Leigh/Anne Corner

It is a New Year!! A New Beginning……..the slate is clean……….the book is yours to be written……..how and what will you do?

Today always seems like a rebirth to me. We get the chance to right the wrongs, to forgive, to reach out, to say I AM SORRY or I LOVE YOU, to make someone else smile. Take the time to think of yesterday and then excitedly plan tomorrow!! THIS IS YOUR DAY, YOUR YEAR…….make it what you want. This is your time to dream the big dream and then to MAKE IT HAPPEN. Will this be the year that you finally haul to a barrel race? Will you finally sign up for a bull riding clinic? Will this be the year you buy your pro card? Will you reach out and finally say hello to a fellow competitor and stop being so shy? Will your dream of reaching the NFR come true this year? What will 2012 be for YOU?? The sky is the limit!! Good Luck!

Leigh Walkup

I read this statistic the other day was really surprised… According to SELF Magazine 69% of people don’t ever take a day for themselves! Are you one of the 69%? The article also stated that not taking a day for you can lead to depression.  My biggest problem is when it is really pretty outside and I should go saddle up and go for a ride, but there are times I don’t feel like doing that and then I feel guilty. I feel guilty that I am not out enjoying the weather and riding my horses that need to stay in shape.

Lately this has been a big issue for me and I have finally realized the horses will be in the same spot the next day. It is okay to want to take a day and not ride. They arent going to lose their fitness if we miss a day, and in all reality they need time off too. I don’t ride everyday, never have, but I do try very hard to keep my horses on a consistent schedule and when I miss a day I feel bad about it.

However our mental health is more important than feeling guilty and if getting out one day and going hiking, reading a book, having dinner with friends, or anything else you enjoy doing is something that keeps you focused and relaxed then by all means do it. I have a tendency to get wrapped up in things and that gets my entire focus, I have realized though, this isn’t healthy.

I have goals, I want to stay motivated, I want to see my dreams come true, but along the way, I have to remember me as well.  Taking time for me only keeps me in check and allows me to remember why I am working so hard in the first place!

So everyone take a day and do something for you….it will help you stay more focused!

Fall Leaves. Apple Cider. Pumpkin Patches. Crisp Air. Keeneland. Horses feeling GOOD…………..AHHHHHHHH Fall in the Bluegrass. I hope everyone enjoying their Fall season. I know that in many parts of the states Fall is different, but I can’t tell you how nice it is to be in Kentucky in the Fall. The horse farms here in Kentucky never looked more beautiful with all the orange and red leaves on the trees. GORGEOUS!

 I don’t know about you but with this time of year comes……………FOOD! I was at a barrel race a couple of weekends ago and it seemed that the entire day all that was discussed was horses feeling great and what we were all wanting to eat later. So I thought I would share with you some of my favorite eats this time of year:

 Southern Garlic Cheese Grits

 (click picture for recipe)

A lot of you that know Anne and I personally, know that our mother is the awesome cook behind “The Southern Lady Cooks”. I love everything my momma cooks but nothing hits home like her Garlic Cheese Grits. When Anne and I were in college, whenever we would come home we would always make sure she made these for us……..of couse we also requested her roast and potatoes, cranberry sauce and homemade dill pickles, but for today let’s talk about the grits! If you are a grits fan (I can still hear my father saying “when I was a kid I could get a plate of grits for 5 cents) then you will love these!

Cavan’s Coffee Rubbed Ribeye:

 (click on picture for recipe)

Being the daughter of a cattle producer, I grew up eating beef. ALOT. My father was the King of the smoker and the grill and I can honestly say I never had a bad meal when Dad was grilling. So I know a good steak when I have one. Cavan’s Coffee Rubbed Ribeye…………good eats people!! In fact, I have eaten a lot of Cavan’s food and I have NEVER had a bad meal when he is in the kitchen. Please check out Man Cave Cuisine….you won’t be disappointed!

