The material and attendant photo illustrations found on this website are copyrighted © 2007 by R. J. Sagely. The reprinting or distribution of the whole or any part without express permission of the author is prohibited. This notice supercedes any other copyright notices and dates found herein.

*Disclaimer*: Horsemanship and horse related activities such as roping are inherently dangerous practices and horses are inherently unpredictable animals. The person attempting to follow any suggestion or instruction from Bob Sagely or Sage Horsemanship is to do so at their own risk and assumes full responsibility for themselves, their horse and any others in the vicinity. The success or safety for human or horse in utilizing any of the practices or strategies for horsemanship suggested or promoted on this site or by Bob Sagely or Sage Horsemanship directly or indirectly through any other media is neither implied nor guaranteed. Be smart, be careful and seek personal supervision when trying to learn new things or apply these principles or techniques.

"The Sage
Horsemanship Way"TM

"Helping horsepeople develop a better horse sense."

Pictorial of the Beginning Ranch Roping Clinic held on October 28, 2006 at Seventh Heaven Farm in Apollo, PA

	The class, a good mix of young and old, experienced riders and some not so much, guys and gals... proof that ranch roping is for everyone!
Learning the parts of the catchrope.
	Studying the different kinds of materials used to make the cowboy's catchrope.
Proper hand positioning while pulling your slack will allow you to quickly go to the horn to dally.
	Getting set with the right size loop and the right size spoke.
Giving it a whirl!
	AN overhead, forward swing delivery... the traditional roping shot.
Following through by pointing your roping hand to the target is a critical part of developing consistently accurate catches.
	Building coils and keeping the kinks out is a skill you just cannot practice enough.
A nice three shot sequence of turning off to drag a load. You would never try to drag anything from a "dead pull", even something as light as a small calf or hay bale such as this. Instead, you will "slide your dallies" as your horse turns and slowly tighten them as he lines out and gets balanced up with a little head of steam to boot.
	"Popping dallies" to release the strain on the rope and your horse by lifting your dally hand straight up. Unwinding the dallies is far too slow and dangerous a way to get disconnected from your catch.
The next three pictures were a sequence of dragging the hay bale in reverse. You should never pull something from a dead pull. You start moving your horse while sliding dallies and then lock them down slowly. This starts moving your load with an easy instead of sharp or hard start. If the load hits your horse at the wrong time it can cause him to lose his balance or worse, kill his try.
	Picture perfect, calm horse, calm rider, just what you'd want to see whether dragging hay bales or laying down a sick one for doctoring.
Here we are feeding coils from my left hand through my right hand before slapping on a dally or two.
	A curious colt being given time to check out the hay bale he will be dragging.
Practicing "sliding your dally" as the horse backs up. Dragging livestock should be kept to a minimum so that your horse will always believe he can pull anything for you.
	"Sliding dallies" as the hindquarters swing to "face up".
The "dally game", a safe way to learn how to dally and slide dallies without looking down at the horn.
	Learning to "slide the dally" to keep from having a hard pull on your horse's withers as you stop your catch.

If you have any questions about what you read here or want to find out about roping or other clinics, don't hesitate to drop me a line at: sagehorseman Vaya con suerte! Be safe!