Roping Dummy

[Matt Shade]

Well the nephew is turning 5 next week and once again I was short on birthday present ideas. Seems he has about every toy train, truck or tractor made and I severely pushed my luck with a toy gun at christmas So I decided to make him a cow, or I guess this would be a steer

I threw it together friday night, bent most of the peices cold, by hand with the bench vice. The tighter bends were done with a torch, too hot to run the forge that night for a couple pieces. Back legs are mounted in a piece of pipe so they will swing and you can practice heeling. Has a coat of "rust fix" on it right now, debating on leaving it black or doing black and white for "spots".

I have another one out in the barn I made a couple years ago thats alot of run to take to parties and watch people get tangled up. I can throw right or left handed (from the ground, off my horse is a little more challenging) So I give a few pointers/demonstrations and then stand off to the side and re-coil ropes for the uncoordinated.

I got him a jr. moneymaker by classic ropes to go with it. 5/16" lay, 23' long and extra soft. He'll probably need help breaking it in, but he's a big boy and will need a hefty rope.

[GWIZ]

For safety, I would loop the ends of the horns or something.

[DrBob]

Wow! That's a thing of beauty, Matt! Great Job! I'm sure he'll love it! GWIZ has a point, Maybe a couple of balls welded to the ends of the horns?

You brought back a memory from perhaps 60 years ago. I had seen films of cowboys roping cattle so I got a length of my mama's clothesline and fashioned a slipknot in one end - and tried for maybe a week straight to throw that rope over ANYTHING! The rope was so soft and floppy it wouldn't form an open loop but what does a nine-year-old know? Many years later I was at my first rodeo and saw how stiff the rope was .......

You need to make a video for us 'dudes' of you throwing the rope with either hand.


DrBob

[Matt Shade]

Thanks guys, I thought about doing something with the ends of the horns but rounding the ends on my belt grinder seemed to be enough, I can slap them with the heel of my hand and not get cut or bruised. I've had the first dummy I built to a lot of parties and never had any problems. I tried to check it pretty thoroughly for pinch points or sharp edges.

I don't think my roping is worthy of a video, maybe if I could throw with both hands at the same time! I don't think I want to risk my bragging rights to the world wide web I'll try to get a better pic of the cow where the background isn't so busy. It may get more paint on it too, my girlfriend is still insisting it needs spots....

[DrBob]

Matt, I'm more concerned that a child doesn't run into a horn full tilt or trip and fall into it - possibly with an eye. It'd be a few minutes work to find some worn out large ball bearings and weld 'em to the horns. It'll help you sleep easy.

I would like to see the roping video anyway!



DrBob

[akabull]

+1 on the balls for the end of the horns. or maybe at least some rebar caps for when not in use.