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Roping a family tradition for Velma residentVELMA, Okla. (AP)--Terry Sutton's been roping a while. Sutton, a team roper, said he started roping when he was 12 or 13, and he isn't going to stop any time soon. In fact Sutton, 43, plans to expand his rodeo horizons. "I'm going to get my PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association) permit so that I can go to the big rodeos in Cheyenne and Houston," he said. "Those guys probably won't even know I'm there, but when my grandkids ask me to tell them a story, I can tell them that I roped at the big ones." Sutton said his roping habit was something that came naturally because he grew up on the farm. "My whole family dabbled in it (rodeo). We were always on horses pushin' cattle," Sutton said. "I didn't own my own (roping) horse until I was 19. I still have the first horse I ever bought, and she'll die in my care. It is in my blood. I've been on horses since I could walk." Obviously, a horse is the most important piece of equipment a cowboy or cowgirl has, but the relationship goes deeper than that. A horse and its rider form a friendship over the years. "I've had good horses and I've had bad ones," Sutton said. "I thought I had a good one about seven or eight years ago. It got out and got hit by a car and took its leg right off. I led it back to the pen and went inside and got my rifle. I put him down and then got a backhoe and buried him under an oak tree. I cried the whole time. My daughter raced barrels on that horse, and that was when she stopped." Getting into roping isn't easy, nor is it cheap. "Roping can be very expensive," Sutton said. "For a well-broke, well-trained horse, you're going to pay around $5,000, but you can get a 'bumper-pull' horse, just one that'll get you by, for around $2,500. Then you have to buy your tack and your rig to haul your horse. There are people that show up to these USTRC (United States Team Roping Championships) with $100,000 rigs." On top of that, a roper needs more than one quality horse to be successful. "It is tough to do this with one horse," Sutton said. "Right now, my main horse has a cut on his foot, and I'm not riding him until that's healed. I'm pretty fortunate. I've got two good horses and two in training." The care a horse gets can also determine how well a roper will do. "If a horse isn't healthy, they aren't going to perform well," he said. "My horses eat better than I do. If you are going to expect horses to perform at 100 percent, you have to take care of them. It is a lot like raising kids." Sutton said that being part of the rodeo circuit isn't unlike having another family. "It is a tight-knit group," he said. "I wouldn't say that it was clique, but guys set around and trade notes with each other. It's nothing to see another roper help other ropers. You'll find guys doing the all-around that are in two or three events swapping notes with everyone." Being friendly will get you a long way with some competitors, Sutton said. "It isn't nothing to see guys talking about the condition of the arena dirt, or if a steer has a certain head trick," Sutton said. "If you're an old stick-in-the-mud, you aren't going to be able to find any partners. If a kid comes up and has a willingness to learn, there isn't anyone who wouldn't help them." Sutton said there is a lot of preparation that goes into making a run, but that he doesn't really recall some of his best runs. "There is more to it than just nodding your head and roping the steer," he said. "You have to check your equipment and you have to see what the conditions are ... I say that and some of the best runs I've made I've come back and not even realized that I've made my run. You just get in a zone." Just because there isn't a lot of bucking involved and the seen danger that goes with riding rough stock, it doesn't mean that team roping isn't dangerous. "I've seen two people get killed in a rodeo arena--one was a bull rider and one was a team roper," Sutton said. "You'll see guys missing fingers and having their legs kicked out. If you don't respect it, you can get yourself killed, but that goes with anything." 10/8/07 Date: 10/2/07
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