Elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist, touch your pearls, and blow a kiss.  No, we weren’t talking about dummy roping, but rodeo queen contests.  And yes, I am afraid to admit it, those words were uttered by my oh so manly Cowboss husband, early Saturday morning.  How we even got to that point in the conversation, I can’t even remember, but he said it. And we were in tears laughing.  As we were on our way to another ranch rodeo, it reminded me how much I still love being on the rodeo road.  Growing up as a show kid, my summers were filled with horse shows, long days at the barn, road trips, fair grounds and all the crazy adventures that come along with it.  I wouldn’t change my childhood memories for anything.  There were ups and downs for sure, but the one thing I always find myself doing, is smiling when I think about all those crazy times.

Like this one time when we drove from California to New Mexico.  My parents thought we needed to see every “historic landmark” along the way.  So there my brother and I sit on a 60 mile detour to see a meteor crater.  Yup, a meteor crater.  It was just a HUGE hole in the ground.  Not impressed at 12 years old.  I think that same trip my mom stole rocks from a historic park.  She’s a rock collector….. That on the other hand was exciting.

Youth Nationals 1999

Another summer, 4 show moms, which by the way are the BEST moms, took 7 of us hoodlums all the way to Oklahoma City for the Youth Nationals.  Two trucks and trailers and all us kids loaded up. If you are counting people and number of seats- yes it was squishy for 3 days. We missed tornadoes by the skin of our teeth, saw pool furniture dance in the air by the hotel pool, rode in the horse trailer, because that’s what kids do, and had the time of our loves at our first Youth Nationals!  I still laugh when I think back to that summer.  One of the GREATEST!

Youth Nationals 2001

Another Youth Nationals trip, one of the girls in the barn decided to “borrow” a show goat from the neighboring livestock show to be in the National Champions picture.  You had to be there to appreciate the humor.  I still can’t tell that story without laughing to death.  That same year we raced golf carts on the race track, were chased by the “fairground’s police”, “borrowed” barn displays and hid them, along with countless other memories.

Summers were made of these crazy experiences from the time I was about 11 until I was 16.  It was the best.  My show world is miles, sometimes it feels like universe’s apart, from my world now. Growing up I showed saddle seat horses.  It still leaves a tingle in my heart, like no other.  The smell of fairgrounds early in the morning.  Freshly watered shavings in the arena.  3am lessons in the show pen when no one else was awake.  Pattern memorizing, showmanship practice, wash rack fights.  All of it.  It was the BEST ever.  After the show world came my rodeo world- high school and CCPRA rodeos.  Jackpots and trips to Oklahoma- I will have to write another blog about that crazy summer. Another one of the best!  It was so fun to be young and naive!  I think back, my mom was a saint to go along with all my crazy shenanigans!  Drive you 1900 miles and leave you with people you don’t know- truck, trailer, and horse!    Awwwww it was the best.  More on that next time.

Red Bluff Jr. Rodeo 2004

But now my world is cows, brandings, ranch rodeos, and ropings.  The events might look different, the crowd and attire definitely not the same, but the feeling is so familiar.  Early mornings, the smell of a freshly watered arena, horse trailers, lunches out of an ice chest or concession stand, unbearable heat and dust.  It’s those packed pick-ups, with friends and family,

Youth Nationals 1999

talking about “this one time we did this” and how about the “time we did that”.  It’s late rides home and stopping for that 10pm ice cream fix.  Falling asleep with your head against the window to wake up with a neck ache.  All to do it again next weekend.  The feeling of summer time rodeos, horse shows, and road trips may be something from my past, but it will always be part of my future.  It’s who I am, what I need, it’s part of my soul.  So here’s to more early mornings, crazy stories, and Cowboss husbands who know the rodeo queen anthems, “elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist, touch your pearls, and blow a kiss”.  Summertime is the best time, and I hope every summer can be like this.

Susanville Ranch Rodeo 2017