Change of Plans

I woke up with a set plan of action to conquer the day. The game plan: load queen clothes and accessories, pick up horse blanket from my best friends, pick up chaps from Robby, hitch trailer, load Max, arrive early with plenty of time to settle and warm up Max and chit chat with contestants. The reality: a quite different story. It started off right on track and with a perk! Nathan took off work early to drive me to Little Rock so I don't have to do so alone. Despite truck key switch ups and daily to dos interfering  we hit the road at 3pm thinking we'll get there just on time. 

All was going smooth until we hit Russellville. Good Ole RussVegas. Let me add, I went to Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, AR for two years and NEVER witnessed traffic on I-40. Never. We sat at a standstill for 45 minutes. Provided, it did give plenty of time to do makeup and get ready. We attempted to relieve the tension by singing crazy songs really loud... but eventually I had to face it. We were going to drive three hours and not get to do a queens run. I called the pageant director to let her know I would probably be late and got exciting news that due to an added performance, the queens runs got pushed back to 7:45! 

Upon arrival, I did a quick and calm tack up. Threw on my sash and hat and trotted Max around for about 10 minutes. Not long enough. We got to the coliseum just in time but Mr. Max was not a fan. He's never been road indoors before and the noise seemed to echo. He started trying to buck before our run but then did not even want to lope! He just got all bunched like a balloon ready to pop! I got him to finish out with a decent run but he was not happy. 

During the PBR I had the privilege of visiting with the five talented young ladies vying for the title of Miss Rodeo Arkansas State Fair as well as the current queen. And of course, did some autograph signing and photo taking. After the performance, I rode Max in the coliseum for a good forty five minutes. When we were finished, he was drenched but still had white in his eye because he was still on edge. I gave him a long cool down and walked him a round a while outside because it was pretty cool. 

We arrived home at 3am. The last 30 minutes of the haul were brutal! Loud music, windows down, our eyes were still slamming but we had one more rodeo under our belts and wrapped up the fall season. Now to practice, practice, practice until the spring rodeo season!

 

Husky Hoedown!

I officially participated in my first school visit as Miss Rodeo of the Ozarks! I absolutely love interacting with kids; they were absolutely fantastic! The event is a fall fundraiser to raise playground money for the students. Parents, students and others gathered to play rodeo related games, face painting, and purchase silent auction items (very similar to a fall festival). The school faculty supplied me with a GIANT queen chair (although I did not do much sitting) and a perfect spot to greet families, sign autographs and take lots of pictures.

I have 2 book fair visits, one veterans day assembly and one class presentation already schedule! If you or anyone you know would like me to a school or public event, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Rain, Rain...

This weekend I had a full schedule including attending the parade and helping with the stick horse races at Highfill Hay Daze, signing autographs at the Apple Festival in Lincoln and attending the Ozark Fall Carnival at Parson's arena. At 6am Saturday I awoke by thunder and had to put buckets underneath the roof leaks... that was a sure sign that Saturday was not going to go as planned. But I am NOT complaining about rain. As Luke Bryan put it, "Rain is a Good Thing"! Instead I spent the rainy day getting ahead on homework for the week and working on projects around the house. As a result, my weekly post is not going to be what I had planned. 

Even though I was unable to attend public events this past weekend, my duties are evident throughout the week. Being a rodeo queen extends a privilege of being a role model and taking every opportunity to promote the positive aspects of rodeo. Paisley is my boyfriend's  4 year old niece who tends to like the idea of riding a horse but is a bit nervous about actually getting close. That being said, if I was 3 foot tall looking up at giant animal, I'd be a bit timid as well. But when I asked her if she wanted to ride with me, she nodded her head without a hesitation. In a matter of minutes Paisley was manning the reins while I led her around as she named the different parts of the saddle and bridle I had just told her about (reins, stirrup, horns, seat, bit).


The next day (Thursday) an 8 year old boy, Collin, who is moving in next to the arena, kept watching us while we rode. When I started cooling Maximus off, Collin asked his parents if he could come up to the fence. I walked up and offered for him to pet Max then offered a ride (with his parents' permission of course). Collin was almost too confident so I had to warn him that you can never be too careful around a horse, especially one you don't know. The boy helped me cool off max, as I led him around, and he told me all about life! I'll be looking forward to seeing him around the arena once they get moved in.

