Snow, Snow, Go Away

Junior Rides are cancelled again :(
The snow decides that anytime I want to be at Westernaires really badly it is just going to dump like 6 inches of snow. Then next weekend it will be perfect riding weather. I can't win. Still waiting for word from White Star, I am really hoping that my base team isn't cancelled. I am completely OK riding once. It's still riding right? *Sigh* I will let you know when I know... Hopefully with good news.

Blue Ropes 1 - 25 - 14

Ropes was awesome! Danielle taught me two new tricks on Saturday. Split Jump and Crazy Legs! So for Split Jump I have the 15ft rope spinning in front of me and I hop 1 foot in, 2 feet in, 1 foot, ext. It is harder than it sounds but really fun. I absolutely love Crazy Legs! It is such a fun trick. You have the 15ft spinning in front of you and you have to do a 4 step. Right foot in. left over right and over the Honda, right foot back and out, left foot back and out. It is so fun once you get it. I am also practicing the In-Out-and Through, The Drag Accordion, Accordion, and The Spoke Hop. Overall I know quite a few tricks. My fellow White Star teammates and I made a circle and practiced together. Then our whole ropes team made a circle and we did the flat loop routine 2 times. We also learned how to do the salute for shows. You put your left arm up and slightly curved in and right foot back. We have 2 more practices until March. I really hope I move to White Ropes I would love to be in the shows this summer. Then I met with my diagramming trainer outside the Volunteer and had her help me with a few of my corrections. I wish I could have been there longer. I love Westernaires so much! But it was still a great day.

Volunteer Ride and Costumes!

Wow! That's all I have to say about today. So guess who I got for Juniors? Cedar #41! So I found her pretty easily out in the pasture. She is very nippy for grooming. She kept trying to bite me. Bridiling took 20 minutes and 3 wranglers. It was painful. So we practiced for Interclub during the first part of the class. Fast walk, slow trot, and slow lope. Cedar would be a great Interclub horse because she has an amazing trot! It takes a little bit to collect her lope because she is in Red Division so she likes to run! Then we worked on drill maneuvers. It was a great ride but my hand was sore from keeping Cedar in control. After J1 was diagramming. I got 34/35 on my quiz again and I have 5 corrections to do. So after our test we went out behind our diagramming classroom to do a walk through! So Danielle assigned us positions. 1st she put me at position 4-6. Then she had me switch to position 1-1! She let me call the entire walk through! I got to be caller! It was so much fun! I had wanted to do that since I first joined as a Tenderfoot. My whole day was complete. Then Danielle lectured us about test scores and turning in diagrams. After that was our ride in the VOLUNTEER! It was so big! First I was given a little black horse named Sierra #35. We were on troopers on the rail when Danielle called me over. She wanted me to trade horses with another girl who was less comfortable. I said sure. So I got switched over to a horse named Honey #45. Danielle said Honey gets a little excited in the Volunteer and likes to take off. Sierra had such a nice little trot but Honey is BOUNCY! We were riding with our flagboot in our right hand to get used to riding with flags. It was fun :) We had a warm ups for the first good portion of class then we started our drill. I rode position 2-2. Kind of a blah spot but it was still fun. We fast walked and slow trotted our drill. Transitioning into our star was kind of a mess but we pulled it together. We got through our drill one time. Then we loped in pairs. Honey took off into a gallop but I pulled her back into a lope. Honey is a little spazy but she is a good girl. Her lope is soooo nice! After that I had a few hours of free time. Then was costuming!!! We lined up tallest to shortest then walked to our room. Then we lined up on the wall and they fitted us into our vests. They ran out of my size for me and 3 other girls so they have to make them for us. Then we fitted to our cuffs. They also ran out of my size. Last years White Star team was much smaller. I couldn't believe I got to try on my first real costume! After that we were free to go but I stuck around and helped my friend tape her new ropes. Then we were just playing around with them and helping each other learn tricks. It was fun just chilling out with my friends. Overall it was a long exhausting day but it was really fun! Here are the pictures!

