I began my team roping with a lot of enthusiasm. The team roping bug really bit me hard. In my enthusiasm to rope there were times when I became overzealous and over-confident in my abilities. One such occasion was when one of my neighbor’s heifers got out. He and his partner had tried to get this heifer back in several times on foot but she would find a way to outrun them and escape into another field.
He came over one day and asked me if I thought I could rope this rogue heifer, since I was a team roper. Well, I had been roping for a few months and was beginning to catch a few out of the box, so I said I thought I could. I felt that I could go down there and rope that heifer, and help them out, and feel like a hero at the same time.
I rode down the road a ways and saw the heifer out in a 10-acre field of tall grass. It was open on one side but fenced on three sides. I rode up towards her and when I got within about 30 yards, her head came up and she started moving away. I didn’t think I would be able to get any closer to her so I built a loop and went to spurring and riding after her. Instantly she was at a dead run and so was I.
The field I was riding in had a gradual slope toward the middle and about the same gradual rise up the other side. When we reached the middle I was in position to rope her and was just about to let the loop fly when my horse went down. I flew over the front and hit hard and my horse rolled over on top of me. I felt a snap between my shoulder and neck. When I sat up I couldn’t lift my arm and realized my clavicle was broken.
I had broken the other clavicle a couple years earlier and I knew immediately that this injury would lay me up for about six weeks. I was glad I wasn’t hurt worse, but discouraged knowing I wouldn’t be roping for awhile and unable to do much of anything else. I couldn’t believe that I had risked running my horse and myself down through this field of tall grass without a clue that there was a little dry creek bed in the middle.
Many of us are running through this life blinded by our own defects and have a false security that we are going to be just fine. It begins with, “I’m no worse than anyone else.” And, “I think I’m a good person.” We remain untouched when reminded that we must be delivered from sin. The god of this world has blinded our minds to everything Jesus Christ stands for and like me running my horse through that field of tall grass, I’m the only one to blame for the events that will happen next.
Rope great and avoid a wreck, by not running blind.
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