Recently a young girl from Arizona, Marissa, came to Camp Jerold in Oakdale, CA for roping lessons. She has an interest in getting into break away roping and spent a couple of days in training. Today the industry has at it's disposal, a series of training options including traditional "dummy roping" devices thru live cattle. Marissa began basic ground work with a sawhorse style dummy learning basic rope handling techniques, then moved on to using a specialized calf roping dummy that can be pulled behind an ATV (see other post above). Part of her training included horsemanship, position, roping technique and other basics that were facilitated by utilizing a mechanical rather than live subject. The Camarillo's maintain an arsenal of different mechanical aides and devices for both calf and team roping and, combined with good instruction and later live cattle, they are really able to faciliate the learning experience. For some students this means being able to slow down or focus on a very specific step or technique not quite possible or replicable with live animals. Of course the "live" component can't be fully reproduced with a mechanical device so there are plenty of cattle when the student is ready. One of the advantages for Melissa was a wide range of available roping horses to utilize. She currently is looking to buy a roping horse and had the opportunity to view and test a full spectrum of quality horses from older experienced horses to younger PRCA level performers. At the end of the week she walked away with a smile, new roping skills that were learned through personalized instruction, and a new horse that "fit" her and her experience level.
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