As I start to make my delivery, see the shot that I'm going to take and start to bring my loop out of my swing and into the delivery, I still see the whole picture. I'm focused on watching my loop come in, the bottom coming along the surface of the ground and the tip coming through the feet. I'm focused on watching my loop to see what it's doing. That gives me the timing of when to bring my slack up. I'm watching that process all the way through. If the steer swings away from me or shoots away from me a little quick as I start to lift my slack, it tells me I need to come back to the horn a little sooner. If the steer stays up off the ground a little too high and long, I know I have to keep my slack up a little longer before going to the horn or I'll lose legs.
It's good from time to time to really focus on pinpointed areas, when you're roping the dummy or the lead steer or a machine. But when it comes to making live runs, being able to put your eyes on an area but also being able to gather information out of your peripheral vision gives you the ability to store those runs that you make and you start to be able to identify little things that are about to happen before they happen. You can do this because you've seen these things before and they're logged into your memory bank. You have to practice seeing it that way first. If you don't see the whole picture enough times, you'll have tunnel vision and will lose a lot of helpful information by being focused on just one spot.
