Rodeo Time!

Pony Pals Cambria and Titan ended up not mutton busting. At their last rodeo, there had been no protective vests and their falls from the sheep without that gear hurt. 

Plus, the sheep at this rodeo were kept in the arena and when a child clambered up onto the sheep's back, that sheep headed straight for the flock. More than one kiddo came off in the middle of the flock of milling sheep and disappeared in the dust.

But not watching the kiddos mutton bust was fine - we found seats on the grass and settled in to watch the rodeo.

And eat!

Mountain Mama Jessica told me that just about every small town in Utah has a rodeo arena.

and this particular rodeo was the youth component to the adult rodeo that would happen the next weekend.

We sat and watched the pole bending after the mutton busting was over.

They had two sets of poles running - one rider was on deck while the other ran the pattern.

Jessica has become a real horse lover as an adult, and she really wanted to walk the grounds and look at the horses. As you might imagine, her mama was all in for that!

She was interested in having me tell her about breeds and colors. (I had to look up the difference between dun and buckskin when she asked about those!)

We spent about an hour together just wandering the grounds and talking horses.

This cutie had ridden her pony in pole bending and was very excited to show him to us.

Her dad spent time explaining the freeze brands on this horse - they had to do with breeding lineage.

I have mixed emotions about branding, but I also admit that since I am not living the ranch life, there are reasons behind branding I may not fully understand. (And, according to most sources, freeze branding is far less painful that the hot branding iron style. I hope that's true.)

Jessica posing with a roping dummy.

Cattle awaiting their turn in the arena.

The warm up arena. 

Boompa and Titan watching the pole bending together.

"Petting" the wall art horse.

So the rodeo didn't go as we had planned, but that was okay. We enjoyed sitting outside as a family in the fresh Rocky Mountain air on a beautiful sunny day, watching sheep, horses, and cattle. 

I couldn't have asked for more.

A Surprise for Cambria & Titan - My Rodeo Shirt

When I realized that I would be able to attend a rodeo while visiting Titan and Cambria, I decided to surprise them with a rodeo shirt to match the ones I had made them.

Me with the Pony Pals in their yard in Santaquin, Utah. 

Despite the stress from the time crunch, I was able to get my shirt finished in time before we packed the car and headed west.

I chose a cherry red gingham for my shirt, and selected embroidery designs similar to the ones on Cambria's shirt. (The embroidery work took me two days to do!)

My pocket flaps had the same design that Cambria had on her back yoke. (I love horseshoe designs!)

Pearl snaps, the bane of the 2020 shirts, no longer intimidate me and went quickly.

The kids were so excited to get ready for the rodeo and Mountain Mama Jessica took photos of us together in our shirts to remember the occasion.

I wore my vintage western hat with its new braided horsehair hatband and slipped a Batman patch into the band so match the one I'd stitched on Titan's rodeo shirt.

I'd also packed the boots that Craig Santa Claus had brought me last Christmas.

We were ready to rodeo! Stay 'tooned!

A Sneak Peek while Traveling

I'm traveling and due to the lousy internet in our motel I didn't finish the blog post I'd planned for today, but here is a sneak peek for tomorrow.

You've seen the vintage hat on the blog, but notice anything else??

Early Morning Time with Pony Pals

After our time in Iowa with Sarah, we headed cross country on I-80 to Mountain Mama Jessica's home. She has a guest room in the basement that is connected to a family room, and that worked beautifully for me during our visit. I'm an early riser and would get up and work on the computer while everyone else slept.

Pony Pals Titan and Cambria are also early risers, and they would slip quietly down into the basement and join me as I worked. Titan always climbed into my lap - he likes to be in the thick of whatever you are doing!

Titan enjoyed helping me "write"blog posts. I checked and rechecked them, but if you see any silliness inserted or things that don't make sense, it was probably him!

When he realized that I was writing about model horses, he clambered off me (oooff!!) and ran into the toy room. Moments later he returned, model horse in hand.

Not to be outdone, Cambria brought out one of her models to show me. Both were duplicates from my collection that I had given them; I was glad that the kiddos liked them so much.

Titan showed me how his horse could stand two different ways, one resting on its tail, the other on three hooves. (I remember discovering that about that mold myself!)

We had a lot of fun during our visit with them,

but honestly, my favorite times were those early morning moments that we shared together,  chatting while I wrote.

Amish Horses - a Closer Look

While I loved visiting Sarah and her family when they lived in Denver, Iowa City offers something that Denver does not - a large Amish community. 

