#inthearena365: backin' in the box

This weekend I spent with Joe Beaver at his roping clinic.  I planned this on the front end of my journey back into the roping arena. I'm a believer in seeking out the best person to help with your learning and advancing to your goals. 

It's amazing how simple this sport Is when I don't let my brain get in the way. It's double amazing how NOT simple this sport is when my brain DOES get in the way. 

Joe was great at meeting me where I'm currently at. Breakaway roping has a few key elements. The keys for me over the weekend were swing DOWN at my target, deliver out of my swing, deliver with a handshake, and power down through my feet. 

Simple, right? 

Well sometimes.

It was a roller coaster for my performance over the weekend. Gosh, If Improvement was linear, then boy howdy this would be easier. But that is not how this works. There are ups and downs. The roller coaster dipped down on Sunday morning but rose back up by the end of the day. 

As we've talked about on the podcast, the power of our roping comes from our core and pelvis. How do you connect and activate all of that together? Pushing down through your feet in the stirrups. It is also working on pushing down while roping the dummy. Details matter, but they all have to be moving you forward to your key points. 

The next keep it simple concept is simply mind blowing. The Handshake. Delivering a handshake out of my swing, keeps it all simple. Everything falls into place with a handshake. With the correct delivery, the curl comes right around and my slack jumps back in my hand, and everything ends smoothly. By making the basics that simple, that's it. 

There are still a lot of steps between here and there for me. But after spending some time with the G.O.A.T. some of the steps got smoother. The fire got stoked. I'm excited about the future. 

Thank you, Joe. Thank you for your patience and Insight. Thank you for all that you've done and continue to do for rodeo and the future of it.