Rounding out a busy year

It is hard to believe we are just days away from saying good bye to 2010.  I used to so look forward to New Years Eve.  It was a time of celebration and fun.  Now, I am lucky to stay up til the Midnight ball drops!  I look forward to Shelby growing a little older and able to go with us to a friend's house or celebrate at home.

Christmas was a lot of fun. We had a TON of presents from family, each other, and Santa Clause.  Shelby had a lot of fun opening them and seeing all the new stuff.  She enjoyed the toys and her little Tinkerbell table the most.  She loves having a table her size that she can sit at anytime she wants to color, eat or just hang out.

Ryan and I enjoyed all the wonderful gifts we received from both sides of the family.  We are truly blessed.  Afterwards we went to our friend's house to enjoy a nice Christmas meal and great friends.  It was a little lonelier this year w/o all the family here, but still a very nice Christmas.

I have been enjoying the time away from work and I'm sad to see my long vacation coming to an end.  I have been riding most days trying to get my barrel horses in shape and the young ones a little further along.  I've also put two of our horses on the market. We've gotten a couple of bites, so we'll see.

I am looking forward to 2011.  I'm looking forward to having stable renters.  I have to save aside from our health, I am most thankful to have found such great people to live in our rent house.  They are working hard to make it their own and we all look forward to when they purchase the home in the next couple of years.  Having this stability will benefit us so much this coming year.  Perhaps it's the year to get ahead.  That would be really nice.  We've struggled for a while now and I often pray about stability.  Although it's been rocky, we are still so blessed as our bills get paid and our family has a beutiful home to live in, made some fabulous trips this past year, and I was able to pursue my love of barrel racing.

Speaking of, we start the new season on Jan 8th. I can't wait!  I've only ran twice since October.  That is tough for a girl that goes every weekend!  I have high expecations of my boys this year and I look forward to sharing it with you throughout this coming year.

Below you'll find some fun pictures of the last few days.  Enjoy!

God Bless and Happy New Year!

The internet is not coopearating, so please click on the link to the right to view pictures of Christmas.

Ready for Christmas

The tree is up, the presents are wrapped....it's time for Santa to come! This is the first time in a really long time that I got off a week before Christmas. I'm not sure what to do with myself. I'm anxiously waiting for Christmas so Shelby can open her presents. Ok, I'm anxious to open mine too! Nancy sent her presents in November and other presents are arriving this week. I sent the packages I needed to last week and I'm sending out the last couple of Christmas cards out today.

Last night was fun as we were able to Skype with both families. It is nice to watch my nephews grow and see them a little more often than the few times I get to go home and visit. Then Shelby enjoyed singing her songs with Grandma Boudrie.  I definately need an HD webcam.  The image of  Nancy was crystal clear. It was just like watching tv!!!

This year will be very quiet compared to last year and our 9 guests. I'm a little sad to know it will be back to our normal quiet Christmas. That is ok though...we'll enjoy it all the same.

Today I take Shiner and Badger to the vet in Bryan, TX, about two hours away. He's a great vet for leg issues, so it is definately worth the drive. He's also much more affordable than the local vets that work with leg issues. Badger will be just a check up. I'm going to get an xray of his hock to see if it's fusing anymore since he was there last July. He's been doing really well and gets faster and faster, so I am anxious to see what the xrays show. Shiner will get some work done on him. His hocks are sore and that's causing his back to be sore. So, we'll get xrays of his hocks to see if injections will fix the problem or if we need to do something else. I'm assuming injections will fix his problem. If time allows, I may have them xray his front knee as we believe there may be an old bone spur there from his race track days. If all goes well, I'll have two VERY fast horses this coming year. I'm very anxious to start the 2011 season as I feel it's going to be a good one!

Tuesday I'm joining some work friends for a fun lunch.  One of our friends got married and moved out of state, so we are all going to get together and visit with her. Wednesday I'm meeting some more work friends at one of their houses just to hang out and enjoy each other's company.

The rest of the week I'll probably spend around the house cleaning and riding horses.  I've been getting up before dawn so I can get out there and ride before Shelby gets up.  That works well for me. I get that chore out of the way and then I can enjoy the rest of my day doing whatever needs to get done,. 

Our blue roan mare, Punk, needs a lot of work and I really hope to accomplish it over the break.  She is a very nervous horse and I need to get her past that so I can get a better handle on her.  We have her for sale so hopefully this extra time will make her more appealing to the buyer.  She is gorgeous to look at, she is just too green for most people.  I'm also trying to get my sorrel mare, Cowgirl, going on the barrels a little more.  She is settling down (finally) and is ready to start loping the pattern and working herself into a job of some sort.  She is going to be REALLY nice and I'm anxious to watch her mature.  I do have her for sale as well, but have gotten no bites.  I'm not all that sad about it though. I really do like her, but if I find a buyer I'll sell her.  We just have too many!

