Into My Own

Twenty-Eight

"Oakley! Quit aiming so low!" Blake yelled in frustration.

"I'm not trying to!" She whined.

"Let me show you again." Blake sighed. "Hold the loop in your right hand, give yourself some slack, leave your left hand mostly flat and breathe before you aim."

"Blake, she can't rope like you! She's left handed!" Kellan exclaimed as Oakley struggled hold the coil.

Blake reacted as if she had just been slapped. "I didn't even think about that."

"Come here," Kellan said kindly, taking the tangled rope from Oakley's hands.

"Since you're a lefty, hold it backwards. You want the loop in your dominant hand. Now make sure you have enough slack," he placed the rope in the correct hands. "How does that feel?"

"Better," she grinned.

"Okay, now bring your wrist towards you and kind of flick it when you're ready. That'll help you hit the target."

She did as she was told and actually managed to graze the dummy this time.

"Ha!"

"Makes a big difference, huh?"

"Definitely."

I watched as she coiled the rope back up and aimed again, grazing the target for a second time.

"Atta girl! You're getting the hang of it!" I cheered.

Oakley continued practicing with the appropriate hand, actually catching the steer several times in a row.

"Okay, you keep working at that until you can do five in a row. Then it's up to you to increase your speed." Kellan informed her. "I'm gonna head with Coda."

I set up my target a bit further away from Oakley's so we wouldn't run into each other.

"That should work." Blake called from her position as a spectator on the fence.

"Good. So I'll catch the head and then you get both legs right after." Kellan reiterated the goal.

I watched Kellan gracefully swing his rope a couple times before easily landing it over the steer's head.

I clumsily swung my own rope and aimed for the legs, catching one.

"Not too bad for your first time under pressure," Blake encouraged. "You're already almost as good as Kellan!"

"Aw, shut it," he groaned.

"I bet I can do better," I smirked.

"Try me."

We got into position and he easily landed the rope over the dummy's neck. I let mine fly, once again catching a single leg.

"Still not bad," Blake praised. "Give her some practice and she can out-rope most of our competition!"

"Seems like a natural to me," Kellan smiled, clapping me on the back.

"How's it goin', Oak?" I called over my shoulder.

"Not too bad. Caught a few,"

"Atta girl. Keep it up!"

We spent the next hour practicing. Then Blake began to complain about being hungry.

"It's only like 12:30!" Kellan laughed.

"And I'm gonna starve to death!"

"Blake, we didn't even eat breakfast until ten!"