How do you teach a heel horse to rate the steer?

Rate for a heel horse is different from rate for a head horse in both timing and reference point. The head horse rates to the steer directly — adjusting its speed to arrive alongside the steer's head at the correct moment. The heel horse rates to the header and the corner, arriving at the delivery position as the turn is completing and the steer's hind feet come into the heeler's lane. Teaching a heel horse to rate the steer correctly begins with establishing that the horse reads the header's position as its primary reference rather than chasing the steer independently. On slow cattle with an experienced header, practice following the turn at controlled speeds and identify the natural position the horse finds at each pace — the spot where it is correctly off the hip without crowding or fading. That position is the target the horse needs to learn to find and hold on its own. Vary the cattle speed deliberately once the horse understands the concept at one pace: slow steers require the heel horse to rate more aggressively to avoid overrunning the corner, fast steers allow more forward energy through the run. Each variation teaches the horse that rate is a dynamic response to the run's pace rather than a fixed gear. A horse that has been worked exclusively at one speed on consistent cattle will struggle the first time the pace changes significantly because it has learned a pattern rather than a concept. Introducing that variety early in the horse's development — slow cattle one run, faster the next, varying the header's turn speed — builds a heel horse that arrives correctly across all run types rather than one that is perfectly positioned only when conditions match its training exactly.