I guess that's it for now. I'm going to eat some breakfast and then go feed.  My friend is picking me up at 9 to head out to Bryan. 

God Bless!

Snow in Texas...sorda...

I wanted to share some fun pictures we took of Shelby last night. A local church brought in fake snow for the kids to play. She had a lot of fun with one of her church buddies, Levi. :)

This is fun!!! (There is her buddy, Levi, in the background.)

Hanging with my buddy, Levi.

Snowballs!

Take that, Daddy!!

My 3 Words

I have been wanting to do this since Shelby was 3 months old.  I got lucky and it was a project we had to do in our meeting.  So, I'm so excited to have finally got it done! i plan to upload to ABC.  So maybe they'll play it on national TV.  Enjoy. :)

December

With December came the cold....It's not as bad as a year ago when we got our snow, but the cold front has arrived and it's been dipping into the 30s at night.  I'm not a big fan of cold, but at least it's temporary.  Hopefully it will be perfect weather for my two week vacation coming up. I can't wait! I need to get a big start on our blue roan mare.  She is very green and needs some miles put on her as well as some tuning up.  I also want to work my sorrel mare to get going better with how she moves.  She is learning to settle down and put her head down at a resting position which makes me very happy.  She is relaxing and getting more comfortable with what I"m asking of her.

Not a whole lot has been happening here.  I've been busy shopping for Christmas and trying to keep our house under control.  It seems like I look a way for a moment and our house has stuff laying every where!  Kids sure know how to take over a house, don't they? :)

Work is settling down. I'm able to get back into working with the kids in the lab, which is what i love doing.  So, that has  been great! THe first few months were tough and I'm glad to see them pass by so I can get back to the part of my job I enjoy doing.

Barrel racing has taken a break. I miss it! It has been 2 weeks. That is just too long for this addict! HA!  I do plan to go to Brenham this weekend for a barrel race.  They have a $1,000 added and giving away buckles.  I hope to win some cash to put towards the 2011 fees. I plan to run NBHA and GCBRA, so we'll see.

I took our grey horse, Shiner, to a friend's house to be looked at.  She has a thermographic gun that senses heat, which shows us where he's sore.  He's in pretty rough shape.  He is sore in both hocks, left stifle, his back needs chiropractic work, and he has a minor issue in his knee with what we suspect to be a bone spur.  So, he'll be going to the vet over christmaas break to get some injections and some other work.  One tough horse!  He has been competing at a mediocre level.  Most horses would've been running up the fence, fighting me, etc.  Not him! I'm super anxious to get him feeling good again and then I better hold on!  :)  I hope to move into the 1D once he starts realizing he's not hurting.  If he does, we might hit some CPRA rodeos.  Time will tell though. 

Ryan has been staying busy in December, which is great! Usually his work slows down quite a bit.  We are thankful for the work!

Shelby continues to grow and talk....a lot. She is definataely a chatter box and steals the hearts of everyone that meets her.  Her two favorite phrases are "Stop It!" and "Come here" as well as full sentences letting us know what she wants or how she feels.  Last night I had so much fun playing with her and tickling her.  Her giggle makes my day!  I could listen to it all day long.

I have begun some more effort with the potty training.  On SUnday, she told me two different times she had to go potty.  So, we went in there and sure enough she went potty both times.  She was thrilled to get a sucker for her efforts. :)  I bought some M&Ms and Skittles yesterday as reinforcers. 

Happy Holidays!!!

Thanksgiving (check), Black Friday (check)

Ryan, Shelby and I enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving at home.  We went to town to eat out instead of dirtying up the kitchen.  It turned out to be a great idea!  Cracker Barrel had a great deal - turkey dinner with ham, turkey, stuffing, 2 sides of your choice, gravy, bread, a drink, and a piece of pie - Yum!  It was almost like Grandmas.  :)  It was also well priced at $8.99 a meal. I know, I was surprised too!

We then went back home, took a nap and hung out around the house while we waited for the cold front to blow in.  We went from 80 degrees during the day to 40s with rain at night.  Crazy Texas weather!

Today, I got up early to do my Black Friday shopping.  I didn't get out of bed til 5:30 - which makes me a slacker in the world of shopping.  I ran into several friends as i went from store to store...I ran into 1 friend at 7 am and she had been up since Midnight! Crazy!  Shelby is still young and isn't expecting all those special Santa requests.

