Winddancer

So I made a post dedicated to Wyoming and since Winddancer is now tied for favorite horse she gets the spotlight to. I get most of these photos from their Facebook pages or the Livery Page on the Westernaires Website. Most of the Westernaire horses have them. Winddancer is such a sweet heart and captivates you with her charming personality instantly. If not she is such an easy ride that it is impossible not too. Love you baby! Hope I get to ride you again :)

Last Tenderfoot Ride 8-24-13

Today was our last Tenderfoot ride! We got to choose whether or not we wanted to ride bareback or with a saddle. I decide that I would choose based on my horse. I got Winddancer #28. She was in a special pen and had a very beautiful purple, blue, green halter. She is brown with a unique blaze and a blonde mane + a brown tail. And two back stockings. Her back seemed fairly flat and the withers were not too bad so I chose bareback. We still had to saddle and she was so good! She cooperated and didn't fuss once. Her saddle was weird. She has a very tall cantle and pommel. It was weird. Plus it was very very heavy. Not as bad as Strawberry's but pretty bad. She also had support boots on her front legs, I got them on by myself but I didn't make them tight enough but a wrangler showed me how. I was close. Winddancer is also really tall!!! I had to scramble on top of her. Then I was partnered with Witch Doctor to ride down and she was almost even with him. Then she trotted. OMG her trot is SO SMOOTH. you hardly even move! It was amazing. Then when we got to our arena we had to dismount and tie our horse to the rail to take off the saddle. Then we went back into our arena and I had a JI give me a leg up. What a difference from JD oh my goodness. She was so comfortable, I could still feel her spine but not very much. I forgot how cool bareback feels. The heat from the horse definitely warms you up pretty fast. Winddancer listens so good and turns so nice. You do have to give her an extra kick or two with your outside leg to keep her trotting through the circle. Then we got to go over cavalettie poles. First we went next to them a few times so the horses could get used to it then we went over them at a walk. Next was at a trot. We had to squeeze with our thighs and lift ourselves up a little bit so they would pick up their feet a little more. Definitely makes them more bouncy but Winddancer was still comfortable. We then got to work in pairs and I got to be the leading pair. It was so much fun setting the pace for the whole group, no riders in front of you just the open arena. I was glad I got to do that before my Tenderfoot year was over. Then they set up some liberty jumps. They only set them up half way. I trotted and made it over the 1st jump but Windancer's back feet knocked down the pole. It was probably more my fault than hers. I could have cued her incorrectly or something. You have to squeeze with your thighs/knees and lift yourself up to cue the horse to jump and keep your eyes up. Then I trotted the 2nd one as well and made it over. It was so much fun! It felt like actual liberty I can not wait until my 3rd year. Now I was like OK. Time to lope. We loped at the 1st jump and I gripped and cued with my eyes up, right at the middle of the jump so it was a little higher gave a kick and we soared over it nicely. That was an out of the world feeling. I have no words to explain. It was so much fun!!! On the back of a horse suspended in the air for even a brief second. Wow. Then without breaking the lope we came at the second jump. Same thing except I landed a little to the side lost my balance and started to slip. I tried to catch myself but I just slid off and landed on my feet. It was my fault not Winddancer's. I got a leg up from someone and was ready to go with a smile on my face. We came at the next jump at a lope but I gave her to much rein and she ran out from under me and I did another graceful fall, landed on my feet again. Rider error. Many horse accidents are rider error. Then I was getting a leg up and she took off and I landed on my hands and knees. That one was not so much my fault. I had the reins in my hand, but maybe I bumped her or something that told her to go. I will never know. I held the reins tighter in my hand and got up. We rode a little longer, lined up, and dismounted. Then I offered her some water. Nope. Then I had to go and put her saddle back on. My favorite ride out of my whole Tenderfoot year!!! Winddancer and Wyoming tie for my favorite horse. I wanted it to last forever! Then my team had to go and clean the Red and Blue Arenas. Circus Horse (Red Vaulting) was practicing in the Red. One good use for the bandannas is to block out the dust when cleaning. Then I went and signed up for Blue Ropes. It was cool getting to do that, it made me feel like a 2nd year rider. I might go sign up for Blue Vaulting later just so I can get in more riding and have a horse related specialty then quit and do Blue Liberty my 3rd year. I don't know yet. I have until October 19th. That's when specialty sign ups are over. I will write after graduation! Here are photos... Including a jumping action shot!

Jumping Action Shot

Last Ride Tomorrow

Tomorrow is my last Tenderfoot ride! I am kind of sad actually. I really like this team and the instructors and we have come so far together since our first ride last September. But I am looking forward to this next chapter of my Westernaire life and it is going to be quite an adventure. The next 3 rides starting September 14 will be my Sophomore rides until we move up to Juniors. We don't have to wear our bandannas at graduation so after this ride I will remove my tan bandanna from my head for the last time.....  The next time I put one on will be a crisp new dark blue bandanna which I will wear with pride. I will always Ride With Pride. Tonight the new Tenderfeet are attending the meeting where they pay their fees and learn their class number. I remember that night so well. We also received Tenderfoot handbooks and watched a small show in the volunteer arena. The air held nothing but excitement. Hard to believe that was only a year ago. I am excited for the new Tenderfeet and hope they enjoy their 1st year as much as I did. It is a blast. Good Luck! I will write tomorrow!

My Favorite Horse

I though that I would post some pictures of Wyoming! She is so beautiful and such an amazing horse. Love you girl!!!

