I really think there has to be a better way!! That just seems dangerous for a small boy to be using that saw on a small block of wood. Come on, just see what happened to Mr. Cowboy's finger!!
Here he is show Big Cowpoke how to sand the Tank! Big Cowpoke can't wait to try sanding his tank. He keeps saying, "You can only go one way. You have to go with the wood!" He is really excited. 
Apparently, so is Cowpokette. Little hamfatter!! (oh hee hee hee!)
Here he is show Big Cowpoke how to sand the Tank! Big Cowpoke can't wait to try sanding his tank. He keeps saying, "You can only go one way. You have to go with the wood!" He is really excited. Apparently, so is Cowpokette. Little hamfatter!! (oh hee hee hee!)
And Big Cowpoke is still watching. I need to talk to Mr. Cowboy about letting Big Cowpoke try sanding his tank. And I also need to talk to them about putting something under the sandy mess. Look at my table!! UHG!! Boys! But here are the two cars so far. 
This is the "block" of the Tankity Tank!! Big Cowpoke is so excited about having a tank. We need to put a cannon on the front of the tank. He is going to paint it camouflage with flames! Here is the Mache 5.
Okay, haa haa haa, that is not what our Derby car looks like. But I hope it will end up looking some what like that. I might have to redesign the front end of the car. Hmmmmm......Well, here is the Mache 5
I need to make a "M" type design on the front end. I hope we can do it!! This car is the one that busted Mr. Cowboy's finger. That is why it is still mostly in the block form. But there you have it. Our Derby Cars. I am not sure if Mr. Cowboy is going to make one for himself. They are having a Parent's Race. We will have to see.
What am I to do with him? He went to the cub scout meeting last night and a fellow Dad offered to help him finish cutting out Little Cowpoke's car. No more saws for Mr. Cowboy. 
Big Cowpoke's tank is almost finished. We need to sand it and put some wheels on, so I guess we are far from finished. Oh, dear. He is really excited about it. That boy loves anything camo.
You are never fully dressed with out camo shirt, camo pants, and camo flip flops. Yep, that is how it is done. So, the tank will be decked out in camouflage. 
And Little Cowpoke's Mache Five will be white with the letter "M" on the fenders. Oh, he is so excited. I need to get some pictures of the cars and all the cutting action. Mr. Cowboy still has his finger bandaged, and he will get the stitches taken out in 12 days. That gets to be my job, I am excited!!! These last few days have been super crazy. I hope to get out to the barn today and get Ozzie saddled and work him for a little big. I have some training things I want to try with him. And here are some pictures that Mr. Cowboy took with my new camera. I hate that he just picks it up and takes better pictures than me! But I still love him. 
So, not fair. I hope the sun comes out today so I can play with my horses. Oh, and one more thing. If you want to try and win some toffee, go check out this fantastic food blog, 
Both Cowpokes fit all snug together. I think the day we went bike riding it was 70 degrees or so, but it was windy so I had them wear jackets. 
Cowpokette just wanted to go!! 
And we soon were off. It's fun riding with the kids. They sit so quietly and just enjoy the ride. Until Little Cowpoke will pull Cowpokette's hair. Then there is screaming and crying and I have to make him hug his sister and then it's all better. My sister asked me if my kids should be wearing helmets. I never really thought of it. If my bike falls over then just my bike falls. Then she asked, "What if a car hits you." Well, I would actually have to have traffic on my road for that to happen. So, I guess I am just unsafe because my kids weren't wearing helmets. But anyway, now onto something way more exciting. Shaggy's Foolish Lady.
Lady's Mother was a blood bay mare. She was a barrel racer, and I am not sure of her breeding. We called her Flashy. But again, all I know about her is that she was registered with AQHA. Lady's Dad, was a grandson of Boston Mac. He was 16 hands tall and jet black. So, the bay mare and the black stallion gave us this sorrel mare. 
Lady was born on April Fool's Day. She belonged to my brother in law, who's nick name was Shaggy. So, her registered name became, Shaggy's Foolish Lady. And boy was she a handful. I met Lady when she was four years old. I could have sworn she would have made the NFR bucking horse of the year. That mare can buck. She bucked me off once, I cried. I have never cried falling off a horse before. But the saddle horn and I met in ways we were not supposed to. I called my husband and told him that I felt like I was rapped by a prison inmate. It was horrible. 
But I still liked her and wanted to ride her. I would ride her all over. We even started doing some small cross rail jumps. Lady is a natural athlete. She excels at what ever job you give her. At that time I was the only one experienced enough to ride her. Lady was really sensitive and would over react to everything. Then I got pregnant and stopped riding her. 
That is when my father in law took over working her. Lady ended up jumping through the round pen twice. She was just nuts. And after having my baby, I wasn't too excited about getting back up on that crazy horse. So, my father in law sent her to a really old man named Jerry. The old man was 70 and the perfect cure for Lady. She came back awesome! Well, Mr. Cowboy rides Lady in the rodeos. She does well on barrels. So, we have a rodeo coming up and I decided to work her a bit in the round pen. 
Does this look like a horse that has not been working in 6 months? Look, she looks like she is going to fall asleep. But don't let looks deceive you. She has bucked off four people and is super fast. Wild Woman! Oh, and she also has some conformation faults. 
Here she is a a jog. Can any of you see it? I love her butt!! But that is not what I am talking about. Let's speed up her trot to see if you can really see what I am talking about.
