b"From the Back OF THE BOXBy John SamsillFor any of your team roping questions or to schedule a lesson or clinic please contact medirectly at johnsamsillteamroping@gmail.comD o you ever think thatthing that happens when we want a horse to stopstart with the headers first. After the box, the second your horse can readwithout using the reins. Try it sometime, as youreplace I see horses reading the roper is just before he your mind? It seems thatmoving along in the arena shift your weight back andis about to throw his rope. Horses can and will react way sometimes and althoughbring your legs forward. You have now communicateddifferently here. Some quit running and make us horses are very smart andwith your horse just by shifting your weight. This isreach when just one more swing or stride couldve put intuitive, they are not mindhow our horse can predict with certainty, as the boxerus in a better position to catch and handle our steer readers. Of course, this comes as no surprise but howdoes, what we are about to do. When we are in thefor the heeler. The third-place I see it is in the pocket do they know whats coming just a heartbeat beforebox, we may be anticipating what is about to happen.when we begin to handle the steer, it would be the it happens? WhenSo, to prepare for thatcorner for the steer and your heeler. This is a place youre in the box andsudden burst of speedwhere we need to have our horses listening to us, right before you nodwe shift to preparedoing exactly what we ask them to do and not getting your head why do theyfor it. Your horse feelsahead of us. If we anticipate here and begin to lean jump, anticipation?this and knows youleft or shift our weight as though we want our horse Well, it could be thatare about to nod yourto turn left, they will and jerk the steer abruptly. Not in some cases, but Ihead and anticipatesgiving our heeler a smooth corner to read or make a feel most of the timeleaving. This is prettysmooth entry himself. This will either cost you time we are telegraphingeasy to understand inor possibly make things difficult enough for your what is about tothe box but where elseheeler that it causes him to miss. Neither one is a happen. What do Ican it affect our horsesgood outcome.mean by telegraphing?performance thusIn boxing that is theour performance? With heeling barriers now being the norm, heelers term used when you are about to throw a punch,must work on their scoring as well as headers. So, the but you make a move that your opponent can seeTo be honest, if our horses start anticipating theirsame thing applies to heelers as the headers when we right before you throw the punch. This allows himnext move and are not in the same moment as weare scoring. The second place I see heelers causing to predict what you are about to do with certainty soare it can affect any part of our run. Ill give you thetheir horse to get ahead of them is in the corner. Just he can react to it. I feel this is what we do with ourmost common areas I see it affecting horses. If you'reas we want a head horse listening to us in the corner, horses. They may not be able to read our minds, buthaving problems in any of these areas try to think ifwe need our heel horses to listen and stay in the they do read our body movements. This is the sameyou may be anticipating just before it happens. Illmoment there too. If our horse is reading our body position, we could be asking them to turn too early, and then we are covering up the steer and making our headers pull them by us. Not only does this take time but then we have to reestablish our timing and position with the steer and many times this leads us to rush and take a low percentage throw. The opposite can happen also. We do not prepare our horse to make the turn and we can run by the steer. The third and probably the most commonplace I see heelers causing their horses to anticipate and get ahead of them is in the delivery. This is more common in heelers than headers and most of the time it's because heelers lean when they deliver their loop. You can lean out or forward, either one will cause your horse to anticipate and stop too early. Sometimes this will cause a heeler to miss but it more commonly causes them to not get a dally and stop the clock. If any of this is happening to you check your body position before you blame your horse. If you do this it may help when the money is on the line and we arent concentrating on our riding as much as we should.Until next time Ill see you at the back of the box.Thank you to my sponsors, Usher Brand Silver and Saddlery, SaddleRight Saddle Pads, Omega Fields Feeds, and Hassayampa Veterinary Services.ArizonaRealCountry.com December 2020 49"