Week 6 on the ranch

This week I finally got to ride again. I mostly rode a little mare, Jenny, who is not a school horse. She didn't like it when many different people rode her and different children sat on her. That's why she became disobedient and Tanya couldn't use her for riding lessons anymore. Now that only I rode her, she was happier, but sometimes not easy to catch in the pasture. Jenny was a very well-trained horse, which I could benefit a lot from. As a change in the riding arena, Tanya went on trail rides with her students, and I accompanied them a few times.

On Monday a new client horse arrived, a mare that was cheeky and the owner couldn't handle her properly. But after a week of training under Tanya's strict and consistent hand, she had improved greatly.

From Tuesday, Tanya and Rob's grandchildren, Kalen and Christan, came to the ranch. They stayed here for 10 days while their mother was on vacation. Kalen was in 3rd grade, Christan in 1st. When Tanya had riding lessons in the afternoon and Rob had clients whose horses he took care of, I watched the kids when the school bus brought them back.

On Thursday afternoon, Tanya and I started laying a curb along the borders around the house so that the grass wouldn't grow in. We only managed to do the front side of the house before the kids came home and Tanya had riding lessons.

On Saturday evening, we went to the Pro Rodeo in Bonnyville. This time it was more exciting than last week in Cold Lake. It started with Bareback Bronc Riding. The rider had to stay on the bucking horse for 8 seconds without a saddle and could only hold on with one hand.

Then came the Calf Roping. The rider had to quickly catch the calf with a lasso around its neck, dismount the horse, and tie three legs of the calf together so it couldn't run away. Some cowboys managed to do it in under 6 seconds.

Next was Saddle Bronc Riding. This time the riders had a saddle on the bucking horse, but they still could only hold on with one hand. Those who could hold on for 8 seconds got a score for their riding style and the difficulty of the bucking, and that's how the ranking was determined.

After that came Team Roping. Two riders roped a longhorn steer. The first one threw his lasso over the head of the steer, and then the second rider caught its hind legs.

Then three barrels were set up for the Barrel Race. Now it was the women's discipline, where they tried to ride around the three barrels as fast as possible. Some were too fast in the tight turns, the horses slipped, and one even fell down, but immediately got back up and continued racing.

The second-to-last discipline was Steer Wrestling, also called Bulldogging. A rider jumped from a running horse onto a longhorn steer, grabbed it by the horns, and tried to bring it down to the ground.

Finally, there was Bull Riding. There were only three riders brave enough to sit on the bull. Like last week, they could only hold on for about 3 or 4 seconds before being thrown off.

On Sunday afternoon, Kalen, Tanya, and I went for a ride, while Christan and Rob continued working on the vintage car. In the evening, we had a fire, roasted sausages and marshmallows, and Tanya had prepared dough for breadsticks. It was a cozy way to end the week.