First High School Rodeo of the Season

We went to our first high school rodeo this year in Salina.

It was Brent's first high school rodeo ever.  He was pretty nervous. The calves were about 200 pounds.  He caught the first day but couldn't quite get the calf flanked.  The calf weighed twice what he does.  On Saturday he caught but his curl came around and caught both front feet.  The mare was doing her job and she kept pulling.  There was no way he was going to get the rope off.  It was a great first try and we did get both calves caught.

Racheal started the season well.  She caught both of her breakaway calves and both times she was clean at the barrier.  She place 9th on Saturday.  So a qualifying run and points for State High School finals.  This picture is with her breakaway horse.

She also had 2 solid barrel run and a clean pole run on Saturday.  It is a great way to start her senior year.

New Horse Sandy (Darling)

Racheal started riding a new horse for Breakaway Roping. The mare is owned by my brother in law. She is his Tie Down horse. And she is his baby. He calls her Sandy Darling.

She sits so hard when she stops. Reiners would love to see her in the show ring. Several times we look where she has stopped for roping and she has slide marks for 5 to 6 feet.

She is athletic and extremely fast. It has taken Racheal awhile to get used to her and get her confidence with her.

We took her to Morgan for her first High School Rodeo. Racheal caught in 5 seconds. Not her best time but a good time for a new horse and she placed 9th. Here she is in action:

Tooele High School Rodeo

Racheal had a good rodeo in Tooele. It must have been her day. She placed 5th in Barrels and 4th in Breakaway Roping.

Here is a picture of her and her horse Fluke flying home.

Back in the Top 10

Last weekend we went to High School Rodeos in Morgan and Heber. Yes we rodeo every weekend. Sometime it is really tough to get anything else done.

Racheal roped in Morgan on Friday night. It was a tough pen of calves but she roped in 4.4 seconds. This is her third rodeo in a row catching in breakaway. Her time placed her in the top ten. This is her first top ten finish since September.

She was really excited since State High School Finals is just 3 weeks away. She will earn more points in her favorite event.

I really liked this picture of her coming out of the chute after the calf!

Roping in 3 Seconds

Racheal had a really good weekend in High School Rodeo. This is the best weekend she has had since her accident in October. I think she is truly back.

She had 2 rodeos this weekend Spanish Fork and Nephi. Friday night in Spanish she roped in 3.7 seconds. She did break the barrier which gave her a 10 second penalty. I was just so excited to see her rope in a 3 again. I could have cared less that she took the barrier. In team roping, they had a really bad steer but her partner roped it. Racheal came up to heel and caught both back feet but she got a finger caught in her dally and had to drop it. But it was good to see her get two feet caught and it was better to drop her rope than lose a finger.

In Nephi, she team roped first. Her and her partner got a time of 13 seconds. Racheal only got one heel but she did get her dally this time. Then she went right to breakaway. She roped clean in 3.6 seconds. The video is below. You may want to turn down the sound. You can hear me totally scream when she catches.

I am so proud of her for working so hard to get back into competition. This was her best rodeo weekend in almost a year. She is back on track.

Top 5 Finish

We went to the High School Rodeo in Richfield over the weekend. It was not the best weather to hold a rodeo.

Racheal has been really stepping up her roping practices. On Wednesday at rodeo club, her uncle Larry gave her a really good suggestion to help with her breakaway roping. It worked great. She was catching almost everyone in practice after that.

So Friday in Richfield she was really focused. She roped her calf in 3.63 seconds. She placed 5th in the breakaway out of 115 ropers.

We were very proud of her. That is 2 rodeos in a row with points and qualifications to go to the State Finals.

High School Rodeo Success

On Saturday September 15, we went to the High School Rodeo in Delta. Although, we said that we were not going to do as much High School Rodeo this year, we still are going a lot.

Although Racheal has tons of success in showing, she struggles with rodeo. Racheal is an excellent rider and a great trainer. However, she has serious confidence issues when it comes to rodeo. She over thinks everything. She doubts her and her horses' abilities. We all know what happens when you think negative, negative things happen. She proves herself right all the time.

