I grew up watching the Rocky Balboa movies that Sylvester Stallone wrote, directed and acted in. The last movie is one of my favorites, especially at my age. Towards the end of the movie Rocky is in the ring with a much younger boxer. The young boxer nails him with a really hard blow and Rocky goes down on one knee and should have been knocked out.
It was at this moment Rocky remembers he said something to his son. “What was it I said to the kid?” Rocky thinks to himself. Then he gets up and fights with vengeance, it’s the climax of the movie and the fight ends soon after with Rocky achieving his goal. The goal is the same goal he had in the first Rocky movie, to go ten rounds with the heavyweight champ. It’s a fitting end to the sequence of all the Rocky movies.
I’ve always said the one thing to my son when he rides his horse in the box at a rodeo to rope, “take your time in the box, make sure everything is right before you nod.”
This week at a rodeo my horse was kind of acting stupid when I backed in the corner of the box to rope. I knew the horse wasn’t right, but I nodded my head anyway. The calf got a big head-start and that caused me to have to chase it further down the arena. Ultimately, I took a bad throw with my rope and missed the calf.
As I was riding out of the arena in total disgust with my performance I remembered the words from the Rocky movie. “What was I told the kid?”
I knew better. I made a mental mistake and it cost me dearly. I should have took my time and re-positioned the horse in the box.
I brought two belts with me on this trip. One belt has a buckle my son won at a play day when he was little. The other belt has a buckle from the most prestigious roping I’ve ever won. I don’t wear it much other than to church or out to eat. Too be honest, I don’t feel like I deserve to wear it anymore, because I’m no longer at that top echelon level. In fact, I’m almost embarrassed to wear it around other cowboys.
After my poor performance in the arena I was watching a rerun of the Yellowstone series. The cowboys on that show brand themselves with the branding iron. Their motto is the brand isn’t something you earn, it’s something you live up to.
After my poor performance I had two full days to think before my next rodeo.
I feel like my kids and all of the people that support me are critiquing every run when I rope. Even the sponsors I had twenty years ago still expect me to perform at a certain level, they’ve said that to me these past few years.
I decided to wear the belt with the buckle I’d won, because I knew I could do better. My roping improved at the rest of the rodeos after I made that one critical mistake.
I guess those Yellowstone TV cowboys were right, it’s something you live up to…..
James Lockhart lives near the Kiamichi mountains in southeast Oklahoma. He writes cowboy stories and fools with cows and horses.
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