The Event

Team roping is a rodeo event that features a steer and two mounted riders. The first roper is referred to as the "header", the person who ropes the front of the steer, usually around the horns. Once the steer is caught by a legal head catch, the header must dally (wrap the rope around the rubber covered saddle horn) and use his horse to turn the steer to the left.

The second roper is the "heeler", who ropes the steer by its hind feet after the "header" has turned the steer, with a five-second penalty assessed to the end time if only one leg is caught. Team roping is the only rodeo event where men and women compete equally together in professionally sanctioned competition, in both single-gender or mixed-gender teams.