5 Tips for Caring for Ropes

How to stiffen a soft rope, fight humidity and ensure your ropes last long and hit their mark, whether you're team, breakaway or tie-down roping.

roper with rope

(Credit: Journal)

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January 15, 2021 | News and Publications , Timed Events | Tack care , Tie-down roping , Team roping , Team roping - heading , Team roping - heeling , Breakaway roping , Horse Tack and Equipment

By AQHA Professional Horseman Brad Lund

You can't be a good roper or if you don't have a good rope. Although there are many different sizes, styles and qualities out there, care is paramount for keeping your rope ready for action.

AQHA Professional Horseman Brad Lund of La Cygne, Kansas, offered these five tips for keeping your rope in tiptop shape:

When starting to rope in a bag, make sure it's dry. You never put a wet rope in a bag. If the ropes are stored wet, they will get kinked and act funny. If a rope is wet, hang it up outside until it dries.
Try not to store more than three or four ropes in a bag. The more you put in a bag, the harder it is to keep them separated.
Always place the rope in the bag with a hondo facing up instead of down so it doesn't get kinked.
When there's a lot of humidity in the air, sprinkle some baby powder on the ropes to keep them from absorbing all that moisture. If a rope absorbs too much moisture, it won't feel right and does some funny stuff.
Brand new ropes tend to have a lot of wax and stuff on them. So when I get a new rope, I rope five or six steers with it, and then before I put that rope away, I'll hang it out side for a couple days in a place where it can't get rained on. That tends to help get the wax off of it and get it ready for use.

Choosing a Rope

Need help finding the perfect rope for you? We examine lay, material, full or scant diameters, strand count and length for team ropers, tie-down ropers and ranch cowboys. Read "The Ropes of Buying a Rope."