Spur Tie Downs

Hey my spur tie downs got here! I am all set to ride after promotion Saturday. My spurs don't ride up my heel anymore. They don't move an inch. Here are some final photos. My spurs are complete

These are what they look like but mine are brown.

Promotion Saturday 2013 Information!!!

I just got the email from my monitors giving me all the information I need for promotion Saturday which is November 2nd, 2013!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited and nervous.

Here is what my email said!!!!

This Saturday is Promotion Saturday. You will find out what Base Team you have been placed in. It will be an exciting time for you. You may or may not be with the same riders you have ridden as a Tenderfoot with, but you will now expand to watch each other ride.

Remember, your Base Team is White Division. You will learn drills that you will perform next summer in White Division shows and  you will have a "Training class" in which you will diagram your drill for your team. You will also have your Junior Team, which is in Blue Division.

1. Base Team---Performing team--White Division
2. Training Class---A classroom training hour for your White Division base team, in which you will diagram your drill for your team
3. Junior Team--- Your Blue Division Equitation class.. Your Junior team is a continuation of your Tenderfoot Team, expanding and fine tuning the skills you learned as a Tenderfoot.

Please report to the Livestock Arena (same place as Ticket Rally) at 8:30 am sharp.......Being on time will be important, so we will be ready to start the meeting.
You will receive a sheet of paper, not at the beginning of the meeting, but a little in to it  (rider information form), with a number in the corner. Pay close attention to all Mr Keller will be saying, it is all important. So please listen and do not talk while he is, or you may miss something important.  

Mr. Keller will announce numbers and the classroom that number will report to. Your number is in the corner of your sheet. As soon as Mr. Keller announces you are dismissed to go to the classroom you are assigned to. Go with your family member to that room to meet your instructors and possibly Monitors for your new White Division Base Team. We will form your Junior teams later in that day, determined by your Base Teams, to avoid the least conflicts for you, the rider.Please report in Uniform, be prompt and wear your smiles....you are going to enjoy your new teams and all you will learn in your 2nd year in Westernaires.

 Attached are your Medical and Rider Forms-- please make sure you fill them out for both your new Base team and your new Junior team-- you will need a set for both.  
Please watch your e-mail next week for times for your new teams rides . You will receive contact from each team separately. You will have different instructors for each team and have different Monitors for each team.
You will have two separate teams, so you will pay for them separately if you are a renter, and you will submit a Rider Information Form and Medical Form to each team. I have attached the forms so you will be able to bring a filled out form to your new base team meeting on Saturday.
It has been a pleasure watching you grow as riders in your first year as Tenderfeet. We have no doubts you will continue growing as riders and will be successful in your new Base Teams.

Annual Show 2013 VIDEOS

So here are some videos. I videoed the Varsity Big Red Team (Highest Team) and Blogger.com won't let me upload it. :( I think it is too big of a file or something. They were amazing. I will post as many videos as I can. Hope you enjoy! 

Freedom Riders (Red Trick Riders)

Nighthorse Rangers

Royal Rangers Spanish Bowling. This is what I was trying to explain in my post with Lucy.

Crimson Rangers

Crimson Rangers (Thread The Needle)

Crimson Rangers (Mariners Cross)

Royal Rangers (Thread the needle in 4's)

Red Liberty 

Cavalcade 

Pre Show - Circus Horse (Red Vaulting), Batons, Hoedowners

Pre Show 2 (Same as above + Fire batons)

Annual Show 2013!!!!

So yesterday was the 60th Annual Show "Horsecapades" It was AWESOME! Sophomores sat right at the opposite gate end of the arena so we had a great view of all the drills! Sophomores checked in at 1 and we went to the paddock area where we watched all the teams line up. That was awesome! You could feel the excitement. How I wish I was up there riding. Someday.

Here was the line up. In order for Saturday Afternoon

Pre-Show

Rio Bravo

Circus Horse (Red Vaulting)/ Batons/Hoedowners

Belle Starr (Red Whips)

Royal Rangers

Wagons West

Show

Grand Entry

Crimson Rangers

Freedom Riders (Red Trick)

Nighthorse Rangers

Liberty Riders

How The West Was Won

Red & Glow Ropes

Horse Roman

Special Guests/ Alumni

El Latigo del Diablo

Precisionettes

Riders of the Steppes

Chariots

Equidance (Red Dressage)

Cavalcade (White Division Parade)

Firelight Finale (Varsity Big Red)

