Ken's Travel Journal - Summer 2004

Steer Roping. The object here is chase down and rope a running steer around the horns, snatch him to the ground, get off the horse and tie three of the steer's four legs together. There's a thirty second time limit. The steer gets a 30' head start. The record is 11 seconds.

There are 200 contestants entered and the top 15 ropers will compete in the finals. Last year's winner took home $15,000.

This cowboy shows the right way to rope the steer and position him for the fall. On the top, he has the loop around the horns. On the bottom, he has the slack in the rope looped around the back of the steer and is preparing to stop his horse. Ideally, the steer will be snatched off his feet and fall to the ground - as shown below. Unfortunately, this steer didn't cooperate and just spun around - the rider had to catch him on foot and throw him down again - adding substantially to his time.

		This cowboy misjudged a little - his steer dug in his hooves and dodged just as the cowboy left the saddle. Ooops. I bet his buddies, all of whom are watching, won't let him forget this one!! Maybe this is what's meant by the term, "He bit the dust."
	Next, CFD Part IV.

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	Ken's Journal No. 4 - Summer 2004 Cheyenne Frontier Days, Cheyenne WY - 07/25 - 07/30/2004 Days 29-34 on the road. Part III.

		Steer Roping. The object here is chase down and rope a running steer around the horns, snatch him to the ground, get off the horse and tie three of the steer's four legs together. There's a thirty second time limit. The steer gets a 30' head start. The record is 11 seconds. There are 200 contestants entered and the top 15 ropers will compete in the finals. Last year's winner took home $15,000. This cowboy shows the right way to rope the steer and position him for the fall. On the top, he has the loop around the horns. On the bottom, he has the slack in the rope looped around the back of the steer and is preparing to stop his horse. Ideally, the steer will be snatched off his feet and fall to the ground - as shown below. Unfortunately, this steer didn't cooperate and just spun around - the rider had to catch him on foot and throw him down again - adding substantially to his time.


	This one stayed down, the cowboy tied him well and got a reasonable score. There's another event, quite similar, called Tie Down Roping. In this event, you rope a calf around the neck, get off the horse, throw the calf down and tie three of his four legs. If the calf is already down when you get off your horse, you have to get him back up and then throw him down. There is a maximum of 25 seconds to complete this event and the record is 9.9 seconds. There are 300 contestants entered in this event and the top 15 compete in the finals. Last year's winner took home $22,000.