Margarita's and Dollar Store Granny Panties
I've had a couple days to settle in.
Cindy and Dave have gone out of their way to show me the ropes. My
brain is in total overload. Pretty sure I reached maximum capacity
somewhere between Dave's grand tour of Wickenburg and Cindy's lesson
in terminology for the different species of Cactus. I can only
remember a couple. The Saguaro cactus – which I was calling the
Sequoia. That explains why it took me so long to spot a cactus in
Arizona – I was looking for a giant redwood. The other – the
jumping white cactus has several names it goes by according to the
variety. The only one I can remember of this is the Teddy
Bear....something. Chollo?? I'll have to Google it. Google knows
everything...unless it's an address in Arizona. I'm pretty sure
nobody wants anybody to know they live here. Otherwise ever body will
want to move here! I know I do...
Yesterday was a kick back day. I set up
a course and practiced on both J'Lo and Jack. Both horses did great.
I was especially happy with Jack. I haven't shot off him in a while
and expected him to be a little chargy. He was calm and collected all
day. I couldn't be happier with my two ponies.
I took the dogs out in the afternoon
and walked some property for sale around the area. Probably just a
pipe dream but you never know. A dream can't come true if you don't
dare to imagine it.
Cindy text later in the day and asked
if wanted to go to a three man sorting clinic. The third “man”
bailed on them and went shooting instead. I said sure! Do have to be
good at it or know what I'm doing? She assured me it as a beginners
clinic and I would be fine.
My first instinct was to take J'Lo. She
fits right in my comfort zone. If I think there is going to be a lot
of commotion that might get me bucked off Jack, I chicken out and
take J. I realize I have to stop doing that. Jack can't be expected
to be any different if I don't expose him to things; any more than I
can expect J'Lo to develop better trail habits and endurance if I
don't get her out on the trail more.
Cindy and I pulled out of Aquila toward
Glendale by 7:30 am with her horse, Cowboy, and Jack. We met Jaimie
Z. outside of Wickenburg and our 3 woman sorting team was on it's
way. The two hour drive flew by as Cindy turned tour guide –
pointing out all the interesting attractions and history on the
drive.
The gal putting on the clinic, Malinda,
rode like she was born on a cutting horse. She broke down the three
parts/roles of each person and went over the basics of sorting in
general. You have the gate person, the cutter and I don't remember
what the person in the middle is called...blocker maybe? What do you
expect, I thought “crossover” was a town.
Melinda asked if we had any questions.
I had one. What position is best if you don't have a clue what your
doing? She said none of them were laid back – so just get in there
and figure it out – but if the first two spots are doing really
good - the gate might be the most laid back. If not – it can be
the most hectic.
We did several drills working on each
position. I think I like the cutter the best – or maybe the
blocker. The blocker is fun because you can buzz up there and cut off
the cows while the cutter is doing their thing and the gate person is
helping wherever needed. The gate person is a little tense when you
have 7 bad cows and 2 other riders coming at you at once. I was glad
to be on Jack after my first experience with the gate at a faster
pace. He's big enough that no matter what comes at you – they
aren't going to knock him around. He was a trooper. I can't really
tell what he looks like because I'm sitting up there trying to
remember what comes after 6 and which position to rotate into next.
Crazy how fast a person can forget how to count. One gal decided it
should be legal to count backwards. “You can do that, right?”Cindy
said Jack looked like he was having a blast. If a cow came at us, he
would drop his head and pin his ears back. That horse NEVER pins his
ears – we have J'Lo for that. Dropping his head is something for
him too as he can be high-headed when he's anxious. He did a little
teeth gnashing – but then again, so do I when I'm nervous. He never
got so wound up I thought he was going to blow up. He'd do his job
and prance out of the pen all proud of himself. We might not have
known what we were doing – but dang it, we thought we looked good
doing it!
Cindy, Jamie, Linda and I met at
Chili's for lunch and $5:00 margaritas!! The girls all ordered some
variation or other of tacos and I ordered an “old timers” burger.
I thought it was only appropriate.
Cindy would not allow me to buy dollar
store underwear. She insisted on taking me into Kohl's. I didn't want
to put anybody out by dragging them around underwear shopping but she
assured me she needed to pick up a few things as well. Now that I
look back – I'm the only one that made a purchase! However, she did
have a 15% off coupon on her phone she scanned for my purchase. It's
not what kind of undies you wear...it's who you take shopping for
them! I am relieved knowing I won't be running out of clean undies
for a while and I imagine Cindy will sleep better tonight knowing I
won't be wearing dollar store granny-panties. At least not this trip.
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