Spur Straps!

I got my spur straps today! They are so cool!!!!!! They are black and sparkly pink with flowers. Now I only need my spurs!!! I am going to wait until Promotion Saturday until I buy them. Here are some pics!

White Olympics 2013 - Teams

Just got home from the White Olympics (Teams). It was awesome!!! The show started exactly at 7:00pm and ended about 9:00pm. Here was the line up in order.

White Grand Entry
Hoedowners (A)
Mustangs (AA)
Chaparrals (A)
Blue Rangers (AAA)
Lancers (AA)
Colorado Rangers - Boys (A)
Colorado Stampede (AAA)
White Knights (A)
Gauchos (AA)
Glory Riders (AAA)
Cowboys - Boys (AA)
Legionnaires (A)
White Star (AA)
Shadow Riders (AAA)
Trailblazers (A)
Vaqueros (AA)
Indian Braves - Boys (AAA)

I can not believe that I get to be in this show next year!!! I love all the colorful costumes and unique drills. The only teams that had someone fall off was Shadow Riders and Indian Braves. But Indian Braves are bareback. It was fun trying to pick out the teams that did really well. The 1st place Triple A team was flawless they did so good. We knew they were going to win the moment they were done. The music was fun each team's was different. The Hoedowners were really small. They did good considering they are riding stubborn ponies bareback. I payed close attention to the Double A teams because those, according to our instructors, are the teams we will most likely be placed on next year. I really liked most of them! I can not wait! Lots of the teams, including some Single A teams, loped their drills. Overall it was a great show I had tons of fun even though I was simply watching. Here were the results of the competition. All the riders were on the rail waiting for the results, it was cool. Lots and lots of riders.

Attendance Award

Blue Rangers - 170 people in attendance to watch the show

Sportsmanship Award

White Knights

Single A, 3rd Place

White Knights

Single A, 2nd Place

Legionnaires

Single A, 1st Place

Trailblazers

Double A, 3rd Place

Cowboys

Double A, 2nd Place

White Star

Double A, 1st Place

Vaqueros

Triple A, 3rd Place

Colorado Stampede

Triple A, 2nd Place

Blue Rangers

Triple A, 1st Place

Glory Riders

My phone takes really bad photos but I am going to post them anyway, again sorry about the quality.

Teams ready to go

Grand Entry

Lancers

Colorado Stampede

Gauchos

Glory Riders

Cowboys

Legionnaires

Shadow Riders

Trailblazers

Riders on Rail

Serpintine

Westernaires Ride 8-10-13 (Games)

So today was my 22nd ride as a Tenderfoot. Yay!!! I got # 40 Lucy. I have had her before. She is so sweet! She is 19 and has asthma. She was in a separate pen so finding her was not a problem. She was great for grooming. Her neck was SO SOFT! We rode down to the arena and checked our cinches. Then our instructors told us that Tenderfoot 1 smoked all the other teams in testing!!!! Then we had 10 minutes of free time. I didn't work Lucy too hard because I knew she tired out quickly. Her gaits are nice and smooth. Today all we did was play games! My instructor told me that Lucy will take off during games so watch her close. It was so much fun! We did a race. We had to lope down and go around the posted instructor in a full circle then come back. We could go as fast as we wanted. Lucy did try and bolt a few times but I anticipated it. Then I just let her go all out on the way back. Then we played a relay race. The instructors had a rock and one rider would ride down grab the rock and come back, handing it off to the next rider. Who would then take it back to the instructor. Lucy did so good. I was able to return the rock, turn and GALLOP back without breaking a step. My group won both. We had all the fast horses except we did have Bantaro. During the next game we had to run down to the other end, touch the rail and come back. Lucy was running her poor little heart out for me. I love her for it. She tries so hard. We got to play Sharks and Minnows again to but Lucy was just so tired, and wouldn't do more than trot. So I got tagged pretty fast. Then we got to try Spanish Bowling. We start out in 4's then split into 2 wide circle in pairs. You have to meet up with your 4 at the center and keep going. Then the outside pair peels off and makes another circle. You have to guide on both sides. Meeting up with your pair then back with your four. It is hard to describe, but it was hard and REALLY fun! Lucy wouldn't do more than walk. She was tired. Then we lined up. Our instructors told us that we can choose what we want to do for our last ride. We can choose from the following

1. Bareback
2. Games
3. Drills
4. Trail Ride Around The Fairgrounds

I would like to do Bareback again but I also really like doing drills. We will have to take a team vote to decide what we will do. I will write after the show next week! Here are some pictures of Lucy

Lucy and I Loping

Ready to Ride - Bright and Early

Ready to ride. It's like 5:23 am. Waking up at 5 am for my ride is not a problem any more. I have been doing it for almost a year now. Check in is at 6:30 am and they start assigning horses at about 7 am. So by then I am wide awake. I wake up like 10 minutes before my alarm goes off anyway. At least in the morning there is no traffic. I will write in a few hours! Wish me luck..... hoping for a good horse.

August Events

All done with testing for my Tenderfoot year... YAY!!! I will be at Westernaires for the next 3 Saturdays and then we will have a 4 week gap between rides. Ugh I hate those but our graduation will be there to break it up a little. My next ride is on the 10th then all the Tenderfoot teams have to watch the White Olympics (Teams) on August 17th. I will be in this show next year! White Olympic specialties are on the 18th but we are not required to watch that. I wonder if we will do anything special for our last ride on the 24th... Who knows. Only 5 days till I ride!!!