Team Roping Practice

It was getting warmer for a couple of weeks but this last week it has been so cold again. It has snowed twice. It makes it really hard to want to practice when it is cold.

The kids went to rodeo club Monday night. They both did much better. Racheal is getting a lot more aggressive. She is coming out and trying hard. She caught her first time out. Dasher is really coming along as a rope horse.

Brent also caught his first one. This really annoys his sister that he is 3 years younger and he can rope as well as she can. He is getting along really well with Lil in the roping.

We brought Sass home. She has had 4 months off. She is going to be Brent's new 4H project horse. We rode her on Monday. She seemed to remember everything she was taught. So she should be easy to push to the next level.

We are starting to teach 4H on Thursdays again. Working with all of the kids has been a really great experience for us. This year I am the Vice President of the Juab County Horse Council. So we will see how that goes.

So Far So Good

Well, I am not very good about blogging yet. I think that every post needs to have pictures and be an inspiring story. I am also just extremely busy.

Last week was not great. My husband was in the hospital for 3 days with pneumonia. Then Saturday night Brent had the stomach flu. I was up with him from 10:30 p.m. til 6:30 a.m. Then Sunday morning Racheal woke up with another sinus infection. Needless to say I have not had much sleep or time for anything else.

However, before Brent got sick, we took his horse to rope for the first time to the arena. It started off great. He caught his first calf on her. Then he spent some time trying to get used to her and missed the next few. When he caught again, we called it good. She worked really well for him.

Saturday we took her their first rodeo together. She worked well. However, he threw a nice head loop on the calf instead of a calf loop and it did not go over the calf's head. He did have a better goat run. He is getting off and tying a lot better.

Racheal looked really good in the breakaway. She is getting more aggressive when she comes out of the box. I think she tries to hard in poles. She knocked 2 of them over. The time off from barrels really helped her. She had one of the best barrel runs she has had in over 2 years.

My children are confident in general life. However, I think they lack the belief that they could be real champions in riding horses. Racheal is very good with horses. She does a really good job with colts. She could ride anything and I know she could be a top barrel racer or pole bender. However, she does not believe that she is. She loves to do it, but she doubts herself every time she gets to a competition. I have tried to give her the right advice about writing the things you are good at, focusing on perfect practice, setting goals, and all of the other tools necessary to become great. She does not incorporate any of them. I know that I can not change her thinking. She has to do that on her own. I just hope some day, she will take it to heart and start to use the tools to make her life the best it can be.

Brent is amazing with a rope. He has loved to rope since he was just a year old. He used to go around the house with a jump rope riding a toy golf club like a stick horse. He also doubts himself when he gets to competition. He is really good in the practice pen but struggles at the rodeo. I would love to be able to figure out how to get them believe.

Fits Like A Glove

We went to St George over the weekend to get Brent's new horse. I have to give a lot of credit to my husband. He has uncanny knack for fitting a horse to a kid. We tried out this horse 2 weeks ago without Brent. Coy rode the horse for a few minutes and thought the horse would be perfect for Brent. We purchased the horse without Brent trying it out.

Sure enough Coy was right. We went down on Saturday. They let Brent ride her that same day. He got on her and they got along wonderfully. He rode her for quite awhile. I am including the first picture of him on his new horse.

Sunday when we came home Brent just wanted to take her to the arena right away. We told him she needed time to acclimate and get used to her new pen.

Monday we did let him take her to the arena. Brent and his friend Shad both rode her and they had so much fun. They were switching between her and Shad's horse and having a great time. He is so excited to ride her. This weekend he will get to compete on her for the first time. He has a rodeo in Spanish Fork.

February Thaw

Finally, the freezing weather is letting up. Winter is very hard for my family. We love the outdoors and riding horses. It has been so cold. It has been below freezing everyday for almost 4 weeks. I figure if it is too cold for us to breathe, it is too cold to work a horse.

We are getting horses shoed and starting to exercise horses. Racheal has 2 colts she is working on. The first one is Mac. I bought him for me as a yearling. I started him as a 2 year old. He bucked the saddle for an entire month. So I sent him to a trainer. The trainer rode him for 3 months and he did really well. However, when we brought him home, he went backwards. We had way too many obligations to keep him going everyday. So Troy rode him for a while. Then we brought him home and had to make a decision. We were going to sell him.

Then Racheal decided she wanted him. She told her dad that she was going to break him. He said if you can ride him, you can have him. So she started riding him. He has never offered to buck with her. 3 weeks after she started riding him, she took him to 4H and rode him in a pen with a lot of other horses and he he was completely fine. She is doing really well with him.

The second one is a horse we picked up cheap. Not normally our type of horse. The horse was gentle enough. We thought Racheal could put 30 - 60 days on her. Then she could sell her and make the difference. She is coming really well.

We pick up Brent's new rope horse this weekend. Then he will have to get busy with practice again. We are also going to bring Sass back. She will be his new 4H project horse this year. Since she was only shown as a colt last year, she needs a lot of work. There is a picture of her at state 4H last year.

Where does the time go?

I know it has been over a week since I posted something. Where does the time go? Over the weekend we had a baptism for Brent's best friend, a birthday party for another friend, and a Super Bowl party (thrown together at the last minute). That is in addition to all of our chores and building a pen for Brent's new horse.

During the week, work has been crazy busy. In our Urban Botanic business, we have now opened 18 states. It is getting very exciting.

Urban Botanic is the company that allows you to make your signature scent. It is completely new and unique. You basically take a personality test to find your fragrance personality. Then you either choose scents from the family or choose from all of the 66 scents. Then you mix the scent one drop at a time until you come up with a fragrance that you absolutely love. Once you have created the perfect scent, you mix it with a Parfum Spray, Nourishing Body Lotion, Refreshing Shower Gel, or Luxurious Bubble Bath. Your fragrance is completely unique because you created it. Everyone is amazed that they can create their own signature scent.