This is what I mean. I use 45 feet ('cause my hands are kind of small, my cowboy is using 60 feet) of a pretty soft ranch rope. The coils are stacked in my hand so they come out of it one at a time and from right to left. (I always wear leather gloves except this day I dropped the left one on the way out to the barn and couldn't find it. But when I got home it was on the back step thanks to some kind collie who hadn't even chewed it)
This is what's in my other hand when I'm ready to rope. Note the plaid, LindaG. (Her and I have a plaid thing). The length between the hondu and my hand is called the spoke of the rope and I tend to choke up on mine which means it's a little shorter than what a most good ropers use.
My rope hangs from my saddle when I'm not using it. I have what is called an Oregon Crossover system for tying mine on, which I don't like by the way. I think it's dangerous besides it's always such a big production to take down and tie the rope back on but it does hold it securely so it doesn't come off and maybe get lost when you have to ride hard and fast. I have to wrap the leather around my rope 2 or 3 times then around my horn once.
Then buckle it off to left side. Those bumps are called buck rolls but that's a whole other story.
9 comments:
Thanks for the info.I can't rope to save my life , the only time I ever caught a cow or calf with a rope was purely by accident!
It's great that it all comes so natural to you. :)
And I did notice the plaid shirt. Very nice. :)
I'm a pretty bad roper. Dad and brothers are awesome though. Dad actually lost his pinkie finger roping wheat pasture cattle many years ago. Just has a nub now. Keep that rope in order!
When you throw out your rope in your right hand, are you holding the coiled rope in your left hand palm up? Using your thumb to allow each coil to come off in sequence?? How do you keep the rope from degloving your entire left hand? Do you tie off on your saddle horn to prevent the rope from running away from you?
Sorry to be asking so many questions. I didn't know there was such an orderliness to roping. It seems alot harder than it looks!~Ames
When I throw the left hand looks like it does in the picture, palm actually facing right. None of the rope is around my glove or hand (that's what we need to be careful not to do) so the glove or hand doesn't come off. I just let the coil drop out of that hand in succession.
In Texas I've heard they tie hard and fast. Not me, I prefer to dally ( wrap the rope around my horn a few times) which has it's own dangers (don't want a finger to get wrapped again the horn) but at least I can undally in a big hurry if something goes wrong.
The grey hide wrapped around my horn is a little slippery (team ropers who want the rope to stop fast use rubber, like from a tire inner tube) and rope runs a little but that makes it slow down slower and keeps the animal from getting a hard jerk. It's a real trick to dally and slide rope at the same time and not loose a finger.
I have had a knot from the very end of my rope (the end I carry in my left hand) come around the horn a hundred miles an hour and hit my little finger on my right hand, dislocating it and breaking the tip of the bone. It's crooked now but a lot better than loosing it. That day I was scared to take off my glove cause I knew something bad had happened.
Even the very best of ropers have lost fingers or more usually their thumbs. You will see some of them going around with one of their toes sewed on there instead cause it's hard to do with out your thumb.
LOL, kind of one big horror story isn't it? It's not quite as bad as it sounds but what we do is dangerous, there's no getting away from that.
Oh Lord I'd be so afraid of losing something. Focus, focus, focus!!!
I know someone that has had his thumb pulled off in a water sking accident. He also had his big toe sewn onto his hand.
I have done manual labor all my life and I have been fortunate to only break the tip of my right ring finger.
Thanks for letting me know. I find what you do fascinating! Be careful out there. And focus, focus, focus!!!~Ames
Roping is definitely an art, so to speak. Good ropers make it look so easy. Try it, not so easy. In fact, it's very hard to do well - which is why I've only roped stationary dummies. They can't run away.
yikes. I think Im going to stick to try roping the stationary fence posts...not calves... at least for 5 more years...maybe 10.
That's one thing I don't know how to do... Rope, very well anyway. I can rope a tree like no bodies business though ;)
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