Visualization

By Edna Hancock

A lot of effort goes into preparing for a rodeo. Practice, caring for the animals, packing, traveling..... the list goes on and on. One thing that is just as important as all of the above is visualization.

At the end of a day of practice lay in bed at night and visualize the run in your mind. Think of all the things that could and probably will go wrong and figure out what you would do in each of those situations. (What if the calf stalls? The calf runs to the left? The right? You drop your loop? Etc.)

Also visualize the run going just the way that you want it to. (The chute opens, the calf breaks fast, you are right on it, you swing your rope, you catch the calf six feet from the open chute, the barrier is still intact and you win the round.)

When you get to rodeo you also need to mentally prepare yourself just before the event. It’s ok to socialize but not right before the event. You need to visualize and mentally prepare yourself for the event and all the different things that can happen. So when you go into the box you are calm and ready for that event.

This works for every rodeo event (poles, barrels, goats, steer wrestling, roping, rough stock, etc.) It also works for just about anything else (job interviews, work, queening, football, athletics, etc.)