Daily Archives: February 26, 2009

Ashley Whyland on Luther

Mud and trashy ground was Luther’s specialty.  No matter what, I knew he would stand up, turn tight and run hard in it.  We arrived at Greensburg, IN after a whole day of raining.  And once I saw the backhoe dragging the slop out of the arena and into a big pile, I wondered if we were just wasting our money on this run. 

The rodeo pen was set up on a trotting track, which NORMALLY has a lime/sand mixture that holds really well, but after the backhoe was finished it was left as sticky and slippery mud, which is a whole lot trickier to run on than slop, in my opinion. 

I normally keep a pair of old support boots in the trailer for rodeos like this.  Luther would get his back legs wrapped in polos on regular ground, but in mud I don’t trust the polos to hold up to the saturation and stay tight during a run.  So at Greensburg, I resorted to boots all the way around.

We all warmed up on the track where they still had the lime/sand mixture.  I was one of the last ones out in the performance.  I watched some girls run to evaluate how the ground was holding.  I decided to just let Luther work however fast he wanted to.  Most of the time, this was best for Luther in mud anyway.  Stay out of his way and he will make it happen how he has to. 

I approached the alleyway and Luther let go.  We went a smidge past the first barrel, but Luther fired off hard to the second barrel.  I didn’t hustle him or kick him, but he was running hard.  The second barrel was flawless and the third barrel was even better.  After we rounded the third I decided to ask him to run out.  The alleyway was small, so I really had to hustle him through it.  Luther had a tendency to prepare for the stop, which in big pens was fine, but this pen I needed him to hustle all the way out. 

Once we hit the alleyway Luther found another gear as I heard the announcer say that we just took the lead.  And only then did I realize that his racehorse days were coming back to him.  I can honestly say I have NEVER had a problem getting Luther to stop after a run.  He could always drag his butt and stop right when you asked him to.  Not this time.  Ears pinned and neck stretched out, we were GONE and he was gaining speed.  I tried stopping him but he was only ignoring me and pushing on through.  Finally half way around he track, he wore himself out!  So much for being a “quarter” horse!  I couldn’t be upset with him, we were winning the rodeo! 

I finally brought him back around to the arena and EVERYONE was staring and laughing.  How embarrassing!  I think the crowd had forgotten about the barrel race and was more entertained with the horse race happening behind them! 

After the next day’s performance, Luther and I still held the lead to win the Greensburg rodeo.