I have tried and tried and tried to talk with her about thing like visualization, positive affirmations, goal setting and other things that make the difference in becoming a champion. But, she thinks I am crazy and that those things don't really work. I have explained that all of the great champions use them from Michael Jordan to Michelle Kwan. She does not want to hear it. She likes justifying her inability to herself. It makes her feel like she is right. Unfortunately, justifying your feeling and making yourself think that you are right is a very powerful motivator. It is a trap a lot of us fall into.

As a parent at this point all you can do is advise. It takes a lot of effort on their part to incorporate these positive habits into their lives. Unfortunately, you can not do it for them. Our only resolve was that if she was not going to take become a rodeo champion seriously, they we were no longer going to pay for it. So this year she started to pay all of her entry fees. We thought at least if she had the pain, she would practice more.

She really has become more dedicated to her practice. She is out at least 4 to 6 days a week on her horses and practicing the right things. I am not sure how long it will take for her to start working on her thinking but at least it is a start.

Back to the rodeo, Preston and Racheal did really well in the Team Roping. She has been struggling with her dally. So when she got it on Saturday, I am sure everyone at the rodeo heard me. I was so excited for her. I did not even care if they placed but then they announced their time and it was really good. I was even more excited.

The placed 8th out of 100 and something teams and they qualified for the State Finals. Racheal really wants to go to State Finals this year. So maybe that is a goal to start with!

Pictures

As many of you know, I love pictures. Pictures capture moments, feeling or emotions. I could spend hours just going back through pictures of my kids when they were younger.

Since I love to look at them, I take a lot of pictures. I am still learning how to take better pictures. There are some people who have a natural talent for this. They see things differently than most of us. It is like they can imagine exactly how the picture is going to turn out. They capture the right light, pose, or expression effortlessly. I am working on this.

I have a couple of pictures of Racheal that I have taken during High School Rodeo that I just love. I am not really sure what it is about them but they just shine for me. So I thought I should post them.

I know that I am probably just being the proud mom. I think these are really beautiful pictures of her. They really show her in her element on a horse and getting ready to rodeo.

Since I love pictures, I also love to scrapbook. I am getting ready to start on Racheal's High School Rodeo album. I picked out a cute denim covered album from Creative Memories to use. I can not wait to see it put together. However, since it is summer and full rodeo and show season, it will have to wait a few weeks (months) before I can start it.

Family Support

I could not have been more lucky then when I married to get such wonderful in-laws. Coy's family is amazing. They are so supportive of each other. I am especially grateful of how much they support my children in all that they do.

This weekend we had 2 high school rodeos. One of them was the rodeo our high school rodeo. So it was really important that we had all of the help that we could at our arena. Coy stayed to help our school and I hauled Racheal to Spanish Fork.

I know a lot about several horse events but I am really a novice when it comes to roping. I am not comfortable making sure that the children have everything they need before they rope. They have to check their cattle, their rope, and then have someone push their cow to make sure it comes out straight. Usually Coy takes care of the roping events. Since he could not be there, he called his brother Troy to come help. As usual Troy was right there to help her. Above is a picture of him in the box with her in team roping.

Racheal had a really good rodeo in Spanish Fork. She caught her breakaway calf in 4.95 seconds. That is her best run so far in high school rodeo. She ran a little slower pole pattern only 23 but it was clean. She did miss in the team roping. She was not prepared to rope when her partner caught.

I wish I could say Saturday went as well. Her horse does not like to run poles in a short arena. He is really afraid of running up to the panel. So he dove on the fifth pole and she got a no time. It is hard to be really mad at the horse because he is only trying to protect himself but it is frustrating for her not being able to get him past this issue. She missed in the breakaway and her partner missed in the team roping. So she did not have a very good night.

I would love to do more for her but she will need to find the confidence in herself. She will get there we just need to keep teaching her the correct things. With all of the support from her family, she has a great start.