Answers to the "Speechless-ness"

So I just got done reading everyone's comments from my post yesterday "Even I Was Speechless", and thought I should say a couple more things. That post was SO long I didn't want these points to get lost in all of those words!

OH trust me she will NEVER get close to my child again! Me I usually have no problem telling someone off! The Hubby..well he likes to just be civil and avoid the situation in the future. As for me with this situation I cannot express enough just how shocked I was and really I didn't even know what to say. We did exchange some heated words and I do NOT have any of her things! Praise the Lord! We made sure to put it at her car while she was at the rodeo so she has no more ties to us.

I honestly just do not have an answer as to why I was kind enough to not tell her off...It really has me baffled and annoyed because I have never found myself in this situation, I have always spoke my mind but I really got a BAD vibe in the sense that it could just make things worse if I did.

Also I too was proud of my girl for standing her ground but I did not want TW to have anymore reasons to tell me why my child needs discipline.

And honestly in regard to her daughter JP I had no ill feelings towards her, DD didn't mind working with her. I felt so very sorry for her when I listened to the million other things her mother said she'd done to JP when she was *bad*. It wasn't until she made the comment about if we took this horse her mom wanted us to take and she "caught DD pulling on the horses mouth she'd yank her off that horse" that I realized she had this look in her eye that was not right and I pretty much felt like *oh great she's just like her momma, poor girl*!! It has been severely haunting me that maybe I should be alerting someone of this woman's abuse on her children.

UGHH friends I just am sick over the whole thing! But it is done, again I say she will NEVER get close to my child again. Unfortunately we will see them and probably often because they run in some of the same circuits but I fully intend on putting her in her place if she comes near us!

And DD has improved so much this rodeo season! But for all that she's improved she's kind of getting overwhelmed with all of the basic things and when she has a mess up in a run it is due to forgetting a key point in her run. So my original plan was to have Little Miss Sweetness (Bloggy friend P's daughter) work with her and I am sticking with that plan! We are hoping to get together one night this week and then hopefully at least once a week after. They live about an hour from us so with the still somewhat shorter daylight hours it'll be a challenge but we'll figure it out. DD is very excited about this as she loves both P and Little Miss Sweetness!

Thank you friends for the words of encouragement and validating that my girls reaction was spot on. Oh the wisdom of a child...Sometimes we as adults have to remember that a child can see things we may not catch right off the bat!

Even I Was Speechless!

This just might be my LONGEST post EVER!! It was a BAD deal LOL!!

So I'm back...again...Rodeo season...Busy time! We just finished off finals tonight at the Winter circuit DD runs in and boy I am EXHAUSTED!! But even in my exhaustion I just have to share this with you all. As most of you know it is not typical to find me speechless or quiet about something that is bothering me and boy let me tell ya...I am speechless! Let me start from the beginning, last Wednesday.

Wednesday afternoon the Hubby calls and says our friend Cowboy S is taking his kiddo's over to a local indoor arena to practice for finals and thought we should come too. So Sis and I get the trailer hooked up and the horse loaded ready to bolt when Daddy gets home, we were running about an hour behind our friend but we had the arena for the evening so no big deal! We get to the arena and there is a lady there who is *coaching* Cowboy S's daughter on poles. I thought this to be a bit strange because lil T doesn't need any coaching, she's pretty well trained in all of her events but I just figured that Cowboy S decided to bring in another voice...So this lady (we'll call her TW) has a teenage daughter with her and I soon realize that I have seen this girl at the rodeo over the Winter. She stands out to me because she absolutely does not look like a horse person *I know I'm labeling* but she just looks like this super quiet and timid girl but having seen her rodeo I know she is not timid at all. So withing a few minutes TW starts talking to the Hubby and I while DD is doing her warm ups with Krissy. I'm not even sure how all this came about but within 5 minutes of talking to TW she starts saying she doesn't like DD's saddle. She needs to ride in this other saddle that she has in her trailer and she then basically tells DD to follow her out to her trailer so she can switch saddles?! So off we go and I was thinking to myself *well maybe she is wanting to sell this saddle and I am needing to get DD a new saddle because if she grows another inch her legs will be to long as she's already on the last hole! So TW pulls out this saddle and it's a pretty nice Billy Cook barrel saddle that has a deeper seat then DD's does. Then TW says "hey just take the saddle and have DD run the finals with it, I think she'll do better in this saddle", so we go back in and DD goes to trot the pole pattern and TW starts telling her exactly what she is going to do when she goes...Like she's never run the pattern in her life...?

