This is the life

Hello people! Boy have I ever been busy lately!

Of course, as you know from my last post, just last weekend was 4-H On Parade. The entire weekend was non stop work and fun. All weekend there were shows. I came in last with my steer and my heifer but I came in third with my cow calf. I sold my steer, who ended up weighing 1187, for about $2.25/lb so I'm not too sad. Over the weekend there were a ton of little kids running around and they always wanted to touch the cattle. We tought them about animal safety and where to stand to pet the animal. This included telling them why not to stand by the back legs of cattle. I also saw a lot of my friends there who I haven't seen in a long time so overall it was a pretty enjoyable weekend.

So today I took my horse to my friend/instructors house out by Carstairs. I like to expose my horse to new things on a regular basis because when she rides in rodeos and parades, nothing will be too big of a surprise. Today we took our horses out into the field and rode around for a bit. Oakie spooked at a duck, but that was about it. My parents thought it would also be a good idea to make sure her saddle was fitted properly, seeing as my friend's parents own a saddle store. When they brought out a tape measure and tried to measure her, she flipped. Oakie reared up and ran away. We got her all calmed down a couple minutes later, and decided to try her with a new saddle anyways. This all made me a little nervous to take her on the next part of our journey.

The next thing we did was take our horses and ride into town. My horse was a little scared at first because she'd never ridden beside a highway in a ditch before. And certainly never around moving traffic. After a few minutes, she calmed down. She was perfectly fine riding through the streets and around the town and was fine with the barking dogs and trains. When we went over the railroad tracks, she didn't even blink an eye. After riding all around town, we rode to the rodeo grounds.

The rodeo grounds had a much bigger arena than the one I have a home so it took me a bit to get used to it. Before I knew it we were flying around the arena because it's always funner to go faster when there's more room. I practiced my riding pattern a couple times there and after about 2 or 3 times I got it almost perfect. I was so excited because Oakie picked up both of the correct leads on the first time and even stopped when I wanted her to. I was super impressed. After that we stopped doing the pattern because Oakie hates it and would just get worse from there. It's always better to end on a good note, anyways.

The last thing we did before leaving the rodeo grounds was work with barrels. Barrel racing has always been a big dream of mine, but I've never had the time or discipline to be able to get into it. We started by just walking around the barrels because this teaches the horse the path she needs to take. I also learned that when you go up to a barrel at a walking pace, you need to stop just before it because this teaches the horse she needs to slow down when she goes around the barrel. Of course it is a lot more complicated than this but it's a good start. I then jogged the path and when doing this you have to walk around the barrels. Something else I learned was that for every one time you run the barrels, you should walk it at least 10 times. This is important because it teaches the horse discipline and the proper way to do it. I had so much fun doing all of it! This really is the life.

After we rode back, \we took a look at the saddle and a couple new bridals. I ended up buying the saddle because it fit Oakie so much better and fit me a lot better too. I also ended up borrowing my friends bridal because it is a lot showier and shinier than mine.

That's all that's really new for now but this week I have a riding test and written test for rodeo and next weekend I have my first parade so I will update you as events happen. Also, there will be pictures to come so watch for them!

~Miranda~