Drew Horner in Redding, CA

It has been a rough ride, but things are looking up.  We have not been very consistent but we have been putting together better runs and I have been able to practice more because I have been home.  We did alright in April, and now in May we have started to get to practice and compete more consistently. 

We are here in Redding California for the tour rodeo this weekend.  We really need to take advantage of this one.  The average is somewhat soft so far and we are in the last set to go so we need to stick to our game and make two runs that will hopefully place us deep in the average.  We go home and get to practice for a week before the Windy Ryon jackpot.  I am roping with Trey Johnson, Allen Bach, Kyle Crick, and Chase Tryan at that jackpot.

            I am still working out consistently and eating well.  It keeps my energy up and helps me to maintain focus.  Maintaining focus with everything and keeping priorities in line is a daily chore.  To keep focus for me, is all about my priorities.  Staying in communication with God, my relationships, and my lifestyle are three major aspects that keep me disciplined and focused, most important of these my communication with Christ.  There are times when you don’t have the motivation or energy to go on, especially when times are not good, not winning, but keeping your priorities straight and in line develops motivation and keeps you focused.  This is where discipline comes in.  Discipline, self- discipline, keeps you on track and forces you to keep your priorities straight.  These steps develop character and integrity, and it all works together like a big cycle of things.  The decisions you make affect your priorities, and the relationships around you.  Then those priorities can get messed up and the relationships destroyed, then you start losing motivation and focus.  Keep your discipline in your relationship with Christ and you will struggle less with lack of motivation and focus.

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Confidence

Why is it when you have confidence it seems like you will never not have it, but when you lose your confidence it seems like you will never get it back?

            Over the past few weeks I have watched my boys live on both sides of that conundrum.  They have both had days when they were sure they could do no wrong, and days when they couldn’t even remember how to do things right. Watching them is almost painful.  I see how when they win or play good pride starts to grasp at them, and I see how when it goes bad fear and discouragement try to grasp at them as well.  I have been there so many times riding the rollercoaster of success and failure until you just want to get off.  My boys and I talk about our value not being tied to our success in the arena or on the field and I know where my value is found chapter and verse.  However, knowing the truth and living in the truth are completely different things.  One can say their confidence is in the Lord but only the trials of life will let you know if the statement is true or not.   When I find my confidence on the wane the only thing I know is to do the little things.  Rope the dummy a few more times, hit a few off of the tee, work your horse… and in the midst of being faithful in the little things I usually find (what I guess I really always knew) the  Father is there with me and if he is with me then it’s going to be alright.  Likewise when my confidence is high I find if I will just remember to do the little things I am reminded the victory belongs to the Father.

            I hope it doesn’t take my boys as long as it has taken me to get off of the confidence roller coaster!

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Layton's Region Finals

Layton, my 14yr old son, competed at his region finals this week.  You know it is an interesting thing a dad has to do.  You work and work to work yourself out of a job.  Since Layton went to his first rodeo I have been there to help him saddle, check his calves, make sure his ropes are tied on… all while trying to help him learn to do those things for himself.  Then one day you look up and they don’t need your help anymore or at least not to the same degree.  Layton has learned how to get himself and his horse ready to compete.  He is starting to know how to focus on and prepare for each event without ol’ dad’s help.  So, I found myself during the finals one part proud and one part sad.  Proud not because he won a ton at the finals but proud because he was doing what men do.  Sad not because he was growing up but sad because he didn’t need me. 

            This got me to thinking about the Father.  God helps us to our feet, He lifts us out of the miry clay and sets us on level ground knowing we may need Him again but not for that.  Still the Father keeps picking us up and setting us free.  Trusting us to take the next step and trusting His love will keep us coming back to Him.  He never clutches, He is never clingy or smothering, He simply helps us up and releases us to be who He has called us to be. 

            Later that day, I had a moment when Layton came back by me, not because he needed anything, but because he wanted me to be a part of his victory and that was really cool.  I think the Father must like that pretty well too.

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God will not give up one you

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 also been going to professional calf ropers’ arenas and getting roping lessons and 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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Drew- California run

The past couple weeks have been a lot better.  We went to Laughlin, NV, Pocatello, ID, and Logandale, NV for the tour rodeos, and also to Las Vegas NV for the Hork Dog jackpot.  My partner and I have been roping better.  Hopefully this can start us on a role and we can keep it going.  We were 5.8 on our first one at Laughlin, but our second steer stopped and we missed him.  We were long on our first one at Pocatello, 19.6 with a barrier and a leg.  The set up at Pocatello was fast.  We made a good run on the next one and were 4.1, which ended up tying for 5^th and 6^th in the round.  We placed 5^th in the average at Logandale.  We were one out of the first round, 5.3, we drew a runner on our second one and were 7.2 on him to be 12.5 on two.  I was fourth call back at the Hork Dog with Jay McClain and I broke the barrier.  Our roping is starting to build some momentum going into Red Bluff and the Jackpots.  We go to Red Bluff this Friday, the 15^th of April.  After that there are two or three jackpots we are going to in California, then Clovis Ca the next Sunday on the 24^th of April, Easter Sunday then its home for a while.

            I have been staying disciplined with my workouts.  It has been easy to stay in a routine because I have had plenty of down time in Vegas, where I have been staying for a couple weeks.  I have been eating better and maintaining my energy levels by staying active and eating right.

            I have a lot of ideas about certain things and future rodeos, but we shall see where God leads me on that.  It is crazy to me how God gives me a vision and an idea, and just lets me do the planning to put it into action.  I love letting God take control of it by just doing what I can do and letting God work the impact.  He lets me see enough for me to take another step.  I guess He just keeps building my faith for my future.  I am a visual person.  I like to see the goal in my mind, believe it can happen, and then walk in that direction.  Everyone is different with their mental game and mental disciplines, but however you learn and reach goals, you must first believe you can do it before you can achieve it.  That’s where faith comes into my life.  I can see the end objective, but how I get there is a crazy journey that only God knows every step I need to take to reach that goal.  Roping is what I do, how I go about it is what God cares about.

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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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