So I just kind of let her talk to DD and thought well maybe she can help her in some areas that we've been having some troubles with. TW comes back over to me and proceeds to tell me that her daughter (we'll call her JP) has run a 19 second poles at the rodeo we've been running in and I'm thinking in my mind I don't ever remember her running this 19 seconds but whatever. She then goes on to tell DD that she IS NOT to be loping her horse when she is warming up, she's to ONLY do that at home when she is practicing so the Hubby pipes in and says "this is HOME practice for her" but again whatever...Then we get into talking about all the WRONG things DD is doing...And according to TW pretty much everything she does in wrong...She is NOT to kick her horse when she's running home, she's NOT to use her reins when weaving the poles; legs only hands still...My thought is she needs to be lifting inside hand slightly to her pocket...But no that's wrong! OH and we'll be taking her spurs away soon!! Oh and our saddle pad, all wrong! We need to go to this certain store and buy this certain saddle pad that they sell...HMMM...Well that is exactly the pad she had on her horse FROM that store LOL! So when we say that she says "OH well get a thicker one then"! "And um why are we running her in the bit we are"?! And on and on!

We then decided to put the barrels out and immediately TW starts bossing DD around about what she's to be doing during the barrels and how to do this and that! OMG lady! DD has a very short tolerance for people who are overbearing, dominating, bossy, loud...But JP (the daughter) went out to the barrels with her and DD didn't mind that so much so they worked for a few minutes and then they start talking about how they want to help DD and "train" her. Mind you she doesn't really give you the option to say no she just pretty much tells you what you are doing?! I was so baffled! But even I was speechless! SO the Hubby said well we'd be back to the arena Thursday night and they said "oh they would love to come back and work with her". We left shortly after that and asked DD what she thought of the lady and she basically said she did kind of like the daughter JP but wasn't so sure about the mom.

I then had the Hubby call our friend Cowboy S and find out if he'd asked her to come and he says "NO she just showed up there and started bossing lil T around" LOL!! He didn't know her from Adam! OH crap is what we were thinking! But we went back on Thursday and they were there waiting on us. JP takes DD and shows her a "proper warm up" as her mom views...No 10 minutes walking, 10 minutes trotting, and *if* in an arena with soft footing then a few minutes of loping. NOPE she has to walk her around for a couple of minutes and get right into work. (Of course before all of this we agree on stretching the horse and flexing).

Basically TW then starts barking orders at DD and she isn't liking this lady's mannerism's at ALL! I could tell that she was getting very annoyed but again thought maybe just maybe she'd have something of value to offer. But basically she just wants to stand there and tell us that she "knows everything about training people to run barrels and poles but she will NOT get on a horse"...Say what?! You know everything but you won't ride?! She stated to me something about an accident she'd had decades ago and she is forever never riding a speed horse again, she will only get on a grandpa styled horse. But back to her MASSIVE amounts of knowledge, all gained from the multiple barrel clinics she has taken her daughter to, probably "$10,000 worth of clinics"... Oh and by the way sometime in here she has mentioned that there are a lot of people who "dislike her" because she will tell them what they are doing wrong on their horses...Even the fastest runners there...UM OK...She also told me if I was friends with this one certain lady then SHE could not be my friend! If only I'd known how bad this was going to get I would have pretended to know the lady she was speaking of LOL!!! So they move onto working poles and she starts again talking like DD has never run them in her life, I can't tell you how many times we told her that DD's been rodeo'n for years! And yes still *learning* to ride this horse that we bought last April.

I could tell within a few minutes in that DD was getting frustrated but daddy and I just kept telling her to push on. Finally TW tells her to walk around the arena with her hands on her saddle and she's NOT allowed to touch the reins, she must use only her legs. Which I thought was a good lesson, DD definitely needs lighter hands so this exercise I thought could help. DD was doing fairly well with this until Krissy walked up to the gate and wouldn't respond to leg to move out so DD reached down and grabbed her reins and pulled Krissy to the side with a little more than light hands. It was more like an instinctive act to back her quickly out of the bind but she did pull a bit to hard and TW looks at me and says "do you hit her", I say "HUH"?! She says "smack her for her attitude, cause if that was my daughter I'd of yanked her off that horse by her hair and thrown her on the ground and ask her if she liked that"! Then she proceeds to tell me that she's done just that to JP when she was 4 years old the first time! I just looked at her and said "I'm not afraid to discipline my daughter when she does something wrong, she knows"! So then she turns to my Hubby and says "I expect you to pull her hair tonight and if you don't the next time I see you I'm going to kick you in the balls"!!! DD comes up then and TW says to her "Do you ride bareback"? DD says "no not with Krissy, I did with my old horse though" TW says "well your going to, that's going to be one of the things you will be doing" DD says "I do NOT and I will NOT ride her bareback"!!! Mind you this statement was made simply because DD was feeling railroaded by TW, we have talked about riding bareback and we quite frankly haven't had the time!! And yes I did tell her she must not speak like that to an adult or *else*! Finally I just told DD lets load up, and of course TW wanted us to borrow this saddle for the weekend and we MUST have the matching bridle because she CANNOT stand mismatched things. "So can one of us stop by Friday to get it"?! Hubby says sure he can do it.