It is truly an honor to be able to teach kids about horses, first hand. Even if it is just one or two, it is a difference made nonetheless.

Hispanic Heritage Festival

Apparently it is possible to have a rather smooth public appearance! I arrived at the Hispanic Heritage Festival at the Washington County Fairgrounds 15 minutes early in order to get the low down on the upcoming event. One of the rounders and former rodeo queen, Sophia Huffman, and I checked out the vendors and met a spectacular furry little friend that stole our hearts. The displays consisted of local businesses, services and events as well as entertainment, pony rides and a lot of great food!

Thankfully the Mutton Bustin was in an indoor livestock arena! After getting things set up the rounders, Miss Rodeo Old Fort Days, and myself signed autographs then started herding everyone our direction because the rain clouds were rolling in! Sadly, the forecast kept a lot of the crowd away but with four clowns, several performers, about 100 spectators and a flock of  sheep we were bound for an entertaining afternoon. About halfway through the mutton busin' the sky seemed to open up and it began to pour! It seems like we all made it inside just in time. We mingled with spectators and helped with Mutton Bustin' then witnessed a beautiful Aztec Native dance performed by five talented young ladies and drummer. I had the opportunity to expand on my Spanish vocabulary from some sweet kids. Before too long, everyone was rolling at the clowns' comedy. After all of the kids had rode and the performers had a chance to act, the rain slowly started to give way and people began to make a run for their vehicles. Despite the early shut down of the event, it was overall a great time with great friends!

The Good... The Bad, The Ugly

"The Good:" Yesterday morning Nathan and I went to Rush Springs Ranch (visit my awesome sponsor's website: http://www.rushspringsranch.com/) to check out the "Down n Dirty" fest sponsored by Pit Bull Power Sports of Springfield. Of course some vendor looking and mudding was in store but I was ready to get back to the horse barn. I put Maximus on some calves for the first time and unsurprisingly he is was a natural! Max and I seem to be getting more in tune with every ride; even though we have a long way to go, it feels nice to know we've also come a long way.


Getting ready for the Harrison PRCA rodeo, I had two of the best helpers a girl could ask for!! They even helped hairspray my curls... I think my hair could have withstood a hurricane. The real trick was finding all of my accessories when it was time to leave! Our plan was to leave at 3pm and we were pulling out of the driveway at 2:55! Took a gorgeous scenic route down HWY 90, stopped in Eureka for lunch (and to do some serious people watching, since BBBQ is going on) then got back on the road. Ahhh yes.... 73 degrees, running right on time and so ready to rodeo. Of course that was too good to be true. 

We managed to pass the entrance to the rodeo grounds and had to pull off to get turned around and somehow chose the one parking lot with a steep entrance, NO turn around and a HUGE drop off on the side. That's "The Bad." In front of the parking lot was a decent sized, flat, piece of grass so we decide to pull up to attempt a U turn.. In a 25ft horse trailer and a common rail, that's not the easiest. Started to do some backing then heard a crrruuuunnnchhhh. I already knew what it was but was hesitant to turn around and look... Yep, the trailer jack knifed and shattered the left side of the rear glass in the truck. Let's just say that the next 10 minutes was "The Ugly" and leave it at that. The short trek to the correct entrance was a silent one.

Thankfully, it was back to "The Good." After the situation cooled off, Nathan's first words were, "Well, I hope that makes your blog." Since it was in a monotone voice, I didn't answer because I wasn't sure if it was supposed to funny, serious or if he was still mad. But in my head I'm thinking, there is no way that's not going in my blog. Maybe one day, we'll go to a rodeo and things will be smooth (knock on wood). Miss Rodeo Old Fort Days, Jessica Stamps, pulled in beside us. We got our horses and ourselves ready then headed to check in. 

