TEXAS-OKLAHOMA SHOOTOUT

If you heard the sound of gunfire in North Texas this last weekend, it was the Texas-Oklahoma Border Wars in full swing. Two Cowboy Mounted Shooting clubs, the Texas Smokin' Guns and the Red River Rough Riders, converged at S&S Arena in Terrell, Texas to shoot it out in two tough days of back to back competitions.

Jared and I were packed and ready by Friday afternoon and early Saturday morning, we loaded Beri (The 'Berinator') and hit the road. Terrell isn't too far for us, a couple of hours, and we made it in plenty of time, with no wrong turns. :)

Saturday and Sunday both went better than could be expected. Of course there are usually issues of one kind or another at any kind of event, but real problems were wonderfully conspicuous in their absence over the weekend. Beri and I had a few harsh words for each other Sunday morning when she cussed me out and embarrassed me for not knowing the pattern (don't you hate it when they're right!) but she worked like a dream for Jared all weekend and they pulled their first win on Sunday.

The funny thing about mares - for the writers out there - is that a really good lead mare will try to run your life. Beri hasn't been a lead mare, but she's fully mature now, eight years old, and really coming into her own. I think the traveling and competitions have helped -- she's seen a lot of the world and done a lot more than the stay-at-homes. Patricia Briggs wrote a wonderful mare by the name of Lass (The Hob's Bargain) who reminds me so much of Beri that I giggle all the way through her parts of the story.

What happened Sunday morning is that I rounded a barrel too soon in the pattern -- that didn't matter, just cost us a few seconds, but I had to round the barrel (again) *after* shooting all the light colored balloons, and so we had to go around it a second time. She knew I had screwed up and she made sure I knew she knew by stopping and sulling up for (it seemed like FOREVER) but I'm sure it must have only been a few seconds.... before she would go on and finish the pattern. Of course, she ran it beautifully for Jared during his class, but - again - that's a mare for you. He doesn't try to boss her and run her the wrong way around stuff like I do .... *sigh*.


here is a snapshot that Jared took of Beri. Anyone who knows her will find it funny because it shows her "very Beri" attitude .

and to show that some things never change, a photo of them when she was just about a week old:

here are a couple more ...

...to see how far these two have come makes me think I must be doing something right.






And I have to back up a little and say what a fantastic job the clubs did running this event. Everything ran smoothly and on time, any hitches were taken care of and transparent to the participants. Kudos to the clubs, the management and especially the organizers and volunteers for these events.

Also to S&S Arena. What a fantastic facility!! It's absolutely beautiful *and* functional. Many, many thanks to them, not only for the use of the arena and barns, but in going above and beyond with their hospitality -- Sunday during the awards presentation, they presented very nice western headstalls to each of the kids that rode in the wrangler division. It's a wonderful surprise, in these days of hard-lines with the tightening economy, to find a business with a heart, but S&S showed theirs this weekend. If you are looking for a place to host your event - be sure to check them out. You won't be disappointed.

***added: Jim Arnold got this wonderful shot of me and Beri on the second day. He's local to North Texas and does a wonderful job with equine event. Check out his website and give him a call if you need a photographer for your event or a photosession for your farm. He does good work.

bad!mare

One of my favorite peeves is the hero always riding a stallion but I found the most delightful character of Lass in Patricia Brigg's The Hob's Bargain.

Lass is a mare, slender and elegant but stronger than she looks and mean as a snake. She bites, she kicks and is generally most unpleasant to be around. But it's her job to take care of her man. And she's really good at it. She's so wonderfully marish, I can't read her without giggling. Now - of all things, I know horses can't be allowed to have bad manners, but some mares have a natural tendency to be 'in charge' of "life, the universe and everything" and those are the ones you want on your side or at your back when the going gets tough.

We have an ongoing situation here with young

TELPE. She's big for her age and typically awkward and energetic. She has an injured leg from being kicked and we're working her back into the herd after a period of confinement. WITNESS isn't going to put up with any of her silly-half-grown-baby carp.





What WITNESS has done is to herd TELPE to the corner and hold her there. Look this 'snarly' face. See how tight her muzzle is, how she has her nostrils pulled back and flared? And TELPE's listening. Look at that ear pointed straight out sideways on WITNESS.

But the more interesting interaction happened after WITNESS decided that TELPE had properly submitted and would be allowed to play nice with the other girls.

