Hello,
After freezing our tails off yesterday, it’s a beautiful warm sunny day today, here at home in the “Heart of the Rocky Mountains” of Colorado. The last three weekends in a row I have been very cold—first in Minnesota, then in Massachusetts and yesterday here in Colorado. But at least yesterday I has access to all my warm gear—I rode in silk long johns, an arctic fleece T-neck and my warm and toasty oil skin jacket by Outback Trading Co.
In spite of the snowy start and the relentless wind, we had a great time at the roping clinic yesterday. And while I cannot honestly say that I can now rope anything, I think I am definitely better, if for no other reason, than by being forced to practice! Cole (the instructor) made a few much needed corrections to my swing and we threw a lot of loops at the dummies. Then up on our horses we threw at a dummy being pulled on a sled. Finally, we ran after some huge steers with big pointed horns—a little intimidating. I’m not really sure I’d want to catch one.
Dually got pretty enthusiastic about the whole thing—he lives for speed. His power in acceleration is impressive. I did manage to throw one good loop at a steer and almost caught. It was good for me because I think I was prepared to catch, mentally. That’s the thing about roping—it’s one thing to learn how to throw with accuracy and catch something, but once you catch it, that’s when the excitement begins!
Today I am enjoying a leisurely Sunday morning at home (rare for me)—starting with a soak in the hot tub, then a nice workout on the tread mill, then going out to breakfast. Now I am ready for a ride. I think I’ll ride my young horse today and give Dually a well-deserved break. We brought my friend Lucy’s horse home from the clinic with us, so she’ll join us for a ride this morning. Her horse Dodger, http://www.juliegoodnight.com/horses/dodger.html is an awesome ranch horse—a handsome devil that I sold her a year ago. He and Lucy both are getting back in shape after a long winter and we’ll keep him for a couple weeks before we all go to a clinic together up in Granby CO.
And now I am off to the barn!
Julie
http://www.juliegoodnight.com
http://www.horsemaster.tv