02/22/2025
Actually pushing 50… dang it.
A team roper and fellow aging horse trainer and I were standing around chatting in the roping pen the other day, having loosened off our steeds cinches and coiled up our ropes. We had both had enough, and we figured our horses had as well, so a bu****it session in the late afternoon sun was in order. We were watching the young guns rope that pen of steers through for about the sixth trip up the alley, and let me tell you, the boys were turning up the heat! So as my buddy and I chatted about starting two year olds and how much to expect of them, as opposed to waiting until they are three, we admired some mighty fine roping and marveled at the abilities and simple throwing power that is spent on the young. Those kids just take that dropping three coils trick for granted! I always say I can drop three coils, but if I catch it's gonna be a wreck. 🤷
Anyway, my friend commented on how horse training is all about promotion these days. How it has become commercialized almost to a sickening level. Social media pages, Tik Tok videos, podcasts, opinion posts (like this one. 😜)...videos of slow motion sliding stops and horses standing in a ring of fire as quiet as the family dog. This is what horse training is becoming in this modern era of glitz and glamour and folks becoming Facebook famous.
As my friend spoke, I had to agree with a lot of what he was saying. The world nowadays encourages an unhealthy keep-up-with-the-Jones attitude, turning the act of comparison and one-upmanship, into a driving force behind a great deal of the horse industry. If one were to believe everything seen on social media, you would never believe in yourself, it's that simple. It would be like living in a fairy tale world where every horse trainer never made mistakes, all horses loped around in slow motion, bridled up with a bow in their neck, with absolutely no natural fear of fire, guns or bullwhips, and all team ropers could drop three coils every run as they crossed the line while their partner slick roped two feet. How can mortal horse trainers (and team ropers) add up?
We can't. It sets an impossible standard on every level.
But what we can do is remind ourselves that we got here because we were drawn to train horses, and we don't need a photographer/videographer or promotional manager to do the job in the real world. What does come in handy, is some natural gumption and a good dose of grit. Plus, having the guts to throw three coils at what you want out of life doesn't hurt a dam bit either. 😉
Have a good day folks. 😊
Pictured below; the Red Baron, one of my silent partners. ♥️
