Texas In July

Houston in July is like a steam bath. I'm not sure how people stand it. I certainly don't know why July is the month my family picked for a reunion! When I touched down at Hobby I called Bob Hunter and told him I was in town again and would love to come on out to see him. He said, perfect timing, there is a show on Friday in Yoakum, and he had a horse I could show if I wanted to go.

Well why not?

5 am Friday morning I set out from Clear Lake City and got on the Sam Houston Tollway. It was still dark but already hot. The day before, my family and I had gone to Kemah boardwalk on Galveston Bay and I had rode the ferris wheel. Stopped at the top of the ride I looked over the bay and saw the oil tankers coming in the channel to Texas City. The other side showed miles of green, flat and low, trees intersperced with white buildings, downtown gleaming in the afternoon sunlight. The humidity is a palpable thing, visible even, a sauna over the lush semi-tropical landscape.

The roads are so clean and there isn't any traffic; I sped along unfettered and I was soon out on 10, through Katy and beyond. Texas goes from city to country so quick. Country for miles and miles, just green trees and green pastures and cattle everywhere. There is nothing comparable in California to all this green open space.

As I came into Sealy the sun was rising and the humidity was like mist, hung low like tule fog in the Valley, except already I had the air conditioner on. I pulled into Bob's drive and went to help him load horses in the trailer. He gave me a bucket of oats and told me to take the mule and catch a 2 year old out of the back pasture. Off I went and caught him easily.

Turning back to go towards the barn something in the long pasture grass caught my eye. At first I thought they were sprinkler markers, all over the ground, but another look, this time from the side, showed me what I was really seeing was spiderwebs, dozens of them, made in the grass. A long piece of grass would be bent down like a scaffold and the web was built using the grass as a frame. Dozens of perfect webs stood wet in the humid mist, lit up and dazzling in the rising sun. What to say to a sight like that? It was a piece of heaven. I stood there gaping without a sound.
Yoakum was another hours drive from Sealy, on two lane country highways through miles of Red Angus and little country homes, interspersed with towns with a Mayberry feel. Nothing corporate or modular or mass produced in this landscape. The day started out with promise and I was joyful as I drove along.

The showgrounds were full, and like any show I go to, getting there in the morning, pulling in and finding a place to park among the rigs filled me with excitement and anticipation. I don't tire of this; it is a thrill every time and I feel so grateful to get to do it. Walking around at a show a couple of states away from home, among strangers, I am comfortable and joyful. They aren't strangers, not really, for we are all there with the same ultimate goal and the atmosphere is welcoming. Walking into the arena and the warmup pen is like walking into any warmup pen anywhere and this is where I belong.

I helped Bob's wife, Sandy, saddle, and we hopped on his two 10,000 Novice horses and went to loping. The horses settled right in to the familiar show routine, and after a long four days with my family in Houston it felt like a release to be back in my real home, on the back of a horse. In the house with my aunts and sisters and parents I had begun to lose a bit of myself and more than once the idea that I may be adopted occured to me. Certainly I don't come from the same place as these people who are my family. There is a little resemblance here and there, and none of them are bad people but as always I am a bit of an outsider, looking in and marveling at our different worldviews.

Soon I struck up conversation with others while we loped and the dialogue flowed easily and unfettered by self consiousness or ulterior motives, unlike the days before with my family. The heat was not stifling thanks to low hung huge fans in the indoor arena. Right before Bob went in to show, the rain started. It was raining sideways, hot rain; the sun still shone in the sky. I accepted that I would be sticky and wet and that was ok. I continued loping, wiping smeared mascara away and wondering, as I have wondered before, how the Texas ladies always had such good hair and makeup. My hair hung lank in a tangled wet rope down my soaking back, my shirt stuck to me like a second skin. I've just never been meant to be a glamour girl.

As usual, excellent showman that he is, Bob won a check in his class and I was happy to see I had not failed him in warming up his pony. Later he told me that was the horse I would ride in my class. Chet, a red roan gelding by Smart Little Riccochet out of a full sister to Cash Quixote Rio; he was a mover and a shaker!

First I rode the two year old I had caught earlier that day. He was a sorrel Chula Dual gelding with a thin crooked stripe down a slightly roman nose, with a kind but young face. He was lightly built and small, with good bone and good legs. As I settled in the saddle and wrapped my legs around him he focused in on me and allowed me to guide him into the warmup pen and merge into the traffic. He was a bit goosey- preoccupied with the big and unfamiliar herd he suddenly found himself in. Like the intelligent little boy he is, he handled the situation well, with minimal stress. Soon we were loping along with the seasoned show horses. For his second time "in town," he was a good boy. Bob had obviously done an excellent job starting him and I felt completely comfortable on his back.

