Upcoming Events - Tenderfoot 2013

A lot is going to happen between now and graduation so to help keep track to those of you who care here is a list.

June 29 - No Ride
July 13 - Tenderfoot Lecture #3 (Info on 2nd Year),T-1 Museum Tours, Recive Oral Study Guide
July 27 - Oral and Equitation Testing
August 17 - White Olympics (Teams) Tenderfeet watch
August 24 - Last Tenderfoot ride
September 6 - Tenderfoot Graduation
September 14 - 1st ride as Sophomores

White Division Show - Specialties

Sorry in the delay of this post. The show started at 7:00pm and ended around 9:30pm - June 15,2013
Here is the list of teams (Not in order)

1. Pony Romans
2. White Liberty 1
3. White Liberty 2
4. White Liberty 3
5. White Liberty 4
6. Horse Romans
7. Ropes
8. Whips - Boys
9. Whips - Girls
10. Vaulting
11. White Trick 1
12. White Trick 2
13. White Chariot 1
14. White Chariot 2
15. Clowns
16. Steppes
17. Batons
18. Dressage

I really enjoyed the Ropes and Liberty. I think those will be the specialties I will do next year. Lots of people fell in Liberty, and after riding bareback myself I have a whole new respect for them. I saw a Liberty rider riding JD. Man she must be tough going over jumps with that bony horse! I have 4 weeks between now and my next ride because my ride on the 29th is cancelled because Red Division is in Estes Park preforming. I have been trying to upload videos but it's not working. Sorry! :(

Bareback Ride!!! 6-15-13

Our take home tests are due! We turned them in when we checked in with our monitors and payed our rental fee. Mine was neat and completed. :) It was 41 questions. Very basic and I finished it no problem. For my 1st bareback ride I got JD #89 He is one of the newer horses at Westernaires. He is a very tall dark brown paint. He is very hard to catch in the pasture. It took 5 people to help me surround him. Once you catch him he is a great groom. It went very quickly this morning because we didn't have to saddle just groom and bridle. We pulled our horses and mounted up. I tried vaulting up twice. I got so close! Then I had a wrangler give me a leg up. Once I was on I knew I was in trouble. He is very very very skinny and his withers are HUGE. But it felt so cool at the same time! So free and open. You can feel the horses heat and muscles moving. But his spine was so painful. We rode the horses down to our arenas. Our instructors gave us some bareback tips then sent us out on the rail. We started out walking. Then our instructors had us drop our reins and put our hands out like air planes for balance. Now that was FUN! I had to totally trust JD. Then we had to turn and reverse like that. Most of us could get them to turn halfway then we had to use the reins. It was fun to not use the reins. Then we picked up the reins and started to trot. Once I got into the rhythm of JD's trot It wasn't so painful but any shift in my weight caused him to stop sending me into his bony withers. If I wasn't in the rhythm it was very painful. I'm sure it would have been easier if he wasn't so bony. Then they let us lope! I couldn't believe it! Our first time bareback and they were letting us lope. Loping bareback is so much fun and so much easier than the trot. I could actually enjoy it because JD's spine wasn't digging into me as much. We had 6 or 7 riders fall off. I almost fell because JD's trot was so bad and he wasn't slowing down on the HALT HO. I was pulling back very hard. I was able to catch myself though. I want to ride bareback again, but with a different horse. BAREBACK IS SO MUCH FUN!!!!!! And I got bareback butt look!

Bareback Marks

You Know You're A Westernaire If...

