The Art of Training the Calf Roping Horse

[Music] [Music] ah [Music] so [Music] so [Music] hi my name is dale carroll i'm formerly of texas i now live in chatura california and i train calf roping horses for a living i've been training calf open horses successfully for about 30 35 years and a calf roping horse can either make you or break you in the calf open run he's about 75 and a good calf broken horse is vital to winning money on the rodeo trail and so i hope through this video that i can help you understand your horse and get along with him better throughout your opening career [Music] all right the first thing we're going to start with is saddling the horse that's the very first thing you do when you're starting to go to the roping pin now i use this soft pad next to the horse's back it's a double navajo and it's not very bulky and so you put it on the horse's back first because you want to keep the soft pads to the horse's back all right the next pad is your is your hard pad because you don't want the bulk the more pads you get on the horse's back the further away from the back it takes the saddle and you use this cut out pad so it will adjust because all horses are not built the same so the weathers fit right in here and of the horses back so it'll adjust the saddle it's that you use okay so you put it on all right next next comes the side now it is important to get that saddle fit down just right and your pads even and level on the horse's back and you want them staggered just a little bit like this right here you want this pad a little bit forward and this pad a little bit backwards so when you get the jerk it don't slide forward on your horse's back because you do not want your saddle moving around all right now here you need quite a bit of room people uh don't like to say they want to keep the horses uh the saddle to the horse's back but i like just a little more slack in here than most people because whenever you cinch the saddle down tight and then you get on and then you have the weight of the calf jerk on the horse it needs to be up just a little bit higher than most people like to to say so i need my saddle up just a little bit higher on the horse's back all right now we're going to girth the horse all right i like to have a nice wide soft mohair girt for the front okay now we're just saddling him here so when you first saddle your horse well you just snug him up just a little bit because a lot of horses are cinching everything and getting used to the girth just snug it up a little bit now before you rope you've got to really tighten it down tight and that's why i go to this kind of a latigo in the back of the back dirt and a nice wide back cinch for the back dirt because he takes a lot of jerk on his belly that's where they get most of the jerk and it's important to keep him good and tight behind you want both first good and tight when you're rolling now when you saddle him up you just snug them a little bit like that but whenever you getting ready to you're getting ready to roll you want him girded real tight in front and the back because all the jerk comes like this it comes from the back forward and raise the back and side left and push it down forward so you want the distance between your girds here and you want them tight real good and tight when you're roping all right and next we'll go to this to the bell boots now these bell boots come in two different kinds they're rubber and these are the balcony ones the rubber are just as good but the valkyr ones are just a little easier to put on now the reason you use these is because when the horse is running and turning and stopping everything he hits his front feet with his back feet and it cuts him all along the cornet bend here and everything and it caused him to kindly be crippled so uh what you want to do you put these on good and snug and i'll throw them in all right now we're going to go to the skittles and when the horse stops he's not going to burn yourself under here if you don't have these on and so that'll make him sore that'll make him quit stopping so you take these skid boots and you put them on and i always buckle the bottoms of them first and you buckle them just good and snug not real tight not real loose then i pull the back part up and i dirty it up buckle it up just good and snug at the top and now it fits real good and snug and when he stops they don't turn anything and they stay in place okay now next we'll go to the bridle of the horse all right now whenever i start a horse to make a roping horse out of him he should be broke as well as you can get him broke that's the first thing you have to do all right then whenever you start roping on him then you have to take him out most people's 30 minutes now but then you have to take him out of a snaffle or a hackamore or whatever you put him in and then put him into these other brides now when i write come whenever they come out of a snapple i put them in this bridle here it's a snaffle mouthpiece with cheeks on it and that starts them to getting to where they handle a little bit with one hand instead of two hands and then the the tie down i put them in whenever i put them in the the first bridle will be a soft tie down like this nothing nothing hard and you don't tie their head down tight you just tie it down to where whenever they get their head way up they bump it just a little bit all right and the next rattle i go into after that will be something to this sort it's broken four places and it's got a port here and it's got a curved chain on it and it's got a little bit more bite a little bit more pull to them okay and then you can go to a hackamore bit like this right here and that makes them pick up their head a little bit more whenever they stop and put their front feet out and they get the balance and that's how they stop with their their head up and their front feet out so they get balanced and then if a horse gets more aggressive you can go to an iron tie down it's a little stiffer tie down it bumps them and makes them back out of there just a little bit more okay the bridle and tie down system i use on this particular horse here uh he's more along further along now and everything so i use this bradlin tie down i'm going to show you how to fit it on him and stuff like that all right we'll uh show you how to put the tie down on him to start with the tie down that i use on this horse he's not real