Flu Season & barrel run

Well, it has been a LONG time, but I got the flu. It wasn't that bad thank goodness! I started feeling yucky on Sunday. I felt REALLY bad Monday and dragged myself to work. Felt almost as bad on Tuesday and after talking to a teacher decided I better go see a doctor to make sure I wasn't contagious. So, I took a 1/2 day and went to the doc. He told me I had the flu and I had to take thursday off too. So, I slept a lot and laid around even more. I am feeling much better today. My voice is still froggy, but not as bad as it was on Tuesday.

Ryan is now getting sick. I hope he doesn't end up with the flu too. He has a roping on Saturday and I have a barrel race. So, hopefully he'll be well enough to go to his roping. I know I'll be fine for the barrel race.

Shelby is stuffy, but there isn't much we can do for her. :( She is such a trooper. She can barely breath out of her noise and she still is full of smiles and giggles. She wakes up around 2:30 am and normally eats and goes right back to bed. Since she can't breathe all that well it takes her a lot longer to go back to sleep. Last night was my turn...so I laid on her floor while she was in the bouncy seat trying to fall asleep. Around 4 am she started to doze off so I put her in her bed. She slept until 6:30 this morning. Poor little girl.

Here is my run from last Saturday. I am excited I have another run this weekend. I'm so ready to make the corrections I need to make so I can get that winning time!!! I hope I feel well enough tonight to ride Badger so he can get some exercise. He has a busy day on Saturday with the roping in the morning and the barrel race in the afternoon. How sad....we have 5 horses...and 1 horse has to do all the work right now!

This weekend

This weekend we went to New Caney for my barrel race. I did ok. I didn't push Badger past the 2nd barrel so we came to almost a complete stop so we wouldn't knock it down. That costs us about 1 1/2 seconds on our time. That is HUGE in barrels, so I was a little dissapointed. Badger has so much rate you have to push him all the way until the last 2nd or he'll stop and turn. I guess I quit pushing 1 stride too soon...and the result was getting way too close to the barrel. But, we kept them up and ran a 17.4. We left shortly after I ran cause the weather was cold and windy and we had Shelby. So, I have to wait to see if I placed anywhere. Hopefully I did and won some money. That would be good.

After the barrel race we stopped by Baskin's to pick up a couple of shirts for me to wear. I have to get our sponsor's to embroider their name on it.

On Sunday Shelby and I went to church. She was a little cranky on Sunday so once the music stopped and the sermon began she got cranky. I took her to the nursery where she SCREAMED until they came and got me. So, I then settled her down and fed her. I attemted to go back into the sanctuary but I wasn't there very long before she started fussing again. She was really tired and wouldn't go to sleep. So, I left early. I wasn't two minutes into the drive and she was sleeping. So, Ryan and I went and got groceries cause we knew she'd sleep the whole time. Sure enough she did...she woke up when we were checking out. She was all smiles and talked a lot. So, we called the grandparents so they could hear her talk.

The rest of the day we just hung out at the house.

Today, I'm feeling pretty achy and yucky. I am hoping to feel better as the day goes on as I don't have very many sick days left since I used most of them for my maternity leave. Hopefully it is just a cold, but I'm really achy so I guess we'll see. I did not sleep well at all and that doesn't help. But, I'm being positive and plan to stay busy. Hopefully this day will go by very quickly.

Barrels and Roping

I forgot to mention that Ryan got 2nd place in the roping last weekend. I also have a barrel race tomorrow in New Caney.

I'll probably have video to add on Monday.

My Romeo

I'm so excited with how Romeo is coming along. Yesterday I ponied him while I rode Badger out in the back pasture to get them both some exercise. I even opened them up into a gallop. At first Romeo wasn't sure what to do w/the speed but then he learned to pick it up a pace and kept up with us just fine. It looked effortless!

Afterwards I got on Romeo in the round pen and taught him how to move forward w/o anyone helping us. It took a little while. He kept going to the middle of the round pen which is their 'safe spot' or 'resting spot'....but soon he would go forward and leave that area with my help. I was able to work him in both directions at a walk. He is starting to figure out what to do w/me on his back. Yes! I will work him at a walk for a while until I feel he really understands what I am asking of him and then we'll move on to the trot. I'm having so much fun with him. I can't wait until he learns all three gates in the round pen and we can work our way out to the pasture.

Horses & Shelby

The last few days have been quiet at the Boudrie Household. We have been working horses in the afternoon and working during the day. I've been real pleased with Mito and Romeo's progress.

Mito is really starting to hunt that first barrel and he is improving on the 2nd and 3rd. I believe in another week he'll have those down real nice as well. We bought some barrels, so now I have some barrels in our pasture to do the slow work with him during the week. That will help him progress much more quickly. My goal is for him to be loping the pattern pretty nicely in the next 30 days. He lopes it now, but I want it smooth and fluid. That will help us sell him and that will also up his price.

Romeo is starting to learn how to walk on his own while someone is riding him. He doesn't care about much of anything. He just goes with the flow. I hope to ride him tonight or tomorrow. Ryan rode him for the first time yesterday and fell in love w/him all over again. We both decided to keep him a stud as long as he behaves himself. We hope to breed him in a year or two after we get him trained to see what kind of babies he'll throw.

Shelby is growing and learning everyday. She has learned how to sing and sings to Ryan on the way to the babysitters. It is too cute. He called me at work just so I could hear her. Here are a couple of pictures of her from this last week.

Getting ready for church. Ryan still wants his boy so he doesn't like it when I dress her up. Oh well, he's got two girls now and he's stuck with us. She even has her cowboy boots on. She has 4 pairs now! I didn't buy any of them either! They were all gifts.

