TMRA Finals Saturday

                                                     

9/19/15 The TMRA (Tuff N Nuff Miniature Rodeo Association) National Finals were held in Ames Iowa over the weekend. They were held in the Hansen awesome indoor arena. Makenna hauled with us and Michelle, her mom, and Alex followed with his Grandma. I had Jayden, Jake, Luke. I wanted the boys to be there and not only support their sister, but also enjoy the sport with all the kids. Everyone was up early, before 7, horses fed, trailer loaded, and on the road at 8. The morning temperature was a cool 50, but the sun was shinning and made for a perfect 70 degree day. We set up lawn chairs and camped out for the day. Registration started at 9:30, a concert at 11:30, and the first rodeo performance was at 1:00 and the second was at 7:00. It made for a long day. I enjoyed just sitting watching and sitting outside visiting, not having to run around at home doing laundry and cleaning. Michelle and I made lunch and dinner runs and brought back food for our group of 7. The kids had a great time. The girls were in their glory. Spending time grooming their horses and getting dressed in their different western shirts for each performance. They warmed their horses up and loved every minute of it. This was their day to shine. Jake had gotten the trailer gooseneck cleaned out and filled it with pillows, blankets, magazines, and toys. The boys had the most fun just roaming with Alex and meeting new kids. Luke met another boy close to his age. His name was Tyson N. and he was a little bull rider. He hung out with our boys a lot over the weekend. He also had a big crush on Makenna and pestered the girls all weekend. He was quite ornery! He would even go up to the girls and unclip their reins as they were waiting to compete.
 The rodeo was nice with an awesome facility and great ground. Both grandparents and Alice came to watch and support Jayden. She ran with her group against Makenna and Carly. Her first run for the day, she didn’t have a very good first barrel, finishing wide. Ace had great second and third and a time of 15.7 and took third place. Makenna ran 15.3, Carly 15.6, fastest time of all 14.8.

Watching the girls riding their horses together and just enjoying the weekend was so neat. I can tell how much fun they are having and how neat this opportunity is for them.

I watch the little bull riders from the tiny tot 2 year olds sitting on a slow moving walking bull all the way up to the 18 year olds on the rank bulls and without a doubt our boys will not be doing that! I think it is crazy! Some of those little guys are amazing and can really ride, but it never fails they get stomped on or slammed into a fence and hurt. One little boy age 10 was wearing a cast from a broken leg from bull riding. He had the doctor cast his spur onto his cast so he could ride, and he did ride all 3 days. Ok, shame on the parents and the doctor for thinking that is ok! It isn’t a matter of if they get hurt, it is when and how bad. We value our boys too much. If we had Winnie, I’d have them running barrels. I think they are just happy to watch and run around with the kids.

After the rodeo  the contestants took turns signing autographs.

During the 7:00 performance our friends, the Buhr’s came out to watch. They didn’t get to stay long as Angelia was having pregnancy troubles.  Jayden's run of the night was looking great with super tight barrels, a little too tight on number two and it tipped. The time would have been a 14.9, but she had a plus five. Makenna ran a 15.3, Carly 15.0. Bitter sweet, she knocked a barrel, but that time was awesome and she knows her horse can do it. He is competitive and he can run with the big dogs! The competition and caliber of horses nowadays is mind blowing. Two of these girls horses are Pro running horses. The competition is crazy tough.
We also had a sad moment for Luke. Grandma Mawgee had gone to the bathroom with him. She forgot to wait for him. We figured he stood for well over 30 minutes by the bathrooms waiting for Grandma. He thought she was still in there and patiently waited. Bless his little heart for being so very patient. It broke my heart and Grandma’s to know that he got left there. He could have easily gone to our seats and knew where we all were, he just didn’t want to leave Grandma because he told her he would wait for her. He cried a little and was a bit scared and sad when he realized.