The Futurities Scene...
I decided in the fall, that JL needed a rest before our Finals, and that I would go to the fall Futurities. I had just purchased KN Ruby Tuesday, and decided she needed to go. Lisa Reid had also sent "Millionaire Paradise" with me to run again this year. And I decided if they were going I would throw SR Merridoc Million in the trailer.
So our first stop was Melville, SK. Ruby had been running very successfully to the left so I ran her that way the first round, however I am seriously handicapped to the left and it left us with not much luck. Gray Racer had a really pretty run, but was not fast enough to place; not that I blame her being on vacaction for the past 3 months. And Cheetah, ran an 18.7, I knew she had more but she was also not very fit at this time. Day 2 had highs and lows again. Ruby, went to the right, and ran a 18.7 ( a full second faster than the day before), which I was really excited about! And Gray ran a 18.7 but I kicked over the second barrel leaving it. She was really trying hard though! And Cheetah, just didnt have a good day, she ran by her first, which she NEVER does, and it messed us up for the entire run. However, Cheetah made money in the open the fist day, and Ruby also made money in the open the first day and won the 2D average. For our first outting, I was very happy! The next stop two weeks later, Heartland Futurity & Derby, Stettler, AB Day 1- The night before we got to stettler, one of my friends from High School was killed in an accident the week prior so I had to attend the funeral. Making my arrival to stettler, very late, I ended up getting there, and having the horses set up by 2:30 AM. The futurity was at 10:00, so I had to be up by 8. I was absolutely exhuasted. My first run was on gray, she slipped really bad coming around her first barrel, and climbed out of the turn a little, she ended up being too slow, with a 19.2. Next was Ruby Tuesday, and she was a pleasant surprise for me, running a 17.93 to win 2ND in the Long Round of the Futurity, almost a second faster from our runs in Melville. But the icing on the cake was Cheetah, she quietly came in the arena, and SMOKED her first barrel. Which set us up for the whole run. She ended up running a 17.7 which was 4th in the Long go of the Derby and 6th in the Open ( out of 160+ entries). Day 2- Well our morning didnt start off on fire, Ruby Tuesday went in, she stepped off of her first a little, and then flew around her second barrel ( JL style), It was pretty cool to ride a 4 year old, of that caliber! But things ended in a hurry, when she went to do the same on the third, and fell down. She launched me off, and panicked back to the outgate. Shoot! But she was okay, so that was all that mattered. I only had about 20 minutes to get my bearings, before I had to run Cheetah. So on we went, She ran in and had a nice first. She went in to eat up her second barrel, and barely tipped it going into it. She stuggled a little on the third barrel, and coasted out with an 18.5. I was still so proud of her!! I had gone to a jackpot at galloways to get Ruby's confidence up on wednesday, and apparently nothing had phased her. She ran 4th in the 1D. Then onto thorsby, CBHI. Thursday- This was our day. Gray ran a 15.2 in the warm up jackpot, which was very competitive with the other futurities horses. I had also taken Reeva to run in the open, but she had tipped a barrel. Friday- Reeva had a really smooth run, she also has been on vacation for a while, so it wasnt very fair to her, but she went anyways. Running a 15.901, which was about 5-6tenths off until Flame and Sierra ran on Saturday in the derby. SATURDAY- Go 1 of the derby- It was very bright out on saturday, and when I came running in on Gray, we were both blinded from running into the dark building. So I checked her at about where I thought the barrel was, apparently I was a couple too soon, because we tipped the first barrel going into it. She just cruised the rest of the pattern. Then onto Ruby Tuesday, which was no better, she went in and knocked two barrels. I pulled her up on the way home, and was very dissappointed with her. Cheetah came in and had a beautiful first, but was not on her game. She ran into her third barrel, and slipped really bad. She was scared and took a couple of stutter steps before she got moving again. It cost us some time, but she was clean. SUNDAY- Ruby tuesday was my first horse, she had a really nice first and second, I got to excited because she was clocking, and I rode her like a finished horse, and we tipped the third. Gray racer came in to have a really nice first barrel, and I thought we were too close so i picked her up off of it, and she listened- of course. And ended up going by. She was much too slow in that run, but with the ground breaking away like it had been, I was happy she came out sound, and in one peice. Cheetah really made me proud of sunday, she came in and inhaled her first, ran hard to her second, she kind of stumbled coming out, of it, but kept right on gritting through the run. She had a beautiful third barrel too. She ended up running a 15.86, which I was very happy with. She tries so hard. Reeva came in on sunday to be a barrel horse, and she enhaled her first and second. She really keeps forward motion, so I wasnt too worried about her on the ground- wrong I was. When she went to push off on her third, she fell right down. She got up and high loped out, and managed to still clock a 17.4. Its too bad, I was interested to see what she could have run on that one! These colts and young horses sure keep a person humble and in perspecitive as to how much work, and determination it take to make a good one! And when you have a good one, to respect them! Until next time..... On the road... Again!
