A Supremely good time

The road trip to the Canadian Cowhorse Supreme was a pretty good mini vacation for me- despite the endless hours sitting in bleachers (Note to Self- bring comfy bleacher seat next time!) We saw some darn good horses and visited with some good people, most notably meeting up with bloggers, Sherry from Fern Valley Appaloosas and Crystal (Ranch Riding blog)and her friend Charlene-the two ladies who went on the blogger trail ride with Janice and I last year. Sherry I have known for a while, but it was the first time Janice had met her.

From left to right- me, Sherry, Janice and Crystal- thanks,  Charlene for taking the photo!

But I'm getting ahead of myself a little. First, I drove to Janice's place about an hour and a half from our place, and while I was there I got a couple of photos - this is Jazz, a full sister to Rio, and in the background is her 34 year old horse, Tex.

Jazz, who some of you may remember as Sparkle, is turning out to be a solid looking mare, and a real beauty.

I was also entertained by the cat and pigeon game going on on the roof of the barn. 

It was a stand off; I don't think that pigeon is ever going to be a kitty dinner. We hit the road and about 6 hours later were in Red Deer. We booked into our motel and headed over to the Westerner show grounds- the only thing going on at that hour was the trade show and some riding in the reining ring. 

Sunrise outside the Tim Hortons coffee shop

The next day we spent the whole day there -about 14 hours. We watched the reining first, and got to see Tyrel Smith, (the son of the fellow who trained Beamer) ride. He's 23 years old, and was competing against some of the top Canadian trainers and placed 4th in both the classes he entered. Here is a video of part of his run.

I really like the way this young man rides; such a natural way to him, and a quiet manner both on and off the horse. My camera did better with video in the poor light so only 2 of the photos are worth posting. This one was a really pretty dun horse that caught my eye:

Not sure who this was, but it's the only other photo that turned out.

 If I'd known how good the videos were compared to the photos I'd have taken more videos. My favorite part  is the working cowhorse class; the fence work is fast paced and really gets the adrenaline up! 

This is a horrible blurry photo but kinda artistic in its blurriness, it definitely gives an idea of the speed involved.

We stayed for the horse sale, which was very interesting to me. The yearlings topped the sale, with several of them going in the $8000 -$9000 range and the sale topper was a yearling stallion by Sophisticated Catt who sold for $10,800.

 Well started 2 yr. olds were a tough sell, anywhere from $800 to $3900. The reining horses didn't bring as much money as the cutting bred horses- which isn't surprising, as there is more prize money in cutting than in reining, at least in Canada.

I managed to spend a little money at the trade fair (imagine that!) but not too much. A belt and a purse with a matching wallet, and a billet strap for my saddle. But one of the best things was that Sherry gave Janice and I copies of her book of poetry. 

It was a great couple of days but it's always nice to get home.