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Previous Tips on Practice

When working on putting all of it together, from the horse to the goat, I do a lot of slow loping & trotting on my horse to keep him working & relaxed.  But when I hit the ground, I run as hard as I can, making my ground work fast like in a rodeo run.  I focus on making my ground work count in every practice run, even if I'm going slow on my horse.  By keeping a slower pace with my horse, I will be able to ty more goats from him in that practice session.  Just because my horse is going slow, doesn't mean that I go slow when I hit the ground.  I strive to maintain a high intensity in practicing & work on being perfect on the ground & in my dismount with these practice runs.  If you have difficulty putting it all together, practice with your horse twice a week, but keep it slow for him, so he doesn't get silly or create bad habits.

Sweat plus sacrifice equals success. -Charlie Finley

Practice Goats

I get asked a lot at clinics what type of goats I prefer to ty. I have tied about every type of goat & have come to the following conclusion: 

Usually we make do with what we can get for tying goats.  Depending on what part of the country you are in, depends on the accessibility of certain types of goats. 

But to pick a breed or type of goat that works perfect for tying, it would be the Nubians or a cross of them.  Nubians are known for their long floppy ears.  I like this breed or cross of this breed to ty since they are hardy, have long legs, and are fairly fleshy, which gives them their thick skin so their legs & flanks don't get raw. A Nubian crossed with Alpines, Toggenburgs or Boer/Spanish goats also make good practice goats. Spanish goats are fairly good practice goats too.  They are a version on the meat goat, but don't gain as rapidly in weight, have longer legs with thick bones.  These goats usually prove to be quiet hardy and come in a wide variety of colors! Horns on the Spanish goats grow fairly quick, so these type of tying size goats can have some large horns.

The ones that I don't particularly care for as practice goats would be the:

1. Saanans- (white dairy goat with erect ears) Flanks & legs get raw quickly. Fairly weak hearted, not a lot of spunk.

2. Boers (white with brown, black or red heads)- gain weight quickly with little size, so their short & fat.

3.  Purebred Toggenburgs (usually chocolate-brown colored with erect ears & two lines down their face) & Alpines (usually have lighter color on shoulders & darker color from mid-section of their body back)-  the trouble that I run across with these are that they bloat or get bellies really easily.  I feed free choice & if my practice goats have big bellies the possibility of injuring them increases & it's hard to sit on a fat goat correctly. 

Notice I didn't say Pygmys.  I do like the Nubian/Pygmy cross as these are REALLY tough goats & you can ty them a long time. If you are raising them, you'll have to wait longer until they get big enough to ty, but once they are big enough- they'll last! They also make you ty fundamentally correct.

Age: Depending on the feeding program that the kid goats were raised on will depend on how soon you can ty them.  USUALLY around 4 - 6 months is when you can start tying them.  Some as early as three months old, but they have been fed really good if they are 40 lbs by then.  I have had them last as long as a year, but they are usually getting fairly heavy.

Size: I don't like to ty anything under 40 lbs.  That's getting awful light & to help promote the sport of rodeo & the event of goat tying, I think the goats need to at least be 40 lbs before they are used.  For little goat tyers, I think it's ok to match the size of goat to the size of kid (I try to at the clinics). But for high school - college aged goat tyers, the goats should be 40 - 65 lbs. 

I like to have a variety of practice goats- weight ranging from 40 - 65 lbs. I like to have some that are really wild, some that run just nice to either side, and one that just stands there. I like to have one or two shorter ones, a couple that are just 'perfect' size & a few bigger ones. For just myself, I would like to have about 6 practice goats. (I usually have between 25 - 70, so it would be nice to get down to 6!!) 

"Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." ~Mark Twain  

How to Practice

Break things down in practice.  I like to start off by sitting on the goat &  just tying.  I either ty a set # of times or when it feels good, depending on the 'goal' of the practice.  

Then I gather & ty, again either a set # of times or when it feels good.  

Next, I go onto flanking & tying (which includes gathering).  

Then I will run at the goat on the ground.  I like to have a couple of goats that do different things.  One may stand & another will run. I like to use goats that will work on my weaknesses so that I become a better overall competitor.  

At the conclusion of my practice, I usually like to go back and work on the one thing that I did the worse at in that practice.  For example, if I had a couple of bad flanks, I will go and JUST flank each goat 10 times perfectly and as fast as I can.  If I had an overall good practice, where nothing really 'bad' stood out I will either just ty each goat 10 times as fast as I can without any mistakes in a row or flank & ty each goat 10 times in a row, as fast as I can without any mistakes; depending on my energy level!  

I like to practice off my horse once a week, especially during the rodeo season.  The majority of my practice runs are trotting & slow loping to keep my horse working and relaxed.  But I need to make sure that when I step off my horse to hustle as fast as I can to the goat, as if I were making a rodeo run each time. 

"The real contest is always between what you've done and what you are capable of doing.  You measure yourself against yourself and nobody else." ~ Geoffrey Gaberino