Well, lets start from June and work our way into this story.
We hadnt been anywhere since our rodeos in California in April, so off to a jackpot to get our game face on we go. Dollar really just woke up, and got a taste of greatness. At the jackpot in Stettler, with 100+ entries, Dollar ran a 17.28 to win the jackpot by half a second. We were so excited, but he hadnt done this at a rodeo yet, and he can be pretty green, for no reason at all! So onto Sisters, Oregon we go, when we get there the water truck, overdid his job a little and it was muddy. We ran a 17.89 to miss a cheque by .01. And back to canada, for Rocky Mountain house, when we got to Rocky the ground looked good and Dollar was pawing the side of my trailer, he loves to haul. We went in, and smoked a run with a new fast time for us, 17.26 to be leading the rodeo by 5 tenths. This was absolutely incredible! We stuck in to win the rodeo, by a tenth ahead of our next competitor. From Rocky we headed south.. AGAIN! Onto Pleasant Grove, Utah, Dollar absolutely enhaled his first barrel, but my leg caught it on the way out! We needed about another 5 cm to get around the barrel, but we cruised the pattern and were a 17.65, which would have been good enough for 5th place- okay this is getting neat! The next place we are to test our luck is in Reno, Nv "The richest wildest rodeo in the west", so slack first thing in the morning we are first out (no pressure), and we were again our new fastest time at 17.24, to be leading the first round! We ran a 17.45 that evening in the performance, last out on the ground, to be placing 2nd in the average behind World Champion Lindsay Sears, and her super star Martha. I had heard about the crazy fast times at Reno, so I left hoping to snag a bottom hole cheque in the first round, and simply enjoy my first trip to Reno. From Reno we stopped in Belt, Mt on our way back to Canada, and what an experience that was. It had rained and was not looking promising for ground, but when we got into Belt, to a pleasant surprise, the ground was DRY! The comittee had drained out the water from the arena, and luckily hadnt gotten any more rain for the rodeo. So we were 1st out again, and to match our Reno Luck, Left leading the rodeo! And I got to take my first victory lap, for something GOOD Dollar had done. This was a really big milestone for us, as most people know, Dollar was a turner and to get him by the Barrels in a small pen was a feat whether we made money or not. And then to Inisfail we go,which is one of the biggest rodeos in Canada paying over $10,000. We didnt have such luck with the mud there, it was like running in a lake,but Dollar was on a roll, he went in and smoked his first and second barrel, but he hit a slick patch on the third, and we ended up 1 tenth out of the money. Onto Wainwright we go, after all the luck we had the weekend before I was hoping we could keep the ball rolling into these next two weeks- NOPE. Dollar went in and absolutely cremed the first barrel. I guess he was reminding me, this is a reality and not a fairytale. Onto Sundre for friday morning, Dollar enhaled his first barrel, and sent me right up between his ears ( I really think he got a kick out of doing this to me), but I managed to stay on, and we went on to be Leading that rodeo also! That evening we went on to High River, and we left placing 6th or 7th. But news came back we had made the short round at Reno, so off we go back to Reno! When we finally landed in Reno, Dollar had a big sleep and got ready for the rodeo. He was ready! We ran the fastest time of our career, with a 17.21 to miss a cheque in the final round by .02, But we had stayed in for 2nd in the first round, and won 6th in the average. Very cool experience! After that weekend, I had ended up 2nd at Sundre and 12th at High River, to put a week total of over $10,000. And then the Fourth of July Run comes.... We started our Fourth in Alberta, At Airdrie & Ponoka. What a great morning it was, two days earlier I had gotten news that JL was ready to hit the road! And we didnt waste any time in doing that, she ran at Airdrie in the AM as I was up in Ponoka that afternoon, and had planned to save Dollar for the bigger one. She was so happy about being out in public, and showing off to everyone she forgot about her job! She had a really nice first barrel, and a slip on the second cost us tipping a barrel. But it was sure nice to be back in my "Comfort Zone". Slack ended up being LATE at airdrie, so we headed out of there in a hurry to make Ponoka. I had planned to only run JL at Airdrie and so I had someone pick her up at Ponoka and take her home to rest. Dollar felt AMAZING, and I was really confident in him, in that big pen. So we