Monday, August 4, 2008

Playday Weekend

Every time we have a playday I seem to take the same pictures. I could probably use the same photos over and over again and nobody would notice. But this past weekend we loaded up the horses and headed to a playday at our friend's house. It started out with the Mr. Cowboy and Richie. I think Mr. Cowboy likes the challenge of riding Richie in the breakaway roping. Or maybe he just likes to be reminded of the old glory days of rough stock riding.

At least this time he stayed on. He must finally be getting back into the swing of things. Mr. Cowboy and my father in law are talking about sending Richie to a trainer for a little while to help Richie get a little refresher coarse on roping. I also believe Little Cowpoke needs a little refresher coarse on roping too.
He has missed his calf every week for the past three playdays. We will work on it this week when Big Cowpoke gets back. Which is today! We all are so very excited. I get to drive to Houston and pick up Big Cowpoke. I do hope I can avoid all this Tropical Storm Edward weather. But back to the playday.
The flag race. This is Little Cowpokes favorite. He always says, "Give me the whip!" That is what he calls the "flag". It really is just a piece of PVC pipe. I think this event would be a bit easier if my kids had a shorter horse. Pearl is only 15.3 hands. Pearl is such a good girl. She will carry those Cowpokes where ever they want to go. My old trust worthy gal. Crazy Thoroughbred right? I don't listen to all those horrible stories about how crazy Thoroughbreds are. I love my Thoroughbred mare. Mr. Cowboy has been trying to get Little Cowpoke to hold the reins and direct Pearl around things himself.
Little Cowpoke now tells everyone, "I ride by myself!" Which is semi true. I rode Pearl in the flag race too and got a 14 second ride. I don't like to go too fast. But I got first because all the other seniors messed up. Slow and steady wins the race. Normally the winner of the flag race can do it in about 9 seconds. We had a fun day. Little Cowpoke turned Pearl around all the barrels himself in the clover leaf pattern. Mr. Cowboy was still there to help out. We are hoping that maybe by the end of next rodeo season that Little Cowpoke will be able to go out in the arena all by himself. I am also wanting to get both Cowpokes one of these.
So very cool huh? Big Cowpoke is all excited about it. This is a cowboy hat helmet made by Troxel. It should be in stores starting this month. We will go helmet hunting. Then I won't be such a nervous wreck about letting my little three year old loose on a horse next summer.

7 comments:

Melanie said...

Hello!

I have seen your comments but never stopped by...glad that I did :)

My son soooooo wants that helmet!!! He really hates that his dad makes him wear one, so the fact that it looks like a cowboy hat, makes it all better...almost!

Looks like you guys had a fun, horse filled weekend too. That's really cool that your state requires microchipping...my dog is microchipped, but not the horses.

Have a great day, and by the way...you have some beautiful horses :)

Melanie

Karen said...

those helmets are awesome - Josh is just mortified by those stupid bike looking ones. If he only knew the cowboy hat ones existed, but I also know the price attached to them so won't be telling him.

The flag race looks like so much fun!

Pony Girl said...

I'm thinking I'm going to get one of those helmets! I need to update mine, it's over 10 years old and just heavy. I'm not sure how these ones fit, I will have to go try one on. But I think I will like the idea of looking more western in an actual cowgirl style hat instead having of a bowling ball head. Not that looks really matter when it comes to safety....well, sometimes they do, a teeny tiny bit, LOL!

The Wades said...

a hat helmet? a hat helmet???!! that is awesome. my kids will be way excited to see those. I might even have to buy some for the kiddos at the youth ranch. Do you know if they work as well as riding helmets?

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

YOu've got some truly amazing horses there. I replayed that video over and over several times and slow-mo-ed the part where he almost fell off.....and WOW! Richie was the reason Mr Cowboy didn't fall flat on his face. Richie literally leaned backwards and helped Mr Cowboy get abck his balance. I'm in awe. Can I have that horse? He's a keeper, I'm sure :)

And Pearl is such a sweetie...a real babysitter of a horse. How old is she, by the way?

And yeh, I'd be a nervous wreck letting my 5 yr old daughter up on any horse without a helmet. Scary what could happen in a split instant.
I noticed those hat helmets several months ago in a horse article online. I was so excited! But I've already spent money on my current helmet and it's still in great shape. I'll wait and see what the reviews are and see how others like it.

It's great that Troxel came up with a hat that those who ride Western Pleasure or Rodeos can feel good about wearing, though :)

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

Oh sure...now they come out with a western hat helmet!!!LOL. That is way cool. I bet it will make a lot of difference in the number of little cowboys and cowgirls wearing helmets. Around these parts-the non-western look of helmets seems to make a lot of difference in whether kids will wear them or not. Of course-it has to be the parents that enforce that-but most of these parents are cowboys and cowgirls themselves and aren't going to force their kids to wear something that doesn't have the "right" look.

Richie seems to be better in the box this weekend. Does Mr Cowboy get a chance to spend any time just tracking cattle on him?

Just an observation-but it looks like Richie starts to stop and then pops out of the stop into his bucking. He may be stopping too hard and either he is burning his fetlocks(fixed easily with skid boots) or his back hurts a little. Slow work tracking cattle will give him the chance to learn to stop square and build up his back muscles.

kdwhorses said...

Great pics! Our church playday will be next Sunday, can't wait!

Poor Mr. Cowboy! At least he stayed on this time! LOL! I would suggest too tracking cattle or if you have a donkey track it and get him to tracking good and at a slow rate. We have a horse that we once had to baby step him into roping out of the box. Good luck!