I also took Rubin Pringle's Peptoboonsmal filly for a spin. Her mama is Smart Fancy Lena, same mama as Blue Duck Okie. I felt pretty special riding around on that little princess! And little princess was what she was, no doubt. She looked and acted just like our own Pepto, a baby version. Silly and full of mischevious energy, turning into a wiggle worm every time a horse came up behind her, she had me giggling and concentrating on maintaining a soft back and a secure, centered seat. Sometimes it is possible to get on a horse and just know...just know, that horse is a good one. A star in the making. Well that little Pepto is a good one. I look forward to seeing her in the Futurities!

Later in the afternoon it was my turn to show. First I went into the office and filled out my ACHA membership renewal and gave the secretary a check. I was suprised and pleased to find that the secretary remembered me from last year! She was happy to see me and asked me about mutual friends and aquaintences in California.

Before I went in I rooted for Bob's non pro rider as he went in on his CD Royal gelding. He made great cuts and marked a 73, for second place in his class. A former polo player, he had taken up cutting as something to do in the off season for polo. Like anyone, he had become hooked ..ting, the simplicity, the precision, the laser sharp timing and tempo that is necessary to do it well. Once in a while it clicks in, the rhythm, the rhythm, and just a taste of it can keep someone coming back for more and more and more.

All day Bob and Rubin, jokers that they are, had been loud and boisterous, laughing and joking with each other across the show pen. "Hey Rubin! I got some Pacific Coast on my two year old! She got a 73 on that old nag of yours last year but this year she's going to get a 74 on my horse!" And of course Rubin would have a smart response. By the time I was warming up Chet for my class, everyone in the place had heard their boasts and I was receiving lots of curious looks.
For a moment it made me nervous. Last year there was no pressure; it was a free ride in a place where I knew no one. Last year no one expected anything of me. Last year I had won a check on a horse I had never seen and now the bar had been set. Could I do it again? Oh wow.

As I loped I thought about it and decided not to think so much. This is not the girl scouts. I have worked so hard to become accomplished at this, to feel brave enough to show up out of the blue somewhere and get on their horse and do that horse justice. I didn't come all this way to blow it because of nerves. Why did I have to get nervous anyway? All I had to do was go in there and do what I do, do what I practice every day, feel that feel yet again and let everything click into place. If I want to make this my career then I better just get used to pressure and laugh in the face of it.

So 74? Sure, I can do that. I had watched Chet mark a 73 earlier in the day and I was secure in the knowledge that this horse knows his job inside and out. Bob gave me a few pointers. He said keep him pointed up and don't get to swordfighting when making a cut. Show him the cow I want, set it up square in the middle and ease him into position with my feet. He said I could rely on this horse to match anything a cow gave me if I stayed with him, but don't get to kicking too much, because that would encourage him to "write checks he can't cash." Hmmm. Sounds like my horse Hal!

I was first up in a class of 18 riders. On my first cut I walked about 1/3 the way in the herd and eased the top part out towards the center, letting them settle and shape, keeping my eye on the top cow, a smallish mot faced black. I was patient and the cattle started rolling around me and I stepped Chet up through the traffic, keeping my legs in close, bouncing on his sides, encouraging him towards the mott's face, my rein hand just above his neck. I cut clean in the center and put my hand down and Chet went to work.

The mott had a little life to him and he took off with his tail over his back and Chet matched him. I wasn't quite in the rhythm with him on the first stop and I felt a little bobble but Chet never blinked an eye, he hit his stop and came back through himself and I put my cow-side leg on him and then got in time with him. I could do this. This horse was a lot like Hal! I got that cow broke down in the center and went back in for another one with 1.30 left on the clock. The next one I pulled out was a red cow that wanted to look at Chet a little and gave him a chance to do his dance for a few beats before running hard at us to the left. I put some leg on him and told him to stop that cow and he did. It then took off at an angle away from us and Chet broke fast with it but as I saw the angle change I sat down on him and we did a perfect half halt and slowed down to rate that cow. One more stop and turn and off to get a third cow to finish strong.

