Keep a Rodeo Horse Calm

Video Transcript

"This is Randall Powell with Expert Village and in this clip we are going to talk about scoring your horse. Scoring your horse is probably the most important thing in horsemanship while team roping. You've got to have a horse with a good level mind, it's not hot and so excited that he can't sit still. If he is really high strung and hard to get along with, you are going to have a hard time holding him back. You are going to break out a lot more and get those extra penalties and barriers that they are going to rack up the seconds on your time while team roping. So anytime you are practicing, you can score a horse at any roping. So when you are practicing, what scoring is backing your horse into the boxes and turning your steer out but not chasing the steer. Keeping your horse in the boxes letting him know that it is okay just to sit there and anytime that gate opens and a cow runs out, he doesn't have to run out as fast as he can. They get in a habit. Every time that gate opens and that steers runs out, that horse breaks real hard and to run as fast as he can every single time, then he gets in his head that he has to blow out and go really hard. It kind of gets him a little crazy and a little hot and they need to be scored so they just know that it is also a place where they can relax and take a breather for a minute and let the steer out. They don't have to explode out of the box every time you back them in there. When scoring a horse, you back them in the corner and then when the header nods and the steer is turned out, you can just let him sit there, walk him out of the box, pat him, let him know that he did a great job, reward him or however you reward your horses. Just do this several times. Like if you are practicing and you rope 30 cows and you score maybe 5 out of 30 and just keep your horse calm and good in the box and you will be a lot better team roper if you do those things. "