Sometimes We Don’t Know the Reason

Hello,
In the late 80,s U started to loose that loving feeling for the rodeo business, I felt I needed to change directions but I still wanted to rope and compete and unless your committed to a full time rodeo schedule its tuff to get a quality partner. So knowing that I would go here and there with who ever needed a partner and then a good thing happened, my son got interested in roping and I harbored the hope that one day we could compete together. He wanted to heel “not my Idea, I might add because that’s my specialty, so I became the header. We went to little back yard ropings around California and as he got older and started to improve we went to bigger events

My heading improved as well but not at the same rate as my son’s improvement and he told me one day that he was thinking of upgrading to a new header. I told him that because I was buying his clothes, and food that we were a team and after I explained it to him that way he realized he was stuck with me and away we went. Sometimes it’s good to be the Dad. About that same time I was given a beautiful colt that looked like he would make a head horse. So I decided that it would be cool to be able to head on a hors that I broke for my son so I started working on his horse. He was about 3 years old and had never been touched when I started on him and he was big and wild. The guy I got him from ask me if I wanted them to gentle him down and work with him and I said no because I wanted to do it all myself, but in hindsight that was a mistake. The horse was a wonderfully breed horse and the people I got him from are good horsemen and I should have listened but I didn’t. The horse had been raised on the side of a mountain and I do believe he was the wildest horse I have ever tried to break. The first day I ever tried to catch him at my home he jumped out of my corral and ran down the road. This thing was like a deer and I should have since danger but I continued on. The problem with that horse is that some horses take a lot of riding and at that time of my life I was gone a lot so I would ride him for 4 days and be gone for 5 home for 2 be gone for 6 and that didn’t work. He was a big athletic horse and I didn’t want anyone to help me with him and it didn’t work. I still believe to this day that could have been a great horse but as it turned out he was great one day and not so great the next. Just to give you an idea of how tuff this horse was I had been ridding that horse everyday for about a week and I decided I would go to the mountains and go trout fishing. So I got up and saddled him about 3:30 am I loaded him in my trailer and drove for 3 hours to the trail head in the wilderness area that leads to the most beautiful lake in the middle of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California. I got on him and rode up hill and through tuff country at 8000 feet elevation for 3 hours I watered him at the lake, tied him to a tree and fished all day. Came back to the tree put my fish in my saddle bags, gave him another drink of water and stepped on. I never made it 10 feet and he bucked me off right by the side of the lake. There was fishing pole, pieces lures, and fish scattered everywhere and he ran off. That was on tuff horse. He bucked me off 5 times during our relationship and he jumped over a fence on time at a roping and threw me off on a road on the outside of the arena and broke some teeth but I still wouldn’t give up/ I decided he would have to kill me and he almost did but for some strange reason I like that horse. Anyway I was determined so I pressed on. My son continued to improve so we decided to enter the premier jackpot for open ropers, the Bob Fiest Invitational Travis was 15 at the time and the Worlds toughest head horse was 7 or 8 and we started to prepare. We worked hard studied tapes and did 2 a day practice sessions for the last week. I saddled that horse early in the morning and unsaddled him in the evening and as the event neared we felt ready. I told Travis everyday were going to shock the world. A boy and his day are going to upset the greatest ropers in the world on a big stage and I told him that everyday. The day finally came and because it was Travis’s first BFI and I worried that he would be nervous but he was fine. His dad on the other had was nervous. I had heeled at the BFI every time they ever had it but never headed but we had worked hard and I was as prepared as I could be. The first steer went right and my horse wouldn’t go right he hung to the left and I barley caught him with an ugly loop and my son roped both feet and saved the day. The second steer went left and my horse wouldn’t move over and I split the horns and I missed. I could go on but I’ll save you the gory details and just tell you I missed every steer after that. I entered with my son to give him some experience and turned him one steer and it was the worst roping day of my life. I’ve roped since I was 8 years old and competed all over the world and never have I felt any lower then I did that day. I have watched every BFI tape over and over but I have never watched that tape one time.
My son thanked me for taking him there and said that it was an honor to rope with me. He made me feel a little bit better. But I can’t tell you how disappointed I was in the horse that I broke and the way I performed. It has been said that all things happen for a reason and it is not given to us to understand the reason sometimes. So I told myself that that maybe some good will come out of this and I tried to hold my head up and except the lose with dignity.
A man told me one time, don’t ever like losing and don’t ever get use to it but its part of competition. When it happens handle it with class and try to learn form it and move on.
Fast forward 4 years and to the BFI 2003 Travis Woodard and I roped against each other and we both battled for the lead all day. Going into the last steer I was 7th and he was 3rd and he won it the only teenager that has ever won that roping and that record might stand for a gong time. As I stood in the wings and I watched my son receiving all those wonderful awards along with over $46,000. I thought maybe just maybe that experience helped in someway to this wonderful victory.
It is said that this is all a master plan and all things happen for a reason. The reasons are not given to us most of the time and sometimes we think there can’t possibility be any good reason for this but you never know. Down the road 99% of the time when we look back we realize that things happen for a reason and that what ever it was it turned out to be a good thing but at the time it seemed like a disaster look for the good and stay on course.

Until next month
Thanks for your time
Walt Woodard