BULVERDE, Texas — They never seem to miss! A calf bolts out of the gate, followed quickly by a cowboy on a horse. In a flash, he throws the rope around the calf's neck, it's jerked to a stop, he's off his horse, throws the calf to the ground, wraps its legs with another rope and it's done!
If it were only that easy. For every time you see that rope land so effortlessly, that cowboy has probably missed a hundred times. Of course, I can only speak from my own experience...which is extremely limited. in fact, I've only thrown a real rope for this story.
I grew up playing cowboy and throwing ropes, but it was never the real McCoy. Yancey James, on the other hand, is a real-life cowboy...or at least he was. He rode bulls, professionally for eight years. James is now the co-owner of Tejas Rodeo Company in Bulverde, TX.
Every weekend, from March through November, the Tejas Rodeo Company hosts a real-life rodeo, with bull riding, bucking horse, barrel racing and yes, calf roping. I wanted to learn how to do it, so i thought James might just be a guy, from whom to learn.
"It's like any other professional athlete," James said. You have to start somewhere and practice. There are nuances and tricks to learn that will make it easier. But the only way to learn those tricks are to have someone like James show you... or trial and error. Lucky for me, I had James.
After showing me what to do and how to do it, James put the rope in my hand and just instructed. I picked it up fairly quickly. After hitting the calf dummy a number of times, James put me on the back of his horse. It somehow got easier, until he hooked the dummy to the back of a gator and I had to rope it while moving.
If you'd like to learn more about the Tejas Rodeo Company, the facility, restaurant, rodeo and the dance held after every show...click this link: https://tejasrodeo.com