Horse vs. 18 men in tug-of-war - GIF

[Frank S]

I see he burnt his finger. But, never having seen this done, it is extraordinarily impressive. I remember, as a child, trying to lasso, following comic book depictions. That the rider’s pony can stand the shock is astonishing to me. Does the rope not part sometimes? I can imagine blindness as well as lost fingers!

In stop action it appears that he lost most of his little finger.
Any wranglers I've met would not have attempted to lasso an animal of that size running past at speed while their mount was standing still. The risk of injury to their mount themselves and the animal being captured is too great, compiled with the probable damage to their equipment. I know his thoughts were to use a loop of the lariat around the saddle horn for enough resistance to allow him to halt the running horse allowing his lariat to slip slowly through his hand, but there are a lot of problems with a maneuver such as that. Personal injury as he found out, or the lariat could have fouled on the horn, at best it would have snapped. At worst it could have injured the captured horse by choking it or possibly even breaking its neck, the saddle horn could have broken off, highly unlikely for a well made saddle, The mount could have had his right fore leg injured or even broken when the full force or the running steed jerked it off balance the cinch of the saddle could have broken causing rider and saddle to fall to the ground and be dragged by the horse. A western saddle has the cinch located further back than English saddles, this allows for better holding but also in an extreme circumstance if jerked hard enough can cause internal organ damage.
All in all there were so many things that could have gone wrong in an attempt such as in the video I don't even like to think about it

[Philip Davies]

Thank you for this, Frank. Since this is not something we ever see, it’s good to have a clear account of the action.

[Frank S]

Thank you for this, Frank. Since this is not something we ever see, it’s good to have a clear account of the action.

Growing up on a working farm, my cousins would be far better at giving an explanation then I ever could. About the only thing I did with horses was to ride a fence line looking for breaks to be repaired or clearing brush away from it. For my 6 cousins though it was almost a daily routine a few months out of the year. They would be the first to tell anyone that competing in professional rodeos are for those who don't have enough work to do. I would go so far as to say going to a rodeo as a spectator is poor way to learn what is involved on a working farm or ranch. A couple of my cousins used to go on an annual government Mustang round up. this was to cull the weak and diseased wild horses from the rest if possible in an effort to prevent diseases from spreading. and to capture a few wild horses for adoption some of my Uncles horses were born in the wild. Don and Derald would tell of how it could take hours of chasing a particular pony then as many as 3 or 4 ropes thrown by riders riding at full speed along side before the horse could be brought to a halt.
It made sense to me, the old unstoppable force and the immovable object came to mind somethings got to give,

[NortonDommi]

Given the cost of fuel it may well be time to return to horsepower, oxpower, donkeys, mules and goats. Friend in South Island races dog sleds so there is another option.

[nova_robotics]

Well that's enough internet for today.

[piper184]

Loosing a finger to a rope is a fairly regular occurrence in "rodeo country". When I messed up some fingers the nurses first guess was "roping" and the second was "chipper shreader". She got it in two tries.

Looking at this video, since the standing horse was in a chalk outline box and the running horse was inside a fenced run, I rather suspect that the object was to see if the guy was good enough with a rope to hit a fast moving target. Considering the dangers involved I also suspect it was expected that the rope would be released if he made the catch. But something went wrong with the release and he paid for it. If he had been wearing glove at least the rest of the finger would have been in the glove for easier recovery.

I don't know of any cowboys that would attempt to stop a running horse from a standing horse. Even steer roping is done at speed and great care is taken to insure the animals don't get hurt and are not overworked. From the short video it appears that this is a fairly well organized event, although I have never seen it or even know what it is called. I will have to ask some of my friends that are closer to the rodeo game than I am.

[Hoosiersmoker]

He didn't lose his finger... it's right there on the ground.

[Fluffle-Valve]

Serves him right.

[JoeVanGeaux]

I thought, too, it was an odd friction burn to cause this, but I stepped through the video (something I don't do often when there is personal injury involved out of respect for the victim) but I saw something that looked like a plate of sorts fixed atop the saddle horn. I'm no cowboy or horseman of any kind but it looks as though a loop of rope snagged his pinky firmly and quickly snatched it against that suspiciously sharp cornered plate on the horn- severering it cleanly near its base.

To his credit, he did take it like a champ, though, but I would have been looking in the dirt so I could possibly regain my ability to count to ten.

EDIT: I hadn't realized the date of this post and it appears I'm coming in late, here, and didn't see other accounts for what did or may have happened.