We met up with Teen Miss Rodeo Arkansas 2014, Caitlin Jacobs, and Rodeo Old Fort Days Princess, Ashton. Max did his best queens run yet! Followed by pushing cows at a rodeo for his first time! He was a bit anxious and ancy about the noise from the shoots. His eyes and ears were glued to the cowboy and the calf as they roped or wrestled but when it was time to do his job, he did it well. I couldn't be happier with his performance because it's so much to take in and he is such a champ. The rest of the night was smooth sailing. Peanut Butter Kettle Corn and some pretty serious air guitar turned the night into an overall success!

Live. Love. Rodeo. 

It's what you leave behind you...

"It ain't what you take when you leave this world behind you. It's what you leave behind you when you go." Randy Travis

I've had two weeks with no rodeos but that doesn't mean the representing stops. I believe that when you have a title that places you in a role model position, you are constantly being observed. One of the most beautiful things about the horse world is introducing other people, especially children, to it. There are few things more special than seeing a kid get excited about horses and begin to ask questions. I am always more than happy to answer them because when I was younger, I had the questions but no one too ask them too. From day to day I hope that I live as a positive representative of rodeo and  teach others about the characteristics that the western way of life embraces. And I aspire to do so, not only when I am at an event but in casual conversations and by introducing others to horses.

This Friday I will be signing autographs at Down & Dirty, an event that is hosted by one of my main sponsors, Rush Springs Ranch. Then Max and I will be headed to Harrison rodeo on Saturday. As of this week, Max has new shoes, floated teeth and we've been working on our queens runs so we are super excited about Harrison. 

See ya at the rodeo! 

Lessons Learned

Remember Madison County rodeo a few weeks ago? We learned to always allow an extra couple of hours when doing thing that involve horses. Good thing I took that lesson into consideration when heading to Vinita on Friday!

Our goal was to head to pick up Jessica (my friend and 2013 Miss Rodeo Old Fort Days) at 3:00pm. I woke up knowing that my horse trailer had a board loose and my boyfriend was planning to fix it while I was at class. I pull in at 2:45 to Nathan completely frustrated because after 3 drill bits down and a couple hours of trying… the board was NOT getting fixed that day. I got Max ready and loaded him in the second half of the trailer. Needless to say it was a quiet drive to Jessica’s because we were both irritated. Him - from messing with the trailer. I – from running late… again. One of my biggest pet peeves is not being on time.

Thankfully Jessica had a trailer we could borrow. Our plan B was to hitch up to her trailer with Nathan’s truck… of course, the ball on his truck was wrong the size. On top of that, we discovered that I did not unhook the trailer lights from underneath the gooseneck and when we turned it tore every fiber from my trailer light hookup. Great. Now with one lightless trailer and the wrong hitch… we had a pretty a good idea where things were headed.

Jessica’s dad was kind enough to let us borrow his truck! After getting hitched and moving things from one truck to another we hit the road around 4:30. Twenty minutes into the drive the tack room door flew open (even though it was locked!), so we stopped and closed it. Thirty minutes later it was open again! It happened seven times! Thankfully, we had our fix it man, Nathan, and he tied a ratchet strap to a horse tie on the trailer and latched down the door.

So the truck thermostat may have been a bit off...
but it felt like 134 degrees!

We arrived at 6:15. Warmed up the horses, our poor boys were drenched with sweat in no time. We changed in the truck with A/C. We had the privilege of meeting several other queens, including the reining junior and Miss Will Rogers Memorial Rodeo, Junior Miss Rodeo Oklahoma and Miss 101 Rodeo. During the queens runs, the current queens had to do a run and a half then continue to a second gate so that they can push cows later… Jessica and I were under the impression we

were to do the same thing.  As I approached the gate that they exited, people started pointed and yelling “no keep going!” So we got to do double queens runs! All we could do was laugh because we were the only ones out in the arena as we finished our runs and the announcer played “How bout them Cowgirls” over the system. Maximus’ first queens run was a success. He was very controlled, now we just have to work on speed! After cooling off our horses, we signed all of our autograph sheets plus a few hats and boots in about 30 minutes because the kids were so ecstatic that we were there.

My favorite thing is meeting eyes with a child who really wants to talk with you but is too shy. I love when they decide to open up and before too long, it's hard to find a stopping point in the conversation because the kid is so excited about rodeo. I hope to help make kids' first rodeo experience a memory; because often times that memory can turn into tradition. And tradition is what rodeo is all about.