Brock Hanson gives a lot of credit to those who win in the arena, by the way the header handles their steers. 

Brock says “There is a reason some headers consistently win, even at the amateur level”  he explains ”those ropers who have learned the art of handling their steer win more, there is no question about it.”  Brock has broken down the secret of handling steers to the following three simple steps. 

 1- Give a true "read" in the corner

After you catch the steer and the rope is tight from the steers head to your saddle horn, that's when you have a chance to slow the steer down or do whatever you think the situation calls for but once the steers hips clear and his body comes in line with his head and he his no longer bent at the neck, then your done with changing the speed of him and the reason why is now it's to late to change or slow down because at this time your heeler needs to be able to commit to his entry and start getting in position. If you slow down now it will trick him or give him a "false read" and then he has to make adjustments witch will take time away from the run. For better or worse stay on track and let your heeler go to work. 
 
2-DIRECTION OF THE PULL
 After you get through the turn and have control of the steer, then you need to keep a true pull on the steer and go straight across the arena. Everyone pretty much agrees with that but if the steer want to be a little wild or run up the rope then you can come back up the arena just a little bit ( towards the heading box). This will put more pressure on the steers head and help you keep in control of him. 
 
3-THE FINISH
 A lot of the ropings now are not face ropings so when you see your heeler has caught you can undally. One thing to pay attention to is sometimes on older steer if you undally to soon or if it is a face roping and you start to face to soon and give the steers head back he can pull a leg or anytime a heeler catches 2 feet and starts to dally and the steer takes his head towards the stripping chute the heeler will slip the right leg. As a header it's easy to lay that off on the heeler but most of the time it's the headers fault. So don't quit the run to early.