My friend showed me some booths and I bought 4 Westernaire pins to go on my sweat shirt or my backpack! I bought Yukon, Wyoming, Winddancer, and one that is an american flag and has a rider on it reading,"Proud to be a Westernaire" They are very cool. Then I went to another booth selling necklaces and charms. I bought the necklace with the Tenderfoot 2012 charm and the Sophomores 2013 charm. :) I will have to add my new teams next year. Then it was show time! The show was spectacular! The teams were incredible. I videoed a ton and will blog those in another post. These teams never cease to amaze me! I can not wait to learn! Then cavalcade was where all the white division teams paraded around in there costumes and flags. Renters on foot and owners on horseback. That will be me next year :) It was very cool. Then they recognized the Sophomores and we stood up and the spotlights shone bright in our eyes. I can not describe in words how cool this show is. When Red Horse Romans were preforming they were doing the part in their drill where they go through a flaming arc. One girls horses split and she almost crashed right into the fire. Then they were going over flaming poles in splits and one rider fell off and on the pole. She was fine. They are standing on 2 horses so they did really good. In Liberty some horses were scared of the lights on the arena floor and started shying away or bucking and rearing it was funny! They turned them off for their drill. The programs were awesome! Our team photo is in there this year!!!!! It shows a tenderfoot rider holding a varsity big red rider's hand looking up at the distance in the arena. Here are photos. 

Sophomore Charm

Tenderfoot Charm

Westernaires Ticket Turn In 10-24-13

So tonight was ticket turn in. Sophomores reported to the Conference room. I got there at about 6:15pm. There I found my monitor and since we were about 15 minutes early there was no line! My monitor double checked that the amount sold matches with the money and so on and so forth. They gave us a map and instructions for where to park for our show, where to meet, what to bring etc. My grand total is..... 25 TICKETS!!!! In the eyes of Westernaires that is not very many but it is a improvement for me from last year! I only sold 14 Tenderfoot year. I am very pleased with myself. Sophomores report at 1 o'clock for Annual Show on Saturday. We have to be in full uniform including our red side - ties. The show will end at about 4 or so and we have to clean the bleachers afterwards so I won't be able to post until late afternoon or even until Sunday. I do not ride this weekend because of Annual Show :( But it is still great too watch. Write in 2 days!

Better Spur Video

Spur Video

Sorry about the bad quality I will upload a better one later. You can't really hear the Spurs in this video.

SPURS!!!

I got my very own Spurs yesterday!!! I can't believe it, finally after all this time as Tenderfoot + Sophomores I finally have my spurs! They are silver with a twisted band and a gold rowel. They ring too! That is by far my most favorite sound in the whole world. That and any sound involving horses! I got them at Murdoch's and I bought new straps. I know in one of my previous posts I bought some very nice straps and I decided to use those for shows. My new ones are straight and dark brown. I can not wait to ride with them! Here are some photos of my awesome Spurs! I totally feel like a Junior now! My rubber tie downs are being shipped. I will post when they get here. I will try to upload a video later, no promises on quality though :) Ticket turn is next week so I will post again then. November is going to be a very exciting month :) Blue ropes will start sometime in November

Last Sophomore Ride! 10-12-13

Today was very well my last ride on Sophomore 1. Now I have 4 weeks or so between my next ride because in 2 weeks is Annual Show so we don't ride then sometime after that will be Promotion Saturday where we get our Junior Teams and our Base Teams! That's also when we will finally get to use spurs. So anyway today I got Ashley #71!!! She is a shorter white horse with a small bump on her back which is how you tell her apart from the other horses. So I went out to the pasture to look for her and they tried to give me Cinder! She tried to buck me too I was like thank goodness I didn't have her,that would have been worse than having Duke! I was so glad I didn't get him again! She was such a sweet heart for grooming she stood quietly and didn't fuss. She did like to take up a lot of space on the rail though. She has giant feet! I was like whoa, for such a small horse your feet are huge! She is one of the shorter horses so mounting up was really easy. It wasn't as muddy today! It actually dried up some! But it was cold. I wore my Westernaire Sweatshirt but forgot my leather gloves. We rode down to the Moore Arena and checked our cinches. She didn't bloat at all so her cinch was still nice and snug. We started out with our regular warm up. Her trot is SO SMOOTH! She is such a comfortable ride. She listens to leg cues well but doesn't like to trot through the circles so it takes a little more effort. Then we got to LOPE! Finally after 8 weeks! I got to lope again! Ashley's lope is weird! She lopes with her front feet but her back feet were still trotting... It was interesting. It was harder to ride but, hey, it was still loping and I wasn't riding Duke so I was smiling. Then we rode in 4's and Ashley listened great! We had to circle and reverse and go down the center and split at the rail. We then got to try a pass through again! We actually looked really good! It took us a few tries. Eventually we looked like a team. I really wanted to try a thread the needle again but oh well. We were still doing drills at least. Then we got into 8's and man, you really have to double the spacing. My 8 had to ride in an 11 because we had the extra people. It is really hard. We did circling and we kept it together fairly good but all the drill teams make it look so easy! It's not fair! My ticket count is 17! I am almost to 20 tickets. Some people on  my team are already at 60! I don't understand how they do it.... Ticket Turn In is on the 24th and Annual Show is the 26th and 27th. Sophomores are watching the Saturday afternoon show. After that will be Promotion Saturday but I don't know exactly what day yet. Here are are some Pictures!

Ashley and I on the rail

Riding in an 11 I am the white horse closest to the rail

Ashley and I - BEAUTIFUL