This evening I'm making lasagna for some friends.  Yum!

Waiting to dry

Shelby insisted on getting her nails done. Here's a pic of her waiting for them to dry. :-)



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Pictures of Badger

Badger had to show off his mad barrel turning skills as well as his new headstall and breastcollar.  I just love him. 

New Blog

I have a new blog to share.  I'm a bit scared to share as I feel like I am not adequate to share my thoughts on what I learn from church and reading the Bible, but I feel this is what God wants me to do and so I share.  I hope to grow from my experiences and to walk down the path God has intended for me.  I have learned that when I am faithful I reap the benefits which is always greater than I could ever imagine for myself.

A perfect example is this house we live in.  We were looking at 5-10 acres and a trailer house because that's pretty much what we could afford.  Instead, God gave us 20+ acres, a brick home, a huge shop (including cement floors, 2 bathrooms, sink, lean tos, etc.) and a barn.  Wow!  God is good!

With that said, here is my new blog.  http://afaithfulheartboudrie.blogspot.com/

Pray, read the Bible, follow what God puts in your heart.  Be kind to one another.  Love each other.  Be happy...this is the only life we get, so why not make the best of it! 

Quiet Holidays

As I sit here in the cool house it brings back memories of our crazy Christmas last year. We had 12 house guests. It was crazy but I enjoyed the chaos of family being here. It was fun having all the people relaxing, arguing and being...well...family.

I haven't had that in years and now that I look back I miss the family get togethers. It is what makes Christmas, Christmas.

This year it will be fun with Shelby a year older, but I will miss seeing the joy she brought to others.

Remember to enjoy your families that are sometimes to close for comfort. The voices you hear are voices that not only annoy (sometimes), but bring you happiness and joy. They also deaden the silence and remind you that you are loved.

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Pumpkin Patch 2010

We took Shelby to the Pumpkin Patch today in Wharton. It was small, but we had lots of fun checking everything out and picking out a pumpkin.  THe good thing about waiting til last minute is you great deals. :)  All pumpkins were $5, even the big ones!  Shelby picked out a medium size pumpkin for us to carve later this afternoon.

Tomorrow we look forward to Halloween and going trick or treating.  We plan to go to the local church events for some fun, games, and candy.  We may also go tricking treating at a few houses.  We'll see how the night goes.

Here are some fun pictures of our Pumpkin Patch excursion. 

 Trying to pick up her pumpkin to take it home.

  First time ever to use these tights...ugh...

GCBRA - End of Year

Yet another year has passed for GCBRA.

Badger won 2nd in the 2D and was 9th out of a 105 runners. :)  He ended up 4th at the end of the season in the 2D.  Not bad for coming back in July (half way through the season!)

Shiner ended up 6th in the 5D. We had a chance to win a top 10 buckle, but hit the 2nd barrel to lose and end up 11th.  Boo....oh well....He's done well as he has won 2 buckles this year already.

Here are some pictures of Badger. They took pictures of Shiner too, but they are not pretty as we cratered the 2nd barrel! HA

Busy

Work and home life have been crazy!  We have a new report card system that we are using at work and it has  been a little less than successful.  So, my days at work are filled with uncertainty and, at times, waiting.  So not a whole lot of time to write.

Shelby has recovered from being sick; however her allergies keep getting the best of her.  Ryan was sick for a couple of days this week, but is doing better.

I'm staying healthy and determined not to get sick  Hopefully I'm succeeding.

Shiner, my grey horse, has been doing really well with barrels.  He shocked me with winning a 2D buckle and fat check.  I'm still waiting to see the buckle.  I'll get it on Saturday.

Tonight I'm taking Shiner to Alvin to run him. I really want to run him through the pattern and really push him. He's doing much better. I just have to know I can trust him and that he will turn.  Hopefully we'll do well and I can be confident going into Saturday's GBCBRA finals.

Stay tuned...

Birthday Girl

What a fun birthday weekend for Shelby!  She turned two on Friday and celebrated with my family via web cam and Skype.  It was fun to see everyone.  It was also great to have them see her open her gifts from 1800 miles away.  What a blessing she is growing up in this technology world and is able to know her family from afar even though we don't get to them like we'd like.

It was fun seeing my Grandma smile as she watched us and talked to us.  Oh the things she has seen in her 90 years!  From horses in the field rather than tractors to skyping with her grandaughter to watch her great grandaughter open gifts.  Pretty cool!  My newphews thought it was pretty cool too.  My oldest nephew, Matt, will be 18 this year and had never seen anything like that. 

