by Julie Carter
The roping "season" for 2010 is skidding into the final stretch with one big set of finals done and over in Oklahoma City and another record payoff event coming up in Las Vegas.
Ropers have plodded along one roping at a time throughout the year and whether they make the big time or not, their day-to-day living remains the same.
My mail box often reveals the mood of a long, weary season.
Dear Sass & Savvy,
We continue our lives on the "Get rich by roping plan." This weekend $880 was the total money won with a fast time in a round and 4th in average. Balance that against $900 in entry fees.
Of course, he also won a rope bag with the association logo on it.
This is the 97th rope bag he's won. Financial net to the bottom line also includes one worn out horse, another horse in disgrace because he got two barriers and ate a lead rope, and one very worn out wife.
All this was complicated with the serious mistake of eating a Frito pie from the concession stand because his wife/secretary was momentarily MIA and not at her duty post.
He determined he was too tired to walk out to the trailer and get food we'd brought from home.
He tried to doctor himself with an abundance of "sparkling spring water" in the silver can, thinking it would sterilize the food he ate.
Signed: Mrs. Pepto-Bismol
Dear Sass & Savvy,
I hate, hate, hate my husband's rope horse. Besides being on the far side of ugly, he has no handle to him.
He is now wearing a new contraption on his head because he sometimes runs off. (the horse, not the husband)
It does not make any difference what he has on his head - it's about like putting a snaffle bit on a road grader when it comes to stopping or turning him.
And did I mention he is really ugly?
This is the husband's more-or-less new horse. The old one kicked in the door on the back of my trailer, so I sold him one day while the husband was not home.
Signed: Back to the sale barn
Dear Sass & Savvy,
It's the same tale of woe. My favorite header was again defeated by his heelers.
Both of his partners are numbered higher than he is so you would think that if he spun a steer for them, it would be a sure bet for a paycheck.
Never works out that way.
One of his partners has been roping since Noah landed, but this time he only caught one heel in the short round and they ended up one hole out of the money.
However, I've lowered my standards - they can have penalties if they just catch anything at all.
Signed: Bleacher Butt
Dear Sass & Savvy,
Because mostly everybody is still worn plumb out from the last roping, the only funny stuff that happened at this week's roping was that the guy that won $49,000 in Oklahoma City has now managed to run through $220 of it.
He gave the friend that hauled him and his horse up there $20 for gas money. Seemed like a fair amount for a 540 mile trip.
And then he up and bought a replacement horse for his 20-plus-year-old roping horse.
This $200 colt should be ready any time in the next five years.
His theory is that horses, by golly, do not have to cost as much as everybody else is paying for them.
Signed: Frugal, not cheap
One would think that with all the woes that go with the sport of team roping, it would be doing anything but gaining in popularity.
Instead, it gets bigger, better and as a sport, is continually aspiring for improvement, even if it is sometimes hard to see that side of it through the road-weary eyes of a dedicated spouse.
Julie, not on the rodeo road anymore, can be reached for comment at jcarter@tularosa.net
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