Our First Rodeo Victory
By Caterina Tadlock

It was a lovely summer day and I felt good as I loaded up the trailer, getting ready to go to the fairgrounds for the Curry County rodeo. I had only ever ridden in that particular rodeo once before and hadn't done very well at all, but I was determined that this time things would be different. This time I was ready, or rather, we were ready. My horse, Teko, a big bay tobiano gelding whinnied loudly as he saw me hooking up the trailer.

Teko stepped right up into the trailer and we were off. As usual, I was a little nervous, but more determined than nervous. I had been practicing a lot, working on perfecting my riding, and I felt that it would pay off tonight.

When we got to the fairgrounds, my sister and dad went inside to watch the rodeo while my mom and I got Teko ready. He was nervous and danced around a little while I saddled him, but I knew just what to do to solve that problem. I opened up the trailer door and grabbed a horse treat. Teko ate it and settled right down. I finished saddling him, and putting his boots on and headed over to the warm up pen.

While I warmed up I envisioned a perfect run and tried hard to remember all that I had practiced.

When the Barrel Racing finally started I snapped my rubber bands on over my boots and waited until the announcer called my name.
When I heard my name called I entered the ally way and picked a spot to run from. I took a deep breath, leaned forward and with a squeeze of my legs told Teko it was time to go. He headed for the first barrel at full speed, but when I said 'whoa' he slowed down, gathered himself up and made a perfect turn. He left the first barrel just as strong as he had gone in and was running full speed as he headed for the second. Again he gathered and turned tight around the barrel, he rocked it, but it did not go over. So far we had made a perfect run, all we had to do now was turn the third and final barrel and run straight home fast. Teko ran straight toward the third barrel, I moved him over and cued him to turn. Our timing was perfect.
Coming out of the barrel I urged Teko on and he, as always he ran with all his might.

As soon as I crossed the timer line, I knew that I had mad a good run. I slowed Teko down and listened for my time. "13.72" boomed the announcer-- we had completed our run in under 14 seconds!
I was so happy, I hadn't won yet, but I had made a GREAT run. I dismounted Teko and walked him around, hugging him and telling him what a good boy he was.
I stood outside the arena and listened as the announcer called out the rest of the times, none of them were as fast as ours. The closest was a 13.8.
I hugged Teko again and took him back to the horse trailer where I untacked him, fed him extra treats and gave him lots of praise.
We had won our first rodeo and I wanted him to know it.