Cowgirl Knows The Ropes

On weekdays, she’s working through files as an escrow assistant at North Idaho Title Co.

But come the weekends, Bonny Flagg turns in her natty attire for jeans, flannel shirts, boots, “and a hankerin’ to rodeo.”

“Hoo-raw, let’s go ropin’,” she said, before last weekend’s competition at the Garwood Arena, off U.S. Highway 95.

The dust, the excitement, the competition. … “Well, I admit, is a bit more fun than title work,” she said. “But, hey, love my day job.”

A majority of cowgirls involve themselves in barrel racing. But only a few find their rodeo thrills in team roping.

It’s the rare cowgirl who will even attempt team roping. Team roping involves the first member of the team - the “header” - who leaves the chute or “box” in pursuit of a fleeing cow.

“Now this is not calf roping, which involves one cowboy chasing and roping a running calf,” she said. “This is team roping. The chase is roughly the same, except we’re after a cow, not a calf. The cows we use are much smaller than those you see alongside the road on some rancher’s land.”

A few seconds after the header has entered the arena, the “heeler” follows suit. His job is to snare the two rear legs of the cow, provided the header was successful in roping the cow’s horns.

If both header and heeler are successful in their riding and roping, they turn toward each other when the event is done. The timekeeper’s flag falls, and times are recorded, generally in the seven- to 12-second range.

Such is Bonny’s life away from preparing land title commitments, researching contracts and deeds.

“Born and raised around horses,” said the 37-year-old Hayden Lake cowgirl. However, it wasn’t until she met and married Bill Flagg that Bonny became interested in team roping.

She admitted to a little barrel racing over the years, but nothing like team roping until Bill came along.

“It was sort of self-preservation. He had team roped most of his life and wasn’t about to give it up. So, I had to learn the ropes so to speak.”

And “that was just this past February that I got started as a header and his team roping partner,” she said, modestly admitting to “taking home a few pay checks already as well as some merchandise.”

Trying to rope a cow can be dangerous. “Like when you’ve both roped the running cow, you stop your horses and back up to eliminate any slack,” she said.

“Suppose your fingers are between the saddle horn and the rope. There goes a couple of fingers real fast. And, you can fall off your horse,” she added, noting the embarrassment of doing so could exceed the injury.

The Flaggs are members of United States Team Roping (USTR) championships.

As USTRA members, they are entitled to enter competitions throughout the nation.

“This brings up the social side of rodeoing - a really fun part,” Bonny said. “You meet the best people, really. You all seem to belong to the same fraternity.”

“You’re out there to win. However, while at the same time, you hope everyone does good.”

On the cost side of team roping, Bonny noted that it “actually depends on how involved you want to be as to how much it costs.”

“Your horse - a good roping horse can cost upwards of $15,000,” she said. “After that, it’s basically the cost of a rope.”

And entry fees and on-the-road lodging and meals and trucks and horse trailers.

“Oh well, beats a lot of other things people do. And I love doing this,” Bonny said.

“There just don’t seem to be enough weekends!”

, DataTimes MEMO: Tom Burnett is a free-lance writer from Rathdrum. Panhandle Pieces appears every Saturday. The column is shared among several North Idaho writers.