Yee Haw

I thought I would take a break from the cooking shenanigans and post some pictures from yesterday's adventure. My horse and I competed in the first Extreme Cowboy race of the season. Boy, what a rootin tootin good time it was.

Now to be honest, I really didn't feel prepared or ready at all for the race. I've been working so  much with my colt Pistol that poor Smokey really hasn't had much riding time other than to pony around the colt. Plus, our Utah weather has been SO icky. It's either raining or snowing...not your nice fluffy pretty snow. I'm talking about the wet, heavy, sloshy stuff. Frankly since getting a cold or flu is not in my agenda, I have been keeping my keester indoors. I was however, able to get my muddy mess of a horse cleaned up and his hooves trimmed this week so at least the HORSE would look good.

Well....whether I was ready or not, race day came. I of course couldn't sleep that night and was up at 4am. Which gave me some time to spend brushing Smokey down, picking up my house, and packing what we might need while out on the course. Thankfully it did NOT rain on us despite the weather man's warnings. It WAS quite chilly and we had 40-50 mile an hour winds. Eeeek. Thank goodness for leather chinks and carhartt jackets :)

The race was a blast. I couldn't be prouder of my little grey horse. He is such a champ. I swear he enjoys the races as much as I do and he KNOWS when it's our time to go. Honestly, I don't even have to get after him for any obstacle. I just point his nose to what we need to accomplish and he goes after it :) Now for those of you who are not familiar with the cowboy races, you have roughly 20 obstacles over a huge course of 40 acres. It's a timed event but each obstacle is individually judged so you need to keep your horsemanship skills in check. It really is SUCH a thrill. Anyway, enough chatter, here are some pictures from yesterday's race.

Seeeeeeeee how pretty he CAN be when he's not covered in 2 inches of mud???

Smoke doing his best "barrel horse" impression while warming up.

The first obstacle where you had to weave in and out of the flags. It was so windy the first flag blew off.

Just a shot of some of the obstacles.

Yee haw! I just love my little grey horse :)

Coming around the bend on the water obstacle.

Ok....please ignore the utterly terrified look on my face. I was a little bit skeered to hit this jump coming out of the water. Smoke was a champ and sailed over it :)

Loose dirt hill.

Ya, ok, I was feeling pretty nerdy here after the race because I totally ditzed out and missed 3 obstacles lol!!

But lookey, SEE, I really tried not to miss anything, but the darned wind blew my poor map to pieces when I was trying to check it :(

So I didn't place or win this race since I missed the obstacles. It WAS however an absolute riot of a time. Smokey and I really enjoyed our day yesterday and today we are BOTH going to take it easy. I can't wait for the next race :) Thanks for indulging me and reading about my little horsey adventure :)