Over The River

Not another blog about horses, you must be saying!  But yes, I have had a fun filled horse week that I thought I would tell you about.  My son competed in the Pitzer Ranch Invitational on Wednesday so Carl took the day off and we went to see Will.  This is a very interesting competition in 5 parts.  First each horse and rider team must complete a ranch based obstacle course.  First they cross over a barbed wire fence, the rider dismounts, holds the 6 strands of wire down with his foot, the horses crosses over, then the rider sets the strands back on the post, mounts and heads off at break neck (literally) speed across the Cedar River.  It isn't terribly deep, but there were some interesting mishaps in that part of the course.  Then, they cross a bridge with some geese flapping underneath, navigate some tricky brush, jump a 3 1/2 foot log, land and jump another log, race like crazies thru other obstacles, then pull a goat who is safely in a cage, with a rope attached to the cage....about 50 feet, replace the rope on a post, race back thru the river, stop and load the horse in a stock trailer.  The team that does this the fastest wins that part of the competition.  Then they all take turns being timed taking 2 cows away from the herd, driving them down the length of the arena, and penning them.  That sounds easy......it was NOT.  The cows were irritated from the get go and kept returning to the rest of the herd.  Not many cowboys managed to get the job done.  Then there was team roping, heading and heeling and finally they each had to run a timed barrel pattern.  They finished at MIDNIGHT.  I was long gone for home, but the parts I got to watch were fun.  Will did very well on a young horse, just a four year old.  He told me that this one made the cut to the keeper pen.  That means he likes him enough that he will not be for sale, at least for now.  The horse is Quarter Horse, so he has a registered name, but I asked what Will calls him and he said he hadn't named him yet.  He thought  now that he did so well,  he just might give him a name.    In Will's world, a horse has to earn a name.  Men are certainly interesting creatures, aren't they.

In my world, all horses have a name, so I thought I would show you a rug I made for 3 of my horses several years ago.  I was taking a Pris Buttler class, here at the store.  I told her I had a picture in my mind of the very moment I call their names to come in at night.  We stall our horses at night and let them graze in their pastures all day.  When I go to bring them in, when they hear their names they come on the fly.  Pris asked if I knew the work of John Nieto.  I did not, but looked him up and found that he is a very well known southwestern artist with a very unique style.  She suggested I adapt my drawing to  favor his 'look'.   This is the result......Butter, Sunnee and Copper, all in Nieto style.  Of course, all my rugs have to tell some story, so I incorporated something about each horse in the hooking.  Butter, was a beautiful bay mare that was totally honest.  What she said she would do, is what you got.  No tricks, just an honest  horse.  I made her bay, with blue to show that she was true blue to the end.  Copper was a horse we bought for Carl a few years ago, he would try anything and was always game.  I showed that he had a big heart in his chestnut body.  And Sunnee.....is Carl's old horse, we have had for 16 years.  He has carried Carl safely for all those years and for that he is outlined in yellow, to show that he is solid gold.

The rug was a joy to make.  It hangs on my kitchen wall and I am looking at it as I type.  Three good horses, each earned their name.

Till next time,
Janice