One MAJOR Update

Wow have I been bad about posting. I've been sooooo busy I'm so SORRY! Let's pick up where we left off.

Aug.13 - Saturday
Today was the Jeffco Fair so for ropes and batons we went down to preform. It was pretty fun getting to show off. Then for liberty I had GoldDust and she was okay. I didn't wear spurs and that was interesting. She did well but she hesitated a lot more at the jumps because I didn't have them on. I miss rock as my liberty horse... He is currently in sick bay with hives. Vaulting we just practiced our drills. I also JI'd on JD and then switched to Scout so the rider could have a better horse for equitation testing.
Aug.17 - Wednesday
Tonight was alumni night! We probably had about 16 alumni show up and about 8 of them were renters. I got the cursed honor of sharing with one of them. She reimbursed me for my rental fee which was SUPER considerate. I thought she should ride warm ups to get used to golddust before jumping into drills. So I walked down to the arena. At the ride I was watching the alumni and how much they have missed this and it really hit me. That'll be me soon. I cannot imagine only riding at westernaires once a year. So when my alumni offered me a turn I told her to enjoy the ride and use the whole hour. She was so appreciative and happy I was hardly upset about not getting to ride. I just hope when it's my turn someone will be so kind.
Aug.19/20 - WHITE OLYMPICS
Saturday was LONG. I was at westernaires for almost 17 hours straight. I JI'd on Stax first thing in the morning and then went on a trail ride with Shoshone the next hour and he was so excited and was bucking and loping in place a lot. It was a lot of fun. Then I had Vaulting which conflicted with ropes but because I had a show I went to vaulting. My partner and I decided to rent for practice and the show because her horse wasn't working out. We rode Utah Girl. I slipped off at one point which was super funny. Then for liberty I had GoldDust and i wore my spurs because of how she acted last time. I think I was tired but when we went over a jump she would take off and not slow down. I finally had to put the bridle on it was so bad. But when I relaxed and calmed down enough I realized it was my spurs and that I was clinging on with my lower legs more than my thighs. I felt so bad for getting angry at her when she didn't know what she was doing wrong. White Liberty 1 named officers. I didn't get anything but I wasn't really expecting to because I just moved up in the spring. We had to end class super early because we had our head shots for royal for the annual show program. We wore our purple vests but we didn't tuck them in so they would lay flat. It went super quickly. Then I raced to batons where I practiced fire most of the time. Then I changed into civilian clothing and headed to watch my sister in the show! There were a lot of Halt Ho's and it was a rough show overall but everyone persevered. My sister's team placed 2nd in AAA. Then we packed up and headed home. On Sunday I got to Westernaires at 12 for grooming. I was told I had Outlaw for vaulting and GoldDust for Liberty. I groomed GoldDust because outlaw was being used for steps. Once we were down at the arena I checked in with all my teams and set up my quick change area. Then I got Outlaw ready and got costumed for vaulting. Which went really well! I held all my tricks and even stood through the whole propeller. I was super proud especially after falling off last year. Then I watched most of the show until it was time to get ready for batons. Which was a major success personally. I never dropped either of my batons including fire! Then it was the stressful quick change to liberty which kind of sucked. GoldDust dodged every single jump despite all my attempts to correct her. And we had a couple halt hos. Then it was awards. None of my teams placed but I didn't really expect them too. Overall it was a pretty good show and a great conclusion to summer.
August 27 - Saturday
We are back to Winter Schedule!!! I had batons early at 8 and we just celebrated olympics and ate food. Then I rode Bandit for JI at 9. Most of the kids rode bareback as their last tenderfoot ride celebration. Then I had ropes at 11 and my friend and I created tandem crazy legs and it was super fun!!!! I had vaulting at 12 and my partner and I rode her horse and it was okay because we just played games. GoldDust was in Liberty at 1 but I made it to Royal in time. We rode with flags. Our ride kinda sucked. I hope next week will be better. I rode 1-7 (I LOVED THIS SPOT), 3-7, and GPA 4. We only got through 2 1/2 drills. With only 8 rides until annual show this was concerning. GoldDust was being a pain as usual. Then Royal had cleaning at 3 and my day was done!

- Now that life is back under control I'll definitely get back to posting regularly

Royal Rangers - Aug.10, 2016

On wednesday I had GoldDust again. I was determined to have a better ride with her. Grooming was fine she's super easy she just bites your butt sometimes with the first hoof. Then we had warm ups which weren't horrible actually. Then we lined up the first drill and I was 2-5. Then the second and I was 2-8. Both went okay. We were threatened with trotting if we kept leaving riders behind. It's just hard because we have two owner horses who can barely get above a trot and there really isn't a spot in our drill where we can put them besides CP without issues but we don't want to punish them because of horse difficulty.  We will get back to the royal we were a month ago it's just going to take some time and patience and next week is Alumni ride so we are all just going to try and survive lol. Then the third drill I was 3-1. I missed the peel off for spanish bowline and lost my stirrup so the whole drill I rode liberty style lol. Luckily they found all the pieces and I put it back together for the next class because we just cooled down our horses after that. I really need to go back and study my drill again since we are riding different positions again. A refresher would be really nice.

Out with the Old in with the New

On Wednesday July 27 we said goodbye to our ten riders moving to precisionettes and welcomed our 19 new girls to Royal. It was a good night. The drills were rough but we pulled through them! I had GoldDust again. I rode 1-8 and was supposed to ride 2-8 the next drill but the girls moving to precisionettes got to pick their spots so I got pushed to point. I helped with the welcome bags and the girls seemed to appreciate them. I'm currently on vacation so I've missed Saturday 7/30, Royal 8/4, and I will miss tomorrow as well. I'm definitely starting to get horse withdrawals and I'm ready to come home.