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| Jerking one down |
I haven’t posted in about a week. To my loyal readers: I am so sorry. It has been a very hectic few days! I finally got to put my horse on cattle and
once I got going the opportunities to go roping kept on coming! The first night went outstanding. I am really blessed to have this little horse
with such an enormous heart in my life.
I backed in the box to rope off my horse for the second time…ever. He stood there like a champ. I nodded my head and he ran right to the
hip. I jerked a knot clean around the
horns and we went left. Solo is only
about 14.1 hands and maybe weighs 1100 pounds.
Although he is really built for heeling, he handles cattle just like a
big horse. I have never ridden a horse
with more try than he has! We roped
about 20 head that night. He never once got hot in the box and I only missed 3
steers all night. When I pulled away
from the arena, I could not stop smiling.
I can’t even put into words how full of joy my heart was. I wanted to call every person I knew and tell
them how amazing my horse worked, how well I roped, and how extremely happy I
was to be back in the saddle, back in the arena, and back to doing what I love
more than anything!
The next day was Thursday.
I was scheduled to have a job interview up in Fort Worth, so my cousin
told me to haul up to their house in Weatherford to rope after I got done. Talk about a busy day! I was up before the
sun preparing for a job interview that, quite frankly, could change my life
forever! I hooked up my trailer, loaded
up my horse, and away we went. It’s so
amazing to me how with a little positivity and faith in your life things can
completely change. A month ago, I was at
a job that was wearing me down both physically and emotionally. The only friends that I had were my roommates. I had been on my horse less than 20 times in
a year and had only roped one time. All
of a sudden, I get this feeling…perhaps it was God talking or maybe it was my
dad urging me forward from heaven…I don’t know for sure. But I get this feeling to quit my job and let
the chips just fall where they may. I
keep telling myself, “Just have faith.
God will take care of you!” I
head up to this interview. I stopped at
my cousin’s house to drop of my horse and unhook my trailer and then head into
Fort Worth. I’m not going to lie, I was
a ball of nerves, but in my heart, I knew I had this. This job was meant for me. It is the job I have been praying for and
waiting for. I went into that interview
positive and confident and came out feeling accomplished!
I wish I could say that my roping that night went as well as
my interview! I started out
strong. I ran out there and roped tough
like I know that I can the first couple of times we ran the steers
through. But the steers were a little
faster at my cousin’s house than the steers I had roped the night before. Solo started to get a little hot in the box
and my own performance slowly started going down the toilet. I made a couple more good runs, scored a few,
and then climbed on my cousin’s good horse.
Now, typically, I would jump out there and hammer steers on a good
horse. But this wasn’t just any good
horse. He was a high caliber, PRCA type head horse. Let’s just say, he’s a LOT of high powered
horse! I couldn’t hardly catch a thing. I was dropping my arm, waving it off…just
completely missing! I am one of those
people who has to give myself pep talks when things start going wrong. I try to tell myself, “Stay positive! A bad day roping is better than a good day
without a rope in your hand.” Well,
sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.
I drove home that night thinking to myself that I really need to keep
practicing. I have to be roping my dummy
every day. I need to be riding my horse
every day. When I’m not in the arena, I
need to be thinking about being in the arena.
This is a sport that takes complete dedication. 
Saturday rolled around.
I got invited to come out and turn some steers to help a guy sell a heel
horse. That made me feel pretty
good. I roped so well on Wednesday night
that they trusted me to come turn steers for them to make a heel horse look
good. I managed to get it done, and even
go invited to go jackpotting with them this week…and then it all fell apart. My horse got a little hot in the box. He completely stopped rating. We were running by cattle right and
left. I was waving it off and missing
every steer. I was pissed off, cussing
like a trucker, and really re-evaluating my training techniques. I still need to do A LOT of work on both
myself and my horse. There is nothing
worse than roping like shit and having your horse not work good when you KNOW
that you BOTH can do so much BETTER!
It’s a wicked web we weave. We
get to feeling very confident and then we get snapped back to reality.
It’s like that with so many things in life. We get overly confident and then God gives us
what we need to stay humble. I’ll never
forget when I first bought my little mare and got back into roping right after
my dad passed away. I went roping
constantly. And despite the needs of my
horse, I entered up in every single roping.
She was a bad ass and had a ton of heart for a smaller framed
horse. She never quit me. It was the same trip every time on her and I
won a lot on her. But, selfishness got
the better of me and I ruined her. She
couldn’t handle the strain I had put on her and she slowly started breaking
down. Pretty soon she had arthritis so
bad that I was spending more money and time keeping her sound than I was
roping. Next thing I knew, she couldn’t
run to faster cattle and I could win anymore.
It was a hard lesson learned. You
have to listen to not just the needs of yourself, but also the needs of
others…that includes your horse!
I have been praying every day for the opportunity to get
behind cattle so that I can see what I really need to be working on with my
horse. He is far more advanced than any
other horse I have ever ridden for only being roped on out of the box 4
times. But, it is obvious that I need to
get him on the sled and teach him how to rate.
He will run up to cattle good but he hasn’t figured out how to rate off
and stay at the hip. He also has gotten
into the bad habit of getting to the fence and trying to face. I have some drills that I can do on both live
cattle and the sled that will help with that issue. As for myself, I really need to work on
staying positive with my roping. I know
that I rope well. I just have to
remember that EVERYONE has bad days. I
haven’t roped this many cattle in almost 2 years…I can’t forget that and I
can’t expect to go out there and hammer every steer like I used to. Everything you do in life takes work. If you want to be good, you have to work at
it constantly. I’m not going to let a
couple of bad days in the roping pen get me down.
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| Me with my RRAGI Invitation |
I have a tendency to reflect on my life a lot these
days. I am so thankful to the people
that I have supporting me. I have had
people come into my life recently who have influenced me to trust in the
Lord. I have people in my life who
constantly build me up when I want to tear myself down. No one in this world is harder on me than
myself. But thanks to these people, I am
able to kill those terrible thoughts and feelings and continue down the path of
success. One year ago, I left everything
that I knew and came out here to start a new life. One month ago, I was down and depressed with
very few friends and an uncontrollable emptiness inside of me because I was
unable to do what I love. When you have
a positive attitude and a little bit of faith, the Lord will provide the
rest. I went from only riding my horse a
handful of times in a year, to riding him nearly every day. I went from having few friends, to being
surrounded by like-minded people who appreciate me for who I am. To those people, you know who you are, thank
you so much! I love you all! Today, as I end this blog, I leave with the
thought in my head that I will work on having a positive attitude. I will listen to the needs of my horse and
proceed with my training accordingly. I
have to be thankful that we have come this far in such a short amount of time
and be humble to the fact that everything we do in life takes work and
dedication. I have learned a lot of life
lessons and until I’m called home, they are going to keep on coming. I am still so excited for my future and I
have no doubts that by the time the Reno Rodeo All-Girl rolls around, I will be
completely ready. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now
faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” I have faith that I will be successful as
long as I keep positive and I am certain that no matter what, the Lord will be
there to lift me up when the going gets tough!
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