Daily Archives: November 10, 2009

Spencer Turner, Winning Ride at IFR 2009

Hello ontherodeoroad.com Fans,

 It has been a long while since I have updated, I had a pretty good injury to my foot in May and when I came back to action in August I severely bruised my other leg (at least that’s all I think I did, because of course, I did not have a Doctor check it out). I decided to sit the rest of the season out and start again in January and attend rodeos pretty hard again then. That was my plan until I had a friend bring to my attention that even though I had not rodeo’d a lot this year, I still had done well enough at the ones I went to, that I had qualified to the IPRA’s Central and Southern Region Finals.

I went into the Finals in Springfield, MO with a good attitude, even though I hadn’t really thought about rodeo a lot this year, nor have I even practiced or gone over my gear. I pretty much just threw my saddle and gear bag in the truck and went, hoping all would turn out well. The First round I had drawn a horse I knew well. It was branded 30 Black Widow of Hampton Rodeo Company. I had been on this horse several times and won a 1st every time I was on her except one, and I won a 2nd that time. I was blessed to have drawn her for my first horse back in many months. I was a little worried that I wasn’t in the mental or physical shape to ride like I was riding before I got injured. Those worries soon disappeared when I crawled on her back in nodded. Everything came back like riding a bike (a big, kicking and bucking bike that is). Everything felt great, and I felt like I spurred her well and rode her the best I could. I scored an 82 and was blessed to win the 1st round. That made me feel awesome considering the bronc riders that were entered were some of the top hands in the region.

The second round I drew horse 10, a horse I had not ever been on but have seen, and was very happy to have plucked her out of the draw. She threw a little fit in the chute and when the gate opened she did not live up to her previous trips. She hopped skipped and run-bucked down the pen, throwing her head everywhere. I scored a 64 with an option for a re-ride. Anybody that knows me knows that I took the reride. Not being cocky but confident in my riding, I didn’t go down there to be 64 points when there was a chance I could do better in that round. The reride was 05, a horse I did not know at all, neither did very many of the bronc riders. She stood well in the chute and when I nodded she came rearing out pretty high and hard. I marked her out great, but spurred over my rein. When I went to spur her my foot got caught in the rein and pulled some rein out of my hand making it hard to ride her while she was ducking and diving a lunging forward. We parted ways early and I scored a Zero. I have no regrets about taking my reride and giving up my 64 points for a Zero. The Lord has a plan for everything and everything happens for a reason. If I wouldn’t have taken the reride I would have always wondered what could have happened, now I know. It just wasn’t meant for me to do well in the second round, and I am good with that.

In the 3rd and final round I drew H26. I knew this horse and had been on her twice before and won a 2nd once and the second time I jumped off early thinking I had rode the required 8 seconds, but it had only been 7.5 seconds. She is a real bear in the chute and has smashed me several times in the past. When she bucks she is really strong and bucks with her head high in the air. When horses are high headed when they buck it makes them feel a lot stronger and it really makes the swells of your saddle drop out from under you hard. I had a game plan this time; I made sure I had a guy cover her eyes before I got on her and I was real smooth and didn’t waste a lot of time in the chute. This plan worked great. She came out hard and fast and I marked her out good and went on spurring her throughout the ride. She was really bucking hard and throwing her head high. The swells of my saddle kept getting yanked out from my legs and I don’t think I spent too much time actually in my saddle. This didn’t keep me from spurring her good. It was a good hard battle and when the buzzer sounded I jumped off feeling like I had done well. I scored a 78, which was just out of reach for money in that round. I ended up 4th in the average. All in all I am very pleased with this weekend. I am thankful and give the Glory to God for allowing the talents He has given me, to shine through even though I felt a little rusty from the long break in my competition.

It was a good finals and the crowd was great, the stock bucked good, and the committee was very generous to the cowboys and cowgirls. We received Jackets for making the finals and they gave Championship Knives to the Event Winners.

Next week brings the PRCA’s Great Lakes Circuit Finals in Louisville, KY, which was also a surprise to make considering I didn’t go to very many and haven’t been to one since May. I was blessed to make money at the few I went to which qualified me to attend Circuit Finals. I feel good going into next weekend!!

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