Do I go for it?

The big question. My first venture into big time barrel racing, (for me thats where more than 20 barrel racers get together :-) did not go so well. All sorts of reasons and excuses, accept and move forward. Next weekend is another big race and I am going should I? or shouldn't I? Is the horse healthy and sound? Yes, Am I healthy and sound? Sort of LOL. So the thing to do is layout an exercise plan for the week, (don't skip any days) and see if horse is healthy and sound before the race. At the end of the week, do a recheck, is the horse healthy and sound? if yes then go. The reason this is so important is that if your horse is not feeling good and is hurting then it makes it hard for them to perform at their best and it creates a big distraction for you. Going to your first few Big events is not easy. Takes a lot of guts to try so give yourself a break and plan a few tries :-)

Busy Summer

Hi

Did lots of construction style work this summer, great for fitness not so great for riding. Had to really push myself to ride after a day of work, even on the weekends had to push. The consistent riding helped my relationship with both horses, Tessa and BabyDoll. We put in lots of arena time (okay so it was raining so often, about the only place to ride out of the rain was in the arena :-), the positive side of the arena time is it helped Tessa remember that turning a barrel is important. It helped BabyDoll really get the basics down, so the few trail rides we went on where much calmer nicer affairs. More later.