Last Day

I am now saying goodbye to all of you who are listening! I hope you have enjoyed hearing about my rodeo experiences and learning all of the events that you can participate in, in high school rodeo. Since this is my last post I want to tell you that rodeo is a fun and thrilling experience for all! I have enjoyed the sport since I was probably 3 years old! I can tell you that I will still be competing in it for the rest of my life, or until i get to old to do so! Everyone who has and loves horses I encourage you to try anything that can be done in the rodeo arena! I will be out there making my rounds in the rodeo circuit, meeting people and possibly winning some events and rodeos along the way. I also beleive that rodeo, just like any sport can bring the competitiveness out of anyone; sometimes its a good thing and sometimes bad. But being more confient in yourself is a great thing, people always neeed to believe in themselves and sports such as rodeo tend to do just that! So thank you again for reading!

Barrel Racing

Today is all about the barrel racing! Personally, I have been barrel racing since I was 3, it's been a great event in rodeo for young and old ladies. Growing up on a horse means I have been from a rodeo family my entire life. Rodeo is all i know when it comes to horses. Barrel Racing has a lot to do with breeding and speed in the horse. Brains is a little in the mix but you need to be crazy enough to want to ride a horse at top speed! Barrel Racing has been a long and bumpy ride for me. I was never really serious about it till I moved to Virden then when i started with high school rodeo I wasn't totally prepared for everything to happen so fast!

   When I started high school rodeo, i had so much bad luck with this event. After finally starting to click with my barrel horse scooter, I was so excited to start maybe winning some rodeos! After placing in the top 10 almost every rodeo; finals came. I was so extatic to maybe win my first buckle. As soon as I hopped on him to warm up he felt great, then it was 2 girls before me so I was making my tight little turns to get him a little more hot. As soon as i turned him once I felt it; a dead lame limp under me. He couldn't walk! I was so upset and shocked I couldn't even think about my barrel run, but i had to go. After that I couldn't use him, so I had to use Chex who didn't know much about barrels..life was not to great. Then I had to barrel race chex and he wasn't having any of the barrels, he was more of a roping horse. after a year of trying to train chex into loving barrels I finally had enough! I went and bought a new barrel horse I really enjoy! We are really getting along and doing some good! So glad to have her!

Outside Article:

Following is a list of stallions that are playing an important role in the barrel horse industry. These stallions can be found in the pedigrees of our horses. You can navigate from the horses in this list to those Sunrise West horses with the particular stallion in their pedigree. From there you can reference other horses directly from the pedigree information provided.

All Night High	A big jet black racing son of On A High and out of an own daughter of Lady Bugs Moon.
Biankus	A Pacific Northwest prolific barrel horse producer.
Bugs Alive In 75	Year after year, the leading maternal grandsire of today's barrel horse winners.
Easy Jet	One of the greatest Quarter Horses of all time.
Easy Six	An Easy Jet son, and sire of Streakin Six.
Fire Water Flit	The leading Flit Bar son of the barrel horse world.
Fire Water Magic	An own son of Fire Water Flit, out of an own daughter of Bugs Alive In 75.
On The Money Red	The leading barrel horse sire of all time.
Packin Sixes	A leading barrel horse sire and a son of Streakin Six.
Streakin Six	The sire of Packin Sixes and Charmayne James' Cruiser.
Three Oh's	1968 All-American Futurity Winner.
Top Moon	The sire of Bugs Alive In 75, Lady Bug's Moon, and Bugged Moon.
Verily Sixes	Our stallion by Packin Sixes (Streakin Six) and out of an own daughter of On The Money Red.

Goat Tying

So, Goat tying is a really competitive event in all levels of rodeo. This event doesn't just take the skill and speed of your horse, it takes the agility of the rider too. You won't often see goat tying in a professional rodeo competition, but the event is enormously popular in junior high, high-school and college rodeos. It attracts female contenders as well as young people in high school rodeo. Goat tying is a timed event in the rider races to a staked out goat, flips it and ties 3 of its four legs. The participant with the fastest time wins the event. There are also penalties  if a goat is able to escape the tie during an 6-second tying period or if the rider's horse crosses the rope used to stake out the goat. Because competitive times are often under 10 seconds, a penalty of 5 seconds can effectively ruin a rider's chances of winning.

Outside article: 

2 different ways to tie:

Stuffing Vs. Pinning

Stuffing and pinning are 2 different flanking techniques. Stuffing requires that the goat's legs are collected while in the air. By contrast, pinning is the technique of collecting the legs off the ground. Most experts say that pinning is the preferred method. It's generally quicker and allows more control of the goat's legs than stuffing. To stuff properly, the competitor has to lift the goat higher from the ground, taking more time to do so. Because goat tying is a timed event, a second's delay can cost dearly.

Breakaway Roping

This is 2 days after my miss at Neepawa for breakaway roping. I can't miss much more since the next rodeo is finals and there is a three way tie for fourth place. Since nationals only goes to the top 4 we are all going to be trying hard to out rope each other. So today I am out practicing for this weekend. With all the rain we are having though the thought of actually getting any good practice in, is looking really bad. But yet I will be outside throwing at the dummy if the weather decides to not co-operate.   

 For those of you who don't know how the event works, it's done with a rider and a horse. Breakaway roping is a fairly straightforward event. In a breakway run, the calf is placed in the chute and a barrier is looped around his neck. The rider has a rope attached to his saddle horn with a brightly colored marker on the end, such as a colored ribbon or bright tape. The timer begins as the chute opens and the calf runs out, with the rider in pursuit. The rider then ropes the calf around the neck and asks the horse to stop. The timer stops when the horse comes to a complete stop and the rope detaches completely from the saddle horn. The rider is penalized 10 seconds if his horse leaves the chute before the calf completes the barrier. The run will be marked as a "no time" if the rider misses the calf or if the rope slips loose before it pops loose from the saddle. Getting a no time is critical in this event, especially when the standings are that close. Not catching costs you lots of points. 