I sliced a charolais off the top and agressively pushed her out towards the center and threw my hand down. This one wanted to play and came in hard, ducking one way and then the other. This is where Chet and I really got together. He jumped out a bit long on one side and I felt comfortable enough to sit, wait, and then SEND him back strong to the other side to even us out. I felt him respond to me and the tempo of our run hit another level. I had one moment where I wished I had another 30 seconds; I had gotten the feel of him now and knew I could get an even higher score if I had had just a bit more time. I didn't want it to end. I could ask this gelding to write some pretty big checks before we came up with one he couldn't cash.

We walked out and heard the score...74. First place. I had done it. And it wasnt' because I went in there trying to win or worried about the others, on their fancy horses, familiar to them, among friends in an arena they had no doubt shown in before. I just did it because it is what I do. All that other stuff is extraneous. In the movie "Greatest Game Ever Played" Shia LeBouf stares down the fairway as the amateur golfer Francis Ouimet, and he has the million mile stare. The camera pans out over the fairway, thronged with expectant faces, trees, clouds. All of a sudden the people disappear, the trees disappear, the clouds fade from the sky and all that is left is the fairway, on a plane of nothingness, out in a vaccuum, in space. The golfer and the hole, marked with a flag. No sound, no croud, nothing. He aims, he fires.

When the show goes well, that is why. If I can get into that focus, that state of allowing, of being here, comfortable in the here and now. It is a liberating feeling and afterwards I walked around free and easy, no resistance anywhere in my body. My limbs swung loose and my joints were free and flexible. Chet walked with me to the washrack and he walked free and easy too, content with the world and the job he had done. I hosed him off and gave him a drink and a pat and thanked him for the wonderful time.

How To Do A Rollback, western style

Here is the first of my how to essays, written in 2005:

How to Do A Rollback.. by Cutter123

When a horse does a good rollback maneuver, it should be smooth and finessy, all one motion, like an ocean wave coming in and going out again.He should stop square in an athletic manner, by loading his hocks and hindquarters, rounding out his back, and keeping his head "neutral" with a soft poll and jaw. (by neutral I mean not up in your lap and not down below his knees or with his chin to his chest).

He should then immediately suck back a bit so his weight is concentrated over his hind end.His ribs should be arced away from the direction he is going to turn, which will arc his nose and hip slightly into the direction he is going to turn. He should start with his nose, and his body should follow his nose through the turn nice and cleanly, picking up his front end neatly and balancing through the turn on his hind end.When he comes out the other side, he should push off with his outside hind leg and go off cleanly and smoothly the other direction, on the correct lead.

He should turn like a rope, or a string, not like a 2x4. Simulate this at your desk right now with a shoelace or peice of string and a pen or pencil. See the different way they turn? A string is fluid. A pen is straight and stiff and therefore will "swing like a gate." When the front end turns, the back end turns the other way. When this happens on a horse, it means the horse "swaps ends;" basically losing all athleticism and making a sloppy, stiff move. (think: Napoleon Dynamite equine version).

In order to help the horse execute this maneuver properly, a rider needs to be balanced, and have good enough timing to apply the aids right when they will help the horse, and in the right manner. Think in your mind about a horse doing a rollback in slow motion without a saddle or a rider. Think about it until you have it clear in your mind. Now add the saddle and rider and see if you can understand where the rider's weight/aids have to be.

First, the rider needs to ride the horse all the way to the stop, sitting up square in the center of her saddle with her legs right underneath her with a nice bend to her knee in an athletic position. A few strides before she stops, the rider comes in with inside leg applied at the cinch to create the slight bend in the horse needed to execute the rollback. The hands stay neutral and the outside leg still applies driving pressure a little further back so the hip doesn't kick out.Then the rider sits her stop.

She does not lean back and pull, stiffening her lower back and therefore stiffening the horse. She sinks down in her saddle, SOFTENING her lower back and absorbing the stop in her joints...hip, back, knees, ankles, all of which are soft and flexible. The rider's upper body is still neutral...not leaning back, not leaning forward, not twisting in the direction she is about to go.

(This is a big problem for a lot of riders. If you feel like you are getting a sloppy, out of control "swap endy" type rollback, make sure you are not twisting too early and "taking off before your horse." ) In the instant the horse stops, rider's inside leg comes out. If the rider keeps inside leg in during the turn, (and we are taking about a horse that is responsive and knows how to do a rollback...teaching a rollback to an unresponsive horse is another matter and I can get into that later if someone wants me to). Anyway, if the rider keeps inside leg on during the turn it screws up your rollback in several ways....one, a rider who is balanced but keeps the inside leg on during the turn will be sitting in such a way to drive her horse forward around the turn, so she will get a barrel type turn, or even bigger, depending on the timing and effectiveness of her other aids.

