Sorry about the delay

So we have a bit of time left before we’re homeless. (sigh). But nothing has changed. I have a shit ton of appointments in Ann Arbor and it’s so cold here that I fell again 2/15/19 and hurt my left heel. Yippee. I didn’t go to the doctor or anything. It didn’t bother me till I tried to go to sleep. I will be posting later a couple things I did in Minecraft.

1. I made a horse trailer
2. really cool design to a simple building

Also waisted my last $26 on a deal I thought would actually pay (fucking assholes doing commission based bullshit). I am gonna have to quit before next month. So I am also going to be posting the rodeo thing I was doing on the side (you know vision shit) which has what, where, entry, winning and a sepearate sheet for miles and hotels.

I have a big year I’m trying to figure out. I am GOING to the NFR before I’m 35. Period. Somehow. Not sure. BUT I AM!!!

A long dream

Alright so we are still hoping to figure out the rescue but I decided with the support of my fiance that we’re gonna try 1 more time to rodeo. I am going to make it a vlog and documentary…if we can get some backers. So yeah, we’re taking to Kickstarter.

Why bother backing? For the most part, rodeo isn’t as popular as say football or dance so it doesn’t get the best publicity.

What is it about? So we are going to be using the money to get the perfect camera and equipment like a trailer so we can travel the United States competing at rodeos, interviewing the people who run them, interviewing other competitors. Try to revive a sport that is slowly being forgotten.

My favorite quote is “if you can’t find a role model, be the role model you need”. I take it as I am trying to find someone who isn’t supported by their family, running rodeos every weekend, and doesn’t fit the stereotypes. I want some little girl to watch even just a vlog or two and be like ‘I can do that. She can so can I.”

Rodeo is often about who you know. The great riders come from southern states or Canada. Michigan doesn’t even make the top 30 in the series. Ouch. Texas kind of dominates. I want to put Michigan on the map for rodeos. We are the state that only has one show and no one really wants to go to it since the purse isn’t worth the gas.

So what will you get for backing the project? All levels include weekly emails and polls.

Level 1: behind the scenes bloopers and extras (like me before make up and the rambling ) and a t-shirt with the logo on it.

Level 2: same as one but with a hand decorated coffee cup that will have the logo

Level 3: same as 2 but with a weekly hand written letter with pictures sometimes on post cards sometimes on paper.

 

I just want to prove it’s not about who you know and the sport isn’t abuse. I love rodeo with my heart and I want to see more people try to see it for what it really is.

 

It will be called:

Road To The Rodeo

Logo will be updated once I get the final sketch.

My Little Silver Shadow

Shadow, Brat, Fatso, Idiot. Just depended on what was happening that day (mostly fatso due to his SIZE). The picture below was taken 3 days after he arrived at the farm I was living at. Not the best pasture as you can see but it was all moved out in a few weeks. You can see just how tiny he was. He is wearing a FOAL halter being supposedly a 5 year old gelding it said either he was starved half to death (they had said they ran out of food the week before the auction) or he was not his age. At the time, I didn’t think to look the gift horse in the mouth. $100 and this beautiful gelding was mine.

 

I bout him in April and this picture was taken in May. Still in the tiny FOAL halter. His hair had to be trimmed due to knots and burs.

So why him? Why not some purebred registered champion with proven bloodlines? Well…you can’t beat the price (insert random laugh) and because the minute he was led out the barn he looked at me almost like he was begging me to take my chance on him. To this day, even with the two accidents we have had, I wouldn’t trade him for anything in the world. This horse who 3 weeks before auction threw his owner, let me bring him home work with him for not even a full two weeks before I got on him and rode. I was in love.

Our first accident was partly my fault…partly equipment failure. I had just bought a bright red leather saddle. $25 saddle…not worth it in the end. I had the owner of the farm tighten the girth because I was having trouble. Lordy that was a HUGE mistake. I was on him and we walked just fine for about…15 or so minute then I asked for a trot. My mom said she could hear the cinch SNAP. I didn’t hear it and thought he was having a bronco moment so I tried to ride it out. I came off so HARD I bounced off my back to a sitting position. He jumped about 2 or so more times to get the saddle and blanket off. He’d never done it before. So I examined the saddle and sure as I was standing, the leather cinch had broke in half which meant it hit him HARD. I’ve been hit with leather and it ain’t the most pleasant thing in the world. I decided after that to use my black saddle. Not chancing that a second time.

 

 

Those were taken at his first fair the year I bought him. My nephew and sister were by him. My nephew was not even 3.

 

The second accident happened 2 years after I bought him. We were done warming. I asked him to open up and run. We were heading towards the fence. I have NO idea what really happened. My mom says he stopped and I flew over his head. I remember nothing from the minute I hit the ground till I was in the house cleaning up. I ended up with seizures from it. Sadly, the next day when I had a trainer out to check him, he refused to let her off for an hour. He felt so bad for the accident the day before. He was perfectly fine. She refused to come back and meet him.

 

 

He was a muddy baby at the fair that summer. He’s wearing my dad’s hackamore and his old black bridle. As you can see, he’s gotten a lot bigger in 2 years.

 

This pictures below are after he moved to his new farm.

 

 

You can see his is still just getting bigger. This isn’t even his biggest. He is an amazing boy. The leather halter is a pony size (I literally used it on a pony I used in 4H).

 

Below is his LOVELY stretch of his running from a dead stop. He loves to run and he loves barrel racing.

 

Picture from our photoshoot for cervical cancer awareness videos. My family has suffered with it.

 

Same little kid who rode him his first year has even learned how to work with Shadow. Caleb is happy.

My Year From Hell

My spring and summer went like any other. Horse back riding and working. On September 27, 2016 my life changed. I fell running in my house and broke a chunk of bone off my big toe. Easy heal right? Wrong. It took 3 separate trips to the hospital to even find it that was while blood pooled between my nail and toe (it was black). So into a walking boot I was put after 2 weeks on crutches (I hate them).

After a month of waiting to heal, I went back to training since I had just bought a brand new saddle (first time in 8 years) for $700.

 

 

With that having just sat in my house for a month I was done. I decided to start to train again. I was grateful My Little Silver Shadow, Shadow, has been trained to handle pretty much everything I throw at him. So on a warm fall day I went out to try my normal again in early November.

 

 

He loved the new saddle and behaved like the boot was nothing new. I was still in a lot of pain and could barely stand to be on my leg but training reminded me I was still a person and it was a broken bone that would heal just like my right wrist when I was 14, my collarbone at 16, and elbow at 21.

That was what I thought until December.  Late December, I went to the doctor and he did a few more tests. We found that I had developed CRPS in my right leg and was something that was going to have to be dealt with in therapy.  So therapy began.

I just recently finished my 5th round of physical therapy but sadly as of March, 2018 I had developed it in my left arm. I will be starting therapy soon for that and I am still determined to chase my dream of barrel racing and making it to the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas.

Above is the last ride in September of 2016 before my accident using my old black saddle I’d owned for almost 10 years. Didn’t look it’s age.