~Age is relative. You're as old as you feel. I'm sixty and I feel like a girl.~
~Joanne Link 1906~
It's been crazy ever since Lakeview...Harney County Fair...Pendleton...4 days of working cows...putting the October Horsefly publication together....My Man gave me his wonderful head cold...what's next?!?
I think the fever broke this mornin' 'cause I feel a bunch better. Thank goodness...since I'm leaving this afternoon for my fall Mike Bridges clinic...for a week!! I'm scramblin' around getting my food, clothes and horse stuff all packed in the trailer. Of course Miss Cindy Sue has her overnight bag that needs to get packed too!
So, I'll leave you with a few photos from gatherin' cows off of Moon Hill in the Diamond area (FYI, the WW photo from yesterday is riding into the ranch from the back side...a fairy tale trail for sure!).
The Waterin' Hole
Gathered a Few at the Top of the Ridge
Pushin' 'um Down the Other Side
Bella Jo~The wanna be cow dog...who's actually trying, bless her lil' heart!
~Adventure is all I think about, being stuck up here in this cabin.~
~Edith Warren 1888~
There's nothing like being home!!! Five nights at the Pendleton Roundup was more than enough...and 1000 photos later, I'm swimming in photos...hitting the delete button more often than not!
But, oh my what a fun time we had! A great rodeo, great friends, great food...with weather that could have been a lil' bit nicer. But when we packed up Sunday AM in the pouring rain, we sure were thankful that Saturday wasn't like Sunday!!
I marked this post as Day 1, but I don't plan on doing 4 posts (4 days of rodeo). We scored North Grandstand seats on the first day and were 5 rows above the bucking chutes, which is always a plus. But, the lighting sucked, so my photos left a lot to be desired in my opinion.
Rodeos and patriotism go hand in hand.
This is my new favorite saying...watch out next year!!!
It must feel pretty weird sitting in the chute with everyone else helpin' ya out...waiting for the horse to get just right...noddin' the head to open the gate.
And away ya go...tryin' your hardest to make the ride of your life!
There was a lot of pressure on the cowboys & cowgirls to be the winner...to take home that 100th Anniversary buckle!
The pick up men were workin' in style. Check out the special 100th Anniversary woolies!
And the leather wrist cuffs.
The men and horses work so hard to keep the cowboy safe!
I was bummed that there was one of the fence crew guys in the photo...then we looked closely, and realized it was our friend Brian! So, we decided it was a special cool pic ;~)
All four off the ground!
Lots of spurin' action!
There's a cowboy and a steer in there somewhere!
Keith Isley (L), the current Pendleton entertainer, shared the arena for the day with long time Pendleton entertainer Flint Rasmussen. It was really good to see Flint again...he's my favorite!!!
Look at the bull twisting under the cowboy.
The Indian Village is behind the rodeo grounds. This view is from the concessions stand at the North Grandstand. There were some beautifully painted tepees too.
A couple of my favs of the day were the singing of the National Anthem and Flint Rasmussen singing his "Roundup Song." Here's a couple of short clips...
Ahhhhhhh...did I say how nice it is to be at home???!!! ;~)
~If a man had to give birth, he'd be a more considerate person.~
~Ma Robertson 1901~
Lil' Gus got to strut his stuff in the 2 year old halter class at the Harney County Reined Stock Horse Futurity last Thursday. Bless his lil' heart...he had to have a bath (with soap) on Wednesday afternoon, get covered up with a blanket, and stay the night in a stall (next to Colt)...all of which he'd done none! Then he's asked to load into the big trailer (with dividers) and had to back out of...all of which he'd done none! But he was a star!!!
I think it's the innocence of the young age that makes them so adaptable. He was so willing to just go with the flow. Of course I'd practiced hosing him off and clipping him with the electric clippers and he'd done very well in the practice sessions. But the day of the "beauty parlor treatment" it was only 60 some degrees and a lil' bit breezy...not very appealing to a colt as you come at him with a cold hose of water!
We made it as quick as possible and took some short cuts, but he turned out just fine for our Futurity class.
"Here Mom, you don't have your glasses on...I'll read that for you!"
I was mighty proud of the lil' guy. We made the first cut to 10 horses from 20, but after we trotted out for the judge, he never looked at Gus again...guess he didn't like what he saw. But I still consider it a VERY successful day. He went to town, was a very brave boy, and gained a bunch of experience...and he came home happy! I'm good with that!
"See Mom...I'm lookin' handsome! I don't know why that judge didn't like me?!?"
So, we've got a lot to work on for next year. As a three year old, he'll need to cut & hold cows out of the herd and do a reining pattern (including flying lead changes). It's going to be a busy winter for the two of us!
If you don't remember what he looked like when I got him last May...take a look at Gus' intro blog post...he sure changed!!!
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Pendleton!!!
Who's going to the 100th Anniversary of the Pendleton Roundup?!?!?!?!?!
I know it's a lil' bit late to make a date with any bloggers who might be going to the 100th anniversary of the Pendleton Roundup, but I hope to see a couple of you. My Man took an extra day off of work and we're leaving Tuesday AM. Cindy Sue is staying with her Auntie Judy for a sleep over, and the big kids are staying home with the neighbor's checking in on them.
It'll be a great time...with no responsibilities!! A TRUE vacation!! See ya'll next week...
~If men want to smell like cattle, they should bed down with them.~
~Kathleen Madder 1919~
This year sure went fast...another show season is done. I've been so busy this past week with getting Colt and Gus ready for the Futurity, we haven't been visitin' anybody's blogs. When we get back from our week at Pendleton, I hope things get back to normal...missin' you all!!