After we loaded up in the truck DD starts SOBBING and I'm like "Child what is your deal"!! She then goes on to tell us that TW had told her when she was over talking to her at one point that she had to give up EVERYTHING else that she loves like dance, cheerleading, soccer, because there is NO room for anything else! Which is exactly what she told me she made her daughter do, she had to give up track because she has to ride 5 horses a day!

Then Friday afternoon Hubby calls me after he leaves their house and says "oh boy, I walked into a war path"! When he got there JP was zooming off on her horse and calls her mom and "F...ing B"! Then TW and her husband are screaming at one another! My honey was FREAKED out! He said "I think they might all be crazy"!! Well lo and behold the bridle doesn't even fit Krissy *giggles* so DD was going unmatching LOL!! And TW informed the Hubby they'd be out Sunday to watch DD...

Saturday morning DD rode in their saddle for poles and decided she just did not feel comfortable in it and wanted hers back on so her and her cousin go switch saddles and all is right with the world! While we were at the rodeo on Saturday I asked a couple of friends if they knew who this lady was and they were like "she is CRAZY! Get rid of her as fast as possible"!! I find out from this one friend she is banned from one arena for some trouble she caused then another friend tells me of another arena she is banned from! HOLY COW!!! I did get some giggles cause my sweet friend who is here in bloggyland with us AND our kiddo's rodeo together tells her daughter "who is wanting to work with DD" and her daughter looks at me ever so slowly and says "NO! She will ruin your child, she does NOT know what she's doing"!! She said "tell DD to stick close to me if they show up cause they hate me"! So I'm beyond freaking out now because I know they are coming on Sunday and I really DO NOT want to see this lady! I literally could not fall asleep Saturday night cause I was worried about what I'd say to her!

Sunday afternoon she comes walking up and the Hubby see's her so he high tails it outta there! JERK! LOL!! But within 30 seconds of him being gone P's sweet daughter comes buzzing up and plops down next to me with this sweet grin on her face HAHA LOL!! (the Hubby ran to her and told her t rescue me)! It was so hard not to burst out laughing! So TW starts asking how DD did Saturday and I told her no time in poles (broken pattern, DD blames the saddle of course) and got her personal best time in barrels of 15.6! I told her that DD's pole run was better today but DD is not using her saddle and she's like "WHAT?! WHY?! She needs to be in that saddle"!! I just said well she's a creature of habit and she didn't feel comfortable in it. So then somehow we get on the topic of DD's horse not being a "trained barrel horse" that she has been used all around and P's sweet daughter was explaining that Krissy is broke as broke but is still green on the patterns so that makes it a bit more difficult for DD and then TW just goes off! She starts spouting about a "good rider doesn't need a patterned horse! They need to learn how to ride and that horse will do whatever you tell it to"!! Little miss sweetness just smiles at her and says "well I disagree with you because I want my horse to know he has a job and I know my job" So then JP (TW's daughter) pipes in and says "what's your fastest pole time"?! Little miss sweetness says "20 seconds yesterday"!! JP says "EGHH mine is a 19"! Okay just to clarify she did NOT have a clean 19 second run, I have found 1 time that she could have had a 19 but knocked down a pole because her recorded time was 24 seconds! So I call BS on that LOL!! So then the topic of polo wraps vs boots come up and Little miss sweetness says "she would prefer to use wraps because her horse tears boots up to fast and they are to expensive to go through them so fast", of course TW says "OMG NO WAY!!! If you use wraps your just asking for your horse to get an injury"! She would not take into account that Little miss sweetness knows how to put them on properly! The Hubby finally sits down and TW gets up and moves over by him and proceeds to tell him all about how WRONG Little sweet miss was about these wraps etc! And the Hubby said "I don't know why your telling me, I don't care either way"! So finally Little miss sweetness just had enough and had to walk away!