Shelby enjoyed them singing Happy Birthday to her and also enjoyed hearing and seeing them.  Although, I don't think she's quite got the hang of it.  What a blessing we can do all of this for free!

Saturday was Shelby's big birthday party.  But, before we did that we had a barrel race to go too.  I had an AWESOME run on Shiner.  He ended up in the 2D.  WOW!  That's a second off his time.  In the barrel racing world that's a big improvement.  Badger didn't do as well.  I'm not sure if it was me or him, but suspect it was more me.  I was worried about him hurting so I don't think I pushed him as hard.  He also seemed to get hung up on the back of the barrels.  Almost like his legs got stuck - he didn't seem to slide like he normally does.  That's ok.  He's still my favorite barrel horse. 

After my two runs we rushed home to get cleaned up and finish getting ready for the party.  The first guest arrived at 5 pm and the party was rolling by 5:30 with pony rides.  We had kids and adults enjoying it. What fun to see the kids so excited about a pony ride.  They wanted to know the horses names and share their 'horse' experiences of the past.  The smiles were bright and the cameras were in full force.  What fun!

We then all ate yummy BBQ (brisket made by a good friend of ours, Jesse), Pasta Salad (I made one and another good friend of ours, Erin, made the other), ranchero beans (by Erin) and cupcakes for dessert.  It was all fabulous and if anyone went home hungry it was their fault! HA! 

Shelby then opened her gifts and struggled with letting the new toy she just opened go so she could open the next gift.  She thought they were all so cool it was hard for her to set the gift aside to open something else.  She got clothes, baby dolls, playdough and other cool gifts.  Our friends were all so thoughtful and knew just what to get her.  It was neat how each one bought something that they knew she would love.  Even my friend, Jackie, bought her goldfish because they share goldfish when they hang out together. :)

Ryan and I bought her a little princess couch that folds out into a little bed and a tricycle.  She loves them both and has enjoyed playing with them.  She is still a bit small for the tricycle, but it won't be long before she'll be flying around the yard on it.

Today (Sunday) we have to haul hay hay.  I'm wooped so this should be interesting.  I am very thankful that we will have hay.  Our pastor was given a field and so he gave it to us since we are unable to bale our hay. (It was too long before we got to cutting it and kept binding up the hay cutter.)  So, what a blessing!!!

Well I guess that's it.  Here are some pictures of her special day!  What fun to see the joy of a child on her birthday.  It was worth all the hard work and effort to host a party for her!

More pictures can be found by clicking on the the link to your right.

 Getting ready to sing Happy Birthday.  She was already wore out by now.

 Yummy cake!

 Opening all the presents!

Sitting on her new couch with her new purse next to her.  She is DONE!  Poor baby! Look at those dark circles!

Pictures from the Fair

Here are some pictures we've taken this week.  You can click on the link on the right to see more of them.

Fort Bend County Fair

Here's pictures from this weekend. :)

http://picasaweb.google.com/rockingrs2008/FortBendCountyFair?authkey=Gv1sRgCPyTrtzk8renvwE&feat=directlink

Busy As Always

We haven't had a whole lot going on these last few weeks so I haven't had much to talk about. I feel like all I do is run, run, run.  Work has been busier than ever. I have struggled with keeping up and find myself doing more and more work at home.  I receive at least 100 emails a day and it's usually a lot more than that.  I did see it slow down a bit this last week, so I hope for that to be a good sign.  I try to remind myself that it is good to be so busy as it provides (hopefully) job security as my district goes through budget cuts these next two years.

Home life has been just as crazy as we prepare for the fair which starts this Friday.  I have had a lot of practices with the Rodeo Sweethearts.  We've come a long ways in the last month and I'm so proud of our team for stepping up and getting it done.  We've had a lot of ups and downs and it feels good to see that we are working so well together. 

Barrel racing has been a lot more fun with Badger back on my roster.  Each run he gets smoother, more confident that he's not hurting and we are becoming a team again.  We just work so well together.  Yesterday I ran him in Rosenberg and he was AWESOME! I was #152 and was a bit concerned about the ground holding up.  He has such a hard turn I always worry about him keepnig his feet up under him.  If the ground sucks then it will give and we may slip and fall.  Well, the ground was AWESOME and Badger was wicked on his turns.  I couldn't have asked for more.  :)  We ended up 4th in the 2D and probably top 10 out of 191 horses. 

I decided to push Shiner and see how he would do.  He did pretty well.  He ended up out of the money in 3D.  I am currently stewing on some ideas to get a better, faster, nicer turn.  If I could do that I know he'd be in the 2D easily.  He has so much power he could reach 1D potential, but I don't think I'll ever get that out of him with my limited time and access I have to riding.