Lifting her head up in bed. She's getting really strong and can hold her head up for a long time now. I'm sure she'll start rolling over real soon.

New Roof

We got our new roof put on yesterday. Hurricane Ike messed it up so we had to place a claim and they finally got the opportunity to put on. None other than our sponsors themselves, All State Roofing, put it up. They did an awesome job. It took just a few hours.




This is Shelby's newest face when she gets excited. It cracks me up everytime!

This Weekend

Here's a picture of Ryan with the horses. I just like this picture. There are some other cool ones on the horses link.

We didn't do too much this weekend. We hung out around the house, went to church, did some errands in town. We also got Romeo's teeth done. He had to have a few caps removed and then the normal dental work. He should be ready for a bit in about a week. We've just been using a halter and lead ropes. I've added new pics of him under horses. He has grown so much. He is 2 1/2 now and about 15.1 hands and growing. Yickes! He is so smart and calm. He just goes with the flow. It's so awesome. Even when he had his teeth pulled he didn't fuss that much. He was sedated but they can still fight if they want to. He didn't like it, but he dealt with it. I can't wait for him to learn to lead on his own w/o another horse around. I hope to accomplish that this week.

Here's the latest pic of him.

Here's a picture of him and Badger...Badger is around 15.2 and probably 1200 or so pounds...as you can see Romeo is not far off of that...he just needs to fill out more. We expect him to be bigger than Badger. So far, he's still a stud.

Shelby's 1st Ride & 3 Month Bday

Here's a picture of Shelby riding and the video of her. She was crying before we put her up there. As soon as we put her up there she quit and just looked around. It was too cute.

Video of her :)

Cute Video

Here's a video of Shelby. I also have added pictures to our horses, Texas, and Shelby links. Enjoy

Cute picture of Shelby sucking her thumb.

Thanks All State Roofing

Ryan and I are now officially sponsored by All State Roofing. They have been sponsoring Ryan for the last year or so, but this year they have added me to their 'roster.' I'm soooooooooo excited! They will cover my entry fees for the local jackpots + the big shows. This is such a blessing to us! It will allow me to get out there and do what I love w/o worrying about the financial side of it. God is Good and so are our friends Michelle and Davis Dumas who own All State Roofing.

They work in the southeran region of the United States, not just the Houston area. So, if you need roof work done be sure to contact them for all your needs. :) They will be replacing our roof as well due to damages done during Hurricane Ike.

2009 keeps looking better and better for us! Praise God!

Shelby's Newborn Pictures

I finally got access to Shelby's pictures from the hospital. Now, I have to decide which one to go with. She looks soooooooo different now! Wow, it's amazing how quickly they change.

Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 3

Picture 4

I found out I placed 7th in the Novice on Saturday. It is not quite where i wanted to be, but that is ok. We had a bad first barrel so there is lots of room for improvement and moving up into the rankings. That's what is good about a whole year of competition. Consistancy is EVERYTHING.

Barrel Run

Well, my barrel run went pretty well except for the 1st barrel. Still workign on those trust issues. So, I checked him way too early and then he switched to the left lead and then back to the right and wasn't able to position himself. The 2nd and 3rd were AWESOME! I'm so proud of him! I can't for the next run.

Shelby and Marecka Girls

This is a picture Karen took of the girls one of the evenings she watched Shelby. :) I thought the pic was just too cute not to share.

I'm heading off to my barrel race in a another hour. I can't wait. I should be taking a nap with Shelby and Ryan but I am too excited. I'll have a video of our run I'll upload tomorrow or Monday. Hopefully it will be an awesome run for you to enjoy. I just gotta keep up with Badger. :)

I got to ride Romeo again today. Thomas, a friend of ours, came over and ponied him for me. He did GREAT to say the least. I often have to remind myself that Romeo is only two because he acts so mature. A few more rides like that and then back to the round pen so we can learn how to ride w/o another horse and then we'll be good to go.

Romeo & Stacie

I am so please to announce that I rode our red roan stud colt today. I was the VERY first one to ride him and I'm just tickled to have had that pleasure. Romeo and I have really built a relationship over the last year. Since I got pregnant all I could do was groom him, work him in the round pen, and build a relationship with him. It has paid off. He was a complete gentleman today. He never once fussed. He also licked his lips a lot which is a sign of acceptance and submission in the horse world. It also is a way to know they are processing the information being fed to them (me riding him). He never once gave us any signs he was going to buck or do anything inappropriate.

We will have to snub him up to Badger a few more times and then I’ll ride him in the round pen w/ Badger and Ryan a few more times. If all goes well, I’ll ride him by myself in the round pen and then eventually we’ll make it out to the pasture without being snubbed up to a horse. He is a very gentle horse but if he were to buck he could do some serious damage because he is so big. So, we want to make sure we aren’t going to have any issues w/him at all! After he is broke we’ll probably just ride him for a few months before teaching him anything. It is so hard w/Shelby being so small to ride let alone train a young horse. So, We’ll just take our time w/him.

Speaking of young horses…Mito is coming along nicely on the barrels. I need to get a video of him made and then put him on some horse web sites with the intent to sell him. We need to sell him and Cowgirl. It is time to downsize. We did get a call on Mito yesterday. We’ll see what happens.

I did create a new blog that I will use as a link for people to see the horses, information about hem as well as videos, etc. It is http://www.rockingrshorses.blogspot.com/.

Only 1 ½ more days until I make my first run of the year!!!

Here's to 2009 - because it will bring good finances, good renters, and good runs to the Boudrie's.

Oh - I almost forgot - Luckily Romeo and I didn't turn out like this! HAHA! This is a real picture. You can read the caption below the picture.