My Other Life

This is one of my passions: horses and barrel racing. Barrel racing is a thrill that can't be described. A good horse that really tries is running at about 35 miles per hour, then slows down just enough to complete the turn before sprinting off again at top speed. Not even a ride at the fair is this much fun! In the photo, I am competing at the American Quarter Horse Assoc. World Championship Show in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 2002. I'm riding a stallion that belonged to a client. His name is Buggy Full of Money and he was sent to me straight off the race track.  I had to start this horse over as far as training goes because race horses are not broke to ride the way I want but he was extremely intelligent and caught up with others in his class quickly. We won a few futurities and made the finals of several of the big, important ones. 

My husband Tim and I trained and showed horses for a living before starting the nursery adventure and it was quite a ride that I'll never forget. Tim is an extremely talented cutting horse trainer and he taught me a lot about what a "broke" horse really is. After Tim finishes training a horse, it can be rode with nothing but a twine around its neck and will spin circles, slide to a stop and do anything else you want it to. Here's Tim competing at the National Cutting Horse Association Futurity in Fort Worth, Texas. 

  

The name of the game in cutting is to "cut" a cow out of the herd, drive her far enough away to keep her from running back, then holding her there until she turns away from the horse, signaling to the judge that the horse and rider were able to control the cow. Notice in the photo that the cow is in the middle of a hard right turn (see the dirt flying up from her hooves) and the horse is sliding into a stop from a dead run. The horses back legs are tucked up underneath him and his tail is dragging the ground because he's stopping so hard. Tim's hand that is holding the bridle reins is down in front of the saddle. Can you see the slack in the reins? That's right, the horse is doing this without any guidance from Tim! It takes 2 years to train a horse to the point where they can cut a cow without help from the rider. In other words, my husband has the patience of a saint!