Riding in the Volunteer

Honey and I

Propeller

White Star Rides In The Volunteer Arena! (Costumes!)

GUESS WHAT!!!!! I get to ride in the Volunteer Arena on Saturday! Where Red Division Rides! I can not believe it I am so excited! That arena is so big! Also we get to try on our actual White Star costumes! This is it! I am so excited! Also Junior Grand Entry Tryouts (JGE) are on February 15! I am so nervous! OMG I can not wait!

We have several big items this week,

White Star Diagramming is at 9, the ride is at 11 in the Volunteer Arena, and costuming is at 2.

Make sure to wear a sleeved t-shirt under your uniform for costuming

For this Saturday (01/18/14):

• Please bring a flagboot to the ride.
• Diagrams 10-15 are due in final form.  IF THESE ARE NOT HANDED IN PRIOR TO THE RIDE, YOU WILL NOT RIDE.
• Sequence test and 20 handwritten sequences for the following riders
• Quiz 5-- This will cover diagrams 10-15 and Rulebook Sections (Parking & Traffic Control through Safety Helmets)

Junior Grand Entry

On February 15^th, we will have Junior Grand Entry Tryouts. Tryouts will occur during their normally scheduled Junior Rides.

Junior Grand Entry is the featured Blue Division team that rides at InterClub in June; they are the Grand Marshalls who open the day’s activities.

1.     Junior Grand Entry Tryouts are open only to Junior riders
2.      Junior Grand Entry Tryouts are open to all Junior renters and owners
3.     Junior Grand Entry Tryouts are not required
4.     This is the only opportunity (until Red Team) for renters to try out for a Grand Entry Team.
5.     Any interested Riders will notify their monitors when they check in for their ride on the 15th if they wish to try out that day; numbers will be assigned to you by your Junior Team Monitor (in place of your name tag)
6.     Riders who do not wish to try out will still ride that day
7.     Participants will be judged during their class ride, and riders will be selected from each team to fill the Grand Entry Team.
8.     Appointment to JGE is based solely on the scores for that day among all the participants who try out
9.     JGE has no influence on graduation scores or any other team eligibility
10.  There are no additional days for try outs; this is a one-time opportunity
11.  Owners who are selected to JGE are required to ride the same horse they use for tryouts at all JGE practices and Interclub
12.  Practices are mandatory and may not be missed-If you miss one practice, you will be dropped from the team. If a rider does not think they can make all of the required practices, please do not try out; leave the space available for someone else
13.  Junior Grand Entry practices are an additional $15 ride fee for renters.
• Practices will be held each Junior ride Saturday for the months of March and April
• Beginning in May through Interclub Sunday, practice will be held every Saturday

Blue Ropes 1 - 11 - 14

Ropes was in the morning again. Yay!!! It's been really windy so I hadn't practiced a lot so I was kind of rusty. But I picked it up again really quick :) The weather was really nice again so I could rope with out my sweatshirt. I got to use my shirt with the patch sewn on for the first time! So I practiced toe dances for a minute. Can not forget how to do those or no White Ropes for me! Then I went to my 20ft rope to practice The Drag. It is really hard to switch hands fast enough and keep hold of the rope. I actually got it though! I really did it! Other times I was so close. I did break my nail but oh well :) I practiced that a lot and trying to keep from moving my arm. Then I tried my 15ft. I was struggling because it is so small compared to the 20ft. But I eventually got it to spin. So I was working on The Lay-down. I need to work on crawling up the rope more to get it above my legs when I lay down. It is a lot of coordination. I will get it eventually. I couple people had to run laps for saying I can't. I counted 3 other people on 15 and 20ft ropes. One of my friends was told to buy them today :) It was a really fun class. My jeans are wet and muddy because I was doing The Lay-down in the dirt and ice. My fingers are a little sore and rubbed raw. Ropes is a really fun Specialty!!!! I love it soooo much!!!

