Each morning its getting harder to get out of bed. My legs, back and neck are stiff. The morning air was crisp and cold. I had to dress in layers and was very cold for the morning. The high today was only in the 50’s. Yesterday we got spoiled in the 70’s. This must be what it is like when you get really old. We started off with another big cowboy breakfast of hash brown, egg, and sausage tortillas. We started the morning with our video evaluations. It was very neat to see your run and have Krece critique your every move. I got a good neck catch on my steer. Mark is getting his heeling figured out too. There is so much to learn and the techniques are so different. We were supposed to rope the sled in the morning, but instead went right to roping steers. I was on fire in the morning, catching my first 4 in a row. I even dallied. Then I caught dallied and turned a steer while Krece roped the heels and my horse turned and faced up. Wow, that was the coolest! What a rush! I caught with Krece twice in the morning and twice in the afternoon. As the morning went on, I began to miss or have one catch and then slip off or a crazy catch. It begins to get frustrating when you start to miss. In the afternoon some I would catch and some I would miss. Towards the end of the day, Krece got in the heel box and told me,” Ok Holly this is the finals, were roping for the truck and trailer now, the pressure’s on.” It was kind of exciting and I caught and he heeled. Wahoo, it was like being in a rodeo with a famous roper. I wanted to end the day as a team with Mark. We made two runs, the first one I caught really good and got all flustered and couldn’t get my dally. The second I just missed. Krece had the group end the day early on our last day. We ended with evaluations and voted for the top hand of the group. Of course everyone is hoping to win the title along with a really awesome buckle. Nobody wanted it more than Mark. I told him he was too good coming in. He had been there and could head great. People vote for the person coming in knowing nothing and going out greatly improved. Lara Lee won the buckle. She had a great clinic and had a great horse. She bought an 18 year old rope horse that put her where she needed to be every time. She was very nice and encouraged everyone. Later one of the older guys in the clinic, James, told me he voted for me for the top hand. I thought that was very nice. He also told Mark he thought he had himself a trophy wife. I was sad to see the clinic over and was going to take home everything I learned. I just wish I could have taken my horse “Dog” home too, not for sale. He was such a neat horse. He walked so quiet into the box, slowed when you needed him to, ran hard when you needed it. He was so automatic in standing and waiting at the strip chute, got in the perfect position for you when roping the dummy, and ducked his head for you to swing at the dummy, walked up for you to pull the rope off the dummy. He stood perfectly still when you waited. He was well trained. Krece rode his horse today with only a halter and lead rope. He caught heels using only that. He just doesn’t miss. He was riding a horse that he is tuning up to sell as an open roping horse for $35,000. What a neat clinic and I am thankful to Mark for insisting I go, I enjoyed it! Because of him, I get to do these neat things. We stayed our last night in the cabin, went out to eat and hit the bed early. Alarm was set for 5AM.
Comments