Goat Tying Dismount

by Jennifer Freeland Moore

It never fails, when I go to a rodeo to watch my students compete in the goat tying I get parents that come up to me and say, "Please watch my daughter she's falling when she dismounts and we don't know why!" The dismount is quite complex for many reasons. The challenges that I see are the horse, body types (tall/short, skinny/heavy), fear, confidence, athletic ability, speed, or skill level. These are all very important factors to look at when coaching a goat tier. One thing is for certain; a constant battle from one clinic or lesson to another is the saddle horn!

It doesn't matter if your child is 8 and dismounting off a really big horse or if you are trying to be 7 and going really fast. The saddle horn can work against you more times that it will help you. Your brain and common sense will tell you and in any other event I swear its the truth that the saddle horn is comfort, stability, and safe. But in the goat tying imagine that as soon as you step off of your horse and are hanging on to your saddle horn those two comfortable strides to catch your balance that your horse trips, ducks, is running faster than you, stops, or gets the horse gets tangled in the goat rope. In all of these instances you are in trouble and holding on to the saddle horn is the number one problem! Just imagine the situation of all of these instances and I'm pretty sure you have seen all of them either with your child or another and the result is that they fall!

Now these pictures I've attached are when I was tying 6 second runs and because my foundation was set when I ran my horse much slower to dismount I didn't have to change much with more speed. I want to show you 2 different views. The first picture is from the front view.

In this case my horse and I are in perfect position. I step off my horse and I'm barely putting the first foot on the ground a few steps before the goat and my horse does her job perfect. She stays her constant very fast speed and switches to the right lead fading out a little off to the right and heading to the back fence getting out of my way. This is a perfect position and my horse and I hold the goat straight back on the end of the rope. Now think of this as you look at the picture! My horse is running faster than I am and she is fading out just perfectly. What if I where holding on to the saddle horn? No doubt in my mind, she would have pulled me to the right and with the momentum would have thrown my shoulders so far forward I would have been out of control and hit the dirt hard, head first!! Not Fun....I've been there!

Now check out the side view shot! Even more clear than the front view. I haven't hit the ground yet and check out where the saddle horn is. There is no way I could even reach the horn...you hold on to the saddle horn and your eating dirt! Your horse trips, slows down, ducks out/in, or speeds up/runs faster than you and your are eating dirt! The bottom line is I have more balance and control of my body on my own than using the so called safe saddle horn for comfort and to eat dirt! This is one thing that will help you or your goat tier stay on their feet and win.

For more tips on goat tying come to the upcoming clinics:

March 5-6, 2010 in Vernal, Utah or March 12-13, 2010 in Herriman, Utah!

Feel free to email me at jennyfreeland@hotmail.com or call me at 801-380-2857 with questions.

Happy Tying!