Saddle Club through the years

 In  the spring 0f 2021 we joined the Hamilton County Saddle Club. That was my old stomping grounds as a little girl. I attended many "Fun" shows through the years. This first photo is my favorite. I am piggy back on my dad watching the barrel racers at the saddle club fun show. That was the first of hundreds of barrel races in my future. 

 It started with my pony horse, Lady. Every little girl wants a horse and my Aunt Alice instilled the love of horses in my. I would sit on the back of her big thoroghbred horse Romeo. I was terrified of him, but I loved horses. Alice also had a mare name Queen that Wade and I liked to ride. After my time on those horses, I was hooked and I want one of my own. ALong came Lady.

 

At the time I got my first horse, there was a brand called Jordache. I had Jordache jeans and shirts with the brand . So naturally when I got my first horse, I named her "Lady Jordache. My dad brought home Lady when I was 8 years old.  I was scared on her. She didn't like mud and at the Saddle club horse shows or the loud speaker. They would yell during the class instead of use the microphone just for me. I was a scared little rabbit on her. I remember Wade riding Lady in barrels and his cinch either broke or was really loose and the saddle slid and he hit the ground. My parents took him to the ER for X-rays but he didn't break his arm. One year I had her in the 4th of July parade. Looking back I have to wonder what my parents were thinking. I was dressed as a clown and mom put balloons on the and around the saddle. Can you imagine if one of those balloons had popped? I was scared without even thinking of the balloons and my horse was a prancy mess. She wanted to go fast and we kept making our way farther and farther forward and I kept pulling back. I may had had some tears. I don't remember too much more with Lady. We sold her to a neighbor when I was 13. Wade was braver than I was on a horse at that age.  Just a few years later, that switched and he wouldn't get on a horse and I was tearing it up on them. 

I think my dad thought that with the sale of Lady, he was done with horses and I would have other interests. I came home from horse camp one summer, horse crazy. Dad found me Trampis.  He was bought along with a bay mare locally with their old saddles and bridles from an old man in town. The only riding these horses had done was following the horse in front of him on  a trail. Trampis was strange from his name to his breed. He was small and had the body shape of an Arabian. He was a peppy horse that would rather run and go fast than walk. He was prancy at a walk and liked to go. That is where my barrel racing interest began, with an old mixed breed sorrel horse. I didn't have anyone showing me how to run barrels and I am sure it was painful to watch. I ran my horse with a grazing bit, neck reining around the barrels. My horse would throw his head out because the neck rein would cause him to. I literally ran around the barrels. There was no technique or skill, just run and try to have a fast time. Sometimes the turn was super wide and sometimes my horse would come to a stop around the barrel. It was not pretty. I enjoyed that little horse and took him to the fun shows and entered all the classes. I had fun with him in tandem bareback with my good friend Tracie. We rode double and had to switch places. We also did some pick up race where I had to pick her up off a barrel as fast as we could. When I picked her up, we both slid off and fell on the other side. We had many laughs. I rode in parades and took him to Brushy Creek. He was a good little horse for that level.

Next came a big giant palomino named Billy. He was the real deal! He was a "barrel" horse, trained and finished. He was rodeo ready and I was not. When I tried him for the first time, I fell off. He was a powerhouse and I had never ridden a horse like that. But, he was cool, he was fast, and he was pretty , and he became mine. Thanks to my dad and his support and encouragement, I started running barrels on Billy. Again, it wasn't pretty and I am sure it looked awful those first few competition runs at our NBHA shows. Once I had a few barrel racers show me some things, such as using two hands, I gradually became a better rider. This horse was teaching me! He ran hard and fast and there was little going slow or making practice slow runs. Once he was aimed for the barrel, he was all go. On one occasion, I was holding him back trying to go slow and he popped his head up, rocked me forward and bam I got a black eye. Jayden refers to that as dashboarding. I competed in my first rodeo and severl more on Billy. I had big plans for him, but I am quite certain the former owner had used him up, ran him hard until she knew he wasn't going to be able to run anymore. Billy had bad arthritis and was showing it more all the time. A vet told me he was bone on bone and such a tough horse to keep running for me. I scaled back and ran him less, still rode him for fun and on trail rides. He was a good horse for me and I learned a lot on him through those years. He taught me confidence, horsemanship, and the sport of barrel racing. 