aggressive he's really hard stopping horse if the light tie down like this right here you put it on just like this and you have it fixed where it pulls right under these little cheek bones right here and that's where you want to have it sit just about so and and then you go to the bridle and this is the bridle with kind of a high port and it's not very severe and it's sharp shanked and everything and the curb chain is loose and so you put it on him um okay now your tie down you tied it you hook it under here to this ring on your dirt and you want it where it kind of touch his neck like that and if you want it to where the tie down don't hit him until he gets his head up here to the end of his stop just like this and that's what he braces on and so he can put his feet out his front feet out to uh stop and everything embraced to get to the jerk [Music] all right now what i'm going to do is i'm going to put a calf in the lane here and i'm going to run him around and around and let the horse follow him and the horse will follow him and i'll keep the calf against the fence and i'll keep i'll run the horse up behind the calf and keep him a little bit over to the right because you get a straight go at the calf like that whenever you rope and the calf is over to the right a little bit it's got a tendency when the horse stops and you're tied hard and fast is for the calf to roll a little bit like that and everything gets out of out of line and out of focus so you want the calf right straight in front of you or a little bit over to the left for a right-handed man and then you get them kind of in the crossfire and you get the straight jerk to where you can go right down and take care of business right straight in front of you there and i put the breakaway on the horse and i run the calf around and around and i rope him with a breakaway and it breaks off the calf and it teaches the horse to stop and it don't hurt the calf and don't wear him out and without any weight on the horse and everything so he kind of gets a general idea of what we're doing he gets used to the rope and he gets used to falling in the calf and then the next step will be to put him in the chute and then start roping from the chute all right here we are in the lane now behind the cab it's important to start a horse in the lane with a slow calf so you can keep the horse right behind the calf at all times and here i go and i bring the horse around behind the calf again and i start off i keep him right behind the calf through the duct take the cap over to the fence keep the horse right in position then i reach the rope stop the horse back him up it's very important to stop him and back him up three or four steps every time this gets him programmed to stop and back up like you do whenever you rope in the arena now stop him there and let him pause for just a minute and tie my breakaway to keep him cool because a horse when you rope on him he has a tendency to get a little bit jacked up and a little bit nervous so you just kind of calm him down a little bit and let him stand there and relax while i tie my breakaway and that gives him time to cool down a little bit because you have to keep a young horse really cool so he'll understand what you're trying to do with him and everything and he won't learn when he gets hot and mad so you keep him really cool there and just let him unwind just a little bit then you reach and pet him there just a little bit keep his confidence to let him know that he's done a good job and then you ride him off with his head down relaxed and start all over again on this run i'll show you actually how the breakaway works when i rope the cab all right again i position the horse right behind the calf get everything just exactly perfect reach and rope stop the horse and back him up it's very important to stop him and back him up every time you rope to get it in this program all right now we're going to talk about the box work a little bit in the barrier here a horse you need to keep him free in here you need to keep him calm as much as possible because you don't want him moving around because you've got to watch the calf in order to get a perfect start you've got to let the calf to where you want to and then you leave and if he's jumping around you can't do that so you ride him in i ride mine in about a foot or two from the rail of the box here right into the center turn him around turn him back right here to the v have his back end right in the v of this box and his head right at that pin right there that's the longest distance you have to run because whenever they string the barrier across there whenever you the more you break to the center of the outside of the box you shorten up your start in other words you're going to get the barrier that much quicker from right about right here a little off center of the box to that pin well you'll have a three feet longer start if you'll run at the pin so you back the horse in here you get him at this position get him standing up move his head out of his way just a little bitty bit like that so you can see the calf and you don't never lose sight of the cat whenever the calf breaks you're looking right here and you see a point that you want to see on the calf like you've got to see a shoulder middle of his back or his hip to the pin before you leave that's the way to get a start so you sit right here and you're looking for a particular place on the calf so you sit right here and you keep his head out of your way just a little bit where you can see and he never moves his head in your way and so you can watch that camp move right on out and whenever he gets that certain points you can leave all right you want to keep them where you can ride them up like that and back them up like this and keep them free in here and i do a lot every time i ride in the barrier rodeo i bag my horse in i don't care if he's standing straight or not always ride him up and back him up a couple of times that's just to let my nerves settle a little bit and the horse's nerves settle a little bit because if you do it every time he'll get used to it and he won't get tight so many people bring them in here turn around and job them back in this corner and pull them back in here like this and crouch them in the box and the horses get to work they hate to be in here and they'll back up and they'll just lay down on the back of this box here and just set down on it like