C22—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 20,1981
Team roping, rodeoing is exciting event
BY SALLY BAIR
Staff Correspondent
IRONVILLE Team roping is a
rodeo event which is alive in the
East and thriving in Lancaster
County. Members of the Boots and
Saddles 4-H/Club had the thrill of
seeing a demonstration of this fast*
paced event when they met last
week at the home of the Jim
Charles family, R 3 Columbia.
Melissa Charles, 11, explained
the concept of team roping to the
club and the requirements of the
sport. Her brother Michael, 10, and
her father gave the demonstration.
Before 4-H members arrived,
Charles explained the event stems
from the days when it was
necessary to “team rope” steers in
order to brand, castrate or in other
ways treat the animals. In ac
tuality, it took three men to do the
job two to rope and one to per
form tlie necessary work.
In today’s rodeo competition,
two people work together to ac
complish the feat. Charles ex
plained you need a “header,” the
person who ropes the horns, and a
“heeler,” the person who ropes the
rear legs of the steer.
As Melissa reported, neither
rider leaves his horse during the
event and the idea is to out
maneuver the steer.
The object is to rope the steer,
front and back, and have both
nders facing the steer in the least
amount of tune.
The sport obviously requires a
lot of talent as a horseback nder
and roper, but it also requires
cooperation between team
members, concentration and good
reaction tune.
The steer, which should weigh
between 550 and 700 pounds is
given a five foot jump out of the
box, then the “header” ndes
furiously until he ropes the horns.
He then wraps the rope around the
horn of his saddle, turns the steer
and heads back in the direction
from which they both came.
At this point, the “heeler,” who
has been tiding with the action,
comes in from behind and ropes
the back legs of the steer. This is no
small job because the steer is
running on those legs.
Once the heeler has roped the
legs, he also wraps his lasso
around his saddle hom and pulls
the rope taut. The header turns his
horse, holding his rope taut and
both nders are facing the steer.
This concludes the event and the
steer is turned loose.
Charles explained that, in
competition, the tune begins when
the steer leaves the chute and is
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Running full tilt makes draping this swirling
lasso over the steer's elusive horns a real
challenge for Jim, who loses his hat but not his
determination.
stopped when the header and
heeler are facing each other with
the roped steer between them.
Sixty seconds are allowed to
complete the roping.
But Charles comments,
“Anything under 10 seconds is
usually in the money. Fifteen
seconds is good. ’ ’ If only one heel is
caught, a five second penalty is
given that team.
Competitors enter the event as
teams each can enter twice, by
riding in a different position.
While there is a lot of intense
activity in the sport, there is no
danger or cruelty to the animal.
“We’ve roped many, many
steers and haven’t had one go
lame,” Charles says. He adds that
roughness can get riders
disqualified in rodeos. He said
further that riders must use
common sense m handling the
steers.
One danger to participants is
losing a finger due to a slip of the
rope. Charles said rubber is put on
the saddle horns to protect fingers
during the event.
Charles says Holstein steers are
the preferred animal to rope, but
they have one drawback no
horns. To compensate, there is an
artificial set of horns which can be
strapped on the animal's head. If
they use steers with real horns,
they use heavy leather wrajis on
the horns so the ropes don’t bum
the hides.
Rodeo nding has become a true.
family activity for th£ Charleses. A
frequent partner for Jim is his son
Charles says Mike got his first
lasso at Christmas when he was
five, and was soon adept at roping
the neighbor girls. From girls, he
moved on to roping steers from a
moving horse, and now he com
petes with the professionals, and
very capably, too.
During practice and com
petition, Charlotte films the action
with a movie camera, enabling
Charles and Mike to study the film
to improve their technique.
Charlotte and Melissa are now at
work perfecting their barrel racing
skills. Even five-year-old Matt
enjoys nding.
Last summer Charles and son
Mike competed m three rodeos, but
they hope to make it to one every
other week this year.
For Charles nding a horse is a
natural, because he grew up in
South America with his missionary
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For Lancaster’s Jim Charles
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Ten-year-old Michael Charles and his father,
Jim, of R 3 Columbia team up to practice
roping this Holstein steer. Team roping is an
he.
As the “header” keeps the steer’s attention
in front the “heeler” moves in from behind to
rope the hind legs. This sporting event was
i ° n °!! u h l *j Cer S - * lorns ancJ hee,s are ropers' fingers, and heavy leather is wrapped
lassoed, both riders sit astride with their ropes around the steer's horns to protect it from
wrapped taut around the saddle horn. Rubber rope burns,
is put on the saddle horns to protect the
~« I
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family
exciting rodeo event gaining in popularity* here
in Lancaster County.
formerly the only method cowboys had for
catching and holding range cattle for branding,
castrating, and other chores.