Summer Time

I wrote this Monday, but just getting a chance to upload today. 

My summer has officially begun. I was able to close up my labs and move out of one of my schools as it is being renovated this summer. It will be interesting to see what it looks like in two months.


This weekend was a fun weekend. Saturday I had a barrel race in Wharton. I was anxious to run as it has been a couple of weeks since I ran and even longer since I ran Shiner. I was a bit nervous to run Shiner as he is still a novice and he hadn’t seen a barrel in a while. I worked him a little on a light pole (the only ‘barrel’ I could find on decent ground) to get him thinking about his job and seeing if he was going to listen to me. He actually showed a side of laziness. I had seen it while exercising him, but not when practicing the barrels. I had forgotten my spurs, so I had to use my whip to wake him up a bit. Once he realized I meant business he perked up and started getting snappier while practicing our turns.

I decided I was going to go ahead and let him run in. I usually slow him down a tad and get him focused and ready for the first barrel. But, since he was listening so well and making a real nice turn, I decided to go for it. So we went running in there, not SUPER fast, but at a quicker pace. He made a real nice turn on the first and I was pretty pumped! We did a nice turn on the 2nd, but he stepped out a bit. It was still really good for him though. I quit riding a little bit going to the third. I guess I was super excited as our run was going really well. Anyhow, he stepped out of the turn even more on the third, but that was rider error. I didn’t check him like I should have to give him warning to get his hind end underneath and ready for the turn. So, we lost some time there. Ryan said we also lost a little time on the 2nd. With all of that, he still ran in the 3D with a 16.215. He placed 3rd in the 3D and brought home yet another check! All I could think is I can only imagine what he’d do if I rode him and seasoned him the way he deserved. With work, the rent house, Shelby and life I have not been able to ride but 1x maybe 2x a week. So, I’m VERY proud of Shiner and how he continues to improve on his own. I deal him a bad hand and he still comes out with an ace in the hole! Maybe that should be his new nick name, Ace!  Just kidding Nancy!

I also ran Twister. Unfortunately I saw that he was sore in his back end. He wasn’t putting a lot of weight on his back right leg. We gave him some bute and Ryan did some chiropractic work on him. When I warmed him up, I could feel he was a little choppy and was still sore. He still went in there and gave me his all. He was the last horse of 145 horses to run and the last on the drag. So, the odds were against him. He still ran as hard as he could and pushed himself. I could feel he was a little slow, and the timer proved me right. He was a second off of his time and just out of the money in another division. I was still proud of him and all of his efforts. He is just so tough! He also has such a competitive heart.

Since he is hurting, we have decided to put him out in the pasture and take some time off. Normally we’d have some work done on him, but with the rent house we just have no extra cash. Poor guy. He deserves to be taken care of. Hopefully time will heal him and we’ll be able to get him up and going again.

With that said, Ryan has been pushing me to get back on Badger. If you remember, I won the Novice saddle on him last year. Since Twister is out, I decided it was time to pull Badger back up and start getting him legged up. I have two weeks befor e the next GCBRA. Not working everyday I hope to have time to ride him a few times a week along with Shiner and Cowgirl. Badger will need some work on the barrels with slow and fast work. But, I think he’ll be ready to go for the GCBRA June 26th. He may not be what he was last year, but he’ll be competitive. I’ll see how his hocks hold up.



As you can see maintaining barrel horses, or any performance horse, can be expensive. Good thing God blessed us with several nice horses that I can pull up as needed. I guess not for long! HA! Shelby will be stealing all my barrel horses before I know it!  That’s ok! I can’t wait to go riding and barrel racing with her. I am also looking forward to all of us roping together.



Sunday Shelby and I went to church while Ryan stayed home and shred the big pasture. We are expecting some rain this week and we wanted to cut down the weeds so the grass can grow once it rains. The pastures look really nice this year! I hope it stays that way!!  Sure helps with our feed bill. We are feeding once a day and very little at that (except Shiner, he requires a lot of feed) and they are all fat little ticks out there!


I rode Badger and ponied Shiner. It was about 95 degrees so we only went around the big pasture three times. It was just too hot to do anymore than that. I then got out Cowgirl and ponied her around with Badger under the trees behind our barn. She is just learning to pony so we only walked and did a little trotting.

Sunday evening we went to the Boaz’s and hung out . It was nice to relax and hang with friends.

It is now 11 pm and time for me to go to bed. I hve to work a ½ day tomorrow (summer job) so I plan to get up early and go ride again. Then off to teach Google Earth to some teachers.  Google Earth is pretty cool, but a lot to remember. I plan to go in early and review some of the things I haven’t done yet so I’m ready to go. Tuesday and Wednesday I’m teaching 8 different sessions of Movie Maker and how to use it to create Book Trailers. I’m pretty excited about that class. I sure hope the teachers enjoy it. 