You see it? She has a "U" neck. It's funky and it makes her carry her head all weird. Let me stop her and show you. 
The top of her neck is way longer than the bottom. You can see how it arches right behind her ears. And then her neck is just way too short on the bottom side. Plus her shoulder isn't the best, and you can't tell by this picture but she has a long back. But I like her still. Let's go the other way. 
I think Lady is really stiff in her shoulders. I have done some bending with her on the ground and she acted really stiff. Let's see her move this direction. 
The slower job, the funky neck. And it's so hard to believe that she is a Blue Papered AQHA mare. I would have thought she had Thoroughbred on her papers. Now a bit faster. This girl has some serious reach.
Just look at that! You can really see her weird neck and longer back there. And you would think she was super bumpy, but really she isn't bad, when you have her collected. Now you must see what she was doing at the canter. She was popping up on her front end and acting all weird. 
How off balance can one horse look? It looks like someone has a rope around her head and is holding it uncomfortably high. Weird. 
And look how short strided she is here in the front. Again, the head is super high, and she was popping up on that front end. For having such a great big strided trotting she surely doesn't show that big stride cantering. 
What do you think? Hallow back, unbalanced, short strided, high head carriage. You would think she was lame but nope, she is sound. I think her conformation just has the best of her. Oh, and then she tried to act all spunky. 
Lady started to hold her tail up and snort. It was strange because she is a horse that normally is really passive in the round pen. She is kind of scared of the round pen. So, I was glad to see her acting brave. 
We trotted a bit more and then I just let her relax and we did some bending. I think next time I will need to work her with a surcingle. To help her with balance and collection. 
So, okay all you barrel racers. Here is the big question. What is the best way to teach a big horse like this to turn around the barrels? How should we practice our turns? Right now she is doing alright, but not as tight as we would like, and sometimes she gets all rubber necked and will swing her butt around and keep her head turned way to the inside. We started riding a lot more off of leg and putting more weight in the inside stirrup during turns, but what else can we do in slow work to help her out? 
Oh, and Cowpokette really wanted to ride. She brought me her helmet and wanted to get on. She thought Lady was Peanut. Poor girl, all she got to do was pet Crazy Lady.
I am three there on the right, and four years old on the left. Not much of a difference, huh? Really, it look almost just like that in my senior pictures. But let me show you some other pictures in between Pre-K and my senior year of high school. 
That was first grade. Wow, big change here. Well, I have a different dress on. Now on to third grade. In the third grade I got glasses. I loved my pink framed glasses. 
Hello, Andrea? The eighties are calling and they want their red sweater and funky back ground back. Bangs, are you still there? Yep, they sure are. Now, when I got into the fifth grade, my really cool biggest sister, who was in high school did my bangs for my school picture. Can you say, "Hello 1990's!"
I did get my hair shortened a bit. Now, the summer of my fifth grade to sixth grade year I begged my mom for a perm. I hated my straight hair. But do you all see how short it was there? Yeah, and I wanted spiral curls. And my mother let me do it!! Yikes!! So, by the time my sixth grade pictures came along, my perm was very poorly taken care of, and I forgot it was picture day and I do not think I even brushed my hair. 
But I did get new glasses!! Holy Huge Glasses Batman!! But that was the style back then, I promise. Then the eight grade game along. And thank goodness for good friends who taught me how to do my hair. Well, at least brush it. 
Oh those overalls were so cool. I remember getting them passed down to me and I was so excited. My bigger sisters, I had three, were soooooo cool. And I loved wearing their old clothes. I also remember that morning of the 8th grade school pictures. My mom was putting my hair up "half and half" when I got frustrated with my bangs. I cut them. Yep, they are not curled in that picture but cut. I had such great fashion sense. Then High School came. 
I was a freshman hottie. I finally brushed my hair and left my bangs alone. I also had volume, where did that come from? I wish I had that volume now. I will skip my other high school pictures because they all look the same with a different shirt and my hair is just a bit longer. So, here is my senior picture. 
Same glasses and same hair, just a bit longer. I remember before that picture was taken my friends and I wanted to bleach our hair. So, instead of buying some hair dye, I actually used bleach. Let me tell ya, I had a really clean scalp! I am lucky my hair didn't fall out. I was informed later that hair dye and bleach are too very different things. Thank goodness my hair didn't fall out. I am a true blonde. Now on to what I look like now.
Not much different, a bit chubbier, and all I did was get new glasses and push my bangs over to the side. I am pathetic. I really need a new hair style. So, today I was playing around at 
This is me with Carrie Underwood's hair. I could do this style now, if I knew how to do my hair. I am hair stupid. Here I am with Hillary Clinton's hair. 
I think Mr. Cowboy would die if I came home looking like this. Oh so funny!! But seriously here are some I really liked. 
I really want to be girly, but my sister told me this was too froo froo for me. I wish I could get my hair to curl like that. 
This one is dark and short. I like it, but I know my hair would be way flatter than that. It would be stuck to my head. I would have to know what products to use. 
Move over Hilary Duff, here I come. I think that is too much hair. 
A 50's do. I really like this but I know I would not curl it every day. So, here is my favorite. Even though I wanted to keep my hair long, I think I like it shorter. 
I could also pull it back to look like this.
So, what do you think. Should I keep my hair long and just put more layers in it and just curl it when I want to? Or should I be bold and cut is shoulder length or shorter!!! Oh, and if anyone has some product information they would like to share with me, I am an open book. All I use is a leave in detangler! Simplicity.
