EHAL Magazine May 2019

Everything Horses and Livestock Magazine ®

Having Multiple Horses

Well, if it ever stops raining, we'll be able to do some team roping!! On the upside, we will have plenty of hay to feed our steeds this year. We've been busy at my house the past few months. I've had the opportunity to rope and practice more than I ever have and I'm starting to see a huge difference. At one point in January, I was blessed enough to run 50-60 steers a day. Talk about figure some things out, lol. What I wanted to touch on in this article is riding multiple horses to practice and compete on. Also, how do I choose which horse to use for what situation? I see this a lot at every level. An individual wants to start team roping and buys, hopefully, a good finished horse to learn to rope on. Usually if they continue in the sport, the older finished horse is getting too many runs a week and then is tired or doesn't perform well in competition. The more we rope, the faster we progress so naturally we need more horsepower at some point. Here's where I believe most amateur ropers make a mistake. The first thought almost

everyone has is that they want to buy a young horse to bring along. And I totally understand the thought process because I've had it myself, but a young horse sounds better than it turns out to be unless you have the right frame of mind. Most people get to rope once or twice a week and it's usually a hurry, hurry situation. You get home from work, grab everything, race to your buddies house, cram 20 steers and head home, only to do the same thing in a couple days. This is not a great environment for most young horses. It's the day to day slow work that brings them

around and most people that rope as a hobby don't have the time or patience to train a young one. I would strongly advise if you are in this situation, purchase another more solid horse so you can focus on you more and the horse less. Whichever direction you decide to go, now you have multiple horses to rope on, which can open another can of worms. All too often, even if you have older, finished horses, they will be different in some ways. I see people struggle with this, especially when they first purchase their second mount. Most of the time, we

Everything Horses and Livestock® | May 2019 | EHALmagazine.com 46