A difficulty in any sport is being able to breakdown a specific skill into a series of steps, and be able to repetitiously practice certain steps to the point of mastery. Young or old, habits can be hard to break, and slowing things down can certainly facilitate seeing and correcting mistakes and behavior. The Camarillo's often use mechanical devices, like this calf roping dummy that can be pulled by an ATV to facilitate slowing down the run, ability to repetitively re-create the situation, or to eliminate the multitude of distractions that can make learning difficult. The picture shows a novice roper, just getting the very first positioning lessons she will need for following live cattle. Experienced ropers benefit too. Recently an adult woman came to polish her breakaway roping skills, and Jerold Camarillo quickly identified she was having a problem consistently getting the horse into the best position to rope. When she did it right she often caught, when she didn't she missed. By moving temporarily from live cattle to the "sled" pulled by the ATV, he was able to eliminate a lot of variables like fast running calves from the equation. The student had less distractions created by live calves and she could focus on positioning. He could stop, teach, and repeat. Just being able to eliminate so many variables quickly certainly improved the teacher/student experience and shortly she was back to live cattle and working on her next skill. A mix of mechanical and live cattle will improve your roping. Mechanical devices keep variables and distractions to a minimum, saves horses and you don't have to feed the steel calf. Next time you're frustrated with a roping problem, consider using mechanical devices. Proper instruction is certainly a requirement too. Leo and Jerold can very quickly see what a roper is doing incorrectly, actions that are sometimes so subtly that the roper him or herself doesn't see or feel it. Knowing what to correct, how and with what device is critical to a fast improvement. Experts like the Camarillo's are quick to point out that no one device will work for everything. Sometimes ONLY live cattle can be used for the lesson. The importance is knowing what should be used, and from the student's stand point being open minded to experience both mechanical and live options.
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