This is FINE if you want a turn with forward motion.

But if what you want is a rollback, which is a "hold your ground" motion, then it isn't correct.

Rollbacks that hold their ground are especially important for cutters and cowhorse people and cattle penners, because if you go forward in your turn you put pressure on the cow and cause it to run faster, and you also come out behind it, losing your advantageous position.(good rollbacks are also good for other disciplines too. My friend Stephanie, for example, is a barrel racer. When she goes around a barrel it is with forward motion. But when she is practicing and schooling her horses, she oftentimes does rollbacks, even backing up several steps in the process to teach her horse how to be on his hip).

Two (what happens if you keep your inside leg in during a rollback).... Often we are not talking about a rider that is completely balanced with good feel and timing. A lot of the times a rider wants to "turn for her horse," and she will inadvertently lean the direction she is going to turn. This weights her inside leg. If you think back to what I was saying about physicis, you will understand this puts the rider's body weight in the way, making it impossible for the horse to make a clean turn (unless you have one of those saint horses that will actually shrug you back on top and then turn, but even then you cause him to lose some of his athleticism).

Other riders, when they use direct rein to tip their horse's nose, they don't know how to use their aids independently of each other, so they brace against their pull with their inside leg. (Imagine starting a lawnmower, you know how you put your leg on the lawnmower so you can pull against your leg, for levearge...good for starting a lawnmower, bad for getting a good rollback). This will cause your horse to kick his hip out and lose all power/impulsion.

Okay, so we've established our rider sits her stop and takes her inside leg OUT. She is still sitting square. Since she is sitting square, her horse stops square, and his hips don't kick out to the outside. (If they do, you are leaning the direction you want to go, or twisting, or throwing your hip the direction...you are thinking about turning too much. Forget about thinking about turning, and think about stopping, backing up, and letting your horse come through himself).

Now our rider sets her hands and softens her back so she encourages her horse to take a step or two back. (this is for practice and for green horses. When your horse is schooled, he should suck back on his own, slightly, enough to execute a good rollback)Now our rider uses inside rein to tip her horse's nose the direction she is going to go. Her inside hand back and up slightly, towards the outside beltloop/hip seam of her jeans/pants. This motion originates from the shoulder. Elbow stays bent, wrist stays straight. (I caught you, huh! How many of you cock your wrist like Will from Will and Grace when you pull????) As inside rein comes up and back, outside rein has to release so horse can tip his nose. Outside rein comes forward and slightly down. This will also have the added effect of helping the rider twist her body correctly, looking the direction she is going to turn, and weighting her outside seat bone. The horse will start to follow his nose.

DO NOT lean back. This will push your horse forward and make it hard for him to stay on his hip. Stay right over the horse's center of balance, (right behind his withers), which puts you in the front of your saddle, up over your feet. Keep your lower back SOFT (this could be the most important part), so your horse is invited to come through your back and round his back out, using himself athletically.Your outside leg should be slightly back, but still passive at this time. If you take your outside leg forward to help your horse make the turn at first, it will work, but it is also a stiff, hoppy type turn because you are forcing the horse's shoulders through the turn at the same time as his nose.

The rider will start feeling the thrust of the horse's turn sliding her to the outside of her saddle. She allows this to happen, staying balanced by putting her weight on her outside leg. As the horse is in his swing, coming out the other side, the rider then cues with outside leg to add impulsion and help the horse push himself out of the turn. The leg cue comes in anyhwere after 90 degrees, preferably at about 135 degrees. If the outside leg comes in before or at 90 degress, the rider then forces the horse's ribs through the turn too early, which will stiffen him up.When the horse is out the other side, hands come back to neutral, rider comes back to neutral, and applies both legs to ride out of the rollback. She does not lean forward; she sits right on top and squeezes with both legs to create impulsion.

If you are having trouble feeling the rollback, do this exercise at a walk and close your eyes (after you practice a few times with your eyes open).Walk forward, then use inside leg to leg away until you really feel a bend. Stop and back up. Make the stop and back up one smooth motion.

Do not stop and then release your hands and then gather him back up for the back up.

Stop, and keep your hands set until your horse comes off that bridle by backing up. Your hands should be set even.

When you feel your horse backing up really nicely and not sticky (and if he is sticky, make sure you aren't leaning back and your back isn't stiff), then simply release outside hand, just let go of the reins with your outside hand while keeping your inside hand set how it is.

