2011 Pretty Prairie Rodeo

It was a long and wonderful week.

We got to see some good friends, have some fun on the horses, and see some great entertainment. The main rodeo clown again this year was Kieth Isley, who is phenomenal, and my youngest son was completely enthralled. Kieth has a palomino horse that he rides and performs tricks with. They are partners in every sense of the word.

Sometimes he rides with no halter or bridle; it's nothing but him and the horse. A few nights he rode with a halter and lead rope. I never saw him bridle the horse or saw the horse resist in any way. He was fat, sassy, impeccably groomed, and completely happy. It was awesome to see that level of partnership in a performing horse.

I say that because I saw many horse/rider relationships this weekend that were absolutely NOT a partnership. I hate to say this because I love the barrel racing but the most common offenders that I saw was the ladies. I saw more than one horse have a whip laid on it for turning too sharp, turning too wide, or not listening at the turn itself. There was one girl whom I would have love to pull off her horse and use the spurs, that she so maliciously dug into her horse's sides, on her.

Now, don't get me wrong. I am not saying that discipline doesn't have it's place. I'm a big fan of respect in all forms, discipline, positive reinforcement, and just plain good training. However. These girls weren't correcting their horses. They were getting pissed off and reacting. No type of correction or training should leave welts or open cuts on your horse.

There were some barrel racers that went into the arena like Satan was on their tails, turned the cans, and blew back past the line...and their horse shut down, prancing a little, blowing hard, but with an arched neck and shining eyes, getting a pat on the shoulder and soft hands on the reins. These were well trained horses, horses with whom the riders had spent time and shown dedication to, horses that loved their job and their rider. That is a partnership.

Interestingly enough, the most consideration that I saw came from the ropers and bulldoggers. Possibly because when they messed up it was either their own fault or they got a screwy steer. I'm not sure of the reason but I saw more affectionate pats and scratches, gentle handling, and eager, happy horses with the men than I did with the ladies. Which kind of threw me for a loop.

Aren't we women supposed to be the kinder, gentler sex? The ones with soft voices, soft hands, and patience. The ones who are tough as nails with a heart of gold. Maybe it's because, as females, we all have a little bit of a mean streak that manifests itself in different ways. While for one girl it was sawing on the reins until her horse's jaw gaped and its eyes showed white and it plunged in a desperate effort to evade the spurs digging into it's belly - for me, the mean streak comes out when I see that and fervently hope that his rider gets a nasty venereal disease and her hair falls out.

*Sigh.*

Anyways, now that I am done on my high horse, how about some pics of rodeo week?

Funny how things work....

So many things have changed for us in the last year. We have gotten goats, sheep, and our little flock of chickens hatched out a small brood of five baby chicks this spring. We now have two baby Red Bourbon turkeys added to the flock, a small Jersey steer named T-bone, and a baby goat that was born here named Ruby.

If any of you have bottle fed six lambs and one goat at the same time you are milking two goats, taking care of the chickens, five dogs, seventeen horses, a cow, and a donkey in the dead of winter with the help of two kids who are in sports and school then you probably know why this blog slipped my mind the way it did. Not to mention the little things like laundry and household stuff that never ceases!

Perhaps the biggest change, and also the biggest surprise, is the fact that we are expecting a baby in October. After years of trying, being told we couldn't have any more children, and finally giving up, we learned in the spring that we will be welcoming a new addition in the fall. We were floored and still kind of are, lol. Our last sonogram revealed that we will be giving our sons a younger brother.

Because my pregnancy has been labeled as high risk, I had to cut down on my work load immediately. Of course this meant no more riding broncs, aka training colts, for the year. I have cut down on lessons as well and am not doing guided trail rides at all. At the end of this month the docs and my lovely husband are kicking me off of horses altogether. Since I found out that I was pregnant I have been restricted from riding any horse but my own mare, Luna.

It was a difficult decision but we decided to halt our rescue program for this time. You all know that we do this privately, with no outside funding, and we manage all of the training and work ourselves. With the pregnancy being risky and me being unable to train, which is the majority of my income, we felt that it would be in the best interest of our family and our current stock if we did not accept any more rescues at this time.

We still have a few that were already here when we found out and we have taken on another project in the form of a mini mule with a broken shoulder. He technically belongs to one of our boarders, however, he has become something of a mascot and it's a pleasure to see him healing a little every day.

We have cut down to just the basic herd for awhile. I laugh when I say that because the herd list is as follows: Raven, Kiowa, Rupert, Stormy, Eeyore, Captain, Badger, Splash, Cash, Luna, Tia, Wildfire, Caffodyl, and Justice.

Now three of those board here so that leaves us with eleven of our own. Wildfire is a mustang rescue and is 100% certifiable. She will never be ridden or trained. She is dangerous when she feels cornered (not in the sense that she becomes aggressive, she just kinda looses her marbles and panics). All of the others beside Stormy and Justice, who are too young, are rideable, working, contributing members of our farm.

The dilema was whether to sell a few and replace them in the spring or to hold on to the ones I have and muddle through until the spring when I can go back to work. You guys know the answer to that! I have the best herd anyone could ask for. After years of doing rescue, buying and selling, training, etc. I have found the horses that I want. They are irreplaceable.

Now, if it would only rain.

The pasture is crunchy. We are trying to stock up for winter and cannot find hay for sale. We'll make it; we always do. The upcoming winter looks rather lean though. We will have the baby, the kids school events, Thanksgiving, Christmas....and tons of hay to find and buy. Oy. Lol, well, we like a challenge!