The Big Day

Tomorrow is the BIG day for Badger and me. It's what we have been working for since January. We had Gem work on him earlier this week and Ryan put rim shoes on his front end. I rode him last night to let him (and me) feel how the rims would work. Boy oh Boy...I better hang on is all I can say. He got down and dirty on the turns and it was AWESOME! It really helped his confidence knowing he could get a hold of that ground like that.

So, off to the races they say...

I'm number 338 on Saturday. I should run around 2 or 3 pm. If you are on the internet you can see the run live at http://www.worldbarrelracing.com/. Click on "Live Webcasts" and it will take you there.

Dream Big and Believe - I want it all....the money, the saddle, the car!

Wednesday

Well, we got on Rock Star last night. He's the horse someone gave to us last week. He is not goign to work at all. I worked him on flexing and worked him a little in the round pen to see what he could do. It seemed ok from the ground, so i climbed up on to what feels like Mt. Everest (he's VERY tall) and sat there for a moment. As soon as I put a little pressure on him w/my legs and kissed his ears went straight back! At one point his left back leg kicked out. I did get him moving and he responded well to positive reinforcement but this horse has had a bad life and needs someone w/time to get it that bad life out of him. We don't have that time. So, we are going to call a couple of people and if they don't want him he'll go to sale. He is a good looking horse for being a grade and it makes me sad he's got these problelms, but we don't have time for problems. We got our hands full with all these other horses.

We had hoped he would work fro Ryan's mom, so that was a bummer to realize he wouldn't.

Speaking of, they are going to get her sometime late Sunday. It will be good to see them and I know they can't wait to get their hands on Shelby. I am looking forward to the extra hands as well. I hope to get Romeo going in the pasture. I know he'll do fine but want another horse there just to be sure. The Boudrie parent's visiting will allow Ryan and me to do that. Yea!

Other than the big barrel race this weekend I don't have much more to report. So, the next time I report I will be reporting about my winnings. :) :)

Great Weekend - Fast Runs

Well, we weren't quite as snappy on Sunday and the competition was much tougher, but we still did great. There was over 100 entries and I believe we probably placed top 10. We placed 1st in the 2D with a 15.2. We are so pumped for this weekend's race in Conroe! It was great to get two consistent runs in this weekend and bring home $300. It feels great to finally win some money. Here's our run from Sunday...

Oh, Ryan said he's going to put rims on Badger's front so he can get better traction. This will build his confidence with getting a hold of the ground and help him turn and run even faster. You may not be able to see it, but he is slipping on the front which makes his back end have to make up for it. It's more noticeable on the 3rd barrel.

Sandy's Run

My friend Sandy wanted to see her run. The file was too big to email her so I'm posting here. :)

Smokin' Run from Saturday

This is Saturday's run - somehow it got deleted from my blog. This is the fastest we've ever run! We ran a 15.040...a 15.032 was the fastest time of the day.

pics and video of Shelby

I have added pictures to Shelby's link from last night. She was all about rolling yesterday.

This is my favorite pictures. You can see her cute dimples.

Here's a video of her. Sorry it is blurry, my camera was being weird last night.

We also took some pictures of the horse that was given to us. We haven't named him yet, but his name was Rock Star...we'll see if it sticks. Unlikely in this family.

Interesting Week

This has been an interesting week. Ryan's parents decided to come down to bring a horse to us. His Mom's beloved Shiner is not working out for her. He has more energy than she does so she has decided to bring him to us. We will see what we can do with him. We are hoping he'll work in our program, but if not we'll put some time on him and try to sell him for her. Ryan and I found Shiner a few years back for his Mom. She LOVES him. He is just has too much energy for her. Anyhow, Ryan and I really liked him too. He has a good mind and is a beautiful blue roan. We are anxious to get him and see how he does. I remember when I rode him before they got him that he was patterned on the barrels pretty well. So, we'll see how he does on the barrels. We also may see how he does with roping. We may have to work on him the box, so we'll just see I guess.

Speaking of Ryan's parents, I'm sad to report that their beloved dog, Cody has passed away. Cody was like Diesel...you can't replace a dog like that and the grief for a dog like them is like grieving for a person. I know it will be really hard for them to move forward. Please pray for them.

Yesterday, Ryan went to a ladies house to trim her horse's feet. Long story short, he had to have our vet, Dr. Stern, come out and do some work on his hoof. He had a nail in his hoof and so they had to doctor it. The lady has some major back issues and can no longer ride him. She had to get rid of him since she can't ride him so she offered to give him to us. So, we will add him to our 'tribe.' We hope that he may work for Ryan's Mom. So, we will tune him up over the next week or two and see if he might be safe for his Mom. If not, I'm not sure what we'll do with him. It will just depend on how he works out. So, that has really motivated me to start advertising the two horses we have for sale, Mito and Cowgirl. They have to go! It is the middle of February so people are going to start looking. Ugh...working full time, taking care of Shelby and riding all these horses leaves us NO TIME! I made Ryan promise he would be more comitted to riding. I'm sure he will.