I was going for some 5D points on Twister, but we were 1/10 too fast. I was really bummed, but starting to think maybe the saddle isn't supposed to be mine. I could use another one, but maybe not this year.  I never thought it would be so hard to 'slow' a horse down enough to hit that D.  I'm blessed with horses that have so much heart and get pretty mad when I ask them to slow down.  I can feel them thinkning "WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING???  I can do better than this!"  :)  I love their heart!

Ryan is excited to ride in the ranch rodeo Monday Sept. 27.  It's funny how things work.  He was waiting on a guy to responsd whether he would ride on his team and it took the guy several days.  Finally, he said yes so Ryan went to go pay up and found he was team #21.  They only allow 20 teams and the 20th team had entered about 10 minutes before he got there.  Ryan was NOT happy.  He left his entry fees and information there just incase a team dropped out. However, it didn't look good cause they have never had a team back out. 

Ryan worked all day on letting it go and being ok with it, but was really upset because his parents were flying down for the weekend and one of the reasons they chose this particular weekend was because of the ranch rodeo.  The next day he got a call and a team that was trying to qualify for Houston and just found out they qualified already, so they backed out.  :)  His team got in!  He was PUMPED!  I was too. I kept feeling he would get in. I just felt it deep inside.  All I can say is God is good! :)

We also have a rodeo this weekend.  I plan to run Badger in barrels and Ryan will team rope.  He has two runs - a head run and a heel run.  Oh, and I have a barrel race in Mount Belvieu (about 1 1/2 hrs away) on Saturday BEFORE we go the rodeo.  So, it will be a busy few days for all of us.

We are also super excited about the Nancy and Dick coming down for a visit.  They are so excited to see Shelby as she has changed A LOT since we saw them in May.  She talks all the time and is so animated.  She is such a ham too!  Yesterday at the barrel race I would take her for rides and she would wave, do her sweet little smile and tell people Hi or Bye.  She loves going for rides and is now starting to take the reins from me.  She is also learning to hang on, but often forgets that she has to KEEP hanging on.  Luckily I'm there as her big seatbelt.  She loves going places and hates staying home or inside.  If there is an opportunity to go somewhere she does it with a big smile.  ESPECIALLY if it's with the horses, because that means she is going to get to ride at some point. 

Yesterday I asked if she was excited about seeing Grandma and Grandpa.  She then repeated Grandma as "grma" and Grandpa as something like "gpa".  It was cute! 

She loves to color everything - including herself and anything that looks like it needs to be colored.  She'll sit with me and color for a long while now.  She LOVES Madagascar and watches it over and over and over.  She is now starting to repeat parts of the movie.  She also knows that remotes turn on her movie so she'll get the remote, point it at the tv, and say "moomie, moomie"....that means she wants Madagascar...as she knows how to say "movie"...."Moomie" comes from the part where they say " You got to move it, move it....YOu got to Move it Move it"

I guess this is long enough.  We'll have a couple of busy weeks, so it may be a while before I write again.  I'm sure I"ll have plenty to share again including, hopefully, lots of fair pictures. :)

2nd Place - 6 runs left

I am excited to say Shiner and I are in 2nd place for the Open 5D in GCBRA.  We are two points behind the leaders (they are tied for first).  I have 6 runs left before the end of the year.  So, my hope is to time things right and cruise into the lead.  I would love to have the opportunity to win another saddle.  Time will tell...

Shiner has been a little off all summer. It wasn't real noticeable until August where he began to lose more weight and just looked run down.  So, I started him on some red cell and then took him in for some blood work last weekend.  His blood count was low, but  the count was improving.  So, we'll keep him on the red cell indenfinately. I hope to see improvements and have him looking better by the fair at the end of Sept.  This heat has proven to be very hard on him.

Speaking of, the fair will be busy for us and our horses.  I am riding Badger on the drill team and Twister and Shiner will be partners with two other girls.  We are blessed to have three horses that  can do the routine and help others out when they are in need.

We'll also be competing.  Badger and me on barrels, Ryan and Badger in the ranch rodeo and Ryan and Twiter (I think) in team roping.  Always a lot of fun!

Shelby and I are enjoying our day off.  We hope to do something, but not sure what to do on this holiday.  So, we'll see.

Labor Day

I am sad to see the summer come to a close as well as the long, sunny days.  However, I am looking forward to a long weekend.  These last two weeks of work have been very challenging.  So has getting used to working again. 

Shelby has been so much fun. I love this age.  She is learning piles of new words everyday and it's fun to listen to her mimick us.  I also love to hear her use the words she learns correctly.

