Eric Valentine's Praise Photography Blog: The Pendleton Round Up -- Roping

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

The Pendleton Round Up -- Roping

The roping events at the Pendleton Round Up--calf, steer, team--demonstrate intense concentration, incredible skill of rider and horse. The calf or steer bursts out swiftly with the rider in pursuit. Swinging his lasso, the rider uses exquisite timing to rope the animal, bring it down, and then either tie its legs, or keep it on the ground, all in less than ten seconds. These events is not a pursuit for the faint of heart.

From Wikipedia: Team roping also known as heading and heeling is a rodeo event that features a steer and two mounted riders. The first roper is referred to as the "header," the person who ropes the front of the steer, usually around the horns, but it is also legal for the rope to go around the neck, or go around one horn and the nose resulting in what they call a "half head," the second is the "heeler," who ropes the steer by its hind feet, with a five second penalty assessed to the end time if only one leg is caught. Team roping is the only rodeo event where men and women compete equally together in professionally sanctioned competition, in both single-gender or mixed-gender teams