that and then you can't get a good start if you try to ride them up they'll just jump and throw a fit or if the gate rattles or anything like that so that's what i like to do i like to write them in here and back them up even if they are good i ride them up a few steps and back them up again and then if anything happens up there the calf turns his head or anything there's any waiting around for something up there to happen you ride up just a little bit back him up keep him free in here move him over move his front end out of your way just a little bit like this and then you break right at the pin all right now whenever the gates open your horse will take he might tense up a little bit so many people they're standing like this and they hold the range you hold just enough tension on the range to keep the horse standing straight you don't want to pull him back in here just standing natural all right now whenever the gates rattle and he starts to tense up a little bit so many people will come back here with the reins like this and pull the horse up and everything what you want to do is just like kind of like putting the brakes on your car you just kind of ease them to the wherever you want to stop all right i just hold enough tension on the reins to keep him here and keep him standing on the ground i don't pull him too much like that i just keep enough tension on the range to keep i keep the slack out of the reins about like that just enough to keep him standing up right where he's not squatting and whenever i get the calf to the point that i want to see on the calf then i would just drop the reins forward like that and leave and that's where you get a good start you keep the horse on balance you can leave all at one time and a good start and calf roping is very very important after you get the horse where he follows the cab properly in the pin and the pin roping then you go and put him in the box and get ready to rope out of the box you're still in the lane you back the horse up get him standing properly and square take it let him run after the calf on his own position the calf real good then cut it loose make him stop and back up it's very important that you stop him and back him up whether you catch or miss remember it is really important to keep the horse relaxed and his head straight when asking for the calf okay he's in the box again now he's all squared up good and straight standing still the calf comes out he runs on his own stay right in behind him spank him off the fence reach and cut it loose stop him and back him up all right now i'm going to talk about some of the ropes i use i use two different ropes this is the breakaway this is the first rope i use and this is to rope on the horse when he's green so it breaks away from the calf does not jerk the horse till he learns how to stop all right i just take a regular ring and put it on a rope like this all right then i get a piece of string i run it through the loop through the ring and i tie it in an overhand knot like this all right and then you've got a loop that you can swing and it will feed and you can rope a calf tight and it won't break until it gets a jerk all right the next rope i use is the one i tie down with it's like this it's just a regular rope but i have a little different way of doing it i take and i take a piece of rope nylon cord and tie a knot around my rope about 18 or 24 inches back according to where you hold your hand is where you want to tie it all right this is to so that whenever the rope tightens around the calf's neck like that you can get a good jerk it will be tight but it will not choke the calf and it will save your calves and if you want to take it off of the calf it will give you just a little broom to slide your hand in between the cast neck and the rope and to pull it off of the calf and it's got good balance and it swings good you can feed it good and everything okay now we'll go to the jerk line this is a jerk line i tie it around the bridle like this in a knot any kind of knots fine and some bridles have a bar across here and you can tie the jerk line into the bar all right this jerk line is run up to a pulley tied on the saddle horn with a little bit of rope all right you put the rope the jerk line in your belt and take your tucks like this so whenever you get off and run down to the calf the rope pulls as you go down the rope pulls back on the horse like that and makes him back up and it pulls out of your belt like that all right this is the neck rope that you run your rope through you tie it around the horse's neck in any kind of a knot an overhand knot or any kind i tie a square knot all right then i take this keeper i tie it into the tie down with just an overhand knot like this this keeps the horse's head towards the calf at all time if he tries to turn his head and walk off or run off he can't run off it'll keep his head towards your calf and keep you from getting hurt keep it from getting tangled up in the rope okay now i take my rope and so it will tighten down i take a little couple of little curls in the rope like so so it will tighten up good and tight on the saddle horn like that okay i run it through the keeper through the neck rope and the saddle horn just like this and pull it real good and tight so that you don't get your fingers in it so whenever the calf hits the end of the rope and you get the jerk on the saddle horn you don't get your fingers in there and cut them off and that's the ropes and equipment i use in training horses now what i'm going to show you is how to make the horse back up on the rope properly i take the rope off the saddle horn and i teach him to back up with pressure i talk to him a little bit as i go along i pull the rope out in front and i just kind of get his attention there a little bit and i pull on the rope i say back and i feed him some rope i let him back and i feed him a little rope like that and he gets to where he's reacting to the pressure now he's reacting to the pressure a little bit better now i feed him a little slack and he backs up and then i say whoa to make him stop and then i pull on the rope a little bit and he backs up and i say whoa and he stops and that's how to make him back up like that he's not backing up wild he's not backing up erratic he's just backing up nice and slow and easy and that's the way you want one to work the rope and they work the rope by pressure not by being scared