Gal - when I read this, my first thought is "What in the world is this woman worried about?" You have already got everything you need going for you to suceed on any barrel racing level you want to do!!!!!!!

1) you have the moxey and desire to try -and that also means you also have it to suceed. You ARE - let me repeat - you ARE going to accomplish your dream to barrel race!! You won't just quite because the weather is bad, or its hard to find time to practice, or whatever excuse life throws at you. You have the displine to do this and the desire to learn. "The" battle is already halfway over. You are on the down hill slide to a very good place!

2) You appear to have a very supportive spouse that is willing to help you reach for your dreams. I hope you really do understand what a great blessing in life that is. You better fix that man an extra special supper every now and then!! Or at least tell him how much his support means. I'm sure he would love to hear that you see the ways he is trying to help. Life is danged hard sometimes - but it's easier to fight through it when you know your partner has got your back.

I hope you go to the clinic and soak up lots of knowledge and make great friends. Don't judge yourself by what anyone else is doing. Judge yourself compared to where YOU were the day before. One step at a time getting better will end up leading to wonderful, great big leaps forward.

And I want you to know that you have helped make my day. I'm smiling thinking about a person I've never actually met, but do admire.

YOU GOT THIS!!!

My husband is absolutely amazing. I often wonder why I was so blessed with finding him and I darn sure make sure he knows  how much I appreciate him.. I always ask him how he puts up with me lol! He's seen the struggle, he's heard me whine for the last 5 or 6 years about wanting to "get out there" he's my biggest supporter and always tells me I can do this. This may not seem like a big deal to many, about me attending a clinic, but trust me, it's huge.... I swear,  I think he may be more excited about it than I am... he put in for the time off work when I first mentioned it to him. Shoot he even found me an indoor arena I could go use if I needed it. He's seriously, the bomb.... I'm super excited to go and learn as much as I possibly can soak up and then when we get back.... its time to enter up.... I've put this off for way too long. 

Woke up this morning to my horse hobbling lame in front right and slightly on the left. Only thing I can see is what looks like deep lacerations on both heel bulbs on right and 1 on left. He was fine yesterday.  I had to leave for a baseball tournament but have a call into my farrier don't know if cam do anything but he was due to come out anyway tomorrow. My daughter went to check on him she said he's walking better on the level gravel road and grass but lame on the dirt. I'm just crushed... I had her put him in his stall where it's deep shavings. He wasn't turned out last night just in his run and stall.. I always ride in bell boots. I'm not sure what is going to happen here. 

Awww hell !!!!!

Sounds like he over reached. Is his run long enough for him to play/goof around in? 

Not really but that doesn't mean he didn't do it. This horse has never taken a lame step in the 7 plus years I've owned him. This is truly concerning to me. I hate the angles on his feet and I had the farrier out to correct them .. that was 6 weeks ago.. to me has was too long in the toe and had my horse on his heel... seems to be an ongoing issue I've complained a lot about. I thought we were making progress on the last visit but it looks poor again. The angles ... 

Same thing happened to me right before I went to the Josey clinic! Thankfully my best friend had really good friends that let me come out to ride a young gelding that they had that they graciously let me take. Do you have anyone who would allow you to borrow a horse? I had so much fun with my friends and did learn some stuff I could take back to my horse. 

I wouldn't go if I can't ride him. I need the help with him. I'm prepared to not go if he can't.  I'm crushed about the thought of it, but I just want the horse to be ok. I just hope I can get a refund or roll it over to another clinic at a later date if needed. If not,  it is what it is... my farrier thinks it could be an abscess... his left leg was really swollen thru the fetlock.. slight heat but not bad. we soaked him in Epsom for a while I gave him some bute because he was clearly uncomfortable and limping on it..the swelling went down a little and he was walking much better on it. My farrier is coming back tomorrow morning to take the shoe off and see what we can see... I'll go from there.. if he needs to go to the vet he will go. 

Wondering how your gelding is doing?  Please update! Thanks!

Hes loaded in the trailer and we are on our way.  He's doing awesome.. so sweet of you to ask! Looks like our saddle deal fell thru, but you know what,  I'm just so happy to be going! In my older age, I've learned to just try to accept things for what they are... when doors close I no longer try to kick them open lol! I'll find another saddle that will be better. So in the meantime I'm celebrating being able to attend on my horse and we will rock that clinic in my roping saddle! He's sound, feels and looks amazing!

