Back from Lakeview

The stock horse show at Lakeview was a blast...long but really fun. My Man couldn't go, so Cindy Sue, Colt and me took off Thursday morning.

Ready Colt? "Yea Mom...just close the window!"

We stopped at Bob Kerby's and worked a few head of cows...Colt was really sharp! After a good drink of water, we loaded up again for the 2 1/2 hour trip ahead.

Cindy Sue settled into her bed in the back seat.

I didn't hear much out of her!

It's a pretty boring drive (just miles and miles of desert)

until you get to Lake Albert. The road winds

along its edge for at least 5 miles.

This is Albert Rim; "a 30-mile-long fault escarpment...one of the nation's

longest and most continous fault escarpments rising more than 2,000 feet."

We arrived in plenty of time to get a paddock for Colt and fix some lunch...by then it was 4 PM...and I was starving!

The pens behind the chutes were available at no charge,

so we snagged one up. That's Colt up by

the cows munching away on his hay.

They had an actual "cutting" competition prior to the cow horse show, so by the time they were finished it was 7 PM. Colt and I didn't do our herd work until 8 PM. And, sorry to say, but I have no photos. It was dark and even with the arena lights on, I knew it wouldn't be enough.

The moon rising on the horizion was a beautiful sight though.

The 6 & under Hackamore class was supposed to have 4 horses in it, but one scratched. I got the last spot in the draw. And instead of giving the Hackamore horses a fresh herd of cows, we worked the ones that the last half of the snaffle bit horse class used...hmmmmm...oh well.

Colt was getting pretty tired by then and this was definitely waaaay past his bed time! We've never done a night show and he really wasn't into it. The cows were really sticky and it was hard to get them to drive out from the rest of the herd. I picked some good herd help though, and we did the best we could.

The cows were tough...they had no respect and really tried to run right through your horse. Colt did an amazing job of getting ahead of the cow, but he really didn't lock onto the cow like he does in practice. We were able to get two decent cows out and we scored a 69 without any penalties! I was thrilled!!

They still had the open class to go, but we packed it in for the night. Colt was mighty glad to get back to his pen with 2 bags of hay! And, I was ready for dinner too.

Bright eyed and bushy tailed on Friday AM...

well, sort of ;~)

The dry work (reining pattern) and fence work were first thing on Friday morning. The vet had to mouth all of the horses that were in an "aged" class to make sure they were the correct age. The 3 yr olds went first, then the 5 & under...then the Hackamore class.

I found a wonderful gal who agreed to do a video for me...she was on her horse, so please disregard the shakes...the video is long too, but I think you'll like the music...

The pattern was pretty basic and they didn't even want a change of pace in the circles. I'm thinking I could have had Colt pick up the pace and it might have looked a little better...but I really don't know. The judge said to use the whole arena...and it's a big arena!

Right after you did your pattern, you called for your cow for the fence work. We totally bommed in the fence work and scored a 60. In fact we got two cows...the first one was too slow...the second one was a raging, running idiot! But, in the reining pattern we scored a 68 1/2.

Overall, we came in third, but we were only 1 point behind the 2nd place horse. I'm really proud of Colt. He did fantastic...and did I mention his competition were both 6 yr olds and Colt's just 4?!? I'm thrilled!!! If we can rinse and repeat this next Wed & Thur at the Futurity next week...oh yes!

It was well worth the trip down and we learned so much...can't wait for next year!

Headed back home...Albert Rim on the right

driving along Lake Albert.

Colt was definitely glad to be home!!

It's a well deserved roll in the dirt!

Thanks for coming along with us!!