Though the skills for team penning take practice, the rules are fairly simple. Thirty head of cattle are positioned at the far end of an arena as three riders approach from the opposite end. The cattle are marked with numbers from 0 to 9. When the flag drops, starting the clock, a number is called. The riders cut out the three head with that number, bring them back down the arena and put them in a pen in 90 seconds or less.
Riders compete in divisions based on skill, but it also takes a little luck.
He and his wife, Karla, compete and help organize events. Bob and Donna Thompson of Berthoud formed the Rocky Mountain Team Penning Association in 1988. It now has 250 to 300 members who travel to events from Pueblo to Cheyenne and the Western Slope of Colorado. Everybody wants to try it. Team penners will compete during the Larimer County prefair activities in Loveland on July 28 at 9 a.m. in the main arena.