First ranch rodeo with Cash

This past Saturday my husband and I hired a babysitter and went to compete in a ranch rodeo at a covered arena in Clinton.
We drove a little over an hour to get there, and when we first pulled into the driveway, I couldn't help but notice how beautiful the place was. We drove into the metal entry gate, and faced the covered arena on top of a hill overlooking a large rye grass pasture. We were there in the sunny mid-afternoon, but the cold Louisiana humidity mixed with the wind chilled through our clothes.

Inside the arena was colder, but less windy. I had brought Tex and Cash, and we had plenty of time to kill before the rodeo began. First I rode Tex in the new-to-us arena, while not many other people were riding, just in case he decided to act a little goofy. He wasn't sure what to think of the sprinkler, and did his usual of speeding up while headed toward the tie-up area and slowing down when going away from the tie-up area. The second time he did that, I tried to work him HARDER toward the "resting" side of the arena and then let him slow down at the far side of the arena. He seemed to get the idea after doing that about three times.

Only once did we have a small incident- one guy had a horse who seemed a bit out of control to me, and he was trying to "blow off some steam" with that horse before the rodeo. While I was trotting Tex around the arena, at one point I did a smaller circle and that guy came up behind us and nearly blew over me and Tex. It's not the first time we've nearly been run over (it actually happens all the time at roping practice) but Tex didn't seem to appreciate it too much.

Next was Cash's turn. We walked, trotted, and loped around the arena. He's pretty boring on the training side of things- he knows what to do for the most part and he already neck reins. He's not very round, but we're working on that. His trot is nice and smooth as long as he keeps the slower trot. His lope is a bit harder for me to sit than Tex's lope, so that's what I was working on that day- trying to hold myself in the seat of the saddle and stay straight with the horse's body. I still don't do that very well but I think with some bareback riding and maybe even some time in an english saddle, I could learn that.

My women's team didn't do so well- I didn't have my brain screwed on very tightly that night. But, it was fun regardless. "Any time spent in the saddle is not wasted," right?

TM