Today is the big day. We arrive at the arena early so that we can get Vicky set up in a good spot with the camcorder. She has agreed to video the day for us. Thank you so much Vicky, you did a great job. I also want to thank my sister Fran and my niece Amber for flying in from Colorado to be there as part of my support team and running errands so that I could concentrate on Hercules. And I would also like to thank Richard Sewing from the National Mustang Association for flying in from Utah to be there as part of the support team.

During yesterday’s trainer meeting my draw number for competition order works out to be on my side. I will be last on the in hand course and second to last on my riding portion. So I have almost the entire day to study the patterns and watch the other competitors. I am nervous but very excited and Hercules picks up on it and is constantly looking to me for reassurance. I feel like we can do everything in the on-line course as it is all stuff we have practiced before. I am more nervous about the horse course as I have not practiced on picking up correct leads or lead changes with Hercules.

For the online course we have to enter the arena and wait for the judges acknowledgement. Then we are to walk across 4 ground poles without the horse touching them. Hercules clips his toe on 2 of them I think. Then we are to walk into an “L” formation and back out of it. Hercules does this on a loose lead without any bobbles. Then we are to make a 270 degree turn and trot to the cone where we are to pick up all 4 feet. It is not a long enough distance and Hercules does not trot for me but did well with all 4 feet. Then we are to turn and walk over a “v-shaped” set of poles (this is the obstacle that most trainers missed that resulted in them getting DQ’d). Then load and unload out of the trailer. Hercules does this like a dream. Then the final obstacle was to trot through a slalom course of 6 cones. Hercules broke to a walk a little but other than that did it very well. Our final score for this portion was 63.3.








After lunch break it was time for the riding portion. We were to enter the arena and mount. Then pick up a left lead and lope past the judges to the cone. Stop and turn left. Then pick up the right lead and canter back around the arena crossing through the middle where we were to change leads to the left lead again and lope to another cone. Then break to a trot for about 10 strides then walk into a box and do two turns to the right and two turns to the left. Then trot out of the box and through the panel serpentine. Once past the serpentine we were to pick up a left lead to the bridge. Walk across the bridge and then trot across the poles into the L shape and then back out of the L and pick up a trot to the gate. The only part that Hercules really struggled with was picking up the lope on the first pass he just trotted. After that he picked up his correct leads and we just had a ball. Janet got so wrapped up in the routine that she only remembered to take pictures for the first half. After I exit the arena I jump down in the tunnel and get huge tears in my eyes. Hercules has done so good and I let him know just how proud of him I really am. Our final score on this portion was 91.0. So combined with our conditioning score of 34.5 this put us in a tie for 17th place. We didn’t make the top 10 finalists but we definitely did better than I was anticipating.

My practice times were early today so that I had time to get Hercules cleaned up for the conditioning part of the competition and still get myself cleaned up for the big media party at the Cowgirl Hall of Fame tonight.

I fed Hercules and spent time grooming him. As soon as he was done eating I decided it would be good to go ahead and get my conditioning portion out of the way and try and beat the rush. Once I was done with the judges the Foundation put a Hip# on Hercules so that everyone could identify him through the competition and adoption. His number was #89.

I rode Hercules for my practice sessions and then had to head for the mandatory trainers meeting at noon. Janet and Vicky took this time to head to Office Depot to have signs and badges made up to get people to vote for Hercules for Mr. Congeniality.

Then we went back to the hotel to get cleaned up and ready for the big party.

Once we found where we needed to be and which stall was Hercules’ we pulled into the Watt Arena stall area and unloaded and got things situated. I went ahead and gave Hercules a bath to help cool him down a bit and then Janet clipped his face to help make it prettier.


Each trainer was allowed to sign up for three 20 minute sessions in the big arena per day to help the horses get used to the obstacles and the arena. I was very impressed with Hercules willingness to go wherever I asked him to go and to check out all the new things. He even loaded in the trailer very well, which surprised me after having such a long trip here.




It is so much hotter here than it has been at home and so I send Janet and Vicky to the store to get a fan so that we can try and keep Hercules a little more comfortable. He made the trip well but did loose a little weight. While Janet and Vicky were shopping they decided to decorate Hercules stall as well. It sure did bring a lot of attention. I met the other trainers that were around me and got to speak with them a little. They are all very excited to be here as am I.

We left our home about 6:00 pm. Janet and I along with our good friend Vicky Green were going to make the long journey to Forth Worth. For the most part the trip was pretty uneventful. We got stopped around Cuba, New Mexico for a couple of hours when the freeway was closed because of a truck fire. We also stopped a couple of times to let Hercules out of the trailer to rest and stretch. We arrived in Wichita Falls, Texas around 8:00 pm on Wednesday and decided to let Hercules spend the night at the Cruse Acres Horse Hotel since we couldn’t check into our stall in Fort Worth until Thursday morning. Sam Cruse was very nice and put Hercules in a nice big stall. We made sure Herc settled in and then went to find a room and food for ourselves.




I would highly recommend Cruse Acres to anyone traveling through Wichita Falls, Texas. They have a very nice facility and the horses are well cared for.

Well I decided to take Hercules on one last trail ride before our trip to Texas. I really hope that I can bring him home from Texas with me but if not I know that he will make a fantastic horse for whoever ends up with him.

We decided to see how he would do leading the ride and though a little unsure he handled it all very well. We went up through "tire alley" and he was fantastic.

We also took him through his first on the trail water crossing and I was very pleased with how he did. He never tried to jump the stream just walked right through it.

After we stopped for a few minutes to let the horses drink we decided to head for home. There were some cows hanging out around the water trough and one calf in particular that was very interested in Hercules. So we let him check the cows out until he decided he really wanted to chase them and since they weren't our cows decided to head on home.