Some of her new words are "easy" (we say that to the horses a lot), "ready, set, go" while riding or walking - which means she wants the horse to faster or she wants you to chase her, "I hungry", "More Please" (while signing the word 'more', "Thank You", "Milk", "Baby", and "cereal" (while signing the word 'cereal')

Her love for horses grows daily and I'm LOVING it. :) Last Friday, we were going to the George Ranch to ride. I was getting her ready inside and said "let's go ride" so she got all excited and kept saying "Ride, Ride, Ride"....as she excitedly walked outside.  We walked to the truck and trailer and she took a small detour to the trailer and looked inside to be sure the horses were loaded.  :)  Then she was good and ready to go.

She has a very tender heart and loves to take care of her 'babies' (her stuffed animals as well as her little animal blankets) by telling them night and covering them with her blankets.  She also shares her drinks with them as well as 'snacks'.  (another fav word of hers)

This weekend we plan to hang out around the house as well as go visit some friends on the river.  We are still working out the details. I hope to ride MOnday night with some friends, but will see how the weekend goes.

Have a blessed weekend!

2 runs + 2 checks = Good Day

I had a barrel race in Rosenberg yesterday. I ran Shiner and Badger.  Badger and I missed our first barrel a bit, but we did well on the other two barrels.  That cost us a little time and money, but I was happy with the run.  We ended up 6th in the 2D.

I am doing well in the 5D so I decided to try and win the 5D saddle on Shiner.  We coasted in there and had a nice first turn.  He stumbled on the 2nd, but was able to recover and do fine on the 3rd.  We ran out and had a perfect time to place 3rd in the 5D. 

Work is kicking my butt this year.  To say I'm busy is an understatement.  There are so many changes this year.  It's hard keeping up with it all.  I sure hope it slows down before my blood pressure starts reflecting the stress.

Shelby is doing well and is finally adjusting to me working full time again.  It was hard on both of us. Shelby had many melt downs those first two weeks, but now she's getting into the groove and getting used to everything.

I am uploading videos of our run.  I'll add the links after they upload.  It's taking a while.

Fun Times

Tonight we had practice with the Rodeo Sweethearts.  We had an exciting event I had to share.  One of the girls had a her horse spook and get out a little from underneath her.  Enough to make her lose her balance a little while carrying the flag.  She tried to catch her balance, but wasn't able to and ended up bailing off.  In the meantime, the flag is still in the boot and dragging next to her horse.  It is FREAKING her horse out.  Poor thing!  Well the horse goes flying around the arena, desperate for help.  I stay on Badger as the horse comes flying by and Badger freaks and quickly scoots to the left...I mean QUICKLY....I grab the horn and about lose my seat.  The horse with the flag turns around and comes running by us again (with flag dragging on the ground) and that's when Badger bucks.  SOmehow, he got me over the front horn and I'm sitting on his shoulders in FRONT of the saddle.  I grab both reins and say a quick prayer that he won't turn one way or the other quickly cause i would've been off.  I then was able to stop him and bounce back over the saddle.

My lesson?  The importance of riding in a saddle that fits you.  :)  I was in Ryan's saddle....

Luckily, the girl that fell of is ok and just had a scrape on the back of her head.  Her ride was WAY more eventful than mine.

I am going to enjoy the last two days with Shelby and then I'm back full time on Monday.  :(

This weekend I have a barrel race and after how quick Badger was I am looking forward to running him.  He felt great!

Nothing New

The summer is winding down as we get up for a new school year and cooler temps.

This week I took Badger to Bryan, TX to a vet that specializes in lameness. He has been off in the backend and so we decided to have him looked at. So i drove the two hours north.

The vet could tell he was lame and did some X-rays to find his hock is fusing and causing him some pain. Not the greatest news, but it wasn't terrible news. So we need to give him bute daily and batamine when we compete on him. Eventually his hocks will fuse and the pain will go away. It may take him awhile.

So I load the horses with my plan to go to the George Ranch for practice i go to crank my truck up and it just clicks. I go back inside to ask for a jump. I was hoping that would work. It didn't. Long story, short - one of the guys, Matt, took out my batteries. Mrs.Honnas, the vets wife, took me to auto zone and then o'reilley where they said it would be $ 240 to replace two batteries that were ~3 years old and had an 8 year warranty. I asked why they weren't prorating the batteries. They talked some more and then didn't charge me anything. Praise God!

So now it is 5:15, 2 hrs since i discovered my batteries were dead. I drove back to Richmond to meet with the girls to ride at 7:30. A long day, but a good way to show how great and helpful people are in the horse world!!!

