9/18/16 The TMRA rodeo finals were held
Saturday and Sunday. TMRA is a youth rodeo group holding numerous rodeos throughout the summer, some out of state. Jayden went to the bare minimum required to qualify for finals, that being 6 rodeos. The two other girls in her division traveled and had a huge point lead Jayden could not even come close to. IRCA was sher priority this summer. Saturday morning the kids and I were up early, loaded and
ready to go by 8AM. The boys were excited to hang out with all the rodeo kids
like they did last year. Mark drove over separately and watched the evening
performance. The rodeo was in the super nice indoor ISU Hansaon arena in Ames. I helped with ticket sales all three rodeos for the first half. The first
rodeo was at 10AM. We told Jayden to make these 3 runs like practice runs and just
focus on fine tuning Ace and figuring out what works best so she can keep all
three barrels up. It should feel like a low pressure rodeo and just have
fun. She only had 3 girls in her age group, her, Karlee, and Makenna. In the first round she ran
really wide on her first barrel costing her some time. She was trying to push
Ace that extra bit past the first barrel and he ended up way past it. The other
two barrels were tight and clean. The rodeo announcer said her horse was the
IRCA rodeo horse of the year each time she ran. That was pretty cool and made
her feel proud of her horse. The other two girls in Jayden’s division each
knocked a barrel, so she won. The rodeo took 2 hours with all the bull riders.
It is fun to watch the young kids that are really talented riders. There are some
amazing little ones that ride like the pros. Jayden’s little buddy, Lane Cruz
(age 6 or 7) is one of those. He is an adorable little blonde that can ride
like no other and is fun to watch. His two older brothers also are great riders. There
were plenty of injuries, but nothing that required a hospital run. Those kids
are tougher than nails. As a parent that loves my kids, there is no way I would allow the boys to ride bulls. It is just crazy to me. It isn't a matter of if they get hurt, but when and how bad.
In between the first rodeo at 10 and the second rodeo at 5, was a lot of down time. The kids and I went for lunch then hung out at the rodeo. Luke never has a problem making friends and had an awesome weekend. He played with his toy trucks awhile, but spent the majority of the time with kids his age playing rodeo. They would go in the arena and one kid would go in the bucking chutes and be the bull with someone riding on his back, a couple others would pull the gate open, and a couple others would be the bull fighter. It was entertaining to see and they had fun. They also liked to pull shoes and socks off and run in the arena bare feet. Ew, I know there is bull stuff in there. Jayden knows a lot of the kids from competing and always had somebody to talk to. Jacob had the hardest time. He doesnt know many of the kids and isn’t a bull rider like all the others. The older kids started playing football and Jacob came and sat with me. He was pretty bummed he didn’t have a good friend to hang out with and didn’t know how to play football. I felt so bad for him. His one friend rides and knows all the kids so he didn’t really hang out with Jake much. It was a beautiful sunny fall like day in the 70’s. I was just enjoying the sunshine.
5:00 started round two of the rodeo. Jayden truned in one of the best runs I have seen her do in a long time. She took all three barrels tight and clean. Ace ran good and he ran hard. Mark was by my side yelling like no other. I had not seen him that excited in a long time. He was jumping out of his seat excited. She ran a 13.2, the fastest time of the night and the second fastest of the weekend next to a 13.2. She won her division again. It was a great run and we were excited to see Jayden and Ace make a good run. The old Ace is finally back. The IRCA horse of the year is back in his game. Mark took Jake and heaed home after her run and Luke stayed with Jayden and I. There was an auction which we donated a wooden swing, followed by a small concert. My swing brought $350 for the association which was awesome. Not bad when I paid $100 for it. The concert was a young gal singing and playing guitar with rodeo kids running wild around her while she sang, including Luke. Ace lost a shoe during his run and our farrier came right over. He is a great farrier to do that for us and came in the parking lot with his wife and kids to tack it back on. We were the only ones in the entire group to pull out and go home for the night. There were trucks and trailers everywhere with large trailers with nice sleeping quarters and campers. There is some major money poured into those outfits, well over $100,000. Groups of friends park in a square and put their awnings out with lawn chairs, grills, and campfires. Horses stay in paneled corrals and portable fences. These people know how to do it right. We left and ate supper on the way home and got home around 10PM. Ames is close enough for us that going home was not a big deal. Today felt like two days, but getting home at that hour was much better than any IRCA rodeo. It was a fun and exciting day.
In between the first rodeo at 10 and the second rodeo at 5, was a lot of down time. The kids and I went for lunch then hung out at the rodeo. Luke never has a problem making friends and had an awesome weekend. He played with his toy trucks awhile, but spent the majority of the time with kids his age playing rodeo. They would go in the arena and one kid would go in the bucking chutes and be the bull with someone riding on his back, a couple others would pull the gate open, and a couple others would be the bull fighter. It was entertaining to see and they had fun. They also liked to pull shoes and socks off and run in the arena bare feet. Ew, I know there is bull stuff in there. Jayden knows a lot of the kids from competing and always had somebody to talk to. Jacob had the hardest time. He doesnt know many of the kids and isn’t a bull rider like all the others. The older kids started playing football and Jacob came and sat with me. He was pretty bummed he didn’t have a good friend to hang out with and didn’t know how to play football. I felt so bad for him. His one friend rides and knows all the kids so he didn’t really hang out with Jake much. It was a beautiful sunny fall like day in the 70’s. I was just enjoying the sunshine.
5:00 started round two of the rodeo. Jayden truned in one of the best runs I have seen her do in a long time. She took all three barrels tight and clean. Ace ran good and he ran hard. Mark was by my side yelling like no other. I had not seen him that excited in a long time. He was jumping out of his seat excited. She ran a 13.2, the fastest time of the night and the second fastest of the weekend next to a 13.2. She won her division again. It was a great run and we were excited to see Jayden and Ace make a good run. The old Ace is finally back. The IRCA horse of the year is back in his game. Mark took Jake and heaed home after her run and Luke stayed with Jayden and I. There was an auction which we donated a wooden swing, followed by a small concert. My swing brought $350 for the association which was awesome. Not bad when I paid $100 for it. The concert was a young gal singing and playing guitar with rodeo kids running wild around her while she sang, including Luke. Ace lost a shoe during his run and our farrier came right over. He is a great farrier to do that for us and came in the parking lot with his wife and kids to tack it back on. We were the only ones in the entire group to pull out and go home for the night. There were trucks and trailers everywhere with large trailers with nice sleeping quarters and campers. There is some major money poured into those outfits, well over $100,000. Groups of friends park in a square and put their awnings out with lawn chairs, grills, and campfires. Horses stay in paneled corrals and portable fences. These people know how to do it right. We left and ate supper on the way home and got home around 10PM. Ames is close enough for us that going home was not a big deal. Today felt like two days, but getting home at that hour was much better than any IRCA rodeo. It was a fun and exciting day.
The last and final day, started with 9:00
cowboy church service. The speaker gave a great message on the golden rule of 'treating others the way you want to be treated'. He gave his life testimony and
talked about sharing Jesus with others. The rodeo started at 10. Jayden just
needed one more clean run and she would win the average in her division.
Both Granparents came and watched Jayden Saturday night. Mawgee and Peepaw came back to watch today, Sunday's final performance was at 10:00 and went well for Ace. Jayden ran another smoking run to win her division. She won all three performances, and that gave her the winning average time. What a great weekend. It was the weekend Jayden hoped to have at the IRCA finals and this is not as big of a deal to her. I think it was huge, it was a confidence booster and some of the TMRA girsl run some pretty powerful horses that run IRCA times. What a rodeo season Jayden and Ace have had!
Comments