Lassoing–An Important Skill

Have you ever  swung a lasso over your head and tried to catch something? I must say I’ve lived in Texas for 26 years, been around cows and horses, but have never put my hands on a lasso.

The secret, they say, is to keep your arm steady and twirl your wrist. This motion came easy to me, after all I grew up watching Wonder Woman. But WB had a more difficult time.

He was overthinking it, go figure.

Cowboy R told us to visualize the rope going around one horn. Then he told us to let the lasso fly.

I visualized it going around the horn, and after a couple of tries…

and a little help from Cowboy R (notice the boot pushing the steer towards my lasso), I  roped the steer by the horn. I practiced a few more times and realized I was pretty good at roping steers that sat on the ground and didn’t go anywhere.

WB got the hang of the lasso and then he mastered the whole roping exercise. It’s not enough for WB to do something once, he likes to perfect things.

Twirl, visualize, hook, and yank. Seems easy doesn’t it?

But now imagine if your steer looked like this and had no intention of letting you rope it.

Makes it a little more challenging doesn’t it? Just remember: Twirl, visualize, hook, and yank. No matter how big the steer, the concept is the same.

I plan on using this technique to lasso in my current WIP. What would you like to lasso this week?