Credit where Credit is Due

I am constantly posting about all of the events, rodeos, schools and local volunteer opportunities that I participate in but all to often I forget to mention those that make it possible. Without my sponsors, I literally could not do my job. The duties of a rodeo queen can be overwhelmingly expensive; from chaps and belts to diesel and repairs. My sponsors are so generous and simply inspiring. Their willingness to help me reach my dreams has encouraged me to give back in the same way when I am financially stable and able.

One of my largest supporters is my Farm Credit of Western Arkansas family. After two years of employment and making some of my closest friends there, I cannot be more thankful for their monetary help and overall supportiveness. FCS opened up opportunities and helped me gain experiences that I undoubtedly could not have done otherwise.

I am grateful to Pea Ridge Veterinary Clinic and Arvest Bank of Pea Ridge for their financial support. It is such an honor to recieve support from the community where I grew up; they shaped me into who I am and I am so glad to call Pea Ridge my home town.

Lone Creek Performance Horses has played a HUGE and irreplaceable part by donating my beautiful autograph sheets. I met Davids Edwards at Rodeo of the Ozarks last year and he quickly became my friend. His enthusiastic willingness to help me is such a blessing.

Rush Springs Ranch is another family that I am proud to be a part of; after riding there several summers, I have grown close to the owner and workers. Rush Springs Ranch paid my entry fee for the contest in addition to gave me a horse to use throughout the year. Maximus, my sponsored horse, was not being used and needed some polishing. Owner, Russ Van Elk, quickly offered to sponsor him to me during my rein. Max and I have become quite a team; as I work with him and he has taught me so much.

I have my great friend, Nicole Shelton,  to thank for my awesome photograhpy on my autograph sheets. Nicole Shelton Photography does a great job at making you feel special during your photoshoot and is so such a sweet young lady to work with.

The Rodeo of the Ozarks Board of Directors has quickly become another extension of my family. I have turned to them with any needs and they are quick to meet them. I am overwhelmed by their continued support and willingness to help. 

Various others have supported through monetary contributions for gas to rodeos, trucks to pull my gooseneck and even new tires on my truck. I never dreamed that becoming Miss Rodeo of the Ozarks was a dream I would fulfill and the experience has been a hundred times more rewarding than I imagined.

When looking back over this list. I realized that I repeatedly use the word "family" to describe my networking throughout the year but that is truly what my supporters have become. My family.

Queens n Things

In my opinion, Saturdays should be spent relaxing or doing house chores but not this one.

I started off Saturday morning off at 7am with a 7 mile jog in 29 degree weather, NO slacking because I am doing a half marathon, on March 30th!

Then spent some time with my family and grandparents that were in town from Texas and got  ready for the 3-hour trek to Conway.

I left at noon so I could make a stop in Russellville, Arkansas to see my second family and visit with them. While attending Arkansas Tech University, Houston and Carol Townsend took me in (you could say) and welcomed me into their family along with 2 horses, a donkey, several cats, 3 dogs and a raccoon. Stopping to see them helped to break the trip up a little.




I made it to Conway right on time to jump right into getting ready for the Miss Rodeo Arkansas 2014 Coronation & fundraiser. I had to opportunity to visit with several other reining queens as we participated in the fashion show and helped sell 50/50 raffle tickets. The fashion show was a whirlwind but so much fun! Ladies modeled western outfits by Barbara Ware Western Wear, Jewelry by Cali Worthen and clothes by The Flirty Chick. We also got to highlight the sponsor, Daniel's electric. The night was filled with entertainment, fashion and celebration as we officially welcomed Stephanie Kaeppel to her duties as Miss Rodeo Arkansas 2014. I am so excited to follow her adventures throughout the coming year! After the dinner and live auction, the queens congregated for pictures. We were asked to put our Daniel's Electric T-shirts back on to get a photo with the sponsor. I got caught up chatting (imagine that). So I rushed to change into my T-shirt and hurried back to the stage, we all get posed and put on our biggest smiles...  when the princess next to me graciously points out that my shirt was on backwards!! Of course that would happen... Leave it to me, to livin' things up a little. Thankfully, at that point, almost everyone had cleared out. I am not quite sure how I manage sometimes!

Thanks to Daniel's Electric, I already had a comfy T-Shirt on so I loaded up and headed for home around 8:15pm. Thankfully, Alma makes for the perfect Braums Ice Cream stop to give the extra kick I needed to stay awake. I enjoy road trips by myself because it gives me much needed time to reflect and think. It made me so excited to think about the possibility of one day being in Stephanie's shoes and embarking upon such a life changing experience. I concocted a game plan for the practice and preparation I plan to do as I prepare to hopefully become the next Miss Rodeo Arkansas! I made it home around 11:30pm. Ya know, people give me a hard time about driving my "old farm truck" but for a '93 model with 195,000 miles, he sure is reliable and probably has a lot less problems than most modern vehicles.

