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Thursday, March 5, 2015

Never Give Up - Hunter Washburn


One of the most important things in rodeo is learning how to win at every level. It is comprised of many things; including horsemanship, reading cattle as soon as you nod your head, how to enter, and what days are the best to be at the rodeo. You have to go, pay your dues and just keep on going until you get it down and begin winning consistently.


When you start the next level, don't get down on yourself when you don't make the pay window.  I had to learn some hard lessons my first year in the amateurs. I didn't win a dime. My biggest problem was I thought I had to show those guys I could beat them instead of playing my game. This is my second year and I'm in the top five. You won't always win, but you will know what you did wrong and how to fix it. These are some of the growing pains we all go through, as we move from high school to college and/or the amateurs to the professional level.



A few words from Rope

The last thing most people learn how to do in rodeo is win.  They may have a skill set that will give them a chance to win, but it seems something always prevents them from winning to the level of their skills.  The main cause for this is usually a flawed sense of what it takes to be successful.  Often they are trying to beat the clock, or their fellow competitors, instead of competing on the steer or calf they have. This changes their thought pattern from the one they have when in the practice pen.  Rodeo is difficult enough without this added pressure. 

Another similar difficulty is when the event isn't as tough as was expected and the athlete begins to think "just be safe" once again this changes the thought pattern they have established in the practice pen and increases the probability something will go wrong. 


Hunter has begun to settle into who he is and who he is becoming as a steer wrestler.  It is like having a computer—you can only use the programs you have downloaded. But if the program is already in the system, every time you need it it’s there in the memory banks.  When we practice we are downloading the memory of how to compete on that steer.  When Hunter's focus stays on competing with the steer, he has drawn into his "computer" and what he has downloaded on steers. But if he changes his focus to beating someone, or the clock, his "computer” starts searching through files on "beating someone" and comes back with the message no files found. 

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