Tuesday, August 17, 2010

one confused gal!

boy this girl is confused!  lol
Over the weekend I decided to change the name of my blog and the whole direction I was going with it.  
I went as far as changing the header and even did my first post...
and shortly deleted the post and put the changes back! lol
I sorta remind myself of the commercial on the radio with the lady trying to order from McDonalds,
you know the one... cheeseburger? nuggets? $1 soda? cheeseburger?  Yup, that's me!

Another thing to be confused about???? 
To cut my hair, or not to.  That is the question.
It has taken so long for it to grow and I love it, but at the same time I hate it!
It gets in my way when I sleep, it feels so heavy, I get headaches if I wear it up...
The easy answer is definitely cut it, but I can't be too hasty about these things, gotta think about it!

So back to the beginning of this post.... I was going to change my blog to "Back to the Races"
I spent my childhood and young adulthood barrel racing.  High school Rodeo, had a scholarship to college rode (which I screwed that up - totally different post!), NBHA, local circuits.  Definitely some of the best days of my life and where most of my memories come from!  
Back in May I got a horse as my mothers day gift, nice huh?
A couple of weeks ago I decided that I wanted to train her for barrels.
So that is my new mission!  Not only will I be a stay-at-home mom, a student in my last semester of nursing school, and a wife... I'm going to add barrel horse trainer to my resume!  (my horse loving followers please don't laugh at me! lol)

My complaint about this horse... she's a bucker.  Not all the time.  Only when you're not expecting it - of course.  I first discovered this when I started loping her, after a 45 minute ride she let loose and I landed in the dirt. No bucking since then.  I was a big baby and didn't lope her again for another month.  The second try she did fine.  Next time I tried she bucked again, at least this time I stayed in the saddle!
Tonight after I climbed on we started walking the trail to the outdoor arena, I didn't get 5 steps and she bucked... so to the round pen we went and lunging was the only work out that we got today.

My concern?  Will she always be a bucker?  And btw when I saw buck I don't mean hopping a little... I mean tucking that head down and all 4 feet coming off the ground, she could be a good rodeo mare with her skills.  I hate to invest all this time and the horse won't get over the bucking!

I've been browsing youtube and viewed some videos on barrel horse training that I really liked.  One was Peggy Hall, click here to watch her video and another good one was Jackie Dube, click here to watch hers.

And here's my horse friend... Lady... which is SO unfitting for her! lol


So, horse friends, any advice for me?
And to my non horse friends I'm sorry for veering off subject, I promise that I'll continue to blog about my crazy kids & husband!!!  

5 comments:

beany02 said...

i think she will outgrow the bucking, especially if you keep working her. austin only bucks when i havent ridden him in a long time. if i rode him more im sure he wouldnt buck! she's still pretty young right? i guess time will tell! keep it up!

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

I've run into some bucking issues myself this year. There are so many reasons, I just start by process of elimination. I'm on another phase with my horses...again. LOL

Kim @ NewlyWoodwards said...

Wow! Best of luck! I've only ridden a horse once, and it didn't go well. So, clearly, I have no advice. But, I'm totally impressed! Can't wait to hear more.

~The South Dakota Cowgirl~ said...

It's not about training her to run barrels, as I've said before; it's about getting her broke. But this is one of the reasons I suggest people NOT buy horses at the sale- b/c chances are she was doing this to whomever you bought her from. I would wager that had she been started right in the first place this may not be an issue; though some horses are just more inclined to buck than others. How is she bred?

Unknown said...

In my experience there are horses that buck and horses that don't. If you rule out pain and saddle fit, then you are dealing with a green broke horse. You are the only one that can decide if you're up for that. I wasn't.