There just isn't much to report right now. LOL. Outside of firing yet another farrier...Life is just pretty mundane around here.
Riding, riding, riding.
My last string of rodeos will start this weekend and I'm excited again. It may not last, but I'll take it when I can get it. LOL.
Beretta will finally go to the court of the magnificent Firewater Fooler the first week in May. I have already put in my order for a buckskin filly out of the cross. Beretta and I have discussed my desire for this at length. ;-)
I'm ready to go home though. I miss my husband. I miss...well, pretty much everything by now. It was so good to be home those few days and I hated to leave. I mean, really hated to leave. It's so weird, one moment I am quit content in Arizona and happy to have the luxury of a winter home...and then...I am just done. Each day stretches out for an eternity. I'm literally counting the days til I can go home. Did I mention I miss my husband? I think he is feeling it too. It's all well and good for a little while, we have lived apart the majority of our relationship...but at a certain point...
I was going to wait to start moving horses home until after my last rodeo down here, but I am rethinking that. I may load up my stuff and take 3 horses home before the last rodeo, so that when the last rodeo comes, I can just take the last 4 home in one trip. MH and I will have to come back down, load up his toys, get my little rig and be quit of AZ until next winter.
I hardly know what to do when I do get home though. I haven't decided if I want to pursue rodeoing as strenuously as I tried to last year, or if I just want to hang out and hit the local jackpots. After all of this time and effort to get Frosty going, and Shooter, and Jet...I hate to lose that momentum with them. I guess these last 3 rodeos will tell me if it's worth trying to pursue rodeoing hard or just hit a few here and there and focus on these others. Shooter should be ready to start exhibitioning sometime in June, if he keeps coming along as nicely as he has been. Jet is trying so valiantly to become a good horse, although I have no idea on a time-frame on him. I mean, we have barely gotten a couple lope strides at a time going right now. Which is almost a freaking miracle considering what I started with, but still quite a ways away from where he needs to get too. I am hoping that by July he will be well-broke enough and patterned to the extent that I can exhibition him. Or, maybe that hunter/jumper gal really did like him enough that if he is riding well, he might find a better calling in life. I don't know yet. I'm looking forward to hauling LJ and just riding him around at events....and letting everyone exclaim over what a beautiful horse he is....cause it makes no sense to have one as pretty as him and not show him off, right? :-D
I guess I'd be content either way. If Moon and I can hit a lick...we'll do the rodeo thing. If is still doesn't come together, I'll be plumb happy to stay closer to home and continue to enjoy bringing ALL of my horses along. All that really matters to me anymore is that I am actually enjoying what I do. It was so miserable for so long and I don't want to do that anymore. It really shouldn't be as difficult as it has been. There are always difficulties...tough times and cold patches are the norm in barrel racing...but it shouldn't be a non-stop struggle with one particular horse and I'm simply not going to let it be that way anymore.
Not that I discount the valuableness of the rodeoing I did do last year. There are some places I have no intention of going back to this year and a few places I really liked that I might hit just because they were nice set-ups and there are a few places that I picked out that I always thought it would be cool to say I ran at. Historic type places, ya know. Prescott over the 4th of July for sure this year. :-). Maybe Cheyenne, maybe Pendleton. I mean, there are some really cool rodeos out there and it might be fun to just get in there and make a run, just to say I did...Or so I'll know the ins and the outs for next time.
I've been wanting to hit one of the big jackpots they have at the South Point in Las Vegas for a couple of years now and never have made it to any. But this year, I am going to. I entered the NBHA Las Vegas Super Show at is at the end of May. It's perfect timing. MH is on days off and his birthday is that week...And it's Las Vegas...And barrel racing. It just doesn't get any better than that. (2 thumbs up). After that...the rest of the year is just 'let's see how it goes'...And I am completely happy with that.
10 comments:
I wondered how long it would be till you were ready to go for good. I don't just mean tired of the heat, but just ready to be home. Not sure I would have made it as long as you did.
