Recap and Results

Well readers, it's been about a week, hasn't it? And what a week it has been...

We left around 9 AM Tuesday morning (a later start than anticipated) and decided to truck on through to Amarillo. We stopped at a rest stop in New Mexico for a good half hour or so because they had two solid corrals set up with water. Nine really appreciated that! In Amarillo he stayed at Happy Trails Horse Motel, which is a great place, I recommend it. The stalls were layered liberally in sawdust and the run outs were well groomed with a thick layer of sand. And, it only cost $25! Then, for us humans, we splurged at a Comfort Inn. I don't even want to tell you how much that was! Suffice it to say, we really couldn't afford it; we had to borrow money...

Wednesday we got to Fort Worth. The trainer meeting was to start at 5 PM and we arrived about 4:30 PM. So, it was really rushed and Mother in Law had to move all my tack and things to the stall area while I sat in the freezing cold meeting. I sat in the very front, so I was basically two feet from everyone while they were speaking. The judges and sponsors and everyone of importance was also in the front row; I was 4 seats from Guy Woods, who won last year's Extreme Mustang Makeover with his horse Max (who was also there, and he is GORGEOUS!). Also only feet from me were Cris Cox, Ken McNabb, John Lyons, and a medley of other famous horse people! I was a bit star struck, and I would have been more so if I wasn't freezing to death (why does such a large room need so much air conditioning?) After the talks we got in line to receive our shirts and freebies. In line I was right behind Matt Replogle, who rode his horse Johnny Landers all the way from Las Vegas to Fort Worth to raise breast cancer awareness. Matt is such a sweet guy; during the Legends finals on Saturday he caught a stuffed animal and gave it to my daughter. After all of that I met back up with Mother in Law and the woman who's truck and trailer we took to haul Nine. We got a cheaper room at a Days Inn, then they left in the the morning. We weren't hardly expecting to be able to afford a horse, so didn't bother keeping a trailer behind. Fiance and Daughter were on their way in the car by then, so I stayed at the Will Rogers Memorial Center all day. Fiance and Daughter arrived that evening.

Thursday morning were the first classes! Stars went first, and that is the division Nine and I competed in, so we had to get to the stalls early. Nine didn't get a chance to eat all of his breakfast, but he came along willingly enough. First was the conditioning class, where two judges determine the health of the horse. Nine got 59 out of 60; he missed one point on hair coat. That is completely understandable because he had some spots that were rubbed out from the leg rope the week before, and his mane is rubbed out in spots. But, even so, we tied for 2nd place! Then was the in hand course... We did horribly, I have to admit! Nine hasn't been trotting along with me and rather than just do the whole course at a walk, I went out of my way (and lost more points) to lunge him until he trotted then ran along behind him. Well, he did the course all right, but we ran out of time. He didn't stand very well to let me pick up his feet, either, but I learned a lot and that's what counts. We got 8th place in the in hand course. This surprised me at first because there were 15 horses competing in the Stars division and I by no means did better that 7 of them! When the scores were posted I saw that only 8 horses and trainers even bothered to go to the show ring! So, 8 out of 8.... I wasn't feeling too hot that night.

Luckily I managed to come into the next day feeling brighter. So, we arrive at Friday morning, when we were supposed to ride the horses in the horse course. Well, at this point I had completely given up trying to ride Nine in time for the competition, so I was pretty darned nervous! Again, Stars went first. I decided to just go in there and do what we did at home. After our "walk through" (more of a pep talk from the judges) we returned to our horses (I hadn't realized we would do a walk through so last minute I had to ask the wife of another trainer to hold Nine as well as her husband's horse, Hercules). As we walked towards the waiting area Reno, one of the Stars horses, spooked from something and started bucking. He knocked down the woman holding him but no one got hurt and Reno calmed down pretty quickly. As soon as Reno was caught I went around him to get Nine. I was worried that I would find the woman holding Nine and Hercules laying on the ground with a dislocated shoulder or something! I expected Nine and Hercules to run in opposite directions. or something. But no, when I got there she was just picking up Nine's lead rope; apparently when Reno spooked she just let go of Nine to focus on Hercules, who was spooked pretty bad. She said Nine was excellent; he backed into the corner and just stood and watched, and didn't run away or cause any more trouble! The woman said he is a heck of a horse. I was very touched by this, and even more proud of Nine. So, when our time came I lead Nine into the center of the round pen they had set up with my head held high and just banged around on his saddle for a bit; I threw the stirrups over the saddle and let them bang his side, wiggled the saddle and jumped up and down next to him. Then I repeated it on the other side. A 360 degree turn in both directions was also required, and I tried my best to give Nine the same cues from the ground that he would receive from a rider in the saddle. He did beautifully with that. He didn't back as well; I tried to back him with the reins while standing next to him, but he wouldn't do it so I had to get in front of Nine and back him with a hand on his chest. After that I unclipped the lead rope and pointed to my left. Nine immediately started off like a charm! He walked, trotted, then cantered that direction, and as soon as I asked for a direction change he did it. He was so responsive and light my hopes started to rise again. He didn't walk in the other direction but just jumped strait into a trot. I was running out of time so I let him do that. The he cantered well for me, and when the announcer called time and I asked Nine to stop, he stopped on a dime and stood and faced me perfectly. I ended up in 6th place over all! I was so very proud of Nine! When we were in line waiting for our awards ceremony Nine was one of the only horses who stood quietly the whole time. The announcer had to go through a ridiculously long list of sponsors before he announced the awards, so most of the horses got fidgety and restless.