Everyone thought it was a great competition this year...the weather could have been a little more cooperative, but it could have been worse. Our normal sunny 85 degree September fair days just weren't to be...cool temps, wind, clouds and quite a bit of rain. But, we all survived.
I'll let the video tell the story on Colt's herd and fence work. The reining is so boring, the I just couldn't include any of it. There's nice sunshine on Day 1 during the herd work, but Day 2 brought the heavy clouds and rain. My Man had a hard time following me because it was so dark on the camera screen...so he missed my first turn on the fence :(
LOL~listen to my friends helpin' me out...that was so cool...thank you all for your support! At the end, I wasn't sure if I'd got that final circle or if the judge blew the whistle because I ran out of time...so, that's why I asked "Did I get it?"
The results? We ended up in third place overall...I'm so proud of Colt!!!
L-R 1st place Corey Shelman, 2nd place MaryLee White, 3rd place Colt & me, Wendy Rickman giving out the awards.
It was an honor to be in the company of two of the best horsemen in the County.
What's in that big blue bag? A really cool, fancy camping chair with a leather plaque on it...I love it!! Can't wait to take it to Pendleton!
But the day's not over yet...the finale is the "Harney County Super Horse" award. The top 10 scores of the horses in the 5 year old, 6 year old, and Senior Horse Open get to compete...we ranked #8! I was just thrilled that I made the top 10! What did we have to do? Rope...something I don't do...yet. We didn't have a chance to make it, but, what the heck, I'm not going to turn down the opportunity to get Colt into the pen and at least follow a cow!!!
Waiting for the "Super Horse" roping.
Colt looks like he's ready to go to sleep...and I'm sure he'd rather be home at this point...it's a rough life being a cow pony!! That was a big wad of rope in my left hand; the mecate, the romel reins, and the rope. I got lots of coaching from my friends! In fact the gal in the photo behind me is my friend Debbi, who encouraged me to continue on into the two-rein...if she hadn't, I wouldn't have been here...thanks Deb!
Gettin' into the herd...
...got one separated...
...and a big miss!
(These were stills from the camera movie, so that's why they're so small)
Needless to say, we didn't catch, but Colt was right there following and trying. He stayed calm and listened to everything I asked him to do...even though I didn't know what I was doin'! The up side on this is that we got invited to help brand some calves this fall, we got invited to another friend's place where her husband (who's a darn good roper) will give me a lesson, and one of the best ropers in the county told me that I had a really nice horse and that he should be headin' steers off of him! I was proud as punch...even though I was pretty embarrassed!
Who won the "Harney County Super Horse"? Well...my friend Debbi!! Whooohoooo! Go Cowgirls!!!
So, that was Colt's big news...I'll get a post up for Gus' debut in his 2 year old halter class.
Thanks for all of your support and well wishes...we really appreciate your friendship!!
This week's Sunday Stills photo challenge is pretty self explanatory. Of course my fav would be boots...not shoes...and boots gotta have a good pair of spurs and at least a lil' bit of cow or horse manure on 'um too!
Do the spurs tell a story about the rider? I've never seen a set of spurs like these before.
This photo of My Man's boots is a repeat here on my blog; but not with Sunday Stills. Being on the ground when branding calves is a messy job.
Maybe the spurs tell you about the rider's personality...or the way they view life? They're an everyday tool of the trade...what do you think?
Colt, Cindy Sue, and I loaded up Thursday mornin' headin' for Lakeview, Oregon. Every year they have a really great horse show lineup...from pleasure, to cutting, to branding, to working cow horse, to penning...it's a pretty big deal for that sleepy lil' town.
On Thursday they have a cutting show, and it really draws a lot of cutters from California and Oregon. As soon as the cutting show is done, the herd work for the Working Cow Horse Show starts. I didn't enter the cutting show this year, we just did the Cow Horse show.
The cows are usually solid black Angus and FAST! The herd that I got this time was a really nice bunch though, and I was second up in the draw, so the cows were still soft. In fact, the two cows I worked were almost too soft. We could have had one with a lil' bit more aggressiveness, and we would could have showed a lil' bit better and had a better score. But, we showed well and scored a 66.
The next morning all the horses in the "aged" classes get mouthed by the vet (to make sure they're the correct age for the class they're entered in). I warmed Colt up in the arena for a few minutes, got him mouthed and took him back to the trailer to finish his breakfast. We wouldn't be showing until 11:30 or so.
I got on him again around 11 AM and warmed him up. He seemed a bit tired, so I didn't want to over-do his warm up...just enough to get his muscles ready to work.
The reining pattern went very well (he didn't dink around with his lead changes like at the last show) and we scored a 67 1/2. Then I called for my cow for the fence work. I was super pleased with Colt's try...he's got such a big heart. We did the first turn on the long wall just right, but I didn't get Colt positioned correctly on the second turn, and we didn't get the cow turned until past the corner and lost 2 points.
But, look at how proud Colt is of himself after working that cow...he's just licking his lips and and sayin' "I did GOOD!!"
Loosing two points meant a lot...we came in second in the 4-6 Year Old Hackamore Class...1/2 point behind the winner...So Close to winnin' that buckle!!!
I feel pretty good about next week's Futurity though...but, we'll be showing in the two-rein instead of the hackamore. All in all it was a great show, we had fun, and I learned a bunch too.
