USTRC Online : About Team Roping

What Is All The Excitement About Team Roping?
Only God may know when it really started, probably on a ranch one day when a couple of cow hands challenged they could stretch a steer for branding quicker than their buddies; another checked with his watch and the sport was born. Team roping has pretty much always been what cowboys have enjoyed for recreation. Those who worked with livestock for a living (ranch hands, farriers, farmers, veterinarians) would go rope after work (and at times before they were off work!). It was what they did for fun instead of, or in addition to, golfing, skiing, or hitting softballs.
Team Roping has been featured at amateur and professional rodeos for decades, and jackpot ropings have been held at county fairs, back-yard arenas, and Sunday dinners-on-the-ground since the invention of the picnic basket. And in 1962, it became the sixth standard event at the National Finals Rodeo.
While popular for many years, team roping has seen phenomenal growth in the '90s (it is currently the fastest growing equine sport in the country). Now, everybody and their brother (and quite often their sister) that owns or is thinking of owning a horse - doctors, contractors, students, mechanics, school teachers - is climbing onto the team roping band wagon. What has suddenly made Team Roping the coming sport of a brand new century?
Fun: It's a rush - racing down the arena in a headlong chase after a fast moving steer. Be careful, the sensation is addictive! After you and your partner have shared a successful run, you could be hooked for life (and we do mean life - 70-year-old team ropers are common).
Family and Friends: More than an athletic event, ropings are social gatherings where old friends re-connect and new friendships are born. It's a sport every member of the family can enjoy; husbands rope with wives, fathers with sons, and grand-dads with grand-daughters.
The Cowboy Way: A bunch of folks want to be cowboys (and cowgirls!). As the baby-boom generation matures, moves back to the country, and buys horses, they look to participate in something that helps them define who they are. The only rodeo sport unlimited by age and encompassing the essence of ridin', ropin', and cowboyin' is Team Roping.
Competition: Team roping draws those with the strong, healthy, American desire to compete and win. There are no questions about who won - it's a simple matter of being the mostest with the fastest. There are no judges (the time clock rules), and when the go-round is over you go get your check.
Big-Time Money and Prizes: Immense purses are being won by recreational team ropers (not just the pros); there's more than pride on the line when your team may win $5,000, $10,000, even $50,000 (or how about a brand new pick-up truck?). Never before has an equine sport offered this kind of reward for something most cowboys happily do for fun!
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