Training for Rodeo.
As a horse trainer and active rider one thing we realized right away in our careers is when your training your horse or yourself to work with those who have accomplished the goals you are working towards but to train with the best in the industry that your budget allows. Before you get online and book your next training session be sure that you and your horse are well prepared for the level you are at as well as the level your wanting to get to. We were seeking experience with riding professional rodeo. We had our seasoned pro rodeo horse, we had 7 months of strength training at the gym, and four days a week of practicing and conditioning our horse before we signed up. We were ready!
In this article we will giving you a description of what we got into last spring training with a team of pro rodeo steer wrestlers at the 33rd Annual Steer Wrestling School in Ogalala, Nebraska.Sometimes in the horse industry around the Midwest travel is required to find the right people to train with. So we loaded up our pro rodeo horse, booked our hotel rooms, and hit the open road. Within a couple hundred miles from Sells Lake Ranch and it was passing through Minnesota, Iowa, and heading west into Nebraska. The entire drive was filled with excitement knowing that we were heading towards an experience that would help us progress moving forward. Upon arriving we were greeted by the hosts of the events which included Pro Rodeo’s Paul Cleveland, Todd Suhn, Randy Suhn, Justen Nokes, and others! We knew immediately this team would help the progress at the level we were working towards.
Training with this level of riders proved to be techical and the team was aware of every maneuver but like most good horseman few words were spoken. The best trainers will always give you the proper tools, but it is up to you to figure it out on your own and find the correct feeling. The “dry work” took place while in the open arena with instructors pulling us behind atv’s and tractors. We worked on our slide, on our grip, on the techniques and this led us up onto the horse saver where we would next drop onto the steer saver provided by NRS.com. Dry work proves to be important in training, some learn better and faster if you remove the horse to teach the rider. This helps find your timing, your balance, and master the techniques. This is often incoporated in our program at Sells Lake Ranch.
Day one had proved taxing but the excitement remained. Day two was started with a refresher on day one, a motivational speech to get everyone in the right mindset, and it the steers were brought in. If you have never been crawled down into a chute and as it opened your pushed down the arena holding the set of horns of a wild steer at a full run…well we’d say find somewhere and go try it. We learned quickly how rodeo steers are trained for the rodeos and how important it was that our job was performed correctly.
It was time to work the steers off the horses, but before we got started a mental performance coach was introduced and we had a thirty minute lesson to grasp a better understanding that in the horse world and the whole world we are only competing with ourselves! What a nice way to view competition at the highest level. We next brought our horses into the indoor arena and warmed them up. Admiring the quality horses present, peoples ride styles, and the grins on everyone’s faces.
As the chute was loaded up with steers the instructors sat their hazing horses as we rode into the box one after another. Run after run, making errors, eating dirt, you name it it happened, but everyone got up brushed the dust off and put another run down. One thing we always like our customers at the ranch to realize is that you have to be humble to learn, and you have to have desire in your heart for the progress. After a half a dozen practice rounds we took down our first steer, told our horse good work, loosened our cinch and called it good for this day.
On day three it got more technical and the training became more advanced and there was much more one on one instruction. Back in the outdoor arena we went over days, one two, and the morning of day three. At about 11:45 am this cowboys body collapsed from exhaustion, it took all my strength and energy to reach this level of training. I thanked the instuctors and signed out for this session of training with the professional rodeo crew.
This experience was one of the best, riding with those who have done what we were looking to do elevated us. Driving back to Minnesota knowing that we gave it our all was the best feeling there is. Getting back to Sells Lake Ranch we were able to bring back a lifetime of knowledge to utilize in our program as well. If you want to ride the best, be sure to train with the best.