TW then looks at me and says "just so you know SHE is absolutely WRONG"! I was peeved! So I said right back at her "actually I don't have a problem with wraps and I don't think they are dangerous if put on right, Fallon uses them on her horses and I highly regard her opinion so I'll stick with them on this"!! So she says "well she wouldn't if she had REAL horses like $100,000 horses!" I spouted back "UM for your information she DOES have $100,000 horses"! Then I got up to go help DD get ready for her barrels and I really needed a breather! Then after the run she starts telling us that when the Hubby came by on Friday they were fighting because JP did something and they were in the trailer washing something so she had a wet towel and cornered JP because she was stuck and couldn't get out then proceeded to whip her with this rag and (in a really proud voice she says) "She had HUGE welts everywhere!! That's what MY kid gets if she's snotty"!! OH MY GOODNESS!!! Again I am at a loss for words! This poor child! DD came walking up right after that and TW says something to her about her run and literally DD acted like she wasn't even there! WHOA!! Daddy quickly informed her to pay attention when someone is talking to her LOL!!

Now she (TW) has a whole plan for what DD is going to be doing from now on...She is NOT going to rodeo on Krissy anymore, we are to come to her house and get this other horse that DD will rodeo on, she's 21! Then her daughter says "MOM you don't even OWN that horse"! TW says "Oh it's fine I already texted his owner and they're fine with that"! Hubby seen what she was typing and she told this guy "OH I have a buyer for your horse"....Then her daughter JP looks at me and says "if she's riding this horse and I EVER see her being heavy on his mouth I will yank her off that horse"!! Really?! Well the apple doesn't fall far from the tree I guess! Of course the Hubby was just trying to pacify her until she would leave by pretending that he'd come get this horse!

Finally she did and the Hubby looked and me and says she basically ran her mouth about everything you were saying everytime you'd get up! What the crap?! And you didn't put her in her place LOL!! He said she turns to him after I walked off once and says "UGHH who's this stupid Fallon Taylor that SHE is so adamant about listening to"? Hubby says "umm she's a well known pro barrel racer who lives in TX"!! TW says "UGHH OH I know who your talking about....She's nothing but a glorified horse trader"!! Seriously lady! You MUST get a LIFE!!!

And let me tell you PRAISE THE LORD I had a very strong feeling about this and I never gave her mine or the Hubby's phone numbers when we met her last week, I only got hers LOL! Now I know we will run into her soon at a barrel race but she'll be so pissed by then that she won't speak to me LOL!!

Barrel Jackpot Kind of Weekend~!!

I am SO exhausted after these last 4 days!! The Hubby went to El Paso to visit his grandma for her 89th Birthday so the kids and I have been ridin solo since last Thursday!

We were so blessed with FABULOUS weather Thursday, Friday, and Saturday! Saturday DD, my momma and I went to a barrel jackpot and I mean to tell you the temperature was around 70*!! Holy COW it was so awesome! DD was so happy to be outside in a short sleeve shirt and not having to be all bundled up! My girl had kind of a mixed day, she faltered in her exhibitions a little so she got nerved and come time for her open run she just did of lolly gagged or something...It wasn't the best run of her life but she did win 1st place in the 2D~!! She was very excited about that, as was I!

Saturdays runs

So Sunday afternoon we headed out to another barrel jackpot but mother nature was NOT our friend today!! BURR it was cold out there!! I think we hovered around 32-34* most of the time we were out there and of course this arena wasn't fully enclosed...Not to fun! So in a nutshell today was just not DD's day. She did her 3 exhibitions and knocked over barrel one the last time in so wouldn't you know when she came in for her open run she was all tensed up coming into barrel one, teeth gritting, stiff back and literally just plowed the barrel over! Not good...Needless to say she's got quite a nice knot in her leg from hitting it so hard. I guess we all have bad days and this one was hers! The lady that owns this arena let DD come back in after the open so she could *rework* barrel one and leave on a good note, so that made me happy enough!

Sundays runs

Start of brushing to close to barrel one

And just plow her down here!

Another busy rodeo weekend next weekend! We've got some terrible weather coming this week so I'm hoping it doesn't interfere with our plans!

Hope everyone has a super BLESSED week!!

Rodeo Season Kickoff

Friday night marked the start of one of our local rodeo circuits that DD runs in. We were all excited and of course quite nervous as this was her first "real" rodeo on Krissy, she did a fun show about a month ago and they did excellent!





We arrived Friday evening and got her all signed in. Got Krissy tacked up and ready to go. They warmed up in the arena and I was relieved to see Krissy was quite comfortable with all of the other horses and riders around her. When we did the fun show Krissy was a bit on edge, she never "acted" up I could just tell she wasn't liking the place and wanted to throw a fit. I have figured out she is a very sensitive horse and does not like people hollering and carrying on around her. She doesn't do anything she just tenses up.

