WTEC (The Finish)

My grandmother died the Monday before the Timed Event.  Grandma was 98 and she had an amazing, healthy, long life but it is still hard to say goodbye to your last surviving grandparent. I arrived at Guthrie a day early so that I could put my horses up before attending my grandmother’s funeral on Wednesday.   While this was a bit stressful emotionally I woke up Thursday feeling ready for the weekend.  We got the cattle ready on Thursday and my horses felt really good.  I headed a few and heeled a few and it all went really well.

               Consequently, when the first round began Friday at noon I was excited to see how it would all turn out.  The first round started great. After the heading, calf roping, heeling, and steer wrestling I was in position not only to be good in the average but also to place in the round.  Then it was time for the steer roping.  I got a good start and roped the steer slick horns but as I laid the trip the loop dropped over his nose. With my second loop I had trouble getting the steer to line out at the back end and I took a bad shot and necked him again.  Taking a 60 hurts but you can still win a lot with one or even two 60s so I still felt like everything was going to be ok. However, from there the tripping only went from bad to worse.  Before the WTEC was over I had taken five 60s in the tripping and I was headed home having done well in every other event yet winning nothing. 

                After the third round and the third 60 in the steer roping I was at the trailer roping the steer horns and beginning to question why I had put all of the time in and why I had worked so hard when I heard the Father ask me a question that didn’t answer my questions but it did bring me back to the right place.  The question was “Will you quit or commit?”  You know that really is the question that is being asked of us at every difficult point in our lives will we quit or commit.  I believe all too often we choose to quit.  We may not quit that day but we begin a process of drawing back and not fully committing which is essentially quitting.  We do it when things get unpleasant in our jobs or careers.  They get difficult we don’t get the raise or promotion we feel we deserve and we begin to just put in time.  It happens in our marriages when we get our hearts hurt by our spouses, by what they did or didn’t say and so we pull back and we protect our hearts instead of continuing to commit our whole heart, our entire lives to our marriage.  It happens with our kids when we hit a rough patch in raising them.  We fear we won’t be able to cross the finish line with our relationship with them being the way we want it to be, so we pull back and prepare our excuses for why it didn’t work out. 

                 I am just here to say that if you are born of God then you were not born a quitter.  Jesus finished the work and He is still the author and the finisher of our faith.  I am not saying there will never be a day when I won’t enter the WTEC or there won’t be a day when I don’t stop working at Sky Ranch But if I am to follow the Father’s example I will finish my last day fully committed to the task at hand.  I pray I will finish in my marriage and with my kids, taking my last breath knowing I stayed fully committed, with my heart totally open to the Father and to them.
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Don’t give up on God!

Well hey there! I have so much to share with ya’ll. These next few months are my favorite months of the year. These months are also the busiest for someone who rodeo’s. I have region 4 finals on the weekend of April 5th, 6th, 7th also I have 4shsra finals the weekend of the 15^th, 16th. And I also have Joe Beaver’s goat tying and breakaway roping on Easter weekend.  Then the next week I have my exit level Taks test since I am a junior in high school. I have three tests left and I have to pass them to graduate high school and become a senior the next year. So fingers crossedJ .

I have been roping so much this year trying to get better and go to that next level in my calf roping. It’s been a struggle at the rodeos. It’s like rodeo by rodeo something always goes wrong in the breakaway roping. I am only winning breakaway by one point in region 4.  At the last rodeo I drew a really fast calf and he ran through my loop which made me have to use my second loop. I ended up top ten in the round but this let other girls catch up to me, putting more pressure on me before the finals. I can’t let the pressure get to me. But I am confident in my lord and myself that I can get through this struggle in roping. I started roping my calf dummy a different way, I started roping a coastal hay bale instead and going back to the basics and catching every calf one by one. I have been going to a professional calf ropers’ arena and getting roping lessons, trying to learn new things and become a better roper. So far this past week has been one of my best weeks of roping calves. I feel a lot better about my roping.