Oh, we also got his wonderful truck fixed. That was a huge expense, but now we can haul the trailer with his truck too. Thanks to Ryan's parents for helping us with that! We don't know when we would've got it fixed if they hadn't helped us.

Finally, Ryan's parents are giving us their car. This will help with the cost of fuel for me driving back and forth to work. I have really had to pray about this because I LOVE LOVE LOVE my truck and I LOVE LOVE LOVE driving it. So, driving a car will be an adjustment, but Ryan says it gets like 30 MPG...so it will be good.

Funny how God works...at least i hope it is him because I really do want to do what HE wants...not what we want. His plans are so much grander than ours, we just have to be willing to give in to his will. I'm hoping all these events are because Ryan and I are trying to work together and help our businesses grow as well as our finances!

Finally, I have two barrel races this weekend. I'm going to go to the arena on Friday night to set up for the Rodeo Sweethearts barrel race. I'm going to take Badger and Mito to work them on the pattern. I am hoping that practice will help Badger and me work through our timing issues! We will get back to where we were a year ago! I also am anxious to run Mito to see what he's learned at home. Please God bring us a buyer! :)

Oh - one more thing...Feb. 28th I'm running in a HUGE barrel race that has a HUGE payout including a saddle and several thousand dollars for placing 1st in one of the 6 divisions. Then, you get a car key and whoever's car key starts the car will win the car. So, pray for Badger and me. I know we can do it and I'm pressing forward and believing it will happen. Will you do that with me? Have a blessed day! :)

Shelby's expressions crack me up when she is eating. Here is a funny video of her eating rice cereal with apple juice.

This weekend was pretty good. On Saturday I went to my barrel race. I left before it was over so I don't know if I placed. We have spent a lot of time and money on Badger this week trying to get him feeling better. He is extremely sore in the back and hocks. It has paid off. He ran a lot better than he has been which means he is not hurting as much. We didn't make a very graceful run but I knew he was feeling better. A lot of times when a horse has been sore for a while when they make that first run back the expect it to hurt and so they brace themselves. THey get better the more they run with no pain so we expect him to continue to improve. It is just sooooo hard when I can't practice during the week. Our main problem is me. I'm still working on timing and keeping up with him. I'm working really hard to stay positive and know that each barrel race gets us closer to where we were a year ago. I also don't get to practice at all so that has not helped us either.

Sunday was awesome too. Church was really good. Shelby finally went to the nursery the whole time except for maybe the last 10 min. She had enough of the 'strangers' and wanted Mommy and Daddy. So, I brought her back in. It was good cause then we went up to the front of the church and some good friends of ours prayed with us. I know this year is going to be great if we stay on path and do what God wants us to do and not what we want to do. I think that means the most change for me. So, I'm going to have to pray a lot about that and know everything is temporary.

We worked with Romeo a little bit yesterday. The ground was wet so we kept it pretty simple. I wanted to ride Mito too, but i was tired and the ground was wet so I thought it would be better to wait.

Oh, that's the best part of our weekend...it RAINED! Man we REALLY needed the rain! It would be awesome for everything to start turning green. It's a tad early, but by March everything starts getting green down here. Ugh...sure hope our lawn mower works!

Oh, I also forgot about our eventful evening. Last night we were feeding and we kept hearing dogs in the back part of our pasture area. Really it was our neighbors...anyhow, Ryan starts to walk over to see what's going on. I told him I seen horses...which means there are probably cows out. Next thing I know about 10-15 head of cows break through our fence and they are in our back pasture with dogs baying them. So, I go (with Shelby in my arms) running to the gate that separates our back pasture from the front pasture trying to get there before our horses decide to run out there and cause a ruckus. THey are all bred with a lot of 'cow' in them so they have this natural desire to go to the cows. Well, I'm not but 75 ft from the gate when they all decide to run out. Luckily they stayed up towards the front part and one of the guys on the horses was able to push them back up to the front pasture so I was able to shut the gate to keep our horses up there.

They tried to get the cows to go through the opening between our pasture and Mr. Brode's but that didn't go so well. So, the cows plowed through that side of our fence too. The good news is they got them back to the right pasture which is the pasture next to Mr. Brode's.

So, that was exciting way to end our weekend. What a way to meet our neighbors...hahaha

Shelby's Shots

Shelby is so much like Ryan and Me. I would say she's a Boudrie...but she's also a Helmreich...hahaha.