My nephew and my niece are also doing these rodeo's, my nephew has done them as long as DD has but this is my niece's first year riding by herself. So that was very exciting for her and us!





I actually missed some of DD's goat tie as I was watching my niece in the big arena doing barrels and it was quite the cute show! DD had a bit of trouble dismounting and didn't get her string tight enough so the goat broke loose, she had a big look of disappointment on her face after that...

Barrel one went pretty good for my niece!! *you can enlarge these pictures by clicking on them, they are hilarious*!!



NO she is NOT falling off of her horse!!! She literally has her feet jammed in her stirrups and is pulling as hard as she can to get her ol horse back on track as he veered for home after barrel two! She did get him back on track and finished her run! She was SO proud of herself, as were we!!






DD came out for her barrel run and I knew from the start she wasn't right. She totally blew the whole run! I cannot even say what she did wrong as it was pretty much all wrong LOL! Basically same story on poles and flags...DD was a bit frustrated with herself and told me "mom it was not Krissy, it was all me! I kept telling myself no don't jerk the reins, this isn't Pete and Krissy knows what she's doing...But I just couldn't stop"! POOR girl! I felt so bad and frustrated for her!! She wanted so badly to start the season off well and didn't meet her expectations! She is ready to practice some more and do better next time..

So I'm posting first her barrel video from Friday night and then her barrel run from the fun show from April so you can see the difference in her...



Fun show run from back in April she was wide on barrel 3 but the rest was pretty clean..

So Sorry To Have Gone Missing!

So I realized it's been a week since I last posted! I first off must apologize for not stopping in and saying hi to everyone!! I have been reading just haven't had enough time to post comments for everyone...Hopefully I will get back into the groove soon!

So for now I will quickly tell you what's been going on here! First things first, Maggie (the pig) that I posted about here is not getting any better!! I cannot even begin to tell you how frustrating this is for me! I hate for an animal to feel sick and she has had the runny gumption's for a while now. I have literally tried a dozen things, from some home remedies including giving her Kaopectate, oatmeal, I have dewormed her 4 times, given her a couple of different shots that the Vet recommended, some medicine that went in her water...And the list goes on! She is literally half the size she was when we got her, right now I am waiting on a different medicine that the Vet had to order in. Hopefully this will be the cure! She doesn't act ill other than the diarrhea, she runs and plays, eats and drinks. I'm so puzzled with this!

Our Memorial weekend was a bit different than most people's! DD's dance recital was held on Sunday so Saturday was taken up with rehearsal which is an absolute blast if you ask me!! Rehearsal is the day we are allowed to take pics or video which I am extremely thankful for. Sunday's recital was an exciting time for DD, she has worked so hard for this and we were very blessed to have my Mom, my SIL and two nieces, and my FIL & MIL there to watch her. She is a very lucky girl with so many great family members who love her to pieces! Every year there is a special award given out to the girl who (actually two girls) is always excited to be in class, took time out of their busy lives to practice, always had a smile on their face and never complained....SO guess what....My DD won!! I was SO very proud of her, I literally had to fight the *ghastly* sobbing and just let a few tears trickle! The award that is given is free tuition to their Summer Dance Camp that is held at their main studio in Oklahoma. When I asked her how she felt when she got the award she told me "well as Miss Mindy was talking about the *girl* that would win this award and the things they have done to earn it, I thought inside that OH I hope I win cause I do all of those things" LOL!! My sweet girl! So just a bit of Momma pride here!

Tap dancing!



Ballet, she loves ballet!






Jazz dance!



And the "Finale Dance" that everyone does together!



For some reason I didn't get any gymnastics pictures... :(

Flowers DD got from her Grandma, Aunt and Cousins after her recital!



Flower's Daddy bought!




J has been out of school for 1 week and I have seen him maybe a total of three times! Gosh I miss that kid! Last Thursday he went to the city with 2 of his best buds to see Jason Aldean and Brooks and Dunn in concert. I treated the boys to the concert as a gift since I had taken DD and her bestie to see Taylor Swift, they were so thrilled and sent me many messages while they were there about how awesome it was! Then J left Friday and went south for Memorial weekend to a mountain house and spent the weekend fishing in the river and getting really sunburned! He got home late Monday then was off Tuesday morning for Football camp which he was so excited for! We have a new coach and are so thankful for this mans enthusiasm for our program, the old coach kind of had a raw deal. He was a young guy thrown into "head coach" position before he was really ready for that so there have been some changes made. We're really excited to see what the football season will bring as J already knows he will be starting Varsity!! Then bright and early Wednesday morning he left on yet another FFA trip to K-State in Manhattan and won't be home till Friday! Gosh I feel so lost without him to make me smile and laugh!!

