Leather Reflections

First off, I want to start by telling everyone who has supported me in this adventure, thank you so much!  I have had a lot of people contact me telling me that I’m inspiring them to set and achieve goals and that makes my heart smile!  Yesterday, I spent the afternoon with a good friend from back home.  We spent an entire afternoon talking and catching up over steaks and beers.  Although I didn’t get any time in on my horse, it wasn’t a wasted day.  We spent a lot of time reflecting on the past and it brought up some very fond memories.  I drove home last night with joyful soul.

 

Saddle won in 2002, #4 roping with JT Tapia

One memory in particular stuck in my head.  It’s a memory that I think of very often…every time I put my butt in the saddle.  Throughout my roping career, I have won quite a bit of money.  It’s always nice to take a trip to the pay window.  However, I’ve never won many prizes.  The first buckle I won was at our local buckle roping when I was maybe 16. It was a steer stopping buckle.  It sits next to my rodeo queen buckle in a case at my mom’s house…that’s where the buckles that I’m not all that proud of reside.  She’s proud of them, so she can display them I suppose.  I guess, now that I’m thinking about it, I’ve really only won one other buckle and I roped my ass off to win it!  But my fondest memory of winning any prize was the day I won my saddle.

 

I was 18 years old and a freshman in college.  I had been living in the dorms at school and I was incredibly broke! Somehow I had managed to get in all my qualifiers for the ACTRA (American Cowboy’s Team Roping Association) Nevada/Idaho State Finals and I hitched a ride with my rodeo coach to the scenic metropolis of Winnemucca, Nevada.  The ACTRA State finals is always a very special roping to me.  It always falls on both my dad’s and my birthday (his was September 19^th and mine is the 18^th). Dad and I had been hitting the finals for at least 5 years together.  I was a little bummed that year because I had to ride up with my coach instead of doing all my traveling with my dad, but the second we pulled into the Winnemucca Fair Grounds, I jumped on my horse and took off to find him.  Some people have fancy living quarter’s trailers to sleep in and others opt for a hotel room…well, dad and I, we camped in the stock trailer.  He made his comfy bed up in the nose of the gooseneck and I was forced to throw down a sleeping bag on some bales of hay.  Since I pretty much have some of the worst allergies ever, you can imagine what I felt like every morning when I woke up.  My eyes were typically swollen and itchy, I sneezed my head off, and if I could breathe through my nose at all, it was a miracle!  But despite “roughing it”, I loved it.

 

I had hell that year.  If you’ve ever roped, you know that when you really need to win, you usually can’t catch your ass with both hands.  That was exactly what was going on.  I’ll never forget how positive my dad was.  “Don’t worry about it!  Just go out there and rope!  Have fun and stop worrying about money!”  I had always paid my own fees so winning was crucial for me.  By the time that the #4 roping rolled around on the last day, I had blown all my money and hadn’t won a dime.  I had 3 good partners lined up for the #4.  When I woke up that morning, I just felt good.  My first partner was my friend, JT.  He and I have always roped well together.  He was one hell of a stick and could hammer two on the switch better than anyone I knew.  Our first three steers were awesome.  We were clean on all three and ended up high call in the short round.  Basically, all we had to do was make a clean run and that win belonged to us. 

 

As I backed in the header’s box and set my horse, I looked down at our steer.  My heart immediately sank.  He was a white steer.  His horns, instead of standing up on his head like a normal roping steer, were flat and pointed out in front of his head and down towards his eyes.  Team roping, especially for low numbered ropers, is a lot of muscle memory.  Consistent runs are made on even pens of cattle.  When you throw in a rogue, it kind of trips up your game a little bit…especially to someone who is an amateur roper, like myself. 

 

 

 

 

Non-typical, forward and downward facing horns

Typical type roping cattle horns

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I felt my nerves starting to fizzle.  My adrenaline got going.  My heart was beating so hard that I thought it would beat right out of my throat.  I needed to win.  I couldn’t afford to miss another one and go home empty handed.  JT gave me a smile.  I knew he was ready.  I checked that the steer was standing straight in the chute and nodded my head.  When the head gate clanked open, he hung up just slightly.  My horse stood like a rock, and then the steer bolted out.  He was a runner, but my horse covered him up right away and I was in excellent position.  I was really focusing on those horns…I had to catch, I had to catch.  I took two swings and just as I was about to release, my rope hit JT’s!  I can’t tell you how that loop went clean around the horns so pretty, but it darn sure did.  JT came around the corner in perfect position and grabbed two on the first hop.  My horse spun to a face and the flag dropped.

 

Our high team run, ACTRA Nevada/Idaho State Finals 2002

It was at that moment that I knew we had won!  No one could catch us.  My dad was parked up on a little hill above the arena.  I could hear him yelling and banging on the side of the trailer.  Everyone was hooting and hollering and cheering for us!  I realized that I had been holding my breath the entire time and also that we both were still dallied!  Neither one of us could believe that we did it!  We both let go of our ropes, huge smiles on our faces, and ran our horses at each other embracing in a bear hug right there in the middle of the arena.  We rode out of there beaming.  It was the best feeling that I’ve ever had while roping. 

Another run that day with Bud Price

 

I went on to place third in that roping as well with JT’s dad, Dan.  It ended up being a great day and one that will live on in my memory until the day I leave this earth.  When it was all said and done, I had over tripled the money that I had come with.  But the thing that I will never forget about that day was how proud my dad was of me.  I’ll never forget seeing him up there on that hill banging on the side of the trailer, throwing his fist in the air, and that huge smile that he had on his face…it was pure joy. 

 

That saddle sat in my house for years.  I never rode it until my dad passed away.  Now, every time I put my foot in the stirrup and swing up onto it, I remember his smile and how proud he was of me.  Every time I rope in that saddle, I am inspired to just kick ass.  Every time I back in the box, I let out a breath and remember his words, “Just relax.  Go out there and ROPE!  Just have fun!”  Every time I throw that saddle on my dad’s horse and climb aboard, I feel that much closer to him. 

 

God blesses us in so many ways.  Sometimes, we don’t realize it at the time, but after a while, we reflect and realize how truly lucky we are.  Some of the greatest memories of my life are ones that I’ve made at ropings.  I know that I will make a million more memories doing what I love and I look forward to each and every one of them.  Someday, when I am old and have “taken up the rocking chair”, I will look back on the good old days with no regrets knowing that once upon a time, I LIVED.