I got to the ranch around 6 where I let brushed Phoenix down in her stall and put on her front boots. She got into the trailer really nice and I put a flake of hay into the trailer for her to snack on for the short ride. When we arrived at the Sheriff's Posse, I took Phoenix out of the trailer and let her walk down with us to sign up. I tied her up by the sign up booth and she stood really well while we payed for our classes.
Then we headed back to the trailer to tack up. Phoenix stood pretty still while I put on her pad, saddle, and new cinch. Next, I attached her breastcollar, noseband, and tiedown and then I rechecked her boots and mounted up to go warm her up. Usually we just run around the grounds to warm up because Phoenix is a little to excited to be in an arena full of tons of horses running around willy nilly, but I need to introduce Phoenix to more of those circumstances and be comfortable with her anywhere.
We started out walking and then I asked Phoenix to trot. She trotted insanely fast and after a few rounds of the arena, I loped her in a circle until she got her bucks out and calmed down. Since this was the last YPBRA of the season, they had all of us line up our horses to take a picture (Phoenix was calm and did well being smushed by all the horses). Then it was time for open barrels.
Phoenix and I had to wait awhile till our races, but she was patient and relaxed while we waited. I was able to kick out my stirrups, let go of her reins, and just watch everyone's runs for awhile. When our turn was a few minutes away, we started warming up. Phoenix was fine at the trot, but she kept bucking at the lope until we went into the arena.
Our run itself wasn't too bad and I felt in control (not full speed yet though). Luckily, Phoenix didn't buck at all during our run and did pretty well rating and setting up for turns. Our main problem is finishing out our turns. We still come out really wide, which is why we ran a slow 25. Surprisingly, we ended up placing 1st in D barrels and we received a check.
After our barrel run, Anna Tillou (who we purchased Phoenix from) ran a time only on her just to see if running her with spurs would help. She ran a 23 and Phoenix gave her a lot of trouble on barrel 2. I do believe that I need to work on using more outside leg pressure and Phoenix needs to get better at working off of it, but I don't think spurs are the right call for her because she is a sensitive horse and listens pretty well, she just needs to be taught.
We walked around with Shianne and Emily while waiting for poles to start and I even took Phoenix up to go visit my dad and sister. I ended up giving my sister a ride on Phoenix and I even led her into a trot for a few strides. By this time, my mom had also gotten there, so I gave her a leg up and led her around on my girl for a few minutes too.Then I got back on my girl and warmed her up for poles.
Phoenix and I did a lot better at our pole run due to running the pattern to the left so that our good turn was halfway by the eye (we didn't recross it this time and get disqualified) and our wider turns were at the end. She did great at weaving and we earned a 33, placing us 3rd in C poles. We trotted a little ways and I know we can go a lot faster, so I'm looking forward to pushing Phoenix to the 20's for poles and the teens for barrels.
After poles, I practiced dismounting for goat tying a few times and then took off Phoenix's tack and just rode her around bareback with her headstall. We had plenty of time till goat tying and she was relaxed and behaving so well. I ended up practicing running dismounts on her bareback (Phoenix was listening surprisingly well, though she started getting tired) and decided that I might as well do goat tying bareback. It would probably be easier to dismount anyways.
It got to my turn and I was informed that due to safety regulations, I needed to be wearing a saddle. So I cantered Phoenix down to where I had dropped off her tack (including her noseband and tie-down) and quickly re-tacked her up. Then we loped back down to the arena and did our goat run.
Let's just say I need a lot of work on goats. Phoenix ran pretty well down the arena ( I should've pushed her faster) and didn't run into me while I dismounted this time. I ran to the goat rope and flanked the goat over (I was a tad slow but not doing to bad by this point). Then I went to tie the goat. I had trouble grabbing my goat string out of my pocket to tie with and then I didn't have my knee into the goat enough to tie very well. When I finally got my wraps done, I messed up on the tie and had to breathe for a second and remember how to finish it properly.
I didn't get disqualified because I tied the goat properly and it stayed down for the alotted 6 seconds, but my time was a terrible 30 (which is even worse than last time and horrible for high school rodeo). I just need to work a lot on my part of goat tying and keep working with Phoenix on running straight or to the right so we don't have anymore trick riding like our previous race.
Overall, I am proud of my girl and the progress we have been making. We are starting to trust eachother as a team so now I can stop worrying about her and start working on our techniques and times so we become real competition.
We headed back to the trailer so I could untack Phoenix and load her up. It was about 11:30 when we arrived back at the ranch and I put Phoenix into her stall with a flake of hay, which she gobbled up in like 5 minutes. Once Phoenix was settled and the trailer unhooked from the truck, my dad and I headed home from our super late show to get some sleep.
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