 Anne’s Pound Cake

 (click picture for recipe)

This is another all time favorite dessert of mine. I remember eating this cake in my Grandmothers kitchen as a child. I love how food can automatically take you back in time.  It has the same affect of a song. I remember many a great moments sitting at my Grandmothers wooden kitchen table, her in her adorable apron, drinking coffee, eating Pound Cake and talking till we couldn’t talk anymore. This cake is so moist and buttery. I guarantee you will love it!

Well, those are just a few of my favorites. I hope this time of year makes you feel like you want to make some family recipes and share with your friends and loved ones. Take the time to sit around your dining room table and tell stories of the past and make memories for the future.

Here is a to a Happy Fall!!

Leigh

Good Morning OTRR Fans. Today marks the first day of Fall and here in the Bluegrass it is currently 56 degrees and raining. I think Fall has arrived. I know where some of you are, you are dealing with much colder temps and heaven forbid……..maybe even some snow! EEKK! I can honestly say that I am not ready for winter but Fall I love. There is something about this time of year that always makes me feel refreshed and excited. I think it is the cripsness in the air, seeing my horses feel great and knowing that it is time to pull out the hoodies and down vests (LOVE!) and the days of sweating my ass off at an barrel race are over. This summer was a great one and me and my crew hauled a lot since March and enjoyed every second of it. Even when it was 101 degrees in Ohio and I had to have a heart to heart with myself about putting on a long sleeve shirt and cowboy hat to go make a run. There was one point where I didn’t think it was going to happen……..it was THAT hot!! Two weeks ago we decided to give the horses two weeks off to rest. Now those two weeks are up and I am so thrilled to start the Fall season with great friends and fast horses. It is this time of year that we stop making sandwiches and cold food at the trailer and bring out the crock pots and cold weather recipes. My bestie Ashley always makes the best vegetable soup and there is nothing quite like sitting around talking about our runs at our trailers and enjoying the cool weather and great conversation. I love walking out of my trailer in the morning with a warm cup of coffee and not being slammed in the face with 85 degree temps at 6:00 in the morning! Some people start to lose motivation as the summer comes to an end and the days get shorter and it is very easy to do. This is the season that brings mud and rain and with that comes cold temps and blanketing horses. As much as things change with the seasons, this is one season that I greatly enjoy. My hauling partners and I have already sat down to map out all the barrel races, fall rodeos, etc that we want to hit in the next couple of months. Can’t wait!!! So all your road warriers out there, keep your motivation going and ENJOY your FALL!! Grab your hoodies and long sleeve tees out of the closet and roll with it! 

 ”I’ve never known anyone yet who doesn’t suffer a certain restlessness when autumn rolls around. . . . We’re all eight years old again and anything is possible.”

Well it is the middle of July already… where has the summer gone too! It seems that the winter takes forever and summer flies by! This is the time of the summer that I start to panic thinking that I haven’t accomplished all I wanted to this summer and I need to kick it up a notch and then I remember that I really have until November so I need to chill.  I think we all have those moments where we want so bad to see the season that we envisioned earlier in the year… is that realistic? Probably not because we all have times when things don’t work out the way we want them too, horses don’t perform the way we think they should, injuries happen, and so on. So when that happens we just have to pick ourselves back up and go on and do the best we can with what we have.

However doing that is very hard on the mental game and it can be very tough, very frustrating and can just be downright maddening.  That is the time when you have to dig deep and remember why you started this journey to begin with.  The reason why you load up every weekend, the reason why you are up at midnight checking your horses, the reason why you take better care of your animals than yourself.  Then you can remember why you are out there and why you keep going.  Working hard does pay off and you just have to keep digging toward your goal.  Everyone that is in this industry knows it isn’t easy and it can change in an instant so we have to take the bad with the good, but always try to see the good and stay focused.

One of my favorite quotes: “Don’t wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful in your journey.”

Here is hoping your season is going the way you had planned and if it isn’t that the journey has been rewarding in some way!