At the same time, lean forward and to the outside, like you are going to reach down and kiss your horse's outside ear. (This means your weight is in your outside stirrup) You shouldn't be doing anything with either leg at this point. This is just an exercise to help you gain feel. Do you feel how when you release the outside rein and "kiss your horse's ear" he swings underneath you? His front end swings away from where your weight is, and he crosses over in front and pivots around. Practice this a bit until you can really feel it. This is an exaggeration of the cue but it will help your body reprogram itself to do it properly, especially if you have been having problems getting to the inside of your rollback.

Fort Worth...good place to start off

Oh we are finally back from Texas!Wow what a drive. I have done it several times, but I must be getting old or something. I used to be able to crash in the truck, heck I would sleep in the bed of my pickup, or on the beach, or in a pasture; I did that plenty throughout my twenties... it didn't matter. LOL the first thing I did when I got home yesterday was head for the chiropractor!!!!I got cracked back into shape and now I feel much better. Anyway, we went to Fort Worth to the NCHA Futurity. We transported 6 horses there for the NCHA Select Sales- five yearling colts and one broodmare. And we brought one back, a four year old show mare for one of my trainers clients. The new mare is by Peptoboonsmal out of a daughter of CD Olena. She seems very nice so far! Anyway, the haul to Fort Worth takes 2 days. We leave the ranch around 11am and pull into Tucson fairgrounds at about 6am the next morning. This is with a few stops for water and such for the horses. My trainer and I trade off driving and sleeping. We put up the horses at Tucson for about 7 hours, get some sleep, and then head out from there around 5pm, and get to Weatherford around 8am. We got a new truck this year, a 6 speed Dodge one ton. I have hauled our three horse with it a few times, and driven it to town several times. I don't usually haul the 7 horse; it is so long it is tricky to maneuver. I will only haul it on long hauls in the long flat straight parts We set out in the rain. Our first stop was a south 99 truck stop, where I was hit on by a marine fighter pilot. You should have seen this guy. It would not be hard to imagine him sneaking through an abandoned warehouse or bombed out building, automatic weapon in hand, searching out bad guys, like the bourne identity or 007 or something. He has been in Iraq twice, among other places. He was a colonel. He had some sort of Russian or Eastern European accent, and a name of a Roman Gladiator or something. Of course I am so clueless and oblivious I didn't realize he was hitting on me until about 50 miles later my trainer was laughing quietly to himself, and I was like, "what?" He said, "that guy was hitting on you and you didn't even know it." LOL. Well I guess I just don't understand things like that. I mean, sometimes I dress up like a girl, with my hair down and nice clean jeans and a nice sweater, maybe something form fitting or something...this was NOT one of those times. Lets see, I was wearing birkenstocks, a pair of low rise wranglers that are a size or two too big...big enough that I have to keep hitching them up every couple of steps so they dont' fall off, and a baggy old sweatshirt with a frog on the front of it, giving the peace sign, sitting in front of a campfire, with a tent, some mountains in the background, and stars in the sky. It says "Peace Out." My hair was scrunched haphazardly into a bun of some sort, and I had lipgloss on I think, but nothing else. Now what in this picture makes one think a marine fighter pilot would find a girl like this attractive???? Well anyway. I slept most of the way through So Cal as my trainer drove and then took over driving right before we reached the Gala Bend turnoff (to bypass Phoenix). Of course, it always is a bit nerve racking at first, hauling other people's horses. I figure I had about $150,000 or $200,000 worth of horses behind me. Yeah. It's a little stressful at first. Lucky I get the flat part, and the 3 in the morning till sunrise shift. This means there isn't much traffic; most of the other vehicles on the road at that point are long distance truckers. I would rather drive among these guys than regular traffic any day of the week. These guys are professional drivers and know road etiquette, unlike many commuters. I love the passing game. A big rig goes to pass and then before they get back in the lane in front of you, they put their turn signal on and wait, and you give the "okay you are far enough past me for safety" signal by blinking on your high beams once or twice. They then merge and give you a "thank you!" signal by blinking their tail lights at you. Different truckers have different signals. It is a polite thing, and a neat thing, communicating a bit in the dark with "ships passing in the night." I set my ipod low and mellowed out to some Neil Young and the miles just flew by. When we pulled into Tucson, it was rainy and windy. Now usually we put the horses up in the outside pens. They have 2 whole rows of 36x36 pens, set slightly apart, with an aisleway in between. We will pull right in that aisleway and turn them all out, crawl up into the gooseneck and catch some z's, in a good position to keep an eye on the horses, ensured they are safe. Since the weather was bad, this was not an option so