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Following my shoulder surgery in December, Dr. Tandy has given me the green light to start practicing. I’ve been coming back slowly and am not at 100% by any means. My range of motion and flexibility is somewhat restricted and when I rope I feel like I’m wearing a sport coat about two sizes too small. I can do it; it just doesn’t feel very good.
Being out of commission has given me time to be at home with my family and do the things I normally don’t have time for. In the last month or so I’ve been the guest speaker at three churches, put on several schools and been handyman extraordinaire around the house. I’ve put in a driveway, cut down trees, moved fence and hauled off half a pasture of scrap iron.
It doesn’t sound like much of a break, but I tell myself it’s physical rehabilitation. For the first time that I can remember, my right arm is as strong as my left. My left arm has always been strong from flanking, holding slack, etc. After two to four hours a day, three times a week, in rehab, my right arm has finally caught up.
This has been a nice break for my horses, Topper and Piggy Bank. From November to January they’ve been turned out and exercised themselves. I’ve been bringing them back slowly without any roping. The other day I roped an unheard of four calves on Topper and at twenty-five years of age, he feels as good to me as he ever has.
My roping has undergone a style change due to losing my range of motion. On the up side, this has made me go back to boot camp and do things right. It’s easy after Las Vegas to keep reaching even though the catching percentage isn’t as high as you’d like. I can’t do that now (I’ve tried already). Where before when I’d reach I could catch ninety percent, I’m now at fifty to sixty percent. That means I’m packing a couple of coils with a smaller loop and not taking as many risks. Not altogether a bad thing since it makes me revisit the basics of roping, something we should all do from time to time.
Initially Dr. Tandy said I wouldn’t be back until May and here I’m entered in March. I love to rope, I’m glad to be back – how good does it get?
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