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 Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
   
Location: Kansas | My gray horse has had a rough year but I think we finally have things lined out with him so I entered some big pen rodeos last week & weekend and gave him a shot. I didn't ride him very well on Wednesday in Iowa and we were a few spots out of the money but I went into Friday night with a good feeling about him.
At our "hometown rodeo" 18 miles from the house, he made his best run of the year and when we left we were sitting second. WHEW!!!! I was feeling a lot of pressure with so many friends & neighbors in the crowd! There were 28 girls including a bunch of toughs entered Saturday night so I figured we'd get moved a few spots but I was hoping to hang in there and place.
We cooled out quickly and hustled down the road 50 miles to run in slack at Paola - a rodeo that has made huge improvements to their ground in recent years - later that night. There was enough slack that Chance had about an hour to chill at the trailer before I had to saddle him back up. He made an even better run although he has traditionally not run well in slack, and when we left, we were sitting 4th with 14 girls left to run on Saturday. They moved us one spot at Paola and 6 spots at Iola so we got one check out of the weekend and it was URA/IRA approved so helps us out in both sets of standings.
Iola - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Fl1oYAfBlw&feature=youtu.be
Paola - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0Ia0_J1otY&feature=youtu.be
Best of all, he seems to be feeling great and we're getting our timing back down. This was his first rodeo check in 11 months, though I've only run him at 9 rodeos in 2014 so he hasn't had a lot of opportunities to place. Its not like he's been WAY off the pace, but we obviously needed to make some adjustments to get back in the money so I've been slowly tweaking some things to find the right combinations. |
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 Expert
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  That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
| Great job! That gate setup at Paola, is kinda crappy. |
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Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
Location: Kansas | Whiteboy - 2014-07-28 11:36 AM Great job! That gate setup at Paola, is kinda crappy.
Shoot that's not even a bad one compared to some of the other rodeos! I didn't have to dodge any buckle bunnies, team ropers or horse trailers on my way in. LOL. It is not ideal but I think its better than Iola's side gate because Iola tends to have more traffic plus the ambulance is parked right there and you have to go around the gate where Paola's gate swings in out of your way. |
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 Peecans
| rodeowithjoker - 2014-07-28 10:45 AM
Whiteboy - 2014-07-28 11:36 AM Great job! That gate setup at Paola, is kinda crappy.
Shoot that's not even a bad one compared to some of the other rodeos! I didn't have to dodge any buckle bunnies, team ropers or horse trailers on my way in. LOL. It is not ideal but I think its better than Iola's side gate because Iola tends to have more traffic plus the ambulance is parked right there and you have to go around the gate where Paola's gate swings in out of your way.
I used to love entrys like that with my lefty in turn run, worked great for him lol. I honistly had the hardest time with offset track entrees frickin hate thoes lol.
Anywhoo great job! Must feel nice to get things ironed out |
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Rad Dork
Posts: 5218
Location: Oklahoma | Awesome runs!  |
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 Buttered Noodles Snacker
Posts: 4377
Location: NC | |
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 Angel in a Sorrel Coat
Posts: 16030
Location: In a happy place | Way to go! Chance looked really good. Glad you are getting things figured out on him. |
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Expert
Posts: 4766
Location: Bandera, TX | Looking good! |
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Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
Location: Kansas | sorrel horse ranch - 2014-07-28 1:09 PM Way to go! Chance looked really good. Glad you are getting things figured out on him.
Thanks. I hesitated to share his videos because of all the awful comments the last time I posted about him, but I really think things are looking good right now.
We have changed his feed to a low starch mix, added Equipack to his front shoes (though one is missing the pack since he lost it 2-3 weeks ago and we had to reset it at a rodeo) and he's no longer allowed in certain pens/pastures with woven wire fencing because he is pushy and gets his shoes caught in the bottom of the fences. He missed a couple rodeos earlier this year just because I couldn't get shoes reset in time. I've also been trying to do different things with him - the last couple weeks it was jumping, and I rode him in our county fair parade just to be obnoxious. We are also being super super picky about the ground where he runs because even though he'll handle any ground, I don't want to risk it. He is the type who just coasts if he doesn't like it or think its safe, and since I've got two others who handle trashy ground better, I just run them instead. |
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 Ones with the Hotties
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Location: Centerburg, OH | well done! so excited for you |
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Expert
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Mrs. Txdad
Posts: 14084
Location: the fantasy txdad married | I'm so happy he is coming back
Now, now, can you please send my Clifford to me? I just cleaned his pen and filled his water tub. Thanks
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Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
Location: Kansas | 1left2right - 2014-07-28 2:03 PM I'm so happy he is coming back
Now, now, can you please send my Clifford to me? I just cleaned his pen and filled his water tub. Thanks
I am very very glad Chance is on the comeback trail too. It has been a very frustrating year and we've done more tuning and dissecting of videos than ever before just trying to figure out what is & isn't working. I'm proud to say I haven't had to bute him a single time all year and only once has he come out of the pen not quite right (that was in late May and it finally made me realize I just can't run him on hard ground).
For a few minutes last weekend I would have considered shipping Clifford far far away. He fell apart on me big time and of course picked a weekend when I left Chance at home so had no backup. Can't find anything wrong with him and he worked good in the practice pen Monday so I'm going to take him to a jackpot tonight and see if he is over his little I-JUST-WANNA-RUN-REALLY-REALLY-FAST fit. lol. |
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 Go Your Own Way
Posts: 4947
Location: SE KS | happy for you Melanie - congrats! Glad you are getting him back.
Been a long summer for Dinero and me..... |
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 Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| Great runs!!! |
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Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
Location: Kansas | Dinero10 - 2014-07-28 2:18 PM happy for you Melanie - congrats! Glad you are getting him back.
Been a long summer for Dinero and me.....
Thanks. It was tough not really having him for the June rodeos and I'm just thrilled that he is back to working and clocking now.
Are you getting things figured out? I haven't gone anywhere south in so long that I haven't seen many of my SEK friends. Seems like the only jackpots south of me have been on Mondays, Tuesdays or weekends and I am too busy those 4-5 days of the week. I've got horses that need hauled and worked but no time to go between all the rodeos. |
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 Pork Fat is my Favorite
Posts: 3791
Location: The Oklahoma plains. | Congrats on winning money! Way to stick with it and figure it out. |
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Am I really the Weirdo?
Posts: 11181
Location: Kansas | TurnLane - 2014-07-28 3:07 PM Congrats on winning money! Way to stick with it and figure it out.
Thank you. Some people thought changing to low starch feed would help and maybe it did. It's been weird and even Dr. Propp didn't have a definite answer or solution. |
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I Am a Snake Killer
Posts: 1927
Location: Golden Gulf Coast of Texas | Nice runs. |
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