Good People Part 2

We have a really wonderful extended rodeo family. We rodeo a lot. Most weekends we spend with the other families who have kids that rodeo. The great thing about the sport of rodeo is the camaraderie. Although the kids are out there to compete as soon as they are done with their event they are all behind the chutes or in the warm up arena hanging out together. They help each other get ready to ride rough stock, rope or run. Then they cheer for one another.

One of the mother's from our extended family has been diagnosed with cancer. The cancer is feeding from her aorta valve on her heart. Her husband has used all of his vacation time this year to haul the the boys to high school rodeo. Now he has to run her back and forth to SLC and he has no paid time left. There are a lot of expenses when I loved one has a serious condition.

Wendy and Casy who are in charge of CUJR decided to have a benefit team roping and rodeo for them. The team roping was on Friday and the junior rodeo was on Saturday. There were a ton of people who volunteered to help. People put a lot of time into the events.

The event went really well. A lot of people showed up to participate and show support. I was in tears several times over the weekend. I was absolutely amazed by people's generosity. One guy who won over $400 in the team roping just turned his check back in. He is newly married and they don't have a lot of money. The people in charge of the dinner on Friday donated food and tons of preparation time and then they came back and worked all day Saturday. Other people just put money into hat. At the junior rodeo, entire families were turning back in their winnings for the day. People truly are good. We just need to open our eyes to see it.

Good People Part 1

As you watch the news or listen to others, you hear a lot of stories about how bad people are. You hear about the predator who kidnaps and kills a little girl or the gangster who shoots at random people. You begin to wonder if people are good are bad.

I have traveled a lot for the different companies that I have worked. I have even travelled internationally. When I go to some place new, the thing that I find is that people are basically the same. We all want to raise our children, find meaningful work, and have a purpose for our lives. People are generally good and if you are nice to them they are nice back.

Last week I decided that I was truly blessed to be associated with so many good people and a lot of friends who are extremely kind and generous. It started on Monday afternoon. Coy called around 4:30 p.m. to say that our basement had 3 inches of water in it. Apparently, there was something that clogged the line leaving the house and all of the water that they had use during the day had come back in through the floor drain in the utility room. Unfortunately, the week before was the county fair and the we hauled hay all day Sunday. So we had more than a weeks worth of laundry to do. Racheal was trying to help me out and she did like 5 loads of laundry and ran the dishwasher. It put a ton of water into the basement. What a mess!

We did everything we could to get as much water out as possible. We moved everything off the wet carpet and tried to minimize the damage. We could not run any water. It would just come back up the drain. You take the ability to use your bathroom, shower, wash your hands, and brush your teeth for granted. Coy had to work the next morning at 5:00 a.m. and there was no way any of could go to bed without a shower. So our first saving grace was our friends Jay and Jen letting us shower and crash at their house. We showed up at midnight. I felt like a refugee but they were so nice to us.

Tuesday we needed to get that carpet out. It was way too wet to dry and clean. It had soaked not only the pad but about ten inches up the wall board. As soon as we could, we started to tear it out. Coy's parents and brother came over. Then Jay and Jen came over. We made short work of it. They were amazing. We told Jay we were having a hard time getting a plumber, he called a friend who is a plumber. He came over within an hour.

Then as other friends heard about our problem, they started showing up to help. If we needed anything, they would call people that they know. They even got us discounts for services. By the end of the day, we could sleep in our house again and most of the basement was clean.

Since Coy was at work, there was no way I could have gotten all of that done. We are just so lucky to live in a community where people come together like that.

Day 2

So I finally got the second day video to post to the blog. Racheal was watching and not filming. So there is a spot where they are off frame.

Brent did make a qualified ride and placed 3rd. I will post more pictures soon.

Brent Second Ride

Brent First Steer Ride

CUJR August 3rd Brent rides his first steer. He gets thrown in 2 jumps but he tried it.

Brent First Ride

Okay here it is Brent's first ride on a steer at a rodeo. I have so many cute pictures of him getting ready that it will be hard not to post them all. I have also uploaded the video.

This is him behind the chute's. He is a scrapbook kid. So when his mom says his name, he turns and smiles.

Shad has a lot of experience riding. He helped Brent get his glove and vest on.

Well as you can see on the video, Brent only made it a couple of jumps. Then he fell off. I tried to get a picture of him but all I got was him coming off.

Quick Update

Check out the cool new slideshow I created. It is at the bottom of my blog.

Cowboy Friends

On July 28, we went to the PHSC show in Richfield. We took Brent's best friend Shad. They both love horses, rodeo and roping. I have the cutest picture of them before the show against the rail on the race track. Aren't they the cutest cowboys!

They both had a really good show. We had problems with the wasps in the arena again. Sass was being really difficult with Coy. So we decided it was best for Brent to make do in the Youth Pleasure with Dee Dee. We had not even washed her.

So we hurried and put him on her and Brent and Shad went to warm their horses up. She had a really good warm up and was working pretty relaxed. We entered them in the show ring for their class.

I was not really paying a lot of attention to them getting started but then I looked up and Brent was off his horse walking down the arena. I wondered what could have happened. I ran out to the arena.

Apparently all of the people in the arena had stirred up a wasp's nest in the one corner of the arena. When Brent and his horse got there, they started attacking her. Horses are extremely sensitive to stings. She tried to rubBrent and the wasps off on the fence and then she tried to lay down with him. He just bailed off. It was the best thing he could do to not get hurt.

When I got up to her she was physically shaking. I had to rub her down and then just try to calm her. She finally settled and they sprayed that corner of the arena. Needless to say, she did not work like a pleasure horse but she did better than I thought she would. Brent ended up second in the class and Shad took third. The points will keep him first overall for the year. The pictures to the right are after their class.

We had awhile before their next classes. They had a blast running around the fairgrounds with their other friends Tate and Bowdee. They were roping, checking out the barns and race horses.

The competition in the youth speed events was tough. Shad, Brent, Bowdee and Tate have no fear in going fast on a horse. They all placed differently in each event. Shad placed first in Poles and Keyhole. Brent placed 3rd in Speed & Intelligence and 3rd in Keyhole. The kids beat the times of most of the adults. Everyone was commenting on how well they compete.

2-Handed Show Richfield

Thursday July 25, we went to a 4H 2-Handed Show in Richfield. Brent took his colt Sass and Racheal took Mac out for his debut. She has not shown him before. It is time for him to start gaining some experience in arenas other than ours.

Mac has always been a lot of horse to handle. As a 2yr old he bucked a lot. We took him to a trainer at 3. The trainer did a good job with him but he was still not easy to handle.

Then Racheal came to us and said that she really wanted him. We did not really want her to ride him because we were nervous that he would not be good with her and did not want to see her hurt. However, she gets along really good with him. They seem to connect.

He did not stand very good for Halter.

He did fairly well in Pleasure. His shining spot was Western Equitation. He had a beautiful pattern. Then came trail and we just hoped Racheal stayed on top. He was scared of the slicker and would not go near the white line for the circle they needed to put their feet in. So she only did 3 of the 6 obstacles. He did the 3 really well though.

Sass on the other hand was an angel at the first show and a complete brat at this one. There were a lot of wasps at the arena. I think she got stung during the Pleasure Class. She actually bucked with Brent. She has never been one to buck. Then she was difficult the rest of the show.

I was amazed by Brent. He handled it so well. He really likes to win and he just shrugged his shoulders with a cute smile. He knew he did the best that he could with a horse that would not cooperate. I have to update the points but I think he still may be 1st overall in the series.

You can see from both of his pictures that he had a good attitude at the show.