Howdy Chuckwagon Friends

Another week is coming to an end.  It is so hard to believe, its Saturday already.  I don’t even know what the date is.  When we get going down the road,  I lose all track of days.  This morning was beautiful out, and track times were from 9 am to noon.  We took advantage of this, and  hooked 2 sets of horses with the help of Cody and our crew.  All went well.  We have been hooking some newer horses, so some of them are in training.  This and chores used up all my morning.  Once I came in and cleaned up, I headed into town to pick up a few things.

Cole and Andy

Chanse and Stadium

Our two outriders for this show have been last years rookie of the year, Cole Somerville and veteran outrider and chuckwagon driver, Chanse Vigen.  They are both talented young fellas who love what they do.  Can you imagine,  riding a few heats, then jumping off your horse to go drive your own chuckwagon?  Well Chanse does this as well as does competitor Dustin Gorst.  They are both very talented young men.

Dustin headed to the track to ride

Reading Minds

Once all the afternoon chores are done, and all the preparation is complete for the evening races, one of my jobs is to bring the outriding horses to the infield.  I enjoy doing this.  I can ride them in if I wish (as I used to do this), but I choose to just walk them as it is even better exercise for me.

Sittin Tall

Diggin In

Perfect Form

Hunting the Track

Drivng the straight and narrow

First at the Finish Line

Cody made his mom and dad proud tonight.  He drove very well in his heat off the 1.  A very nice start, around the barrels, kept the rail and won his race.  He ended up 16th on the day and 25 in the aggregate.

A malfunction at the Junction

1 broken headstall

Rick didn’t fare so well tonight.  The practice turn was great!  It was what happened after that.  He drove into barrel 2.  Stopped.  Then the horses went ahead.  He, with the help of his outriders, pulled back to get even with the bottom barrel.  Success!  Then the horn blew.  The horses started and then some how a line got caught in the saddle horn of the outriding horses saddle, the lead team  immediately jackknife left,  which cause a ring to break on the bridle!!!  Not good.  But, Ricky being the skinnner that he is, managed to stay out of the other competitors way.   “He Done Good!”  Again, the hook was the same as last night.  Vegas, Ranger, Keenan, and Stash

Just like any other sport or venue,  things can happen.  When the dust settled, a whopping 25 second penalty was applied to our time.  With the redraw tomorrow, we are in the 2nd heat and Cody’s in the 3rd.

Precious!

Even though Rick was unable to swing by the stands after the race, We managed to still give away a mini chuckwagon to one little tiny fan.

Very Assertive

Our horses are so in tuned as to what is going around them.  Here, I caught them watching the wagons roll by. Tonight, others had issues and penalties were assecced.  I wonder what was causing it all? Hmmmmmm.

A Beautiful Bright Full Moon

From the Travelin Trailer

Sue, with Rick and Team 23

P.S. Never let a stumble in the road be the end of the journey.

Sue