Little MIREE, most definitely her mother's daughter, took the opportunity to practice being in charge.



First she put TELPE in the corner...

You can see she's working on her snarly face, it's pretty good, but not perfect and TELPE is questioning her to some extent.










TELPE didn't stay in the corner so MIREE had to 'get tough'.


What she's done in this photo is get in front of TELPE and start backing up. If you've ever tried to back up a short wheel base trailer, you know what a hard task she's set herself -- but she's getting it done. Can you see the combined look of concentration and irritation on her face, and TELPE's surprise?


Here you can see she got her in the corner, but that durn leg is sticking out. TELPE's not standing square and quiet...
...now she is. Much better -

Oops. TELPE got tired of being good and decided to walk off.
MIREE is nipping her to try to put her back in the corner. Look at MIREE's legs, you can see how she's stopped and turned TELPE and is swinging around to get in front of her.

WITNESS finally got fed up and put them all in the corner. The arrangement in the photo looks casual, but it's not. WITNESS has them boxed in the stall and is guarding the gate.

Good!mare.

My Bookshelf ~ Grok!

Little cabin nestled back in the woods... My local group camped here a couple of weeks ago and we had a great time. It was incredibly refreshing to be able to sit and work in such a cozy natural environment. We cycles through writing and visiting phases all day and we all got an incredible amount of work done.

and I've been on a reading jag: jag2 /dʒæg/ –noun
1. a period of unrestrained indulgence in an activity; spree; binge: a crying jag; a talking jag. 2. a state of intoxication from liquor.
3. Northern, North Midland, and Western U.S. a load, as of hay or wood.

But now that I look it up, it strikes me that it's a noun and I would have said, without thinking, that it's a verb, because it's something that you *do*, but I guess if you're 'on' it - is that what makes it a noun. Enough digression. I'll start a side panel for my reading because I find it interesting to see what others are reading and hope that others might find some gems in amongst my favorites or current reads.


So here are a few old favs and what's been on my desk in the last few months:

Patricia Briggs - all of them. I started with Dragon Bones and she's been my most recent obsession, (and not to mention that she writes delightful horse-characters, most especially Duck and the Lass in Hob's Bargain.) but I've caught up with her and we had to order "Mercy's Garage" t-shirts in order to take some of the edge off the wait for Iron Kissed.

RED GARNIER ...not much I can say about Red on a family-rated blog, but if you like a little plot with your sex, this is one author you don't want to miss!

Lilith's Brood by Octavia E. Butler It's a series bound in a single book. It's uncommon and well worth reading.

John Ringo, most especially his Council War series, but I haven't read anything of his I didn't like. You might beware what I like. His characters are larger than life and hard-hitting. They don't pull punches and there's never any soft-lenses or misty focus in his tangled high-stakes games of wars and love.

Sails and Sorcery. An anthology of Tales of Nautical Fantasy published by Fantasist

Children of Hurin I loved every word of it and, yes, I'm a die-hard Tolkien fan. I love The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings, and I've read most of the Histories, but when I want the familiar comfort of slipping far away it's my old dog-eared copy of the Silmarillion that I reach for.

CJ Cherryh - I currently have well-worn copies of the Faded Sun Trilogy and Arafel's Saga, but I haven't read anything of hers that wasn't worth reading at least twice.


Holly Lisle - too many good ones to mention, all the way back from Fire in the Mist and The Rose Sea up through Last Girl Dancing and Talyn. Regardless of if she's writing mystery, suspense, romance or fantasy (and it's usually a wonderful mix), I haven't seen anything of hers that doesn't make me want more. Also check out her series of writing clinics.

Stranger in a Strange Land and too many others to list by Heinlein. Also Asimov. ER Burroughs, both Tarzan and John Carter ... and yes, I read most of the Gor series at an impressionable age, but I'm not going to list it here... Conan: Howard, Carter and DeLisle are my favs, but I'll read all of the series. ... I love Arnold as Conan in his fur loincloth. I had to post the picture ... just because. :) I don't think any real reason is needed to post a pic of a hunky guy with a big sword.

...and I'm realizing what a foolish project it was to think I could browse and list all the books I've recent read, re-read, or intend to read shortly, so I'm just going to mention three I picked up this weekend The Sense of Honor by Ashley Kath-Bilsky, High Seas Cthulhu (an anthology of swashbuckling adventure meets Mythos), and Every Inch a King, a delightful rollicking fantasy by Harry Turtledove.