we put them in stalls in one of the barns, every other stall. Everyone was well behaved except one. He was nervous and herdbound, worried about his new surroundings, and was standing on his hind legs trying to climb out of his stall. So instead of getting my nice nap, I had to settle for sitting in a folding lawnchair outside his stall, holding onto his leadrope until he settled down. Ahhhh. The glamourous life. I slept through the entire state of New Mexico. We always go through New Mexico during the night, so there isn't much to see anyway. If we were on 40 instead of 20, I would be more interested, I guess. I was born and raised in New Mexico, but in the Northern part, off of 40. The southern part is like most of the Panhandle country of Texas...long, flat, and straight, smelling of crude in many places, oil wells endlessly pumping with heads like bucking broncos, up down up down. My trainer asked to use my iPod. I said sure! I have a dealie that hooks it to the truck radio so you can play it through the vehicle speakers, but he opted for the earphones so I could sleep. I was somewhat thankful for this...see I have more than 2600 songs on my iPod...out of those, my trainer likes exactly 1 of them. The Traveling Wilburys, "End Of The Line." This is not exactly true; if I made him listen to some of the others, he would like them, too, but he has very limited musical taste. He is the type of guy who is happy enough to listen to one song he likes.. over and over and over and over. So I made him a playlist, with that one song, and set it to repeat. The only problem was he sang along. Well, he sang along with George's part, and sometimes Roy's part. He doesn't know all the words. I took over driving right outside El Paso. Now that is a funky city. Any of you ever been along 20 through El Paso? The border fence is right there, this huge prison looking fence, topped with concertina wire. Look to the US side, you can see the high rises of El Paso, sparkling silver in the sun. Look to the other side, shanties, made of cardboard and pressboard, as far as the eye can see. Its a trip. My trainer fell right asleep. This is his least favorite part of the drive, he calls it the most boring part. Truthfully, there isn't much for scenery. If one looks on a map, Texas looks filled up, every nook and cranny, with roads and towns and such. But Texas is BIG. And there are a lot of wide open spaces, darkness for miles around, intersperced only with an occasional oil rig, lit up like christmas, like a beacon in the night, an alien outpost on a far away planet. I set the cruise control and wiled away the miles. Driving long hours is tough on me in some ways. I am an active type person. Sitting still that long is difficult. I can make it fun by writing stories in my head, but I get pretty restless. Driving through that darkness is something else though. Sometimes I was the only one on the road for miles, not another headlight in sight. Despite such a populated planet I felt alone out there, peaceful, as if I were in the Voyager 11, slingshotting my way around Saturn, somewhere out in space, dark and absolutely silent. I think it would be quite an experience to be out there, like Major Tom or something, surrounded by nothing, just silence. I could be underwater, deep, deep under, swimming and floating through miles of deep blue. I often think of what it would be like to be an animal, to not speak or have language. We always have all this noise. Even out here at our ranch there is lots of noise. The highway is close, and we are surrounded by almond orchards. Often we hear the shakers or the sweepers or the tractors. If not them, we hear the crop dusters or the neighbors atv. What it must have been like before all this busy-ness! We got into Weatherford around 8am, on schedule. Somewhere around Sweetwater the temperature dropped to freezing sleet, and a film of ice built up around the antenna, growing until we were forced to pull over and scrape it off, for fear the added weight would tear the antenna completely off. It was miserable cold when we arrived at the ranch we were to drop the sale horses. Weatherford is like cutting horse mecca. On the roads between weatherford, there are huge spreads, one after another, with miles of drill pipe fencing and broodmares in immaculately groomed pastures, fancy entry gates, roads leading to huge indoor arenas and outdoor round cutting pens done in texas style mesquite stake, each place more beautiful than the last. It is the start of me, every year, feeling a bit overwhelmed. In Texas, everything is big. Done big, in every single way. I love going through all the places, going through their barns, etc. It puts anything in California to shame. It makes our place look pretty sub-par, though it is more than adequate and I remember all the time to be thankful for the indoor arena and other amenities I know many are without. I always have to remember to keep things in perspective when in Texas. It is easy to get carried away, seeing all the money there, the things some cutters have. Heck, when it comes down to it, it is about the riding. Our horses are happy and well trained, and well fed, and secure. I have the best job in the world, and I get to ride some fancy horses. I was never one for material things, anyway, heck, my parents are hippies and I am not too far from that myself. Money helps, fancy places are nice, but what it comes down to is ridng, and the horses. For that, all you need is want and desire.