Extreme Cowboy Race

this winter has been crazy! We've had So much rain that riding has been difficult. About the time I get my horse together on a beautiful day, The ground's too swampy to ride or something comes up.

So to Summarize the winter so far, We got rid of the donkey, all the goats are gone, and the cat died. We hare a New dog (probably why the cat's dead). She's a 1 yr old great dane. In exchange for the donkey, I got 3 saddles. One fits my daughter, one is busted, and the other fits me mostly. I sent it to a saddle shop to get the length of the stirrup fender fixed. I have been doing some riding with a friend. She's encouraging me to expand my riding horizons. I am now trotting on a regular basis and cantering some. I don't carter a lot because I seem to lose my stirrups when I try. My church friends have diagnosed the problem. The stirrups are too low. I can't shorten them because they are as short as they will go. That's why the new saddle is at the shop.

The Extreme Cowboy Race was hosted by my church. My friend designed it and several of the church members helped build the course. It was a pretty good course. we had a creek crossing , natural log jumps, a bridge, moguls, and a reining pattern in the arena. There was also a cowboy curtain and the pony to put in the pen. I helped work the event Saturday (I had to handoff the pony) and after the event, we played. I went through the course, convincing Koda to cross the creek, climb up and over the bridge, and doing all the other obstacles.

Sunday, someone sponsored me to compete in the Novice event. I competed against 7 other people, 3 ranch hands, a ranchers daughter, o drill team member, an experienced trail rider and a 7 yr old with his riding instructor walking beside him. I would say he was the only other true novice. I placed 8th out of 8. I tried hard and had fun. I know there's a lot I still need to learn, but my confidence and abilities have improved so much. I was dumbfounded with how far we've Come. Last year, I would have taken as much time loading the horse in the trader as I did running (trotting) the whole course.I don't think I could have gotten her through the cowboy curtain last year. I have an amazing horse, and she'll be perfect when I learn how to ride. :)