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 Expert
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Location: Somewhere around here | Anyone ever bought a ex-roping horse? Pros, cons? |
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 Money Eating Baggage Owner
Posts: 9586
 
Location: Phoenix | To use for barrels? |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 349
Location: texas | we had bought one for my hubby to start out roping on, little did we know just how bad he had been treated...
he was very ruff around the edges if ya know what i mean, stiff, only lope one direction, horrible in a stall, would kick out, etc......
if u have the time to invest, why not?????
but i would imagine its gonna be a long hard road to undo what has been done......
there is a saying, not exactly sure of the wording, but... it takes 3 days to create a habit and at leaat 30 to undo it....
good luck..... |
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 Brains Behind the Operation...
Posts: 4543
Location: Arizona | I've been given two blown up roping horses from family members. As always, you have to evaluate them physically & deal with any residual issues they may have in that dept. Mentally, it's best if they can spend a year or so out of the arena completely. At least that was the case with my two. It took a good 6 months for one of them to even figure out he could walk flat footed through an entire trail ride. I still did so-called arena work to get them more supple (they were both very stiff horses) and responsive at all gaits, but I tried my best to do all that in open fields. Once they got the hang of being "outside" horses I started going to roping practices here & there & just standing in the lineup or hanging out near the chutes or pushing cattle from the catch pen but never going in the box. When they could deal with that calmly then I might ride in & out of the box & score & follow some steers. I never even carried a rope with me doing this stuff, but I felt it was important to get them over their roping-related anxieties while moving on to a new job. I still have one of these geldings, and the other I lost to colic after he'd spent 7 years with me. Both transitioned well to running barrels & trail riding, & came/come in very handy ponying colts. The more variety you can give them the more calm & mentally stable they will become. The gelding I lost adored being a borrowed junior rodeo mount for a little girl I gave riding lessons. |
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 Own It and Move On
Location: The edge of no where | I've had two that were cooked in the box....both very quickly took to running barrels. I loved them. One was kinda a bronc his whole life, never did really get civilized - but he'd do anything for me. I just let him be wild.
The other was a freak - was clocking 2d times in 60 days. He was amazing, but had some soundness issues that couldn't be fixed. He was on the hot side as well, but would give 150% every time. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 448
Location: lone star state | We deal with rope horses and issues a lot. Horse problems are usually one of two things, man made problems or soundness issues. Determine if the horse is sound first by a good performance vet evaluation. Man made problems are easily resolved by proper training. Usually rope horse problems are box related and easily fixed by scoring and quiet work in the box. I actually enjoy working with rope horses and wouldn't be afraid of purchasing one after determing he is sound or soundness issues are manageable :)
As for cross training for barrels how the horse has been trained determines whether they will make a good barrel horse. If the horse has a good foundation and is really broke he will easily take to barrel pattern. If horse is not broke well and only has left lead it will take time to put a proper foundation before starting pattern. |
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Expert
Posts: 1631
Location: Somewhere around here | Sorry for the simple question, didn't have much time to type it out when the question popped in my head.
Well potentially a barrel horse, maybe potentially a child's horse with time. I heard from a roping college buddy of mine that you could buy some nice aqha or apha horses who have been worked too much for roping and need a break from it (or current owners are to impatient and just want to sell) for a good price but I've personally haven't had too much experience with roping horses and they're issues. Rode a few in college to just warm friends horses up and I could definitely tell the difference between the broke ones, who could possibly do anything in the arena, and others who just had the left lead and weren't treated right. |
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Money Eating Baggage Owner
Posts: 9586
Location: Phoenix | firewaterfuelsme - 2016-04-13 7:34 AM
We deal with rope horses and issues a lot. Horse problems are usually one of two things, man made problems or soundness issues. Determine if the horse is sound first by a good performance vet evaluation. Man made problems are easily resolved by proper training. Usually rope horse problems are box related and easily fixed by scoring and quiet work in the box. I actually enjoy working with rope horses and wouldn't be afraid of purchasing one after determing he is sound or soundness issues are manageable :)
As for cross training for barrels how the horse has been trained determines whether they will make a good barrel horse. If the horse has a good foundation and is really broke he will easily take to barrel pattern. If horse is not broke well and only has left lead it will take time to put a proper foundation before starting pattern.
Ditto. Well said. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 324
| I bought a blown-up, laid-off roping horse and made a barrel horse out of her. Her problem roping was rearing in the box, which has carried over to her barrels, but not in a naughty way so much as a "let's go" way. We have been working hard to put an end to her rearing and have come a long way but I still, as her rider, have to know to be prepared for it. She's a hotter horse, but not unmanagable.
I will add that her hocks were used and abused by the time I got her at age 9.
Edited by **Cowgirl Up** 2016-04-13 11:24 AM
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1100
Location: Southeastern Idaho | We bought a 7 year old mare from a family member. You can rope on her if you are willing to score 15 to rope 1 or 2. And forget about a barrier, sometimes she is flat through the line and sometimes she jumps. No telling what you will get.
We treated her for ulcers, got some weight back on her and switched her to barrels and poles. She took to them like a duck to water. She walks flat footed into the arena makes a run and walks out licking her lips. She loves it. We won't take her back to roping out of a box. Neighbor gal is using her in high school rodeo and is doing quite well. |
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Expert
Posts: 1611
| I don't believe blown up exists....its a pain issue or a training issue....figure out which one (if not both) and fix it. |
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 Toastest with the Mostest
Posts: 5712
Location: That part of Texas | cecollins0811 - 2016-04-13 10:24 AM Sorry for the simple question, didn't have much time to type it out when the question popped in my head. Well potentially a barrel horse, maybe potentially a child's horse with time. I heard from a roping college buddy of mine that you could buy some nice aqha or apha horses who have been worked too much for roping and need a break from it (or current owners are to impatient and just want to sell) for a good price but I've personally haven't had too much experience with roping horses and they're issues. Rode a few in college to just warm friends horses up and I could definitely tell the difference between the broke ones, who could possibly do anything in the arena, and others who just had the left lead and weren't treated right.
"Good price" may be subjective. I know in my area, roping horses go for more than most project horses or horses coming in from other disciplines (cutting, reining, etc.) do. Even if they are blown up or sour, people will make you pay for the time spent shaping them into roping horses. If the price was right I wouldn't have a problem with them though for the most part. All of my barrel horses growing up were handed down to me by team ropers and most really liked the job. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1096
| My neighbor has one that was getting "Hot" in the box. Took him to a trainer, had him started and she has been running him since. Super nice horse. |
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  That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
| astreakinchic - 2016-04-13 1:03 PM I don't believe blown up exists....its a pain issue or a training issue....figure out which one (if not both) and fix it.
I've been scratching my head on the words "blown up". I think you hit it on the head. |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| Best horse I ever had was a blown up rope horse. I bought him for a college barrel horse. He was already seasoned on the barrels and winning when I bought him. Took him to a really good rope horse trainer for a tune up since the lady I bought him from said the people she bought him from said you could rope off him. He called me 2 days later asking if I had to rope off him. He wouldn't even get close to the box. He was such a honest, hard running barrel horse that of course we dropped the roping thing. That was a brush crashing son of a gun! My husband loved cowboy ing on him. You just could not rope off him. Mr. Drawe, said he definitely had been a blown up rope horse.
We have had a couple rope horses make rely good barrel horses. Once you get them started on the barrels there is very little to no seasoning time. |
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