Daily Archives: July 27, 2009

Ashley Whyland on Luther

We loaded up and headed out to my first rodeo back in a LOOONNGGG time!  This was a bulls and barrels at a local county fair.  No big deal, but it was my horse’s first rodeo.  I was running Freckles, my boyfriend’s horse.  I have made a handful of runs on him, but he’s a lot different than what I’m used to running. 
 
They opened the arena about 30 minutes before the rodeo was going to start and let us ride.  I could tell that Freckles was taking it all in, but was a little jazzed up about the atmosphere.  They had very loud music playing and it was a very small arena.  Behind the arena were the fair rides.  Directly behind the 3rd barrel was a HUGE Ferris Wheel (and I’m not exaggerating.)  Every spoke on that sucker was lit up like a slot machine!  It was a lot for a horse to take in and I knew it would only be worse when it started to get dark.
 
I was up in the slack, which I thought would be a good plan for my horse.  However, that put me to running in the dark.  I decided to let my horse rest up by the arena after I warmed him up.  I wanted him to get a GOOD look at that monstrous wheel that he was probably thinking was going to come unbolted and chase him. 
 
After watching the performance I discovered the ground was VERY hard and not many horses were standing up on it.  Freckles is a big horse and I really wasn’t for sure how he was going to handle the ground.  It was also a small pattern.  Freckles has a very long stride, so I knew I could clock if I just got 3 clean barrels.  I let him cruise in and he nailed the first barrel, had a pretty good second and I had him lined up for the 3rd and then all of the sudden, he bolted right!  I decided to lope him out. 
 
I wasn’t upset with Freckles, I felt like he handled it very well, considering!  I was also told that there was a bull barrel setting to the right of the 3rd barrel and that could have been what made him pick up and dart right!  There were a couple of other horses that did the exact same thing. 
 
It is definitely challenging to go back to the rodeos and not be on a rodeo seasoned horse.  I guess things like the Ferris Wheel and things sitting in the arena are things that I took for granted before and I didn’t have to worry about them.
 
I would normally say “Off to the next one…”, but I’m not sure when the next one will be.  We haven’t bought any cards for this year, but I am contemplating buying my card back for next year!