whenever you pull the pressure back up feed him a little slack let him back up say whoa and then he stops and he stands there correctly and that's the way i like for my horses to back up now what i'm gonna do is call logging the horse after you teach him to back up with just a tug on the rope then you want to put a little weight on them before you rope a calf so they'll know how to back up and have the feel of weight before you actually put a calf on the end of it all right what i use is a cross tie like this now you don't want to i don't want a heavy load but i don't want a real light one just something it'll just pull and you can either put another crosstalk on this if you want more weight or leave it like this i put a rope around it like this then i come here this way pick up the end of the rope run it through the keeper through the neck rope onto the saddle horn here and secure it real tight then i slip the reins over his head now i just started backing up like i did while ago real slow take this slack out real slow take take keep taking the slack out until the rope comes tight then i make him pull the log up to me with the weight on the end of it like [Music] that and i ease him back a little bit okay when he gets the log to me like that i stand on the log and make him hold the rope tight with my weight on the log and then i i may step off the log make him pull it a little bit pull it back up to me step on the log make him stop working so that i can tie if this was a calf so i can tie the calf and he holds the rope good and tight on the end of it and you don't mess around this horse is not scared he's working the rope just uh automatically and keeping it tight and so that's the way i like to train them and you back them up and you do this i don't spend a lot of time on the log like this i do it for a couple of days and then i go right to the calf because i think you ought to log them with what you what you're working with that's why i spend a lot more time on the calves necessarily more than on the log all right now i'm getting ready to tie down the calf on the horse in the lane i've got him to where he will follow the calf stop and back up properly score properly out of the chute and so now what i'm going to do is tie a calf down i'm going to take him in the chute turn him around square him up then i'm going to let the calf out let him ease up behind him using a slow calf i'm going to rope the calf handle my slack low get off slow go down the rope slow tie the calf slow just to keep the horse working so as not to scare him where he will be at ease all right now i'm going in the box i'm going to turn the horse towards the calf back him up square him up let him relax a little bit let the calf out he's up behind him square him up good get him in position rope hard down on the slack low stay on the horse get off go down the rope flank tie the cap slow in order not to upset the horse hmm now i'm gonna ride in the box i've roped a couple of calves i'm gonna back him up and square him up and score one just to keep him free and relaxed because he is a young horse and we're just starting him out in the lane for the first time and so we score always score to keep them relaxed when they start getting a little tight score i want to stress it's very important to handle your slack low and stay with the horse in the stop so as not to scare him whenever you get off and go down the rope to tie the calf time in order to teach the horse to stay alive on the rope i go down the road pull a calf towards me with my back to the horse shake the rope at the horse you always want to keep your back to the horse because you're going down the rope you don't want to turn and face him and make him work keep your back to him because you've always got your back to him whenever you're roping at the rodeo and tying the cab all right everything's starting to come together pretty good now the horse is starting to stop harder and stay in his stop with more force and now you can get off a little faster from now on [Music] all right now whenever i go to find a horse i like a nice looking horse everybody does an athletic horse i like him to have a nice short head a big round brown eye a little pin here and a thin throat latch i like him to have a short neck fits into his weather's good for balance i like him to have a sloping shoulder beat up good in front a nice smooth bone not particularly a big bone but just a smooth bone i like him to be short on top and long underneath i like him to have a nice long hip sloping hip a nice tail set a good gaskin muscle and be squared up behind and his feet under him good and that's what i look for in a young horse uh now i'm going to show you the jerk line in action the jerk line is the cotton rope going from the bridle through the pulley into my belt i'll run the horse up rope and dismount and as i'm going down the rope the jerk line will pull back on the horse's bridle and make him back up now you can see the jerk line come across my body and out of my belt and you can see the horse starting to back up it's starting to tug on his head and then you will see it the horse get to the back of the rope the jerk line's releasing now he's working on his own and the jerk line is hanging down not to get in the way of the horse and the rider on this run i'm going to go slow one last time to give you a good review on how the jerk line works in action uh i've showed you how to start and bring the young horse along after you've gone through all the steps and completed them properly then you've got the finished horse [Music] [Music] okay we've done a lot of roping today and done a lot of things about everything it takes to train your horse and i want to thank you for taking time to watch my video and i think the main thing is to use your head and take patience with your horse and just don't try to rush anything don't have a completion date on your horse just if he's working good when the roping comes take him if he's not wait till the necks are open because completion date will really mess you up and so i think if you just take the time like i said you will enjoy your horse and you will enjoy training your next horse a lot more [Music] so so [Music] you

Channel: Michael Small

Views: 16,302

Rating: 4.8865247 out of 5

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Id: OglUxIswMr0

Length: 38min 24sec (2304 seconds)

Published: Mon May 17 2021