Anne, Editor

Hauling Partners…………

When you find a good hauling partner…..HANG ON TO THEM……they can be very hard to find!!!!!!

A couple of weeks ago Anne, Colleen and I hauled up to Circle G arena to attend the MVP show. I am a huge fan of the MVP Shows and of course of Circle G….or as I like to refer to it …….Heaven on Earth. The three of us chatted and laughed all the way up there and once we pulled in to Heaven on Earth we immediately started getting stalls, horses, entries taken care of. My hauling partners and I work so well together, we are like a well oiled machine. It made me think about how lucky I am to have TWO great hauling partners so I thought I would do an entry on what to look for in a hauling partner, or what works for us!

Somethings to look for when finding the perfect person to haul up and down the rodeo road with

1.  Mental State!!!!! I think this is VERY important! I always surround myself with positive people and a hauling partner is no different. The person that you are running down the road with should have your best interest at heart and vice versa. You shouldn’t be trying to “one up” each other, you should be encouraging each other. You should each be a positive influence to one another. My hauling partners are always pushing me to do my best and helping me. Even if one of us had a bad run we always find the positive. I don’t need Anne (my twin sister) to come up and point out the obvious………”uh, Leigh, your second barrel was horrible, were you trying to go around the barrel or the entire pen??” hahah What she would say is “Look, you can fix that second in no time and I was really happy to see how he came in to the pen, don’t get down, forget that run and go on!” When you watch the videos of our runs, all you hear is us screaming our heads off to HUSTLE! KICK! PUSH! PUSH! We want everyone to have the best run possible! That is the way it should be.

Me and Anne at Keeneland

2. BE HELPFUL!! Hauling Partners should help each other or at least offer. It is important when strapped for time and hauling tail to a show/rodeo that everyone chip in and try to get the job done. YES, we all like to do things our own way, we all have our own systems….I get that, but helping your buddy get their horse cleaned up or do their entries can save a lot of time.  When Colleen (the other hauling partner, AKA, the third twin), Anne and I were done on Sunday at Circle G and were packing to go home, we all chipped in. Colleen and Anne cleaned out the back of the trailer and poulticed legs, while I got water buckets out of stalls and packed up the rest of our stuff. TEAM WORK PEOPLE! LOVE IT!!!!!

3. LIGHTER ON DE CHECKBOOK! Does this one really need an explanation?? I think not, BUT it is so nice to have someone to split the expenses with! When the three of us are hauling some place, we all know how much it will cost us each to take one horse, split the fuel and the hook up. It works beautifully.

4. FUN! To me hauling with the other girls is just fun! We laugh the entire way there and all the way back home, we analyze each others videos and get a strategy for our next runs……..it builds friendships and camaraderie with your rodeo buddies, to me……….that is the BEST deal of it all!

Colleen and I

So in honor of of this entry, let me give a shout out to my girls. Thanks Anne and Colleen for being a blasty to haul with!! I love every second of it!

Here’s to fast horses and great friends!

Leigh, Editor

Wow, this week has been rough for the equine world. The outbreak of a neurological equine herpies EHV-1 has caused a lot of concern for horse owners across the country. You can log on to almost any equine site and find something about this disease. Of course with any kind of “outbreak” comes fear and in some cases hysteria. After all, for most of us horse owners, these horses are our life. We wake up every morning to take care of these animals that bring us such joy. So I just wanted to take this time to say, when you are sifting through the LOADS of information out there on EHV-1 and trying to find what is actually FACTUAL information (believe me, a lot of it ISN’T) take time to think about the horse owners that already fought the battle with this disease and lost. Think about the owners that lost their bestfriend under circumstances completely out of their control and how heartbroken they are to not have their best friend anymore. When deciding to go to a horse show or haul to a local jackpot, please think about the owners that no longer have that opportunity anymore because of this horrible diesease. Yes, keep yourself updated and by all means try and keep your horses protected but also take a moment to keep those horse owners in your thoughts and prayers because they are just like all of us and would give anything to have their faithful friend back.