First Rides of the New Year 1 - 4 - 14

Happy New Year!!! All rides were inside today. For Junior 1 I got Blaze #11. He is one of the grumpiest horses out at Westernaires. It was so hard to find any horse in the pasture because they were all snow covered and looked the same. I finally found him with his crooked blaze and lead him to the arena. I used the metal curry to get all the snow off of him. Then we had to get towels and dry them off before we saddled. He was great for grooming but he wouldn't give me his first foot. After that he was good. You just have to be real slow and patient with the bridle. For Junior 1 we worked on the side pass. So we were working on communicating with the horse with subtle commands and with spurs. Blaze was perfect! He did everything I asked of him! His trot is absolutely to die for! So smooth!!! We then worked on tails in again. Because he was so busy working his feet he hardly had time to be grumpy at the other horses. We did attempt loping and it didn't end too badly. Blaze did try to bite one horse but other than that he was an absolute angel. His lope wasn't bad but I would love too trot on him forever!!! Then before White Star I met up with my instructors and turned in my diagrams so that I could ride. For White Star I got Cedar #41. Wow Cedar is soooo head shy! I was trying to put the reins over her head after I adjusted her stirrups and she wouldn't let me. I had to undo one rein and pull it over her neck. After that she wouldn't stand still so I had to swing up while she was walking. She responds to the smallest slightest cues. Do not touch her with the spurs though or she bolts forward. All I had to do was loosen the reins and kiss and she would pick up her amazingly smooth trot. I got two really nice trotting horses today. We got to ride our drill for the first time!!!!!!!!! We made 4's and then the rail riders were #1's and the inside riders #4's. Then she had the 1's and 3's move forward. We were missing so many people. We did not have any CP's or a 6th four. I got to ride position 3-5 (3rd rider of the 5th four). Because we had no 6th four I got to be on the outside of the star! It was so much fun bringing the drill to life off the paper. I loved my position. I lead pinwheels and into our giant circle. We got through our drill at a walk 2 full times. It was awesome and so much fun! Cedar did everything I asked of her and did not fuss :) I love her so much. All rides starting at 12 and after were cancelled so we had to unsaddle. I lead Cedar around to the back of the Red Arena and unsaddled her. Then I took her back to the pasture. Man she was ready too be home. Our parents voted to have us run diagramming class so we had diagramming at 12. We took Quiz #4. I felt pretty good about it. Then came sloppy copies. I am getting really good at making short cuts so I can finish faster. We did 9 diagrams. After class we got Quiz #3 back I got 34/35 again! I also got my patch for ticket sales! We have to have our flag boot by next ride... I wonder if we will be riding with flags or just getting used to having something in our other hand when we ride. It will be cool getting to use mine, since I've had it for a while. Here are pictures!

Blaze

Cedar

Over 20 Ticket Sale Patch

Ticket Year Bar

White Division Grooming Class Schedule

So I got the White Division Grooming Class Schedule for 2014. My classes are on May 16, 23, and June 6. I groom with the Double A Boys Team - Cowboys. The classes are organized by Level, Single A first then Double A and finally Triple A. We only have 3 classes this year instead of 5 like in Tenderfoot. I am excited to learn new stuff this year. I can't wait to ride tomorrow. Especially since I couldn't ride last week. First rides of the new year!!!

Here is the 2013 - 2014 White Division Grooming Class Schedule

Single A

- Hoedowners + Trailblazers = Feb.28, Mar. 7, 14

- Colorado Rangers + White Knights = Mar. 21, 28, Apr. 4

- Chaparrals + Legionnaires = April 11, 18, 25

Double A 

- Lancers + Gauchos = May 2, 9, 16

- Cowboys + White Star = Mat 23, 30 June 6

- Mustangs + Vaqueros = June 13, 20 or 27 (Depends on Red Division Trip Date) July 2

Triple A

- Glory Riders + Shadow Riders = July 11, 18, 25

- Indian Braves + Blue Rangers + Colorado Stampede = Aug. 1, 8, 15