I am excited for you going to Vegas! Wooo Hooo!
That's one of the things I like about the driving club. If I were competing on a higher level and hitting shows in CA and then heading to Ocala for Live Oak in April, then up to Gladstone for that one in June... and all the others in between- it might be more stressful (and definitely more expensive!) but would I be enjoying it as much? Who's to say really. Right now, Kat and I aren't putting up impressive scores even on the local level so that kind of traveling isn't even a option to put out on the table.
It's so much more low key having only one show a month. Time in between to fix and tweak things, change it up, try it out and bag it if it doesn't work, going back to what does.... Right now this is what works for us. I did the whole "horseshow every weekend" thing, once before when the ball-and-chain and I were together. It got old, really fast. If we weren't showing we were there for clients or cheering our friends on. It wears you out.
Definitely something to consider if you're going to be doing it full bore. And we all know it would be full bore because you aren't one for going in half ready. It is totally understandable if you take your time, do the local events with Moon and focus more on bringing the rest along. When you have them all ready and firing- having another go at it with a whole string to choose from isn't a bad option at all.
If I was winning/placing regularly enough to justify it CnJ, I would be on the road all the time, without a care in the world. I love that lifestyle. However, there is only so much a person can take when you are not winning/placing hardly at all.
If Moon doesn't start hitting a lick here pretty soon, it's a waste of time to continue with him. I've given it my all for 3 years now and not much to show for it. I'd rather invest the time/money into these others and end up with something I can win on. I've got 1 for sure that is I know is going to be better than Moon and 3 more that have enough potential to keep me interested in them.
I've just come to the conclusion that Moon isn't the be all to end all. Either we start winning something or I'll take the time to build me another one that can and will.
I didn't realize you were apart from your husband that long. I've got the travel bug, but leaving others in charge at home never works out well for me. I would swear that I am the only person on earth who can keep my dogs alive. They are like goldfish.
You know, you sound happy about the decision and that's what matters.
I'm kinda the same way... horses aren't my living, they're my hobby. So whatever I do damn well better be fun. Yes there are some not so fun (sometimes down right miserable) moments, but on the whole it needs to be fun.
I've had so many people look down on "jackpot barrel racers" but you know what, I don't care anymore. I'm having fun with my horses, sometimes winning a bit of money.
Yes, NM...Sometimes we are apart for 2-3 months at a time. It's hard sometimes, but oddly enough for us, it works.
Cdn-You have to realize that the only people who sneer at things they consider lowly don't really know much at all about the upper end either. LOL. Those jackpots are the training grounds for some incredibly tough competitors (rider and horse alike). Nobody cracks out at the Pro level. To think otherwise shows their lack of knowledge. ;-). Of course, there is always the one's who get a little big-headed because they win a few things locally and think they are ready for the big time...and then they find out they aren't as good as they thought. LOL (I'm thinking of a couple of girls I know who thought because they could whip everyone at home they were going to take the world by storm and it was fairly ego-shattering for them when they found out otherwise.) Not all of us have NFR dreams. That is a tough life those girls lead.
Good attitude, BEC. All your horses deserve your attention, and enjoying what you are doing will rub off on them.
That was exactly what I was saying in my previous comment.
Sure we all like to win or at least consistently place well, but when we aren't (and I'm in that boat right now too!) it makes you step back and take a look at things. It feels easier, better, more fun, etc. when you're on top or close to it. It all feels justified and worth it. We can see and feel our efforts paying off in the end.
If you back off with Moons and focus more on bringing along everyone else, I think it would be a wise call to make. I would rather have a string of good, solid horses to choose from than one great one and be a 'one horse wonder' any day. Right now with driving, I'm in the 'one horse wonder' crowd. Not so much thrilled about it, but not in the position to change it at the moment either.
Sounds like you have a good plan.I hate to admit it ,but as jealous as I am of your time in AZ I would have been homesick too. Home and hubby are just where we want to be
I'm trying to catch up here, but it would be so cool if you came to Pendelton, I would love to see you rip it!
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