Outside Article: 

Breakaway Roping Tip: Position, Position, Position.

WHAT is position:

 It is where you want to be roping/throwing from.

WHERE is position:

 Perfect position is your horse straight in line behind the calf. Perfect position does several things-

1.Helps you catch more consistently :)

a. because it lines up your throw.  You should throw straight from your right shoulder, which should be down your horses right shoulder & to the calf's right shoulder if you are lined up straight behind the calf.

2. Helps your horse rate & stop harder. 

a. gives your horse a 'target' to run to, rate at & with that target in front of him, he'll be able to stop quicker & harder.

WHEN in position:

I always want to be in position when I'm roping in the practice pen, from the box or just tracking around the arena.  It's important for my horse to know where to go & if I put him in the same place every time I rope in practice, he will soon know his position & it will take less effort  to put him there & keep him there.

  Roping from the box position starts in the corner.  If you don't line up while sitting in the corner to break to the pin (the right corner of the roping chute), your horse will have a harder time getting into position.  If you break wide (to the center of the box) as you leave, your horse will often run to the right hip of the calf instead of straight behind.  This is a hard spot to SEE your calves from.  Also if your horse is breaking wide, he'll push your calf to run to the left more, because that calf will see him coming with his right eye. Breaking wide takes longer to get into position, so it's important to break to the pin for faster position & a faster throw. It's important to hold position all the way down the arena and not let your horse fade off to the left. Your left hand on the reins helps hold your horse in position. Do as little as possible with your left hand but keep your horse in position.

Tracking calves around the arena:  It is also important to keep position even when coming around a corner while tracking.  Not letting my horse cut the circle will help him understand where to be when we are going straight.

The depth of your position may vary from roper to roper.   It should be a comfortable distance to throw your rope to the target, not a reach. Some horses may need to be rode more aggressively after a few runs to help keep them close enough to the calf- they will be in line but not in position. Horses that have this tendency to be short, you've got to track up & keep them in there while roping in the practice pen.  Very few quick shots, other wise you'll have a very short horse. Some horses are real free running horses to calves, those you can rope quicker on more often without the worry of getting them short.

WHOs in position:

I believe the only exception to perfect position is for younger ropers on a bigger horse.   Ideally smaller horses make better breakaway horses because they have shorter necks to see over. Although some big horses are put together with short necks as well, they aren't very common.

 With younger ropers I understand as a parent, safety becomes the 1st concern when mounting your child and sometimes that's the biggest horse on the place!  So it may be difficult for them to see the calf if they are in perfect position (straight behind it).  It's OK to let them move their horse to the left a little so that they can see the calf.  It shouldn't be so far to the left that they are in heading position but just enough to see the calf. 

For older ropers that are roping on the taller/bigger horses, shortening the stirrups is usually effective in helping you see your target (calf).  Depending on which horse I'm roping on will depend where my stirrups are adjusted but I generally like them short to begin with to where with my feet all the way in my stirrups I can stand up & have about four to five inches between me & the saddle.

Neepawa High School Rodeo

     So, this past weekend was the last and final high school rodeo before finals. As you know i compete in the events goat tying, breakaway roping, barrel racing and team roping. knowing that I was going to have a busy weekend we (Ty, mom and I) left Thursday evening. Since figuring out that my barrel horse "Bugsy" runs better when we work the barrel pattern the night before the actual competition. 

     The first day of competition I get on my little bay mare, "Kitty" as i'm warming her up for our first event which is goat tying. As Kitty and I do our thing we ended up placing fourth that day with an 11.59, not to bad! Next is breakaway roping, for this event I actually use my brothers calf roping horse Chex. As he jumps off of him after his run we change the stir-ups so I can actually reach them and hop on placing third. After having lots of good luck in the first 2 events, barrel racing and team roping didn't totally go the way id hoped it would. Even with the sun shining it still wasn't the greatest rodeo day for me.

     Then there was the second day, having no luck at all with me! My goat decided to actually kick out my tie giving me a no time; also missing in both breakaway roping and team roping! To make matters worse I knocked a barrel over for barrel racing even! That is pretty much how my weekend went for me.

 

Team Roping

Team roping is one of my top favorite events of rodeo. This event is known as a mans sport professionally, but to high school competitors it goes for both genders. It is a team effort, so relying on your partner to catch is a must in this event. As my brother and I team rope together in the High school Rodeo Association I look towards my family for support but also to the professionals Cesar De La Cruz and Speed Williams. Cesar is the 14th best heeler in the world; qualifying for the National finals Rodeo five times and placing 10th overall in 2009.

Then there is Speed Williams an eight time world champion header with Rick Sheldon (heeler). Speed has qualified for the National finals Rodeo 14 times! 

 Even though he is a header and I am a heeler I still watch for his amazing reaches in team roping. As you can see in the picture above his reach is legendary! Having the clock not even start yet and throwing that much rope before being out of the box is an amazing skill!
   

Rapid City High School Rodeo

    This past weekend I competed in a two day High School Rodeo in Rapid City, Manitoba. I was participating in goat tying, breakaway roping, barrel racing and team roping. As all my high school rodeos start I get on my little mare "Kitty" for goat tying. After having a good first day, I go running in the second day but manage to losing my footing on the get off and landed on my head very gracefully. My luck had changed for breakaway though, I was first out and manged to catch in 3.4 seconds, winning breakaway roping! Leaving the arena happy as can be I started practising the rest of the day for team roping! After throwing my loop hundreds of times Ty and I manage to pull off a 7.3 second run winning the team roping also!

  I had a great and memorable weekend!