One of Jayden's goals for her 2016 season was to compete in an IRCA rodeo. I was not sure about it until recently. She has been working her horse and has competed in three barrel racings already. In all of those she has placed at the top against some tough competition. My eyes were opened as to just how good her little horse is. We decided to let her enter and compete at the first IRCA rodeo of the season and her first IRCA rodeo ever at the Des Moines Iowa Horse Fair. Rodeos are not like NBHA, youth rodeos, or jackpots, they are tough competition. I always say it is where the big dogs run. You have to be good to compete and you have to be real good to place. I ran in the IRCA rodeos back in the day and it is tough! We knew the rodeo was a Friday and Saturday night. We also knew that her being a new cardholder she would very likely be in slack and running at midnight. It was almost accidental and very lucky that she got to compete in the performance. Not only would she be in the performance, she would be the first runner of the night. That made me extremely nervous for her, but she was not nervous. Thankfully Mark decided to go and our whole family made an outing out of it. Mark did the hard part of driving and parking in hard spaces. We arrived at 6PM and the rodeo was not until 7:30. We had to park outside the fairground entrance and had no place to tie Ace and had no choice but to ride or lead him all night. It was cold. We all layered in clothing. Jayden made fun of me wearing my long underwear, but by the time we left she wished she wore hers. It was so cold with gloves on and layers. There was a brisk wind with a windchill in the 20's. When the sun was up it was only in the 40's and kept dropping. Poor Jayden, sat on her horse until we left at 10. Her joints were so achy when we left. She was terrible sick early in the week and we didin't think she would even be able to run. Mawgee and Peepaw came to watch and support Jadyen, along with Debbie and Marty D. When Jadyen was up, she stood ready at the gate on her horse Ace, who was so calm and quiet. The gate opened, he perked his ears up, and zoom, they were off! Her first barrel was perfect and tight, her second was tight and I was so excited. I was thinking don't tip, don't tip a barrel. As she tightly turned her third barrel I yelled out in excitement. I knew that was a good run! Her time was a 14.04. As horse after horse ran the times were all over, upper 14, 15, 16, then a 14.36 barely beat her time. The last girl to run was a 13.79 and won the night. Wahoo, I was so excited. Out of 15 barrel racers, she was in 3rd place and there werent many that were very close to her time. They still had another 18 barrel racers to go for slack tonight and another 40 Saturday night. Her run was fast and her time was good. There are a lot of barrel racers yet to go and I was hopeful she would make the final 10. This rodeo, like no other has a final 10 shootout and they get to run for big money on Sunday. I was thrilled as was Jadyen with the run and the time. It was a huge adrenaline rush. I wasn't even the one riding and yet I felt like it. It was like I was living it all over again. I am enjoying being there and watching Jayden just as much as competing. We walked back to the trailer with a thrill of excitement. This was a big deal and a big night. Jayden has met so many people through rodeo she already knows a lot of people and had several tell her good luck and good job. That is one thing I did not get to enjoy in my rodeo days. She will have a great experience if she knows people and has friends. My friend Laura R. that I college rodeoed with was at the rodeo and texted me right after Jayden ran. She told me that she looked awesome, runs like I do, and should be proud. believe me I am.
One of Jayden's goals for her 2016 season was to compete in an IRCA rodeo. I was not sure about it until recently. She has been working her horse and has competed in three barrel racings already. In all of those she has placed at the top against some tough competition. My eyes were opened as to just how good her little horse is. We decided to let her enter and compete at the first IRCA rodeo of the season and her first IRCA rodeo ever at the Des Moines Iowa Horse Fair. Rodeos are not like NBHA, youth rodeos, or jackpots, they are tough competition. I always say it is where the big dogs run. You have to be good to compete and you have to be real good to place. I ran in the IRCA rodeos back in the day and it is tough! We knew the rodeo was a Friday and Saturday night. We also knew that her being a new cardholder she would very likely be in slack and running at midnight. It was almost accidental and very lucky that she got to compete in the performance. Not only would she be in the performance, she would be the first runner of the night. That made me extremely nervous for her, but she was not nervous. Thankfully Mark decided to go and our whole family made an outing out of it. Mark did the hard part of driving and parking in hard spaces. We arrived at 6PM and the rodeo was not until 7:30. We had to park outside the fairground entrance and had no place to tie Ace and had no choice but to ride or lead him all night. It was cold. We all layered in clothing. Jayden made fun of me wearing my long underwear, but by the time we left she wished she wore hers. It was so cold with gloves on and layers. There was a brisk wind with a windchill in the 20's. When the sun was up it was only in the 40's and kept dropping. Poor Jayden, sat on her horse until we left at 10. Her joints were so achy when we left. She was terrible sick early in the week and we didin't think she would even be able to run. Mawgee and Peepaw came to watch and support Jadyen, along with Debbie and Marty D. When Jadyen was up, she stood ready at the gate on her horse Ace, who was so calm and quiet. The gate opened, he perked his ears up, and zoom, they were off! Her first barrel was perfect and tight, her second was tight and I was so excited. I was thinking don't tip, don't tip a barrel. As she tightly turned her third barrel I yelled out in excitement. I knew that was a good run! Her time was a 14.04. As horse after horse ran the times were all over, upper 14, 15, 16, then a 14.36 barely beat her time. The last girl to run was a 13.79 and won the night. Wahoo, I was so excited. Out of 15 barrel racers, she was in 3rd place and there werent many that were very close to her time. They still had another 18 barrel racers to go for slack tonight and another 40 Saturday night. Her run was fast and her time was good. There are a lot of barrel racers yet to go and I was hopeful she would make the final 10. This rodeo, like no other has a final 10 shootout and they get to run for big money on Sunday. I was thrilled as was Jadyen with the run and the time. It was a huge adrenaline rush. I wasn't even the one riding and yet I felt like it. It was like I was living it all over again. I am enjoying being there and watching Jayden just as much as competing. We walked back to the trailer with a thrill of excitement. This was a big deal and a big night. Jayden has met so many people through rodeo she already knows a lot of people and had several tell her good luck and good job. That is one thing I did not get to enjoy in my rodeo days. She will have a great experience if she knows people and has friends. My friend Laura R. that I college rodeoed with was at the rodeo and texted me right after Jayden ran. She told me that she looked awesome, runs like I do, and should be proud. believe me I am.
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