Rodeo season officially starts up for us again this weekend so tonight we spent some time exercising DD's horse and getting her geared up for the weekend!




DD and her cousin who will start riding all on her own this year!

Sandbagging?! That's What the Hubby Calls It!

Sandbagging....Have you heard that term used in "racing" type events?! I suppose I have probably heard it before.. Sunday we decided to take DD and Krissy to a town about an hour away and let her run their Saddle Club Fun Show! I mainly wanted to do it because we haven't yet had DD run Krissy full throttle on the barrel pattern, she has trotted her a couple of times on the pattern but I'm choosing to use the "road less traveled" with Krissy. She has spent time just riding her outside of the arena and just exercising her in the arena. She has not yet run her on the poles at all, so I really REALLY wanted this accomplished!

We got her all signed in but I didn't really pay attention to the events she was running I just assumed they would have poles! Well as the old saying goes "don't assume as you make an A** out of U and ME"!! Ya that's right NO poles?! What the crap?! I mean they did use poles in 2 of their events but not a "real" pole run! ARGH! They ran barrels first and I was pleasantly surprised to see Krissy ready to put some speed into her run! Everytime DD has ridden her she almost acts like she's to sleepy to be ridden LOL! But alas she HAS speed! They didn't make the prettiest barrel run but I'll take it for a first go around! She got 1st place! Her time ended up being a 22.?? which was the 2nd fastest out of everyone there!

The other events she did I was not familiar with! She had to watch the kids ahead of her to get the patterns down! On the second event she ran a 13.??. The other 2 events she did were again ones I was not familiar with but she won both of those for her age group to!

DD has never run this event before but she did well I thought!



So now the kicker....There were only 2 kids in her age group *giggles*!! BUT the other boy is a boy she competes against in one of her other circuits and he is really good! She was right in the top with all of the grown up times on all 4 events! So this is where the term "sandbagging" comes in... The Hubby calls it that because he said she is a stranger who came in cleaned house and went home with the trophy and all the blue ribbons LOL!



Somewhere through the run she forgot to steer on barrel 3!!

And Finals are Done!

After we took DD to ride the bay mare on Friday night the Hubby had a discussion with the guy who had her about letting her "test drive" the horse for the weekend and he said that would work just fine.

So Saturday morning came and DD was ready to ride! Oh and we finally figured out her name it is "Tigger" (the "horse broker" did not know it).. So she took her out to the practice arena for a little while to get her warmed up for her first event of the morning which was poles, which didn't go so well. They broke pattern but after the break Tigger picked the pattern back up and continued on fine. Barrels they knocked over a barrel! Goats she got her foot stuck in her stirrup LOL!! And for breakaway she again rode another family's retired breakaway horse and no catch :( She actually had a good run but she was about a second late throwing the rope! But by the end of the day she was cruising around on Tigger just lovin every minute of it! She really liked this mare.

Sunday morning was quite a bit colder than Saturday so all of the horses were a bit fresh but DD warmed Tigger up and they came in for poles and ran a clean pattern! Shaved 2 seconds off of her previous times on Pete! I wanted to share the video but a man sitting by me stood up in front of my camera as I was recording! Then as soon as he moved his wife stood up in front if me....UGHH I was ticked!! But oh well... So barrels they ran a 16.086 (I think it was, I couldn't hear that well LOL) but they also knocked over a barrel AGAIN so add 5! She finished her day out on Tigger and didn't have any problems with her and really by the end of the weekend Tigger was responding really great to her.

When the Hubby originally talked to this horse trader about Tigger he told the Hubby that the horse was 15. When we seen the horse we both questioned that as she looks way older than 15 but the guy said he had an equine dentist look at her teeth and that's also what he said. Well on Saturday the Hubby found out the horse actually belongs to a family in a town near us and so he talked to the wife and she said in conversation that in "Tiggers 24 years..." and so the Hubby comes over and is like "she's 24"!! AHHH just as we suspected LOL!! Which it actually ended up being a mistake of the "husband owner" of the horse and the horse trader was told her age through another friend who set up the take and sell agreement. SO anyhow even though she is older and has literally spent the last 6 months on a wheat pasture she seems to be getting right back on track! But for now the other family took her back home and the Hubby talked to them about maybe trying her out again as we obviously DO NOT want to rush!!