In 95, Joe came into the picture. Iris Joe's Image. I found an ad for a horse in Cedar Rapids and went for a try. He was a bay roan 11 years old. Again my dad helped me purchase my next great horse. Joe was a barrel horse that the current owner had purchased the fall prior from an older rider. The original owner was a grandma and started with Joe in Team Penning's (pictured below). I learned a lot more about Joe and his owner much later in life. The current owner, Sara W. bought Joe for rodeo finals because her horse had gotten hurt. It seemed to me that she didn't think Joe was rodeo quality, like he was a 2D/3D barrel horse. I liked him and I was excited to enter jackpots and rodeos on him. Who knew he would be my special horse, the one that I would do so well with and enjoy for years to come. I competed in college rodeos making it back to short -go. I ran in NBHA shows, nearly winning a saddle. I had to miss a few shows during the season, otherwise we would have won a nice 2D saddle. I did everything with Joe, saddle clubs, parades, team penning's, trail rides, and of course rodeos. He took me to the IRA finals and I won two buckles on him. He was a great horse for me and I enjoyed many great years with him. I led Jayden in pee wee barrels with him and hoped that he would be her first barrel horse to learn on. I will never forget the first time I had her lope on him. She was only5 and i told her to kiss to him. She did and he went! She was in the pasture and he launched pretty good with her. Not long after that, we became aware of Joe having moon blindness and he was slowly going blind. I made a few last barrel runs on him and then retired him. I would sit on him bareback and ride around his pen, but eventually he had more problems and began losing weight. He was a hard one to let go. He was my gem of a horse. In this world, I think the good Lord gives us lots of nice horses, but only one gem. I tried for many years to find another horse like Joe. I bought a few duds from buyers who told you just what you wanted to hear and eventually started riding whatever we had for Jayden or Mark's. I never really did have another "my own horse".

So back at the Hamilton County Saddle club, I joined with Luke to give him some more practice riding and I wanted to take my latest horse Weenie. Luke was also excited to be involved in something with cousin Alivia. She rides her horse Doodle Bug and will be riding at her county fair too. On this night, Luke rode Tex in several events. Tex always makes it hard and made Luke work at it. Most of the time he gets upset and frustrated at Tex. He didn't make it around the 2nd barrel before Tex headed back to home. He is such a big powerful horse and a lot for Luke. However he is the only horse Luke will ride. Weenie was fine, he was spooky of things. tonight it was my lawn chair. No matter how many times we walked by it or I let him sniff it or see it, he thought it was going to eat him. It was still fun to run in the same pen, park under the same trees, buy food from the same concession stand, and run the same events that I did as a little girl. The crowd is different and I miss the old group of people. It isn't the same type of people at all. My brother and his family joined and are very involved too. There is a family from our Stratford church and a couple other good ol farm families. Outside from that it gets a little weird. Here is an example. One family pulled a rusted out horse trailers that literally on the way tonight the floor rusted out and the horse, lucky to survive, had to be pulled out from under and hauled to a vet. Another couple was recently on the news for mental disorder, she has rescue horses and pulled a gun on some kids that were mowing her ditches. She was angry and threatened to shoot them because that grass was for her horses. There are some who drink a lot of beer and are intoxicated even though it is clearly stated no alcohol on the property. It's different to say the least, but so everything these days.

Later in the summer I was asked to judge one of the horse shows. I thought that would be fun. I was a little nervous about it, yet kept reminding myself that it is only a fun show, nobody is going to ridicule my decisions. Carina was my ring help and was super helpful. She knew the kids names and would look for horses that break out of their gait that maybe I wouldn't catch. I was thankful the class sizes were small never more than 8. I would be a nervous wreck and would have a hard time in a big class. There is just too many to watch. I pick my horse on the top and there is always one that stands out in his class. Then I pick the bottom horse, because there is usually one that is misbehaving or not moving correctly. Then I start picking the next few and place 1-4. It was rally kind of fun. Because I was not riding or bringing a horse, Luke decided not to ride either. He helped in the cookshack. I asked Jake to help for awhile and he helped set up barrels, poles, and run the gate.