Rodeo Queen - Almost

(Me on Trigger at a later date. When I did the rodeo queen bit, I had an old, antique, high-backed, big-swelled saddle that was borrowed, and ugly boots, and nondescript beige pants and a straw hat. But you get the idea.)

Ahhh... the weather is warming up, and the various activities are starting to pick up. Spring sports are in full swing at schools. Spring livestock shows are starting up. Fishing and golfing and biking and such things are appealing, what with the weather actually starting to cooperate. Not to say we can't have some "winter" yet, but at least warm weather will soon be the rule rather than the exception.


I like outside activities, as long as the temperatures aren't too extreme. Summertime sees some great opportunities come along for recreation and being outdoors. In the past, I've enjoyed watching my share of rodeos. But at this stage of my life, my favorites to watch also include ranch rodeo, cutting, team penning, team sorting (which I've actually tried since moving here), reined cowhorse, team roping, and other such things. I thoroughly enjoy the skill and teamwork involved between human and horse.


When I had my horse as a teenager, I absolutely loved being outdoors and riding the dirt roads. Like I mentioned before, my horse was more of a "recreational" horse. I was in 4-H, we caroled with the saddle club once, and other such things. One great experience I had was ... *gulp* ... running for rodeo queen. I look back and wonder what posessed me to try that! I was normally shy and introverted, though I could be somewhat outgoing with people I knew. But I hated being in front of people. I'd get nervous easily. (Still do.) But because of my raging horse fever, I guess that gave me the gumption to tackle something that, at the time, looked fun and challenging.


I had to have attendants, we had to sell tickets, and I had to run a reining pattern in front of a judge. So ... I asked 2 friends to be my attendants and thankfully they both said yes! Whew! That was done. Then we sold tickets if we could. That wasn't my forte to approach people about things, so that didn't go as well as it could have. But then was the fun part when the time came for the rodeo - running the reining pattern. Let this cowgirl loose!


This particular rodeo was at a neighboring small town to my own hometown. At that time they had one every summer, if I remember right. But in recent times that has stopped. Anyway, we were to do this reining pattern on a certain night, before that evening's rodeo performance.


I remember several things about that situation. I was still using a borrowed saddle. I hated my boots. My outfit was thrown together from whatever I could scrounge from my closet that looked "western." I had my stubborn hair in a bun, and a straw cowboy hat. It was cloudy. It started sprinkling while I was waiting my turn.


Then, suddenly, it was time for Trigger and I to do our thing! They used a reining pattern from the 4-H manual, so I had that memorized, and Trigger and I had practiced. We barreled in at a gallop down the side fence. We stopped half-way down and backed up. We did a small figure-8 in the middle of the arena at a canter. We did a bigger figure-8 at a faster gallop. We sped to one end, stopped, and did a rollback. Ran to the other end, did the same thing. Trotted to the judge on the other side of the arena, pivoted left and right, then I dismounted to be asked a question by the judge. He asked where either the pastern or fetlock was, I can't remember which, but I pointed to the correct part, just above the hoof. Then we were done!


The night that the winner was announced was rather ... unique. My team kind of fell apart! One attendant couldn't make it at all, but she sent a good amount of money from ticket sales, so that helped anyway, and I appreciated that. The other attendant, my best friend, had been riding her horse in a pasture near her farm, and was by the highway. A truck went by and honked, causing her horse to buck, and she fell off and hurt her shoulder and couldn't ride. So she was there, but she sat in the stands. But I was glad she hadn't been badly hurt, and could at least be there. (Moral support!) So Trigger and I kind of "stood alone" out in the arena with the other contestants to wait and see which girl won.


There were three contestants in all. One girl was from this neighboring town. Then there was me from my hometown. Finally, another girl was from nearby Oklahoma (if I remember right). The girl from the neighboring town won, I got second, and the Oklahoma girl got third. Actually, I wasn't that disappointed, I was just glad to take part. I hadn't won, but I hadn't came in last either, so it was O.K. with me. Then, I saw that maybe it was a blessing in disguise that I hadn't won. I watched as the winning girl took her horse over, and they put a new saddle on the horse. I thought, "Wow, that would've been embarrassing if I'd had to take Trigger over there, and he would've spooked and taken off because of some unfamiliar thing pushing him past his comfort limit!" If he would've spooked, that would've been a horrid disaster to me! So I was thankful for my second place rating. I think my prize was savings bonds, which I cashed some years later and that helped for college. Not a whole lot, but nothing to sneeze at either.


I was just pleased as punch that Trigger ran that reining pattern like a good cowhorse, and didn't break the pattern. Yee- haaa!!! That was certainly a huge encouragement for this cowgirl. We enjoyed a challenge that required our teamwork, and it went great!