They Call It A Rodeo

As I pulled into the parking lot I smiled. I was running women’s barrels, pole bending, and carrying the flag for the opening. This was a small town. You really didn’t see many people you didn’t know. So when I saw a guy I didn’t know it surprised me. I sighed and went on my own business of finding a place to park. The only place open that I could fit was by the trailers for the bulls. It was a good thing my horses, Storm and Arrow, weren’t afraid of bulls. I shut the engine to my truck off and reached over to the passenger seat and grabbed my cowboy hat. I slid out of the driver’s seat and put the hat on my head. I walked to the back of my trailer and opened the back windows and slowly put the ramp down. Storm whinnied to me and I laughed. “I know, Storm, I know.” I said softly and walked inside the trailer to unhook her. I smiled and walked off again, “Storm, off!” I commanded. She snorted and did as she was told. She slowly backed off as straight as an arrow. I walked over to the side and tied her up. Then I went back and unhooked Arrow. I went back off and sighed a bit, “Arrow, off!” I commanded again. He was still in training so he didn’t back off too straight. But he did back off slowly. I sighed again and patted his shoulder, “We’ll work on it, boy.” I said softly to him. I led him to the same side as Storm was on. I tied him up next to her. I walked over to the tack room section of my trailer and pulled out my brushes. I walked over and did a quick sweep over Storm and Arrow. I had given them both a bath last night and blanketed them for the night. I had taken their blankets off before I loaded them this morning. They had also eaten on the trailer. I walked back and put my brushes in the tack room. Then I grabbed Arrows tack and set it on the ground next to him. I patted him on the shoulder and threw his saddle pad onto his back. I then slowly lifted the saddle up and threw it over his back and softly set it onto his back. I rubbed my arm down his body and under him and then reached for the girth on the other side. I slowly stood up straight and pulled the girth loosely around his stomach and looped the girth up and tightened it. Arrow snorted and stomped his foot as I tightened the girth as tight as it would go. I walked over to the tack room again and grabbed Storms tack and set it down next to her. My friend who was running in the men’s division was going to ride her. I took her saddle pad and threw it over her and se it on her back in the right position. Then I picked her saddle up and threw it onto her back and settled it slowly onto her shoulders. I did the girth faster on her then on Arrow. Storm had more training and was older then Arrow. Storm understood she had to stand still when the girth was being tightened. I put the girth as tight as it would go and then I went and got their bridles, whips, and tie-downs. I put the whips on the saddle horns and then put Storms noseband on and her bridle over it. I clipped the lead that would go down to her girth around Arrows saddle horn to lead her by till I got to meet up with my friend, Tim. I went back over to Arrow and slipped his halter off and slipped on his noseband. Then I put his bridle on right on top of it. His bit was also stronger then Storms was. I smiled as he took his bit right away. “Good boy, Arrow!” I exclaimed as I buckled his throat latch and clipped his tie-down to his girth. I patted him again and mounted him. I took the reins in one hand and then unclipped Storms tie-down and held it in the other hand as I turned away from my trailer and aided for Arrow to walk on, “Walk on.” I said in a soft voice. Storm willingly followed at Arrows side as he looked around at everything. I had to play with the reins to get his attention back on what I wanted of him. I smiled as we came up to the ring. I stopped them both and looked around for Tim. He was a little bit tall and had dirty blonde hair. You hardly ever saw it since he was usually wearing a cowboy hat. I sighed and kept looking. I couldn’t see him. How did he want me to find him when he never told me where to look for him at! I shook my head and rolled my eyes. “Walk on.” I said again and aided Arrow to walk on. I aided him into a trot and Storm matched his strides within seconds. I smiled slightly and looked at the crowd along the fence. I bit my lip and pulled them both to a stop as I saw him talking to the guy I saw before that I didn’t know. I smiled more to myself and aided the horses to walk over to them, “Hey Tim, you could have told me where you would be.” I said softly. He smiled up at me and watched me dismount Arrow. “Hey, yeah. Sorry about that.” He said and took Storms reins as I clipped her tie-down to her girth. “Be nice to her, and she needs warmed up, too.” I said and smiled at the guy I hadn’t seen. “Hey, I’m Tia. Are you new around here?” I asked and remounted Arrow as he started to prance, “Stand, Arrow!” I said firmly to my horse and played with the reins till he stopped. I smiled back at the guy, “Sorry, he’s still in training.” I added.