Jake Barnes has spent his life heading, but his love of heeling and the challenge it brings out a different side of his competitive nature, especially when the pressure is on at the World Series Finale. He talks through the difficulty of staying aggressive when you are trying to just catch rather than make a perfect run, and how muscle memory eventually takes over so you are not constantly reminding yourself of every step. Clay breaks down the positioning differences between heading and heeling and how each role reads and reacts to the steer differently. They cover handling steers and the different variables that can change a run in a split second, including a few embarrassing moments from the heeling side that come with the territory.
Up Next in Roper Profile
-
Jake Barnes and Clay O'Brien Cooper: ...
The answer is simple: they roped 24/7, nonstop, as fast as they could go, and they had the desire to win. Clay grew up with a stepfather who was an old school cowboy, riding broncs and bulldogging, and he was a good catcher. Rodeo was all Clay ever wanted to do and that hunger showed up every sin...
-
Jake & Clay: Fast Steers, Horse Manag...
Jake and Clay mix methodical runs with wide open ones, and both serve a purpose. Running steers as fast as they can go keeps you sharp and translates directly to the rodeos they are entered up at. Jake talks through his horses including a 12-year-old mare from Max Kuttler that serves as his secon...
-
God’s Plan: Marriage and Rodeo
Life is about more than rodeo, but being married to a rodeo cowboy is no easy road. Jake Barnes and Clay O’Brien Cooper have had completely different experiences with their marriages and their lives despite rodeoing side-by-side for decades, and this might be their most raw on-camera interview ev...