Good to hear you are going, have fun!

Have fun!  I am going in June and I cannot wait!!!! 

Excited to see you went.  Can't wait to hear how it went!  Most importantly hope you had a good time.

I had a great time! I really did... my horse was great. He was so solid for me this weekend... I received tons of compliments on him from instructors and other participants, just how nice and broke he was and how calm he was! There was a whole Lotta crazy around us and he just took it all in. He did everything I asked... wrong or right.. he just took care of me. I was so proud of him. He let me make dumb mistakes but just kept trucking best of his ability... I discovered I have a dumb little habit of grasping both reins in my left hand around the barrel to turn him lol! Dummy! You don't even have a rope in your hand! Haha! I've got to work on that.. hey, we didn't hit 1 barrel all weekend ... he's even switching his leads perfectly... course I didn't notice until I watched videos. If I can get my hands to do what they showed me, he's in there... he really impressed me with his ability to turn even when I had both reins in my left or right hand.. when I do it correct it feels amazing and he can really push off straight to the next... I learned so much about myself this weekend too.. I learned what mistakes I've been making and how to fix them and I learned that I've stupidly waited too long to start doing this again because I was worried that I couldn't. I left with a new found confidence and excitement I haven't felt in a very long time. I was a nervous wreck the first night but by my last run yesterday we knocked over 3 seconds off our time ... pretty good improvement if ya ask me. We weren't speeding by any means .. but now that I can tweak a few things and know how to... we can start adding speed. I think he's ready. I got out what I went for and even more actually.  I'm happy I kicked myself out of my comfort zone and went. I'm glad my horse was so chill and just there to work for me no matter what I did...and I did a lot of silly mistakes! I also learned that there are many that are exactly like me,  insecure of our abilities to really do this, about how we may look, about failing, about being poked at etc etc.. I've never been so happy for strangers in my life when I saw their last run and the seconds coming off their times with gigantic smiles on their faces as they exited the pens on their horses.. It was really something... I even got teary eyed for some of them because I saw their struggles in the beginning and their disappointment about it...  i know the feeling they had inside when they got thru that timer on the last run.. it was a great time .. my only regret was not doing this sooner.  And yep,  I used my rope saddle all weekend and it worked great! I did purchase some new reins with knots so I can remind myself not to grab both reins like I'm roping again

Highly HIGHLY recommend attending one of their adult clinics if possible... I'm not sure if their  other clinics are run exactly the same or not but I darn sure enjoyed this one. 

Great News!  Glad you had a succesful weekend.  Congrats!

Great news!!!!! So glad it went well and that you came away feeling impowered!!! You got this!

So one thing I'd do next time, is get the extra stall! To keep your hay and feed and stuff in. I kept all my stuff in my trailer but we ended up parking pretty far from the barn we were in (Mr. Revolution Bars barn) my horse was lucky and got a nice open back stall so he had plenty of air and a nice view to hang his head out.  also, I brought shavings from home... 6 bags filled that stall nicely. We ended up moving our trailer spot 3 times! My trailer is 46 foot.. and the spot they had us in, none of our hoses would reach ... and we couldn't get our trailer level. We finally moved "up top" and it was much better there. And quiet! I'll be requesting that spot again! Also be ready to move quickly in between classes... oh, and the road in there, the parking lots and paths are insanely uneven... very rough terrain! One thing I wasn't expecting,  to run the very first night! That might not seem like a big thing but it caught me off guard... I went to this clinic because I needed help, major instruction, and have never ran this horse. He kinda had an idea but we never did this before lol! We survived though.. it was just something I wish I would have known beforehand. Thank God my horse is extremely broke!  We ended up putting the horse away that night at almost 11:30pm... makes for a very long day! The slow mo video critique is ummmm... pretty eye opening.. lol!! But everyone is there for their own reasons... they will put you in groups ... I was in the last group because that was the leftys group... we got to go last every time ... wasn't too crazy about that part. But I did draw #19 on the last day ... out if 65 so I was happy with that! Watch out for the naughty yhorses that are stalled in the covered arena, a few would charge the fence when you are standing there waiting your turn to do the drills. 

I decided to sign up for another in September! I wanted to go sooner but our baseball schedule just won't allow it. Super duper excited!