Yesterday was shot day. She had to get two of them. Most babies cry. Not our Shelby...she was MAD! It sounded like she was cussing the nurse and Ryan (cause he had to hold her arms down). She was making all sorts of noises that were not friendly, but not crying. Poor little girl. All I can say is "Yep, She's a Cowgirl!".

She is doing well and is growing. Here's her stats...

12 lbs 8 oz & 24 inches long

We can start feeding her rice cereal and add something new every week.

She began sleeping all night long last week. She goes to bed around 6:30 PM and wakes up around 7 AM...except on the weekends. Then she wakes up at 5:30 AM. I swear it is just for me! ha! I don't know what to do w/all this sleep. Of course, I'm not complaining! :)

Pretty Shelby

Yesterday was Shelby's 4th month birthday. So, on Saturday I decided to go through her clothes and pull out the newborn stuff and add the 3-6 month clothes. I had forgotten about the beautiful dresses Shelby's Great Grandma Helmreich (my Dad's Mom) had bought her. I was so excited that she finally fit into them. So, for church I dressed up little Ms. Shelby in one of her little dresses. I even found some tights that were too big, but still worked. Those are from my Mom. She had always wanted a little grandaughter so she would buy girl clothes with hopes of having a grandaughter. My step-mom sent them to us so Shelby could wear them. How cute is she? I have added the rest of the pictures to her link.

She also started trying to pull herself up so she can sit up. We will put her in her bouncy seat or car seat and she is constantly leaning forward. Well, we just happen to catch her pulling herself up all by herself on video. Had to share that too!

Ryan had an awesome weekend roping. He won 3rd place, $600 and a beautiful snaffle bit. We are so excited and proud of him and Badger. They have placed at every roping they have gone to this year. It sure has helped us out financially!

Today we take Shelby for her 4 month old shots. I always dread it, but she is tough and usually handles it pretty well.

This weekend is my turn to win some money running barrels. We sure do keep Badger busy! We are going to have Gem Lamb come out and work on him. She does a massage/chiropractic work on him to keep him feeling good. He seems a little stiff, so we are assuming he is probably sore from roping and running barrels so much.

Romeo is coming along very nicely. I rode him at my friend, Rossy's, on Saturday. He did great. He was a little squirrely with the wind and new environment but still did a great job. He is ready to go out in our pasture to ride on our own. We just need to find the time. Ryan will have to come out with me just in case. He is still young!

Finally a cute picture of Sady Jane last night. She was cold so she came and laid on me. I noticed she was cold so I put the fuzzy blanket over her. As you can see, she enjoyed it and took a nice nap to warm up.

Girls Night In

Ryan went roping last night so Shelby and I had fun staying home and hanging out in the house. I hadn't taken any pics of her in a couple of weeks so we had fun taking some candid shots. Here are a couple of my favorites. There are a lot more on Shelby's link.

Below - I'm too sexy for my blanket!

Below - Smiling pretty

Below - Shelby's babysitter, Brenda, painted her toe nails last week. How cute is that???

We also took a couple of fun videos. Enjoy!

Shelby blowing rasberries....

Shelby sucking her thumb and wiggling around.

Pony For Shelby

I just got an email yesterday about ponies going up for adoption. A man out of Missouri is terminally ill and is selling all of his ponies for $100. A lady out of TX Is going to go and get them in March. She is asking us to pay costs for bringing them here as well as for coggins and health certificates. So, we'll probably pay around $150 for a pony. Ponies are really expensive, like $1000 or more...so this is a pretty good deal. Granted the pony is probably not trained at all, but for this price we could do the training and by the time Shelby is old enough we hope for the pony to be ready for her. Since the pony is so cheap we are willing to gamble and see how it goes. If the pony won't work out then we'll just sell him/her. Of course Ryan is too big to ride the pony so that leaves it up to me. Hahaha...should be interesting! There are 3 roans and the rest are white ponies. Ryan and I are hoping for a roan. :) Maybe we'll get a red roan and Shelby and I will have matching horses. hahaha....

Changing the subject...I got sick AGAIN...ugh...the kids at my school are dropping like flies! Some classes have 10+ kids out! That's half the class. There are so many sick kids in 3rd grade they have decided to postpone the DAC Test. That is the test they take to prepare for the state test next month. I was sick to my stomach all day yesterday and finally threw up at the end of the day. I had to give a training yesterday. So, I sucked it up and did that. The teachers were very understanding...lol...but asked that I keep my distance. I dont' blame them! Anyhow...after that I left around 4;30...get headed for home and there is a train on the train tracks (stopped...not moving) and a line of cars about 1/2 mile long. So, I had to back track all the way back to work and go around the long way. I finally made it home around 5:30. I pulled in my driveway and opened the door just in time to throw up again. What fun! So, I went into the house and laid down. I got up every now and then for a few minutes until Ryan would yell at me to go back to bed. Man, I just wanted to spend some time with Shelby, but I just felt terrible! Anyhow, I pretty much slept from 5:30 til 5:30 this morning. I had this TERRIBLE headache, but it finally went away around midnight. That's when I started to feel better. I'm still not 100% but I sure do feel better than I did yesterday!