SO all in all it was a great weekend and all was calm again!

Video of Sunday's Barrel run, she lost her stirrups so there was no kicking towards the end...

Test Driving a New Horse

So rodeo finals are this weekend for DD and after last weekends ordeal we have been searching for a new rodeo horse for her. Another family that rodeo's in the circuit has a 15 yr old mare for sale so D is test driving her for the weekend. We went out there tonight and she rode her for a little over an hour, she did ok but this mare is a bit stubborn....So we shall see how this works out..

So I thought I would share a few pictures from tonight!



First practice run on the barrels...So I'm thinking with all the new she forgot where her hands should be LOL?!

Should have Skipped the Rodeo this Weekend...

The Winter Rodeo Circuit that DD runs in is winding down to a close. Last weekend we were scheduled for a rodeo but it was postponed to this weekend with Finals coming next weekend. I had a feeling for a couple of days to just skip the rodeo this weekend because she doesn't need it for points or anything as she has everything needed to qualify for finals next weekend but we like to let her run when they have them because it never hurts to get the extra practice, right?! Well I could have begged to differ with that this weekend, it ended up being a time that I wish I could just undo and spend the time doing something else....

As some of you know DD runs on an 18 year old gelding Pete for her rodeo's. This horse is actually her dad's but she started out on him and we bought her her "own" horse but she had already got this one working the patterns fairly well and they were working good together so we just left it alone. Over the course of the Winter season we added breakaway roping to her rodeo events, it has been a learning process and I really think if she was running on a "roping horse" she would love it! But as it is we have had her on Pete running everything. After the first couple of times running him he started to act up when it was time to go in the box. We have had issues in the past where he would randomly rear up on her but it was always short lived and they would move on. But it has slowly gotten worse, which is very strange because he has never gotten his way by rearing up, she always completes what she is doing... So this weekend proved that he was definitely having issues, yesterday it started with him not even letting her ride him to the arena with out rearing. He would get within a couple hundred feet and start acting up! My Hubby is always with her but he asked me to come out and observe what was going on, so I did. Basically he is just pitching a fit, and I do believe that DD is being kind of scared of what he's doing so that is making it worse. Her and I talked about some things she needed to do and that seemed to help. So yesterday was left with a few error's on his part but overall ok....

Today we started the day out with poles and he broke pattern, but barrels and goats he did ok on. He was still having an issue getting close to the arena but not near as bad as yesterday. So come time for breakaway and the Hubby leads her into the box in case he rears, they did ok getting in there. One of the judges came over and guided him in with his horse and Pete was in. Well they get semi set up (she won't get set up 100% right because she doesn't want to get him worked up) so she gives the nod for the calf and kicks to go, well the calf was a little late coming out of the chute so she ends up ahead of it. She tries to get Pete around and back to the calf and then it happened....

Watch the video....And please don't judge because I left the camera running a bit longer than I should have...



So now let me explain what happened...When they got to the gate he of course was ready to go out, she was obviously trying to get him turned around when he hopped up the first time. My "lack" of fast response kind of comes from his habit of doing this I think. I have my camera on a mono pod with the strap around my neck so I'm not real mobile with this 5 foot tall contraption. I am also watching all of this through my 2 1/2 x 2" LCD screen on my DSLR so when I am recording it actually takes me a second or two to catch what is going on, I actually usually have to watch it after she runs as I spend the whole run making sure I get it on camera so I don't ever feel like I have "watched" her run. So with that said when he went up the second time and walked forward I thought to myself "oh crap his foot is going to go through the gate" then he landed on top of the gate. So it took me a second to figure out what the heck to do, I was about 5 levels up in the bleachers and I was trying to get the dang thing off my neck and get down there all the while watching her because I was scared for her. I start to head down the bleachers and another rodeo mom starts freaking out and starts to run over there then turns around and apologizes to me for what she said (bad word) I said "oh no it's ok"! So Pete is caught up on the gate and D is holding on but he started to go over backwards (where I shut off the camera and ran) as he starts to go over he is like falling sideways over to the corner of the arena and DD falls and I thought OH MY GOD she going to get crushed! She was falling into the same corner he was falling into, I must have looked down for a split second while running down and when I looked back she was pulling herself back up! Her foot had stayed in the stir up and so she managed to use all of her strength and pull herself back onto Pete but on his butt behind her saddle. So then somehow they got his foot untangled and she hopped over the back of the saddle then they opened the gate and pulled her off! Then I couldn't see her anywhere so I was freaking out with tears in my eyes and I see her behind a banner but she is just standing there so I holler out to her and she comes over crying but ok. She hurt her chest by hitting it on the saddle horn during the fall and her knee is pretty bruised up but other than that she was ok. The women around me all had tears in their eyes and one of them grabbed her and hugged her and said "D you are one tough little cowgirl, and God was definitely watching over you"... It made me cry, I pray before every run she makes and usually my momma is there with me and she always says a prayer too but she wasn't there because she is out of town. So I texted her and told her what had happened and her response was that on their way to the cruise ship this afternoon she had told her friend please let's pray for DD because Pete has been acting up...I know that God saved her life and I am SO very thankful for that.