1. You get up earlier on Saturday morning than any other day of the week
2. The only way someone can get your attention is by yelling HALT HO
3. People step on your foot and you don't even realize it
4. You don't care about broken or dirty nails
5. You go everywhere in white pants with a brown butt from riding bareback
6. The color of a bandanna is suddenly very important to you
7. You muck your stall and keep your trailer clean, but your bedroom is a disaster
8. You connect everything to some horse or another
9. When people ask what you had for breakfast you say dirt and horse hair
10. You don’t even notice when you step in manure
11. Hay in your hair and down your shirt is an everyday thing
12. Those white clothes you have never really come clean
13. You give directions to turn to the rein hand or flag hand, instead of left or right
14. You decorate your locker with pictures of horses
15. Your arms are tan, your face is tan, but your legs never get any sun
16. Your idea of the perfect boyfriend is a horse.
17. You spend more time thinking about Westernaires and horses than anything else
18. Dirt in your teeth means you were smiling and having fun the whole time you were riding
19. You memorize all the livery horses and their numbers
20. Every time you get on your horse . . . you RIDE WITH PRIDE
21. When asked to tie a knot you tie a lead rope knot
22. Aren't afraid to fight a guy bigger than you: horses are way close to 1,000 pounds, how much damage can a guy under 200 do?
23. Carring boxes is nearly impossible but anything remotely saddle like is a piece of cake.
24. Random bruises appear on the inside of your legs and you think nothing of it
25. You would rather smell like horse manure than the new perfume
26. Your favorite belt is covered in crystals
27. You have a separate drawer just for your Westernaire clothing
28. Your friends don't even try to contact you on Saturdays
29. You root for the rental horses at Interclub
30. As you drive into Westernaires you can spot your favorite horse in the pasture

Upcoming Saturday!! - Bareback

This Saturday is going to rock! I just found out that we will be riding BAREBACK!!!! I am SO excited! I have always wanted to ride bareback! Also Saturday night Tenderfeet get to watch the white division specialty teams preform! I really want to do liberty next year. Another reason I can't wait for Saturday. To see if I like bareback. My guess is I will love it! I hope I get a good horse. There really are no "bad" horses. Some are just more difficult. Also our take home tests are due. I finished mine the day I got it. Oops! There was a 24 page study guide and the test was 41 questions. They were pretty basic. I can't wait for Saturday!

All Horses I've Had (As of June 2)

So I started this blog right after Interclub so I thought I would list all the horses I have groomed or ridden up until this date. Not Including Horses From Interclub (Separate Post)

Rides

Bantaro
Summer
Strawberry
Westie
Star
Buffy
Yukon
Hickory
Nugget
Fast Eddie
Hickory
Wyoming
Quinnella
Lucy
Riata
Hoover - No Picture
Chili
Rock

Grooming
Bandit
Cooper
Fast Eddie
Taz
Emma
Skeeter
Rio
Wyoming
Flame
Jade

Bantaro

Summer

Strawberry

Westie

Star

Buffy

Yukon

Hickory

Nugget

Fast Eddie

Wyoming

Quinnella

Lucy

Riata

Chili

Rock

Skeeter

Flame

Taz

Jade

Bandit

Cooper

Emma

Rio

Interclub 2013

Interclub was on June 2, 2013! I had to be there at 6:30am to groom and saddle. I got Patches # 104. She was really good. I did a beautiful show groom on her. Then I rode her down to the Rodeo Arena and tied her at the designated spot. I changed into my show clothes and received my number. 337. Now commenced the long day of watching and waiting. I was in the last class of the day. After one of the classes the seniors rode some ponies and 2 of them took off. It took like 5 minutes to catch them. It was very entertaining. Also Night Horse Rangers preformed... VERY cool. Finally my class was called up. We went to the horse draw tent. I drew #69 Ringo. I had never had him before. He LOVES to throw his head so you give him lots of rein. Hid did fairly well during the competition. But he does not have a very good show trot. I had a hard time keeping him from cutting corners and staying slow. I didn't place.... but hey Interclub is all about fun, and there is always next year. The winner of the E.E  Wyland Trophy was on my team though so that was pretty awesome. Afterwords I went over to the trailers to see my friend. She is in her 3rd year. We sat on her horse bareback. I failed trying to get on but it was my first time. Then my team had to stay after and unsaddle, but by the time I got to the trailers so they were out of horses. So I just went home. I was very tired.

Here are pictures of the horses I rode