The rest of the week has been less exciting which was good. :-)

Ryan has been very busy with his work. It is wonderful to not have the rent house mortgage to pay anymore! I know he is thankful to have some
Money leftover after he deposits his checks. :-).

He is going to a ranch rodeo on Saturday. I wish I could go, but it is in the evening and so I have to stay with Shelby.

That's it for now. Writing on my iPhone hurts my wrist.


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Rain rain go away

All it does is rain these days. Blah! I can do very little with the horses. I am lucky to have sweethearts on Wednesday and a friend with an indoor arena.

Shelby and I met up with some old friends I worked with as a teacher way back when yesterday. It was great to see them! We get together every few months for lunch. I always look forward to it.

Today we are going to pick up a dresser from a friend. We plan to redo the wood and put it in our room or shelby's.

I ran Badger for the first time last weekend and he did an awesome job! He was 15th out of 112 horses. I was very happy with that run. I could feel we were both a little rusty and have room to improve!

Shiner is currently 4th in the 5D so I am going to work on getting some 5D points on him. He has a lot more potential but with all this rain I just can't work him like he needs. I have decided to sell him at the end of the year.

Twister is feeling good again so I am riding him again. My neighbor, Kayla, is going to run him. I can't afford to run three horses. It adds up quickly.

Ryan is doing well. He has been hog hunting as much as he can. That is his new hobby. They go at night so Shelby and I stay home. I miss him team roping but he seems to like this hobby.

Not much else is going on. The rain slows us down.

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Congrats Cejay!

My nephews baseball team makes the paper! If they win they will travel to Illinois!



Tri-Village hosts Bronco Baseball regional tournament in Pinconning

Courtesy for The Bay City Times

The Tri-Village All-Stars host the five-team Bronco Baseball regional tournament this week in Pinconning.

An 11- and 12-year-old baseball championship is on the line in Pinconning this weekend as Tri-Village hosts the Bronco Baseball regional tournament.
All-stars from Tri-Village’s seven-team Bronco League take on challengers from Dearborn, Westland, Lakes and Grand Ledge, with a berth in the zone tournament on the line. Tri-Village was regional runner-up a year ago and is looking to take it a step further on its home field.

“This is our first time hosting,” coach Randy Rodriguez said. “It’s going to be pretty exciting for the kids and I expect a good turnout.”

Cejay Krause, Aaron Rodriguez, Luke Bruzewski, Tony Robbins, Conor Acord, Owen Herner, Austin Koin, Jaret Koin, Shawn O’Keefe, Luke Waldie, Zach Booth and Derek LaBean suit up for Tri-Village, which has its first game at 6 p.m. Friday.

The double-elimination event begins with games at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. today and runs through Sunday’s 11 a.m. title game at Doc Letchfield Park.



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Silly Shelby

Shelby found tights and wanted to out them on. Then I put the dress on. I wanted a pic. She chose the spot and then said 'chheeeese'. Ha.



Then she went to 2nd pose.




Here is the pic I took before she started to pose.




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Badger

As you know, Badger has been off from barrel racing since we won our saddle last November.

After hock injections, some days off and joint supplement I started to ride him on Monday. I worked him on the barrels Wednesday only to be very dissapointed. He wasn't smooth, was barely running and made terrible turns. I was really disappointed but was reminded by a friend sometime it takes a few rides for horses to know they are no longer hurting.

Today I decided to take it slow and go back to the basic horsemanship. After working on calming him down and getting him to chill out a little I trotted the pattern and he turned them really well. So then I lopes him around the barrels. Even better! He was turning properly and getting down around the turns and using his hind quarters. It was awesome!!! I only loped him but I can't wait to make that fast run!!! Woohoo! My boy is back. It feels awesome!!!

My next barrel race is next Saturday. My goal is to make a fast run on him b4 then to see how her feels. I will also do more slow work and exercise him to try and get re weight off of him. He is very fat!

Shiner is doing well too. He has been really grumpy so I am keeping an eye on him to make sure he doesn't have any issues. He lost both front shoes the other morning. He pulled them both off in the arena. I was working on making him snappish and faster. We accomplishes that attempt cost of his front shoes. :-(. Hopefully Ryan will out them back on soon!

I Started stretching both horses. Shiner really likes it. I will start to stretch his legs an he'll finish it for me.

Badger is real stiff but that doesn't surprise me since he's been a pasture ornament.

It is sooooo hot down here! I am soaked at 9 am when I come in from riding. We have been in the house all day today. Shelby is getting a little bored. We'll have to go outside after a while so she can get some fresh air and play with her kittens.