I would also just like to pause and point out something here....Did anyone notice that she still had ahold of her rope?! She held onto that thing until she fell I think, silly girl!

So you probably are thinking what will I be doing with him now? As it stands right now a girl who runs in the high school class will be bringing her old breakaway horse which DD had been running on but they didn't have room to haul it this weekend but they are bringing him next weekend and she will use him for breakaway and goat tying. She really can ride Pete for barrels and poles but another friend has offered his daughter's barrel/pole horse for her if we decide we want to, we talked to her about this and she said she would be fine with that. So we will see, we will continue our search for a different horse for her which we have already been doing just haven't found one that is "good" and not overly expensive...

When something like this happens and you don't respond in the "proper" way it's kind of hard because other people judge you when you already feel horrible enough as it is. Why is that?! But the point is, is that she is fine and I am humbled...

Sidenote~ Please pray for a little girl "Cowpirl PR" who runs the circuit with DD. She was kicked in the belly by her horse today and was flown by helicopter to the hospital where she is recovering from a laceration to her spleen...She is a beautiful little angel and her family has suffered a lot of tragedy's in the last year and a half but still feel blessed to still all be here. Now that's perseverance!

Bringing Out the Old for Giggles!!

So with all of this Winter weather we are experiencing one of my favorite past times is to go through DD's old rodeo video's! Totally gets me hyped for Summer and doesn't make it seem so far away!! So on my trip down memory lane I found this video that I absolutely love for the mere fact that I cannot believe that her horse acted this way LOL....Or maybe I can....He has proven to be a toot on some occasions!!

DD's 3 minute Flag Run!!!!

I'm Back and in Action!!!

Really I don't know what I'm in action to LOL!! But I am back after an unexpected hiatus on everyone!! I first off want to say I hope you all had very Merry Christmas and A Happy and Safe New Years!!

Christmas Morning!!



Me with my Beauty!!



My Handsome guy and I!!



Two Lights of my Life!!



My Hubby...Oh how I Love him!!



My Fabulous Family!!!



I have just been SO busy!! From spending most of December getting the Christmas and Birthday shopping done. Then the Hubby's Sister and family came to town to visit for a few days which was so great to see them!! For New Years Eve we went with some friends to a hotel in the city where they had all kinds of games for the kids and tables for the grownups to have food, play cards, visit, whatever we wanted and then the best part for those who were drinking their trips were very safe back to their rooms to crash!! Ingenious idea I tell you!!

This past Weekend we spent at DD's Junior Rodeo and boy was it COLD!! AND I DO MEAN FREEZING COLD!! Poor DD was in tears after her pole run because her hands were SO frozen!! And the sad part is that she was only out warming her horse up for a couple of minutes before their turn so maybe a couple of minutes tops!! But she did good the rest of the weekend! I can honestly say we have never rodeo'd in the snow before so it was different!

DD had great runs all weekend, little blunder on poles Sunday but that happens. Her barrels for Sunday went great! She beat her personal best with a time of 16.666! I've been doing some thinking and I might start looking for a better rodeo horse for her...Pete is good but he wasn't ever used straight rodeo so while he has fun doing it he doesn't always show that power that he needs to compete on these higher levels! So we shall see...

Great Rodeo Pictures!

As you all know I am addicted to taking pictures! Does that mean I need to seek help?!?!....NAH! Well when DD rodeo's I would LOVE to be able to do video and take pictures but since there is only one of me I choose video (as you all know)!! SO luckily there is a really great photographer that comes and shoots the kids' runs and he got an awesome picture of DD's wild ride from Sunday! SO I ordered a bunch of them and some lower resolution ones that I can post!


This picture is really awesome in full resolution! What a ride that was LOL!



Loved this picture as it shows her very first ever pole down in the background! We actually were starting to think her horse would not take one down! But she got him to verses breaking her pattern!


Love the flying hair LOL!



She really loves flanking the goats! These ones are always a bit heavy for her though!



Getting that string out in a hurry!



Make it good and tight!



And we're good!!