Wishing you much sunshine in the days to come!
KP

The Only Thing That Stays The Same Is... Everything Changes!

Not even one month into the near and already so much has began to evolve in 2014. I promise I haven't completely quite my duties as a rodeo queen. I've taken a bit of a "step back" from all of the public appearances and school visits for a bit to get refocused on my own schooling.

This scholastic semester is by far the hardest yet! Every class is going to be a challenge but it will be doable. I am also preparing to take the LSAT on February 8th so I have set aside an hour a day to study which gets to be time consuming between school, work, riding, working out and class work! The LSAT determines whether or not I get into law school; it also costs $165 to take... so I am aiming to pass it on my first attempt!

After February 8th; I will resume school visits and some other very exciting events! Another changing factor is my occupation. Due to my midday, rigorous classes I was unable to continue working for Farm Credit. After sadly leaving that family, I quickly gained the opportunity to work more with my other second family at the Parsons Stadium office. I absolutely love going to work everyday and being a part of helping in the office, preparing for events and handling marketing and social media aspects.

Now, enough of my personal, life... I just thought I'd offer a bit of an excuse for my lack of queening-ness! On Martin Luther King Jr Day, the University of Arkansas did not have classes so I decided to do some volunteering. We (Shiloh & I) started at the Fayetteville Animal Shelter, where I took photos of dogs and cats for the shelter's web page. You can see some of the pictures on my photography page: KP Photography. I'll be sure to post a link. Maybe you need a new furry friend. I found out that it's not a good idea to where queen clothes while doing this (I thought I was saving myself from having to change clothes before our next stop). In one pen, I dog literally jumped into my hair and knocked off my hat. I'm sure I was quite the sight! After spending several hours photographing and playing with other dogs... I got back into the truck with one very resentful dog of my own. One would have thought that I had traded Shiloh in because he wouldn't even look at me!


But I was soon forgiven when he began to get all of the attention at the Shiloh Nursing & Rehab center. We spent several hours visiting with the residents. Shiloh was by far the star of the show!

Any Day Riding is a Good One

You would think something as simple as planning to meet a friend to ride at an indoor arena would be a leisurely Saturday morning activity. Turns out that even the simplest tasks can be completely complicated. 

I typically use my boyfriend's truck to pull my trailer because there is no way my 1993 F150 is hauling a gooseneck 2 horse slant! Rikki Taylor and I had been planning to ride since the beginning of the week because between snow, ice, rain and below zero weather, our horses had been a bit neglected. Friday at 10pm I found out the truck I typically use had other plans on Saturday morning. So I text Rikki and she offered to come pick me up, problem solved! 

Saturday morning rolls around and I over slept my 6:40 alarm by 20 minutes (possibly from my 5 hour average of sleep per night the past week) but with a little rushing around I would still be ready on time. At 7:30am Rikki calls and says she forgot her saddle! We will be a little late, but no big deal, that gives me a bit longer to get saddled. Of course, it turned out that Rikki had her saddle the entire time. When she got to the house I loaded Max and we rolled out only get on the road and have to take a detour due to a huge road block. We plugged the arena address into our phones but it got us lost on a dirt road! Making a U-Turn in a guys front yard, we back tracked and took a longer route. We still needed to get cash to rent out the arena, so we stopped at Dollar General only to find out, they don't give cash back so we ended up with $2 bottle of water... then went to the ATM in good ole, Cave Springs, AR and it was out of service. So we head to Highfill and use the ATM at a gas station. Third time is the charm, right? Back on the road we missed our turn 3 times because Rikki's truck breaks are going out. After finally arriving an hour after our reservation time... we ended up having a good riding and working on barrels. 

Hoping for much more efficient traveling experiences for the rest of 2014!

New Year, New Dreams

2013 was a year of some pretty huge changes. I transferred colleges. I became Miss Rodeo of the Ozarks, which is a huge milestone. I met a man who changed my life. I was sponsored a horse that has become my other half. I’ve changed jobs and changed back jobs. I began photography. I’ve been through family trials that are close to indescribable. Every time the roller coaster called Life seemed to bring me to lowest point, God pushed the cart back up and brought me back to the highest hill.

2013 was a crazy one but the year has shaped a bright future and changed my perspective on a lot of things. It made me decide to become an Agricultural attorney. Go big or go home. Right? It also made me decide to run for Miss Rodeo Arkansas.

Several years ago I would not have imagined myself in the boots that I am today. I didn’t have the opportunity to grow up on the back of a horse like most rodeo queens. But I have had the opportunity to grow up in a family of discipline. I want to overcome the stereotypes. I want to prove that if you have a dream; you can reach it with hard work and determination.