One group is located about eight miles southwest of Iowa City and is only a few minutes away from Sarah's new home.

I love driving around the countryside and seeing the farms and homes.

Hitching posts are evidence that an Amish family lives on that farm.

Or, if at a business, to provide parking for the Amish when they shop there.

The roads have wide aprons on either side to allow for buggies and wagons to drive safely next to the faster traffic of cars and trucks. 

Standardbreds are the preferred buggy horse

but they pull other vehicles, too.

I didn't see any of the draft horses while we drove around the countryside. They're more frequently seen during planting and harvesting season.

Obligatory family picture of JC, our second oldest grandson who flew in from Rexburg, Idaho to spend time with us while we were at his parents' new home.

Horses Across the USA

For the past ten days, Craig and I have been traveling to visit our kids, and when we do, we always play our my favorite game, Horses Across the USA. This is a game I made up where I look for horsey items along the roads and highways we travel. I don't mean pastures full of horses and barns, I mean signage, vehicles, things that connect to model horses, etc. I snap a photo and count it as we drive past.

The first leg of our trip was from Indiana to Iowa City where Denver Daughter Sarah and her family had just moved. We weren't even out of Indiana before we'd snapped our first photo.

Trying to avoid the heavy traffic and construction around Chicago and I-80, we had cut through the rural Indiana countryside and came across this sign. And while this isn't quite what we look for in the game, we counted it anyway.

This horse crossing sign with a yellow caution light was way out in the country, too. We were off to a good start!

Our third find was what we truly look for in the game - if we were to assign points for sightings, this would've been a big winner. Can you tell why?

The connection to Annie Oakley! (Click on this link to see my own connection to Annie Oakley.)

While in Iowa, Sarah (that's her face in the mirror) drove us out into Amish country to the Stringtown grocery for cheese, bulk spices, and groceries. (And fudge. Oh, my, the fudge!!)

The highways had wide aprons on either side of them so that the Amish could safely drive their buggies and vehicles. 

Here's a close up of the vehicle you could see in the previous picture. 

This sign on the way to Stringtown also counted as a sighting in Horses Across the USA.

Black Diamond was a beautiful Saddlebred in the 1960s book, The Luck of Black Diamond.

I even named one of my models Black Diamond after reading the book. (This is one of my early carpet herd pieces.)

After several days with Denver Daughter in Iowa (I've got to think of a new name for her!) we hit the road again and headed out to Utah to visit Mountain Mama Jessica and her kids. We had not seen her family since before the pandemic began.

Another book reminder, and Like the first book, from my childhood, too.

Casey, the Utterly Impossible Horse by Anita Feagles. It was not a book I particularly liked when I was a kid, but I do still have my copy on my bookshelf. (Photo from Google Images.)

Throughout our trip, traffic on the interstates was heavy and we saw many, many travel trailers and RVs. This one made me think of Sultanna.

Nebraska is a very horsey state, and I loved the reminders of the old west.

Athough this exit sign took me right back to Kentucky, Kentucky Horse Park, and BreyerFest!

I was not surprised to see a reference to Buffalo Bill - his ranch was in Nebraska. Liz Cory has a family connection to him that she shared in one of her BreyerFest seminars.

Buffalo Bill's favorite horse was named after Liz's uncle. (Liz's maiden name is Isham.) And Breyer made a model of Isham in 2003.

There is a nice rest stop in Pine Bluffs Wyoming, just over the Nebraska border. 

I loved being welcomed to Wyoming with horsey restrooms!

A reference to Breyer's Mini Whinnies...

... and to Breyer's Premier club! All those travel trailers and RVs that shared the road with us gave us lots of horsey connections.

Estes Park is the name of  a huge equestrian events park in Estes, Colorado. 

Photo from estesparkeventscomplex.com and retrieved from Google Images.

This semi was hauling an oversized load that was stamped with rearing horses that reminded me of Breyer's Fighting Stallion.

Sharp-eyed Hagen Renaker collectors will catch the reference to a HR Thoroughbred foal!

Vanguard, a Thoroughbred foal made from 1961 - 1972. (Photo from Identify Your Hagen Renaker.)

Craig and I did pretty well playing our game during the two day drive from Iowa City to Santaquin, Utah where Jessica lives. And while I missed a few snaps that would've worked, I wasn't too worried.

After all, we still had the return trip home to get those.

Stay 'tooned!