Saturday were the finals for the Idols division, then the horse course for the Legends division. I watched some of these, and got to see my friend Joslyn get 5th place on Darwin, another horse from the same herd management area as Nine. That same night the Legends performed their top ten finals. What a show that was! Every single horse was phenomenal! Two riders competed bridleless, and a couple also took the saddles off during the final and rode around bareback. One girl had a broken hand and competed in a cast. One man had his horse jump through a ring of fire (without a bridle!) and another had his horse walk over a seesaw through another ring of fire. It was amazing! If you get a chance to see it, DO! It will blow your mind! It will probably be on YouTube in a few hours, so do a search, it will be worth it, I promise you!

Sunday was the adoption. They decided to put the Idols horses up for auction first, then Stars second ans Legends last. When I was on my way to get Nine to take him to the auction ring I met up with a woman who's daughter had trained three yearlings. They were in the market to get the yearlings adopted and adopt a riding horse in turn. They ended up adopting Taz, the winner from the Idols division! She showed me the prices she had been keeping track of; most horses seemed be going for only $400 or so! The winners were bringing more money of course, but I figured then that I would be lucky to get Nine to fetch $200! I figured that if my daughter was on Nine when I walked into the auction ring he might even get up to $300, and since Nine had carried Miss Toddler before I had Fiance just walk next to Nine holding Toddler's leg. He had her waving to the crowd and being very cute, but as soon as I stepped into the ring I started crying! I didn't want Nine to go, and I was so ashamed that I hadn't ridden him yet. I was terrified that no one would bid on him and he would sit in another holding facility until someone came along to rescue him. Patti, the head honcho of the Mustang Heritage Foundation, asked if I would be bidding on Nine, but I told her through my tears that I couldn't afford him. She told some "sop story" - as Fiance put it - to the crowd, and before I knew it some guy ran down from the stands to the edge of the ring and asked if I anted the horse. I replied that I couldn't afford him. The guy insisted; do I want the horse? I said of course I do, but I'm broke! Next thing, I hear the auctioneer reach $700! Then, the guy in the stands was saying that they had bought the horse for me, and that I can take him home and make him a great riding horse for my daughter. That was the last straw; I lost it to tears...

A few signatures later, and now I am the proud official adopter of a BLM Mustang for the first time in my life.

Getting a ride home was difficult (remember, the truck and trailer left early Thursday morning and all we had was a car!). But, we found someone who was going to California through Flagstaff, and they hauled Nine for us for $400 that I had to ask my grandmother for. My other grandma paid for a 5th night at the hotel because the trailer wasn't leaving until Monday afternoon. Int eh mean time we visited the Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame, and drove up to the Stockyards Station to see the longhorns. We missed the "cattle drive" around the block, but we still saw the longhorns and talked to some of the cowboys around the place. We also let Nine stretch his legs in one of the smaller practice arenas before we loaded him up. Loading was a challenge as it was a slant load trailer and the only available spot was the very back of the trailer. This meant that I had to into the trailer with Nine, tie him to one of the rings, then slide past him (really tight space right next to his kickers) to get out. The driver tied Nine while I tried to get out. When I tried to slide past him my hat bumped his neck and he spooked. He tried to back out but he was tied and ended up with one leg under the trailer! The tie rings, naturally, are coated in rubber, so the "slip" knot did not slip. Nine jumped back in the trailer and I got out safely, but I was nervous for him the whole way home. We drove strait through for about 15 hours to arrive at Winona, AZ, at 3:30 AM for the switch into our trailer. We were home by 4 AM, and boy was Nine happy to be there! He nearly ran me over trying to get back into his round pen!

I think we will take a couple days off to recover, then this weekend we start where we left off. So from this point forward this blog is no longer about the Extreme Mustang Makeover, but rather out journey as Mustang and adopter, and after a year as Mustang and owner.

I found the people who bought Nine for me: Randy and Marsha Olson of Mustangs Forever Inc. I thanked them in person, but I also want to thank them here. Please visit www.mustangs4ever.org and check out their non-profit organization. They really are the most selfless and generous people I can ever dream of!