Innehållsförteckning för Jake Long från The Team Roping Journal

When do you safety up, and when do you take the shot? My theory on it is that I never want to rope scared. If I ride a proper corner and the shot presents itself, I don’t want to be afraid to take it. If the shot is there on the first or second hop, I want to heel the steer if I’ve set the shot up. I don’t want to become one dimensional to have to throw fast, but riding a good corner will allow me to take my first good shot. At the 2018 Wildfire, on my fifth steer with Luke Brown, I was a little later at the barrier than I intended—so I had to push my horse with my legs through the corner to get to…

PARTNER PREFERENCE When Luke Brown was riding Rockstar, he really wanted to break more toward the pin. That required me to score more and leave the steer straighter and have enough trust that he’d take care of me as far as not moving the steer too fast. With other horses, Luke has wanted them leaning left more. ROOM TO THE RIGHT Lovington, New Mexico, is a big arena with a lot of room to the right. You know there’s no possible way the steer can go right, and it’s your responsibility to be the wall. You have no chance of winning if that run goes to the right. NO ROOM Rodeos like Sikeston, Missouri, are famous for the boxes being set down into a triangle. If the steer even looks…

Something that I try to work on—and a problem I see in novice ropers—is not getting in a hurry when the head rope goes on. Novice ropers tend to panic and think: I need to get in there and get to the cow now. There’s actually a lot more time because of the steps that have to happen. The steer’s head has to turn, his shoulders have to come around and then his whole body has to make that turn. After all that happens, there’s still a hesitation once the steer hits to make the corner. There are five steps there that have to happen before that steer actually leaves the corner and the roper needs to be in pursuit of him. 1 My header already has the steer’s head…