 All I am trying to say is no matter how hard life gets and the obstacle you may face, don’t give in and don’t give up on yourself and especially don’t give up on your Lord. God is there for you at all times. God loves you.

“And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he hears us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.” – 1 John 5:14-15

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Roping in February



I haven’t written an update in awhile.  Things have been a little different here lately.  I have had the opportunity to rope with a few different partners because my partner, Trey Johnson, broke his finger and had to have surgery on it.  We were entered at five rodeos and he doctor released and I drew out of four of them.  I went to San Angelo got a calf roper, Clint Robinson, to heel for me.  He cross fired the first one and then we ended up placing in the second round, then I missed the third one.  I came out of Angelo with about $1,200 which was good.  After San Angelo, I went to Athens Texas for the USTRC roping.  I had a great opportunity there to rope with Patrick Smith and Garret Jess.  Patrick and I made the short round and were 5.5 in the short round, but to long for any money.  We got one point, not necessarily good but it means I’m one point closer to the US Open in Oklahoma City.   I roped at two other ropings and didn’t do well at them.  So, for now, I have not been winning much.  I am hoping I can turn things around here at the start of March.

            March will be a new beginning for me.  I have had a lot of time to practice in February and time to prepare myself for what is to come.  I am heading to Austin Texas right now for the slack in the morning.  I entered there with Ryan Motes.  After the slack tomorrow morning at Austin, I drive straight to Boerne Texas, just outside of San Antonio, for the George Strait Team Roping Classic.  I am roping with Michael Fortenberry, Allen Bach, and Kyle Crick.  I am looking forward to tomorrow, it’s a big day.  I need to do well at Austin and the other rodeos that are coming up.  After this week, Trey gets to start roping again, and we are entered at Huntsville, Nacogdoches, and Graham Texas.  We need to really do good, we have been set back by a few things that hindered us in the winter, but we are really fired up about Trey getting back to roping and then leaving for California for the start of the Spring.

            What I have been working on:

I went to Speed Williams place the other day and got a lesson from him.  He taught me so much and explained a lot to me about what to look for and expect when I go to some rodeos that I have not been to.  I have been trying to make my head loop more precise, speed my rope up and still deliver a smooth loop. Also, I am working on combining my reaching game with good horsemanship.  It’s been great being able to work on all these things for a little more than a month before I leave for California.  I am still maintaining my health and fitness, trying to stay loose and build a little more strength in my legs and upper body for power in my horses and my swing.

My mental game I feel like is getting a lot stronger.  I have been visualizing myself making good runs.  This helps me focus, relax, and not worry about what other people do.  I am very visual and I learn best by watching, so when I watch other ropers its really easy for me to imitate them.  That’s why I tend to watch myself make runs on tape, or visualize myself making those runs before I rope.

I have been reading the Story of King David from 1^st and 2^nd Samuel.  Great Story of a strong leader who we can learn a lot from.

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Stretch Run

Things sure can unravel quickly.  For the first two weeks of this stretch run my tripping really improved my calf roping and team roping were looking sharp and I was preparing to sharpen my steer wrestling up as well. When things kind of came to a screeching halt.  My brother and I learned 1 week prior to the WTEC that we were not going to be able to ride the horse we had been planning on riding in the steer wrestling.  I also rode the horse I am riding in the steer roping at the Timed Event for the first time and it didn’t go well.  It would be easy at this point to push the panic button.  If your hope is in your horses or in your plan you will push the panic button but if your hope is in the Father you can stand firm.  Psalms 20:7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the Lord our God.

            This doesn’t mean I didn’t get on the phone and find a new horse to ride it just means after the initial shock I had to remember that God has a better plan than I have.  As it says in Proverbs 21: ³¹ The horses are prepared for battle, but the victory belongs to the LORD.

Improvement

·        Team roping went great at Ricky’s

·        I feel strong and healthy

Needs Improvement

• Didn’t get along with new tripping horse that well

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