I guess this is enough. Until next time....


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Vet Visits

It seems I go to the vet more than the grocery store these days! :)  I just got done taking Cowgirl to get her teeth done.  She was not handling the bit well and I could see it was causing pain, so it was time to take her in and get her teeth done.  I hope for this to help.  SHe has been doing REALLY well on the barrels so I don't want to slow her progress down.

My hopes is to run her next year in the Novice and see if we can win us a saddle.  She has so much speed and talent I really think we have a chance.  I also want to take her to HOuston and run her in the AQHA show during Rodeo Houston. 

I started running Badger this week.  He is so fat and out of shape! I need to exercise him a lot just to get his weight under control. I worked him on the barrels Wednesday. I wasx pretty dissappointed with how he did. I hope it gets better.  I am hoping he just thinks it is going to hurt so he is anticipating the pain.  We'll see....

I had to take Ginger, the mare I was breaking, back to her owner.  SHe had a REALLY bad abscess (another vet visit) and so her owners are going to treat her for about 3 weeks then bring her back to me.  I brought home their yearling filly, Bella, to work with in the meantime.  She has lots to learn about manners.  She is VERY stubborn. I mean STUBBORN.  She makes Ginger look like a dream.  But, a couple of weeks with the Boudrie's and we'll get it handled.  :)  Luckily she is small and won't hurt us....at least not too much.  haha...just kidding!

I am also getting another mare on Tuesday to break.  Her name is Glory and is Easy Jet bred top and bottom. I'm super excited to work with her.  Easy Jet bloodlines is my favorite bloodline.  So, it will be fun to work with her.  I am just breaking her to ride so she'll only be with us a month or two at the most.  I need to talk to her owner more about the details.

We get sand today for our round pen.  It hasn't gotten really hard with all the rain and lack of use.  So, that will be really good.  I'll really be able to work a horse in there.  I may even mess with Badger to get him on his hind end and turning harder so he knows it won't hurt. 

I guess that's all i have time for right now.  I'm sitting in the church parking lot with the trailer and need to get back to take care of shelby so ryan can get what he needs to get done. 

Kittens

Shelby loves her kittens! We take several trips out to the shop each day sHe goes out to the shop and says 'Where aaarrrrreeee you?'. We had to teach her how to hold the kittens and not to choke them or grab them by the neck. She also is learning how to not squeal too loud around them.

She is doing much better!

Waiting patiently






Loves Moose





Got him!









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Summer Time

We haven't had a whole lot going on. We have gotten a lot of rain over the last couple of weeks. I would guess we've gotten 25-30 inches. So much rain for such a short period. So now we wait for everything to dry up. In the meantime, the Mosquitos are growing and eating Shelby and me up. So we head in before the sun goes down. Unfortunately the heat during the day gets to us as well. The heat index has gotten up into the 100 degrees. Very hot and humid as the sun dries up all the mud and puddles.

I am anxious to ride badger on Monday. He is looking great and we are anxious to get out there to chase some cans. I have two weeks to get him in some sort of shape. :-)

Shelby is learning more and more each day. Today she learned out to say home and how to dunk a basketball. A friend of ours gave us a small basketball hoop and nerf ball. She is also learning some sign language and knows how to use it when she wants something. For example she'll sign the word 'more' and say 'help please'. when she wants chocolate. Pretty sure she'd do a back flip too if she could. :-)

She would whine a lot when she wanted something so we had to work on teaching her not to whine and to say help please. She is pretty good at using her words.

Today she was hitting me and wouldn't stop. So Ryan got her on her butt. She cried briefly, which tore my heart out but then I told her it wasn't nice to hit mommy and said some other things thinking she doesn't understand me. I then said 'do you understand?'. She shook her head yes i then told her I loved her and asked for a kiss. Surprisingly she got up and gave me a kiss. Ryan then got a kiss. Amazing how much she understands! Wow!

Well I am typing this on my iPhone and my fingers are hurting so I will write more later.

Egg rolls

Shelby eating Mom's egg rolls for first time.






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Fun Pictures

We had a busy weekend with two barrel races. Heaven for me, but not so much for Ryan since he had Shelby a whole lot. I do appreciate him letting me go on Sunday as well I had really bad run Saturday and I am not sure if I could've lived with it.

I exhibitioned shiner and we did much better on Sunday winning a check in the 3D again. That's more like it! He is just not ready to add speed to the first barrel yet.

Here are some fun pictures.

Shelby on her rocking chair from Danny, Charlene's brother. He made it himself!



Shelby sharing her chips with daddy.



2010 Rodeo Sweethearts


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