Cowboy Christmas

July 1^st started the Cowboy Christmas. We chose to go to Leon and Bloomfield, skip the two rodeos on the 3^rd and 4^th, then resume again on the 6^th. We met up with The Nelson’s and Erritt’s by Perry before heading on. It was the Dad’s and daughter’s plus Tyson and Jayden, Luke and I. It felt a little awkward being the mom hanging out with the two Dad’s. It was more like having two big brothers watching out for you. They had me drive in between to make sure I stayed in our little convoy of giant super trucks and giant super trailers. They knew I was inexperienced with the new long trailer and a little uneasy. Following on the interstate and through Des Moines on to Leon was less nerve racking when I could just follow. The Ford led the way, Luke had to ride in with Tyson, the Dodge in the middle, Morgan joined us, and the Chevy took the rear. It was pretty cool being in our first rodeo convoy and Jayden loved it. We also had by far the loudest truck and when the Jake brakes kicked in we were like a semi. I have to admit I kinda like it too. The weekend could have gone better with the rodeo runs, so the company made it all fun. We got to Leon plenty early, 3:00, and pulled our trucks in and set up. Dave had panels for the horses to each have a little pen. Nelson’s were kind enough to share theirs with Ace. He was a pretty happy horse for the weekend with a small circle to graze and relax. I met up with Laura Hunt and her girls. She lives nearby and used to live in Stratford. She is always so fun to talk too. She is full of energy and loves the Lord and lets everyone she talks to know it. She introduced us to a rodeo family that goes to her church. The rodeo started at 7, Payton and Morgan were in the performance, but Jayden was slack. The rodeo was packed and always a good show. Payton ran a great run and was leading and Morgan was in second. Jayden had some trouble with her run, her horse came around the first barrel really wide and when Jayden went to pull him around, he snapped back so sharp he missed the barrel completely. Those are the worst runs to make. A knocked barrel is hard, but a broken pattern is bigger problems. It made for a rough night. It was super late by the time she ran and it was after midnight when slack was over. There are no tears, just lots of mixed feelings, frustration and disappointment mainly. We crawled into the camper to sleep. The air outside had cooled and the camper wasn’t as cool with the A/C running. Luke had the couch folded out into a nice big comfy bed for himself. He was asleep in minutes. Jayden and I slept on the big bed above for the first time. She was out in no time also. I had to lay there and try to shut my mind off from the day. I did not sleep well.


Everyone was up and feeding horses by 8. Mike and Dave were tearing things down and getting ready to haul on to Bloomfield . Luke went with them and rode with Tyson again.I had planned to meet up with my college friend Heidi. We were kind of sad to see the rodeo caravan pull out without us and little by little more and more trailers left us. It was getting hot when the sun came out and there was blue rain clouds to the west. Heidi came around 10 with muffins, fruit, and juice. We sat and visited for awhile before we headed on. Last year we stayed at her house and I couldn’t leave without seeing her this year. Dave saved us a spot in Bloomfield and had a pen all ready for Ace  when we got there around 1. It stayed pretty cloudy which kept it from getting so hot. It was dtill plenty hot and humid. Luke found some rodeo kids and ran around with them all day. He rode Tyson’s bike here and there and roped a moving dummy with the kids he met. They had a little hot heels that you pull back and it shoots forward on wheels. The kids spent most of the day and night playing with it. Luke wanted me to meet his friends right away and each of them introduced themselves with a handshake and told me their names. Super cute! This is the aspect of rodeo that we never get to be part of. The sitting around in a big rodeo community resting and visiting. We always show up for the rodeo and haul straight home. Its hard to get to know people that way. People set up chairs and eat, drink, hang out. I met a couple with a 15 year old daughter, Brianna who hung around Jayden and the girls all day. Jayden, Payton, Morgan, and Brianna all have long blonde hair. They were quite the girls walking around. I guarantee they turned a lot of heads. Her parents were nice and we visited. I also ran into a few long time rodeoers and talked. There are a lot of people that still rodeo full time that I knew from back in my college rodeo days and running in NBHA's. Lavern and Verna Mae, Kallie Mae, Drew and Hannah came out to watch Jadyen . It was fun to get to talk to them without all the relatives and family. I don’t think Drew or Hannah really know us and when you meet someone at their wedding there are so many people they really don’t remember you. They were all posed for a picture with Ace and happened to color coordinate. This night, Jayden and Morgan were up in the performance and Payton slack. Jayden's run was another disaster run, she came around the first barrel and her horse bowed out making it impossible to get lined up again and she missed the second barrel. This time Jayden was extremely disappointed. Knowing she had friends and family that came out just to see her made her feel so sad. The slack followed the rodeo and we stayed up to watch Payton. It seemed to last forever, it was around 1AM .She knocked two barrels and had a rough night. Brianna and Morgn didnt have good runs either. THe girls were all bummed together. We were so tired when we all hit the pillow that night!! Luke feel asleep the second his head hit the pillow.

7/6/17 Next up was Fort Dodge at the all newly renovated ICCC rodeo grounds. Jayden was excited to run in the new arena with nice ground. She went up on her own and I drove up later to watch her run in slack. She had her group of blonde girls to sit with. Ace wasn't himself and was out of control right before she ran. He would take the bit and bolt. Jayden was worried he wouldn't run in and had problems at the gate. He came flying in out of control and blew the first barrel really wide. It wasn't a good run. Jackson, our barrel racing friend and trainer was back from Oklahoma and we talked to him about helping us and giving Jayden some coaching. He said he would be back next month and added us to his list.
7/8/17 The rodeo in Dayton was hot, down in the hole, no air movement, and the sun was beaming down. When the sun finally went down it was fine. Jayden, Luke , and I  got to the rodeo grounds and parked up by the coop around 5:30. The rodeo was at 7. Jayden walked around with Brianna, who she met over the past week.  Jayden had a lot of gate issues with her horse popping his front end off the ground and turning away. It took a couple horses on each side going in next to her to get in the arena. She had a nice first and second barrel. Things were looking good. She came out of second and  bowed out and came out wide on third, those things cost her quite a bit of time and she clocked at 16.4. The "could have beens" always make you wonder what her time could  have been. The fastest time of the night was a 15.8. Grammar and Po came to the top of the big hill to watch and cousin Maggie came too.