Playday 2009

Yesterday, May 30, 2009 was District 10's Playday. We had to have the sound system set up by 8 am so we got up around 6 am. Rob fed horses and I made sure we had everything ready for the day. Kelsey got up and ready as well. Kam had to work at 4:30 am but had gotten the sound system in the truck the night before. That was a huge help! We also had to take some items up for mom since she is the district secretary.

We got to the arena around 7:30 am. Kam was there and he and Rob got the sound system up. I'm not really sure where Kelsey went since she brought her own car and disappeared after the horses were unloaded. I had been asked to judge the western pleasures so I stayed by the trailer so I didn't pre-judge anyone. Around 8:30 am, I tried to find someone to be my ring steward but it wasn't until I was in the arena & the first group was coming in that Mark Wright came in to help. He had a lot of good questions and was great help! Since he was planning on being in the older pleasure class, he left to warm up his horse & Brent Shelby's daughter (sorry, I can't remember her name) came to help. Again, she had some great questions and was a wonderful help.

Rob traded off between QT and Mr. Belvedere for the speed events. He got 2nd place in pleasure on QT but I can't remember what he got for his speed events. Mr. B blew up on the musical tires & hurt Rob's stitched finger. Rob realized it was his error that freaked Mr. B out so he after getting upset with him for a second, they worked great the rest of the day. Oh, Rob cut his finger 10 days before trying to sharpen it. Luckily, I was home and able to get him to the insta-care. That's another story! He puked in my car & it took Kam hours to get the smell out. Poor kid! He went into shock while we were on our way. He ended up with 2 hidden mattress stiches and 1 regular stitch. The doctor said the hidden mattress stiches were like having 2 each stitch so it was a total of 5 stitches. The doctor was pretty good.

Kelsey was called "crazy" a few times because she rides so well and doesn't seem to have any fear. Luckily, she has a healthy respect for the horses! She rode Lena for most of the events but did tandom barrels with Kam twice. Once with Kam on QT and her on Lena. Once with her on QT and Kam on Mr. B. I do know she got like 5th in pleasure but she was in a REALLY tough class.

I was able to meet some of the "Wasatch Wranglers" from Heber, UT. They are such nice people! I am so glad that a group from Heber decided to join USWRCA! When I started with the riding clubs, there was a Heber team and a Vernal team. Maybe in a few years, Vernal will come back. It's nice to know that there are still people out there who want to do well but their focus is on having fun. Some teams get so competitive that it takes away from the fun. I like to win with the best of them but as I've gotten older, I really don't want to be so pressed with the competition that I forget to have fun.