 I am a typical small town girl from a middle class dysfunctional family and divorced parents. I drive an old ’93 Ford. I am 5’2” on a good day, which makes mounting tall horses a workout. I have freckles that I can’t stand. I am average but I have a dream. It is my goal to be an example for children and a role model to those who don’t have one. I want to make kids realize their own dream and to have the opportunity to share a sport that I have fallen in love with. Rodeo has shaped me into who I am and I dream of the chance to share it with others.

In 2014 I plan to run for Miss Rodeo Arkansas. With past queens like Kirbi Allen, Shana Carter, Jessica Chitwood and Dilynn Dodd I have some big shoes to fill. But it is ladies like them who have inspired me. My work will be cut out for me because it is a big commitment. I will be riding every chance I get and learning every moment I can.

“Keep on dreaming even if it breaks your heart.” May 2014 be a year of reaching your dreams!

Horse Tails, Horse Tales and other Tales

Last week, I read an article on the front page of the Northwest Arkansas Times about a program called Horse Tales for Literacy. It is a program designed to encourage students to read and get them excited by allowing them a hands on opportunities. Find out more by going to: http://horsetalesliteracy.org/

After reading it, I knew I wanted to get involved so I got in touch with those in charge and soon found myself at the front door of Harp Elementary in Springdale, Arkansas. At Harp I was placed at a station that talked about the uses of horses around the world, specifically divided between work horses and recreational horses. Can you guess what my section was?? You got it, recreational = rodeo! I spoke to 4th grade students from Harp, Lee, George and Jones elementary school about the 6 events in rodeo that use horses and briefly described each. The time was a bit restraining on how much elaboration I could do but nonetheless, I great way to introduce kids to the sport and promote my rodeo. I was sure to mention Rodeo of the Ozarks, since it's in their hometown. When beginning the presentation, we ask the kids, "Can anyone name some uses of horses?" One student exclaimed "To eat them!" another quickly and seriously retorted, "no, that is illegal." I'm thankful I didn't have to address that one much, I quickly diverted by saying that here in the U.S. we do not because we consider horses to be a companion animal but they do have many important uses...

This morning I was at Bayarri Elementary and stati

oned at the grooming/ shoeing area. The kids have a journal of questions that they are supposed to filling out as the rotate stations. In this group, I was able to speak more and the kids seemed to enjoy it more because of the hands on factor. I had a table of grooming utensils set up and briefly told the kids about the most important ones while letting them touch each one. Some of the comments and questions asked were very interesting because they ask things that a horse person, never thinks twice about. Thankfully, when preparing to run for Miss Rodeo of the Ozarks, I had a great support team (especially my boyfriend) who helped prepare to answer questions on the spot. I can attribute my ability to think quick because of the pop up questions he would ask me and I would rattle of an answer in a heartbeat. After giving the students a run down of grooming, we split them up into two lines and each child got to brush a horse several times then pass it to the next person. While they were brushing, I asked them if they had any other questions about horses or about me. By the second part of the day, I though I'd heard it all when the ultimate question was asked, "How do you tell if it's a boy or a girl?" A quick wave of panic probably swept over my face but all day I had been relating horses to the kids so my response, "just like you boys and girls have different body parts, so do horses. If you look underneath them, you can tell the difference." In another group, we some extra time so I asked if they had questions about me. One question turned into another and one student asked to touch my belt buckle so I let her... bad choice because if you let one, the rest of them have too as well. As if that wasn't a lesson learned, another kid wanted to see my crown so I squatted down to let him see it. And... you guessed it, all of them had to see it. The result? My leg workout for the day was one really long squat!




I had such a great time, not only working with kids, but getting to know the kind people behind hosting such a spectacular opportunity. Jacci Perry and the team presented me with the sweetest box of gifts in order to thank me for helping but in reality, no thanks is needed because it was such a rewarding time. I look forward to the next Horse Tales for Literacy events in Bentonville and Rogers around March or April.

Hope everyone is staying warm!

It's beginning to look alot like...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!! I cannot think of a better way to wrap up the month of November and get in the Christmas spirit by gathering with friends at the Rodeo of the Ozarks hometown, Springdale. This year's largest to date, parade had over 50 floats from local organizations and hundreds of spectators. It was about forty five degrees, which felt much cooler on top of the convertible sponsored but it could have been much worse. A tremendous thank you to Everett GMC for the flashy ride! Kenzie rode with us and helped me greet spectators during the parade by using her princess wave and saying Merry Christmas. The floats were an absolute joy to see all of the variations, creativity and lights. Emma Street was completely lined with people and you could feel the familiar magical Christmas attitude with smiles, hot chocolate, warm blankets and even warmer wishes. Happy Thanksgiving and a very Merry Christmas to you and your family!