Daily Archives: March 4, 2010

Amber Mostoller and Chance

So the last few weekends have been a little rough   After selling Mighty Mouse I was entered at Auburn Hills, MI on February 14th.  A bareback rider jumped in with me after Bowling Green, KY and we headed North to meet 3 more barrel racers (Teresa Quay, Kristi Gilmore, & Alicia Pottmeyer) in Ohio to make the trip to Auburn Hills.  I was going to be riding one of Teresa’s geldings by the name of Tee Jays Chance aka Tater.  Tater is a son of the stud horse Chance Bar Tease who I have also had the privilege to run on and off over the last few years.  I had not been on Tater in over a year, but the last time I ran him I won close to $3,000 on him in the few months that I was hauling for Teresa to season him.  He is a big boy, that runs like a little horse and has a completely different running style.  We got to Auburn Hills and the ground looked a lot better than in previous years.  It was pretty sticky but I knew that Tater would have no problems getting through it.  I had a good first and second barrel on him, and then had a complete brain fart on him going to the 3rd barrel.  I rode him one handed the whole way there and just didn’t get him far enough by it and we hit it   Teresa hit a barrel to place as well on Chance, and Kristi and Alicia didn’t have much luck either.  The bareback rider in the rig did draw a check though!

 The following weekend (Feb 20-21st) I went to Cleveland, OH and was back on Tater.  This used to be my hometown rodeo and I have won it the last two years…one year on Chance and then last year on a mare named Instant Victory that I was running for a friend.  The ground was HARD as a rock this year, but I knew Tater could handle it.  He had a decent first barrel, but we got a little close to the 2nd…great third and cruised out of the arena…Our time would have easily placed had we left the 2nd barrel up…woulda coulda shoulda   Teresa won the rodeo on Chance!  After Cleveland we headed to Auburn Hills, MI.  I was in the performance at this rodeo and Teresa was in slack so she let me run Chance here.  I was VERY excited to get to run Chance her as I placed on him at this rodeo in 2008.  They were winning the rodeo with a 15.230 before the Sunday perf started and I knew I had the horse under me to win it.  Chance smoked his first and 2nd barrel and I do not know what happened on the way to the 3rd but we got a “little lost”  he jumped way out into a pocket and then it was like he realized he was in the wrong spot and sucked back to it hard.  I held him on the backside of the 3rd so we would not hit it coming around and he still ran home and ran a 15.237.  Mesa took over the lead in the perf with a 14.9 and there was a 15.1 run as well with still a bunch to go in slack.  Teresa was first to go in slack and I knew from Chance and my mistakes at the 3rd that there was no doubt he could run a 14.8 if she had a better 3rd barrel, and 14.8 they ran to win the rodeo.  A 15.197 was last hole, so my 15.237 ended up just out of the money  

 When we got to this rodeo someone stopped us and said they heard something inside one of the back tired rattling around…well it turned out to be 3 of the bolts on the tire had been broken off!  Teresa ended up staying up there to get her truck fixed while her husband Dave came and rescued the horses, Kristi, Memphis, and I took us back to the house.  We drove through snow almost the whole way home, got to Dave and Teresa’s around 1:00am and then I had another 3 hour drive left home to Louisville.  YUCK  I tried to stay positive and look forward to the following weekend…Three rodeos Batesville, MS – Columbiana, AL & Huntsville, AL… stayed tuned