Here's my post-show report (a little late) for the Broken K Contesting Show held on November 21, 2010.
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I arrived at the barn with my mom about a half hour before Lisa and Troy would get there (they had to feed the Brand dogs (Dakota and Turbo), cuz the Brands were out of town). I brought Missy inside, settled her in a stall, filled up her water bucket and tossed her some grain. I walked back to the chicken coop where the grain is and got a scoop, pouring it into Missy's feeder as quickly as possible. I had a lot to do before we left for the show! The things I did over the next half hour included packing the trailer, scooping old poop out of the trailer (from when Chief was brought home), brushing Missy and picking out her feet, and brushing out her mane and tail. Fun stuff!
Lisa and Troy finally arrived and hooked up the trailer while I threw Cookie some hay, gave Lucy a little love over the fence, and got a lead rope onto Missy to load her. When it was time to load, Lisa walked Missy up towards the ramp, and Missy planted her feet; business as usual. I brought the lunge lines up behind her butt, applied a little pressure, and she walked right in like there was no tomorrow.
We headed to the show, and had a very, very long drive. When we arrived - about a half hour later than planned - I ran inside to sign up while Lisa and Troy started to get Missy out and ready. When I returned after signing up for Youth Barrels and Dash For Cash, Missy was saddled and Lisa was working on getting her galloping and splint boots on her. I helped, and in no time it was done! Getting my helmet on, I bridled Missy and we walked/trotted around in the field for a minute. Then, I tightened my girth and proceeded inside the arena to get warmed up!
Missy acted like this was old news. She walked, trotted, cantered, sliding stopped, turned, neck reigned, and backed like a pro. When we went outside into the big field to practice lead changes, she got them every time! Soon it was time for warmups, so I went inside and paid KC (the 'money man') for one run. I waited, and when it was our turn, I simply went and cantered it. After that, Missy was wound tight. She knew the next run would be a run run. And it was close to a run. But I held her back just a little, letting her loose enough for everyone to get a taste of our speed, but holding her back enough to have people wondering.
Then came the long, long wait for my actual classes. Just like last time, we went back to the trailer. Lisa, Troy and I fixed spaghetti and when my mom arrived, she read a magazine. We chilled out, swapped stories, and just had fun for a good two hours. Then we decided it was time to get ready again. So I re-bridled Missy and practiced walking, trotting, cantering, galloping, lead changes, and bending on a very narrow strip of ground. When we were done, Lisa came and helped me stretch Missy.
We went inside, and again, waited. Finally, it was our turn. My heart wouldn't stop pounding, Missy wouldn't stop prancing. Finally, the announcer said 'run 'em!' and I whacked Missy in the sides. We shot out of the holding pens like a bullet, and whipped around the first barrel. I was nervous about the second one - that's the one I cut my leg on the last time - but we got around it with no problem. The third barrel we got around in two strides. One stride going in, one stride going out. And then we ran home. It felt amazing, even before I heard out time: 14.9 seconds. That is within one second of the 1D winner's time. Can you believe it? We ended up getting first place in 2D! I won $32 for that class.
In the very next class, I ran Dash. Last time I ran Dash For Cash, I nearly fell off because I wasn't ready. But trust me, I've been practicing the 'lean back around turns' thing. I've even started doing it English, can you believe it? Ha! Anyways, when we were called to go, Missy was prancing again. She wouldn't calm down enough for us to do a trotting circle, so I did a really tiny canter circle and then... WHAM. We were off! I kicked and clucked until we got to that barrel, then reached and pulled and we twisted around it like... like nothing else. Our time: 6.6 seconds! That's .7 seconds faster than our last time! Whooooot! Our winnings for that class was $30, 2nd place overall! I felt so good.
Then it was time to pack up and go home. It was a really, really nice show, and it was a ton of fun, even though Taylor and Sam didn't get to go. And guess whose maybe coming to watch me at my next show on December 19? GARTH! Remember him? I bailed hay at his house last summer and we got lots of hay in return for helping him. Garth's the guy who eats one meal a day and lives off of Coke. Not Pepsi, but Coke. I know what you're thinking, "HOW can he like Coke and not Pepsi? Pepsi is way better!" Anyways, Garth's wife was the old owner of Miss/Misty/Miss T (her name keeps getting changed), and he's got lots of barrel racers. Maybe I'll get to ride for him, too? I don't think I could handle riding for three barns, all so far away from each other. That'd take a lot of time, commitment, money, and GAS!
Oh, well. My point is, it was a fun show at Broken K, the next one is December 19th, and I'm gonna KICK BUTT!
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