Innehållsförteckning för Chad Masters från The Team Roping Journal

CS: You grew up in Tennessee. Who was the team roper in your family who got you involved? CM: My dad roped calves, and then a man named Harold Travis moved from Arkansas to Tennessee, and he got our surrounding area team roping. CS: So what were the ropings like back then? CM: They were still an A and B roping when I started. Shortly after that, when I was about 13, they started having numbered ropings. CS: When did you make the move to Texas and why? CM: I moved to Texas to start roping with Michael Jones in 2002. I’d rodeoed in 2001, and I’d seen him around that year. We planned on roping starting in 2002. Michael and his dad helped me a lot. They taught me…

At 22, Chad Masters’ Pitzer Ranch-bred Ima Two Eyed Con—affectionately known as Cody—hadn’t really seen a rodeo since the 2011 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. Masters and his dad bought him as a yearling and put the first rides on the horse as a 2-year-old. Cody had long-since proven himself by the time Masters stopped riding him under the bright lights that year, carrying his owner to the 2006 NFR Average title and the 2007 PRCA World Champion Header gold buckle. Cody won Masters three USTRC NFTR Open titles, including one in 2015 after Masters legged him up and cracked him out just for the event. But aside from a few places here and there, that US Finals in Oklahoma City five years ago was his last outing. “When we built…

TAKING A HOLT •  The Perks These head horses score flat-footed, looking down the rein at the steer in the chute, just waiting patiently for their header to say launch off like that lady at the water park. When a header pulls on that horse’s bridle reins, he stays. When the header loosens the reins, he goes. Some horses will score like that forever, especially when you just need to see a little bit, and that fits with their natural timing. Those horses are ideal because we all have a tendency to pull when we nod, especially when the steer doesn’t go anywhere. They stand in the corner when you pull, and they go when you drop your hand, and they can do that every day for the rest of…

•  Cool It When you are running into box problems, the worst thing you can do is get mad. The energy on the inside of you is bad for them. So with all of these tips, the first thing I want to emphasize is that for me, everything works better when I’m relaxed and not mad, no matter how frustrating figuring out how to score can be. •  Ride Time In general, I think we all put too much emphasis on working and scoring our horses. I know they need scored, and I’m not against working on scoring in the box by any means. But I really do think we can over-do it on both seasoned and young horses. I didn’t score many steers at all while we were in…