On Feb. 28th I have a big barrel race to go to in Conroe. I'm so excited! They are giving away saddles, LOTS Of money and a convertable! I keep sending emails out to my friends and telling them I"m going to win my saddle then win the car. Church always talks about speaking what you want. So, I'm speaking it! Of course this is putting quite a bit of pressure on Badger and me, but that is ok. :) We thrive on pressure! Can you imagine me and Ryan driving around in a little convertable. How funny would that be???

To give you a little background...This barrel race will have around 2,000 barrel racers. There are 6 divisions that you could possibly place in. It all depends on how fast you run. The fastest horse of the weekend wins a ton of money...probably $3-4,000....then the people who place in the other divisions win a saddle plus like $2,000. So, My goal is to win a saddle plus the cash. Then, those 6 people that win in each of the divisions gets a car key. If their car key they chose starts the car they win the car. That's an easy way to explain how this works w/o going into huge details.

Well, I guess I should get back to what I should be doing. I hope to take pictures of Shelby's cute little painted toes tonight! I was too sick to do it last night.

Roping & Barrel Video

As I wait for this to upload I'm working on other things and eating Sea Salt Vinegar chips...oh man they are sooooooo good.

Ryan Roping on Saturday

Stacie running barrels last Saturday. I am so thankful for video. I can watch my video and learn my mistakes so we can run faster the next time. Now, if I just had the time to practice during the week! It is so hard to haul somewhere when I don't get home til 5 pm.

Barrels & Steers

This weekend was very busy. On Saturday we left the house by 8:30 AM to go to Angelton for a roping. We were there most of the morning and left around 1 pm. Ryan did well. He had 6 runs. All but one heeler missed for him so we thought it was going to be a bad day. The good news is all it takes is one! That's what we always say when he has a day like Saturday. It's so true! He ended up 4th out of almost 200 teams! So, we were excited about that! He came home with $262 bucks. Not bad for a bad days work. :)

We then left the roping and headed back to home to pick up my sponsor's shirt. I had forgotten to wash it til Saturday morning. So, it was in the dryer. After we stopped by home and picked it up it was off to Rosenberg for my barrel race. We got there around 3:20 pm. There were over 200 runners and I drew (since i got there late) 201. So, that meant a few hours of just sitting around and waiting.

Shelby did well and tried real hard to not get grumpy. It's a good thing she is used to taking naps in her stroller!

It was probably 7 pm before I ran. I had a decent run. I hit the 2nd barrel but grabbed it and pushed it back up. It almost fell over, but I think there was an angel under it pushing it the other way! I ran a 16.4. That was an ok time. Still not what the time I'm looking for, but I just don't get to ride like I used to and so I can't complain. The last time I ran in that arena I ran a 16.7 so I'm improving. Taking 3/10ths off in a barrel run is pretty impressive, so I won't complain. I don't think I won any money, but we left before I found out. I'm hoping I got some Novice points and I might have placed in the adult class. I have to wait til they post it to find out.

We got home around 8 pm and all of us were pooped! I put Shelby down for the night and Ryan fed the horses. Ryan and I fell alseep in the in the living room and eventually went to bed.

Sunday was another busy day, but I just had no energy. We got up and cleaned the house. We even mopped the kitchen and bathrooms. It was getting a bit out of control! We skipped church so we could get all this done. Then around 1 pm, even though I could've slept all day, we loaded up a couple of the young horses and went to the neighbors to work them in her arena. Mito is coming along very nicely. He's starting to really use his legs and hind end to dig into the dirt and get around. It's very exciting! He's learned how to rate himself and so I don't have to give him such obvious clues to set his body up for the turn. He's starting to do it automatically. Now I can get more aggressive with his turns. They have been wider than I want...

I was going to ride Romeo too, but I was just too tired so I told Ryan I'd ride him later. That never happened. Neither one of us had any desire to work with him. With young horses you have to be on your A game and neither of us were there. So, we just put them away and fed early.

We started watching the football game, but I started to doze off around 5:30. Shelby took a short nap and woke up. Thank goodness she just wanted to go back to sleep. So I put her in bed early and then took a shower. My intentions were to watch the game in bed, but I fell asleep. Ryan came in and told me it was a good game. I didn't care. I was sleeping by 9 pm....actually before then.

Shelby woke up at midnight. We fed her and she slept til 6:30 this morning. She looked well rested and was in a good mood when I left for work. :)

I have a couple of videos to upload but having some trouble. I'll upload once I figure it out.