How should a heel horse leave the box?

The heel horse's departure from the box is fundamentally different from the head horse's, and understanding that difference is essential to training it correctly. The head horse leaves at maximum effort to close on and position alongside the steer before the catch. The heel horse leaves with controlled forward energy timed to arrive at the correct position off the header's right hip as the corner is being completed — not so fast that it overruns the header and crowds the turn, and not so slow that it is still closing when the heeler needs to be set and swinging. The ideal heel horse departure is purposeful rather than explosive: it leaves the box cleanly and immediately when asked, then rates itself to track off the header's position through the run rather than running independently at its own pace. A heel horse that fires as hard as a head horse on the break will consistently overrun the corner and leave the heeler scrambling to slow down and find position when the swing should already be in motion. A heel horse that leaves flat or slow is perpetually playing catch-up through the run. The timing of the departure also matters relative to the head horse's break: the heeler typically nods and leaves a half-beat after the header to build in the natural offset that prevents the heel horse from running even with or ahead of the header. Training the departure on a heel horse involves teaching it to leave with energy and then immediately begin reading the header's position rather than simply running forward at full pace, which is a different mental approach to the box than what a head horse is asked for.