9/27 Drew Horner: Uncoiled. Experience
0Roping is like anything else; with practice, hard work and other qualities like perseverance, tenacity and work ethic, you can be good. I have been rodeoing full time now for 3 years and I feel like I am finally learning a few things about the sport. As a professional team roper, we experience team roping in every situation, every different kind of format and every different type of arena set up. There is a reason why the best guys are the same best guys every year. This is what I have noticed.
The best guys in our sport all have been the best for more than one year. They don’t just win well one year and then you never hear about them again. These guys have good years every year! The best guys are the most positive guys. They typically have better attitudes, which actually promotes their initiative and drive to win. The best guys usually have the best horses. They not only rope and ride well, but they take the time and spend the money to get the best horses under them.
These are a few little things that are leading me into what I’m really wanting to say here. I am a young guy out here and still not established in the sport. I feel like I am learning more now than I ever have! It’s awesome! It takes a lot of little things that I used to not be able to really notice, and still can’t really describe very well.
It’s the experience that the best guys have that separates them. Every year there are always young guys that have good years, may or may not make the finals, that are out here winning and showing some promise. These guys rope outstanding! They really do. I am still a young guy, but I feel like I am about to talk like a veteran when I mention a few names here, but I have noticed a lot of promise in a few of these guys, that are really not much older than I am.
Guys like the brothers, Clay and Jake Smith. They have had a pretty good year for their first time out here! They went everywhere and did a good job at sticking it out and staying focused mentally and keeping they’re roping sharp. Another guy I am really good friends with is Will Woodfin. He heels outstanding! He did a great job this year heeling. I think he is wining Rookie of the Year in Heeling. He and Clay Smith roped together at some of the jackpots. They cleaned up! I think they won over 30,000 dollars this year at the jackpots. That’s really not a lot of money to say that they did great, but for two younger guys that are just now cracking out, that’s impressive! They did it at some big ones too, not just the little backyard jackpots we all squeeze into our schedule. That shows they can get the job done when it matters and pressure is up! It is fun watching, even when they are kicking my tail… ha!
Clay Tryan and Travis Graves at the BFI
The one thing though I notice that separates these younger guys from the best in the world is experience. It’s hard to explain. I even told my dad the other day that I feel like I am actually seeing the differences as to why Clay Tryan, Jade Corkill, Travis Graves and a few others that have been out here for a bit are so good, but I just don’t know how to put it to words, they just are! The only thing I can say is that it’s experience. That’s what I feel like helped me out the most this year. Not the type of experience that they have, but the experience of having been everywhere, knowing what my horses do in certain situations, and also knowing when to win! That’s a big deal. I guess, what it comes down to is, it takes years of work to get to the top. When you see those overnight success stories on the sports channel or the internet, more than likely those people have been working at their trade for years and they have finally had a break through moment that was just bigger than any other people’s break through moment. It’s really cool seeing the sport of team roping from a different perspective. I have learned so much through my few years of experience out here.
Thanks for reading y’all and keep the messages on my fan page coming! I love the feedback and the questions on tips and other things! Hope you all are doing well. I’ll be talking to you soon. DH
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