Photo By Michelle Young | Amara, 13, started practicing on the Mable after the glue had set. She practices the...... read more read more
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It didn't take long after catching the roping bug to begin to realize we needed a target better than a table. For one, the table, unlike most animals, was square. Fail.
Second, the table wasn't quite tall enough or high enough off the ground. So, even though you'll be throwing a rope from atop a horse, the drop wasn't quite right to practice accurately. Sometimes practicing wrong can be worse than not practicing at all.
Finally, having a target was great; without a head, hooking horns, or 'catching the neck' (another term we recently learned) was impossible.
Enter the online search for roping dummies. The upwards of $100-200 price tag I found was quickly a big nope for me, so what do we do? We look for shortcuts. This time, Pinterest.
We found several plans for dummies in other languages, and some using the metric system or hardware requiring unique tools. Nope. I found metal framed, neon orange, and bales of straw with a head stuck on the end, but one of PVC pipe plan sets caught my eye.
Why? Because we have actually used PVC in a lot of household projects, and it's very forgiving. Plastic, readily available (if you haven't noticed, home improvement stores are still slow to get inventory in from COVID-19 shipping delays), lightweight, paintable, and not terribly expensive.
Eric found plans for a model we thought would work, but it was on a sled. The premise behind this is that once you're atop a horse, someone drives and pulls the dummy behind you. Considering we don't have a horse or an arena at home, we omitted the sled part.
Next, a trip to the home improvement store. He was in and out of there in half-hour tops, which was also simplified because we have a menagerie of power tools at home, even though many don't see the light of day. He came home with PVC and varying connecting pieces, like an armful of adult tinker toys.
Because they didn't sell plastic animal heads at every home improvement store, I had to get those online. Two-day shipping wasn't too bad. Each of the two heads, steer and calf, ran me between $30-40, which would end up being the lion's share of the project cost.
next part became a little bit of Jenga, a little bit of Legos, a little bit of cutting and re-cutting, and maybe some part throwing.
The basic frame was a long piece for the spine, about three feet long. Then the joints, think hips and shoulders, started as 45-degree angles, but Amara quickly told us that it wasn't accurate and wouldn't catch right, even though I personally thought it looked better. Oh, and the spine was too long, she realized after practicing, so cutting that down was an easy fix.
We made another quick trip to the store; Eric replaced the 45-degree angle pieces with 90-degree angle pieces.
There was some playing around with legs at this point, the height, namely. Of course, we googled and tried to find dimensions of the expensive dummies online, which got us close, but we still modified a lot. As with all pieces of this project, we started long.
In quilting, they use the phrase 'measure twice, cut once,' so I'd rather have a piece we can cut down than a three-legged, wobbly calf. And I often measure thrice for good measure, pun intended.
We tried to make the front legs just enough longer than the back legs to create a slight angle, but then the legs weren't flush to the ground and wanted to slip. We had decided not to glue any of the joints so that the unit could be portable to take to a friend or grandpas, or what have you, but we realized this could also present problems.
We talked about drilling holes and using some pins to hold the angles in place, but by this point, Amara was getting antsy to try it out, and unlike dad, she's not a perfectionist. She just wanted it done and to play.
The funny thing in that, and lesson learned, is that if you're making something for someone else, it's about them. Their standards, their needs. We had it contrived in our heads that we needed feet, perfect angles, a locking system, painted, etc. but none of that mattered to Amara, and she's who this was all for. She wanted a frame and a cattle head.
We went back to making all four legs even sturdy on the ground, without feet/ hooves. We thought we might need caps on the ends to put some sand in the legs, but it seemed heavy enough on its own. Eric attached the steer's head by drilling holes through the area that would kind of be the neck, and it fit right on, secure, without any fuss. Done.
One more trip back to the store to return the parts we now didn't need and couldn't foresee ever using so that they weren't lying around. In the end, we only ended up spending about $25 on those materials, so both dummies, including heads, for just over $100.
Mable, the name I gave the dummy, is not painted. Her legs don't hinge, but Eric made it, and for Amara, she's perfect for her. She was made with more love than any other purchase, and I think we all appreciate it more than just a big, probably strangely marked, brown box showing up on our doorstep.
Amara's used her at least every other day.
She's had her (quarantine bubble) friends over and is now teaching them roping too. We've left Mable out in the rain and pay no mind to it.
Eric already started on a second dummy, one to attach the calf head to. We decided in the end that for the ease with which this came together, also taking into account the cost, that it would be more fun to have two dummies, so she's able to rope with a friend. This also gives her the option of practicing both steer and calves without swapping out the head, so that's what he's doing. Also, he found more PVC in the barn, so bonus, no spending on that, probably just a couple of hip joints.
Fun, inexpensive project to learn on. Bonding, learning, and teaching to do-it-yourself.
Amara now wants a goat-tying dummy. With flexible legs. Garden hose? Not sure yet.
What would you like me to virtually visit or try out next? Email me at Michelle.J.Young10.civ@mail.mil and give me your suggestions. Your dedicated online review partner—Micki
| Date Taken: | 03.19.2021 |
| Date Posted: | 12.28.2021 12:41 |
| Story ID: | 412025 |
| Location: | COLUMBUS, OHIO, US |
| Web Views: | 3,066 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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