Okay, I'm back! Last week was a REALLY tough week, so I didn't get to write, but yesterday was AWESOME!! I took Kitch to the Topsham Fair for Team Penning. He did GREAT!! Now that he's realized that I'm comfortable with him turning it on, boy does he ever turn it on!! That horse can RUN!! He can also cut cows really well and get aggressive with them when they don't cooperate.
Our first run was in the Open Division, which I generally don't ride in because as a beginner there's not much chance. But, anything CAN happen, and it almost did! We had 2 fantastic runs and we were only 10 seconds out of the money!! That gave me a huge boost of confidence. However, our one Pro-Nov run blew up in very short order, oh well.
We had 5 runs in the Novice Division and that was WICKED fun!! We were really making things happen - not always the right thing, but I'm learning not to sit on my laurels. I'm also learning to use my voice and communicate with my team members, and also with the cows. So much so, that my throat hurt! ;-) It is SUCH a RUSH to pen cows!! People were teasing me about how much I was smiling....
One of my teams came in 4th place!!!!!! We won $53!! YEAH!!!! I NEVER expected to win anything in this, my first year! Our first run was pretty good, but the second run was like deja vu. At the last penning, I rode with one of the same girls and our run was dq'd because I made a mistake by standing there at the wing, waiting for her to come down and sweep. She didn't get there in time and people criticized me for just sitting there. Apparently, even if the run blew up 'cause I lost the cows trying to pen them by myself, at least I would have tried. When we were ready to pen our cows, that same scenario was suddenly in front of me - 1 team member was already in the hole. I was standing at the wing and I looked back and here she came to sweep, but she was still way back at the foul line! What to do? I went in and did a slow sweep so that she would have time to get to the wing to help guide the cows into the pen. It worked perfectly and we got a GREAT time!! But, I could hear lots of yelling - her yelling at me not to leave the wing, and all the other riders yelling at her that I was doing what I should do!! I felt vindicated!! Apparently after she exited the arena a bunch of the more experienced penners gave her a hard time about not praising me for stepping it up and taking that chance, so she came over and apologized to me. I told her that wasn't necessary 'cause it was a perfect reenactment of what should have happened the last time and I'm just soooo glad that I learned my lesson and that it worked out so well!! She was happy and felt much better....And that was the run that got us the money - YIPPEE!!
Our first run was in the Open Division, which I generally don't ride in because as a beginner there's not much chance. But, anything CAN happen, and it almost did! We had 2 fantastic runs and we were only 10 seconds out of the money!! That gave me a huge boost of confidence. However, our one Pro-Nov run blew up in very short order, oh well.
We had 5 runs in the Novice Division and that was WICKED fun!! We were really making things happen - not always the right thing, but I'm learning not to sit on my laurels. I'm also learning to use my voice and communicate with my team members, and also with the cows. So much so, that my throat hurt! ;-) It is SUCH a RUSH to pen cows!! People were teasing me about how much I was smiling....
One of my teams came in 4th place!!!!!! We won $53!! YEAH!!!! I NEVER expected to win anything in this, my first year! Our first run was pretty good, but the second run was like deja vu. At the last penning, I rode with one of the same girls and our run was dq'd because I made a mistake by standing there at the wing, waiting for her to come down and sweep. She didn't get there in time and people criticized me for just sitting there. Apparently, even if the run blew up 'cause I lost the cows trying to pen them by myself, at least I would have tried. When we were ready to pen our cows, that same scenario was suddenly in front of me - 1 team member was already in the hole. I was standing at the wing and I looked back and here she came to sweep, but she was still way back at the foul line! What to do? I went in and did a slow sweep so that she would have time to get to the wing to help guide the cows into the pen. It worked perfectly and we got a GREAT time!! But, I could hear lots of yelling - her yelling at me not to leave the wing, and all the other riders yelling at her that I was doing what I should do!! I felt vindicated!! Apparently after she exited the arena a bunch of the more experienced penners gave her a hard time about not praising me for stepping it up and taking that chance, so she came over and apologized to me. I told her that wasn't necessary 'cause it was a perfect reenactment of what should have happened the last time and I'm just soooo glad that I learned my lesson and that it worked out so well!! She was happy and felt much better....And that was the run that got us the money - YIPPEE!!
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