said, it is all about the timing. As soon as you come out of the box, you need to be swinging your rope and looking at the steers back feet as they run out of the pen and get your rope in time with the steers back feet. Once the header takes hold of the cattle and turns the steer, it's called your corner there. It's the first legal shot you have is called your corner and you will move your horse and it's a timed event, so the faster you rope the steers back feet, the faster your time will be and the more money you will win. When you come in as a heeler, you keep that rope at an angle around your horse's left ear and once you are in time with the steers back feet to deliver your loop, you just come straight across like you would if you were putting something on a shelf. If the shelf's back was to you, you need to put something on that shelf, you would just deliver just like that and keep your bottom strand really firm on the ground. To do that you push down with the outside of your hand to keep that loop really down and you want your top strand just right above the steers knees and that's what you guide with, your index finger. So when you come in and deliver, you see you've got your trap under there, you see the steers back feet jump in whether it be 1 or 2, pull your slack and your horse should automatically stop if he is a trained heel horse. You pull your slack and get your dally which would be your saddle horn in front of your navel area there. It's going to be a western saddle you ride your rope on. So whenever you get your feet roped and your slack pulled, you take your dally around the horn and back your horse up and that would cause the rope to come tight and turn your head around which in turn would stop the time clock. Those are the specifics on how to heel a steer. "