Where’s Ward? On the Road with Loralee (12)

The next few months will consist of mainly high school rodeos and jackpots. With the exception of the weekend April 22-23, high school rodeos occupy every weekend until the end of May. We start this weekend in Eaton, followed by Lamar, Craig, Greeley, Elbert, and then back to Craig for state finals.

This is my last year with Colorado State High School State Rodeo. It is bittersweet, but I am ready to move on. I sign with CSU next week, and I look forward to completely dedicating my time to barrel horses. This “downtime” over the past few weeks has given me the ability to haul my young horses.

I am in a growing stage right now, which means there are growing pains. Young horses bring much fulfillment but also equal amounts of humbleness. As an inexperienced “trainer,” it sometimes feels like the blind leading the blind. Nevertheless, we put one foot in front of the other.

I competed at the Ranch Events Complex in Loveland over the weekend. On Saturday, I took five horses. Nothing went horribly wrong, but I wanted to come back the next day. I took three horses on Easter Sunday. Florari (see my previous story) placed fourth out of 212 entries, winning $634. This was my fifth run with Flo, and I am really excited to see what we can accomplish over the next few months. One of my younger prospects, Sister, also made a super respectable run. She placed 28th, running her personal best on a standard. Although she ran over a half-second off the leader, she has made so much progress. My family bought Sister as a three-year-old so to see her actually competing brings so much joy.

After high school rodeo concludes, I will go to Guthrie, Oklahoma, to present my three year old for the LG Legacy Project. Then, I will focus on entering younger horses at larger events.