headed up the alley, and he was on a mission, however that mission ended very quickly when he fell on the first barrel. When he fell, he knocked the first barrel, so I checked him down, and let him pick a Dollar speed with the rest, He tipped the second barrel and our ponoka dreams where left empty again. Again we had to be in hurry, and headed south to Cody, WY. We got to cody at 5 AM, and slack was at 8AM. Dollar is such a good traveler I wasnt too worried about him. So I set him up for a few hours, and grabbed a couple hours sleep. I warmed him up, and he felt a little rattled from his fall the day before. He ran by the first barrel, and tipped it on the way out. He ran a 17.74 which was not going to be good enough for money anyhow. Frustrated, by him, I stopped in Livingston, MT (What a great Committee!) to work him on route to ST. PAUL, OR. I had bypassed entering the rodeo, but I would like to go back one day. I had turned out of Oakley, UT as I didnt think I could make it from there to St. Paul. Which was probably fo the better because I needed to put some work on him. We got into to St. Paul, at about 5 AM again, but the guys went first in the morning Slack, so that gave us some time to rest. I went to look at the arena, and boy was i surprised! The arena is HUGE, and they have decorative trees around the inside. And to top it all off, the alley comes from under the stands, like a tunnel. Guess we will find out how seasoned he is! We were all warmed up, and they decided to run the second round of the guys, before the barrel racers. So Dollar was put back to the trailer for another couple hours; at this time, I was really thinking, Oakley should have stayed on the list to go to. But finally it was getting close, so we warmed up again quickly and headed out to test the waters.The alley was a little more than an adventure, because Dollar is a point and run kind of horse, so he would lunge and stop, and lunge and stop. We had a small collision with the girl before us, as you have to cross paths in the tunnel.But in we went, and Dollar absolutely SMOKED a first barrel, finally I thought he was back on his GAME! And he was! It was one of those incredible runs, that you knew was going to be fast as it was happening. He ran a picture perfect run. I must have been a little tired at this point, because running to the third barrel, I seen a shoe that someone had lost and with Dollars shoes, not everyone has one, so all I could think was " If thats mine, I am coming back out and digging for it". However it wasnt, and we ended up leaving LEADING the rodeo by over half a second. Back to the fairytale, Dollar had run a 17.31, and second at that point was a 17.89. That evening we heading to Mollalla, Or, which is only 30 miles down the road. So we had a pretty relaxing day, and got to catch up on some sleep. That evening Dollar did it again! He came in and had 3 perfect barrels, we left sitting 3rd at the rodeo with a 17.33. I was so proud of him, to run that consistant in two very different pens, in the same day. And on the road we were... AGAIN! Back to Canada we went, to Williams Lake, BC. It was a 12 hour drive, straight North. We got there about 3 hours before the perf, I tied Dollar to the trailer, and he laid down to have a little nap. I think he was tired from the week, because I had to wake him up when it was time to saddle! Williams Lake, is a smaller type pattern again, so I was really focused on getting him by the barrels. The girl right before me ran and was sitting second or third at the rodeo, so I knew the ground was good. I sent him in, and he absolutely ate that first barrel up ( and sent me between his ears again, for a little ha ha), and the rest was a little wild, he got around the first two, and was headed no where near the third barrel, so I checked him to turn, and he did. I asked him to run for everything he had on the way home to make up for that wide third, and he did. He was so fast, it was scary sometimes. Because we were now 2nd at the rodeo!! And because we were the fastest of the day, I got to take my second victory lap on him in his life. What an incredible feeling! But our drive was not yet done, we still had to get home! 12 hours later, we pulled into the yard and got some much needed rest for all of us. At the end of it all, we had managed to have another $11,000 weekend, and were the 13th Highest money earner over the fourth of July, and to top it all off, moved to 26th in the world!! Wow. |
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Congrats to Elizabeth on her purchase of Little Man & all of your new found success! Running in the 1D at the jackpots in such a short time! |
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