OTRR Cowgirl Amber Mostoller: Oh SOO Close!!!

May 14-15th * Franklin, TN & Athens, AL

 

So after Marion, AR I was super pumped about the way Chunky worked and decided to give Beea the following week and weekend off so I had time to get her shoe on and just let her chill for the week.  I was up in the performance at Franklin on Thursday and was both excited and nervous to run Chunky there.  We do not get in the arena there and it is HUGE…and when I say HUGE I mean HHUUUGGEE especially for an indoor.  This is always one of my favorite rodeos though as it is produced by J Bar J and I have been going to there rodeos since I was a baby back when they were IPRA stock contractors.  They are now one of the best of the best around anywhere and are known for their AWESOME bareback horses aka The Michigan Monsters 🙂  I took Streakin Frenchie aka Rica along with me too just to let her see everything and get some hauling underneath her.  When I went to warm up Chunky my heart stopped when I realized I had forgotten my reins!!  I had switched everything in my trailer when I went to a jackpot the night before and forgot to put my reins back in and all I had were my split reins.  Brittany Pozzi was parked right behind me and she graciously let me borrow a pair of reins…THANK YOU BRITTANY 🙂  Chunky warmed up like his normal lazy self and we all waited up by the alley way for intermission to be over and to run.  I was 9th out of 10 to go and you can not see anything in the arena b/c the alley way is literally 100 feet long (which I knew could cause another little issue for Chunky and I lol)  Finally my name was called and as soon as we hit the mouth of the alley way CHUNKY WAS GONE.  At that point I had two choices…try to get him stopped and fight with him or say screw it yehaw…lol I chose “screw it and Yehaw” approach.  He came into the 1st barrel flying and INHALED it…he had a nice line going across to the 2nd and right before we got to it he stumbled alittle bit and lost alittle momentum…he came back good, but that little hesitation cost us to hip it coming out and it went over 😦  We kept going anyway and he had a great 3rd and ran good out.  Our time would have been 5th thus far with 20 girls left over the next 2 days!  I was bummed that we hit but super excited that he was working soo well.  My favorite part of the video is the GGOLLEEYY at the end courtesy of Em Cragar 🙂

I was out at Athens, AL the next night which was only about an hour from there so Em & Susan Cragar graciously offered to let me crash at their place that was only about 15 miles from Franklin.  The next morning I was ordered to come eat Breakfast! 🙂  Most mornings my breakfast consists of a granola bar if that or junk food haha…so it was a nice change of pace to have a home cooked breakfast as Susan is a fabulous cook!  After breakfast Em worked the arena and Cori (Susans niece) and I rode around a little bit.  Rica rode really well for me…I get more excited about her everytime I ride her!!  I grabbed a shower after riding, went into town for lunch and stopped at the feed store for a few things and then went back to the house for a nap until we were all ready to leave that evening.  With Athens being so close it was nice to just chill all day without spending the hole day driving 🙂  We headed to Athens and prayed that the rain would hold off as it was looking like rain and had rained on and off a little bit at the house.  It was dry when we got there and luckily it held off for us to run.  Athens is Lonestar’s biggest rodeo on the year with $1500 added and after how well Chunky worked at Franklin I was REALLY pumped.  There were alot of tough girls out in slack the night before but it appeared from what everyone said that we had better ground then they did.  I was in the middle of the pack so I got to watch a couple girls run that I knew would be tough.  They all looked like they had nice runs but their times were off the pace…hhhmm   It was another long alley way and Cori tried to help me get up the alley way with her horse…Chunky had other plans and we were gone again lol.  We went a little done the pen at the first barrel but he came back hard and smoked his 2nd and 3rd..I figured we would be right there or close….UMM or not….bummer 😦  Not one girl from my night got within 2 tenths of placing.  Don’t know if it was the ground or what.  We got back to the house late so I crashed another night in Tennessee and headed back to Kentucky Saturday morning. 

CD in the truck:  Luke Kaufman…great rodeo CD you can download it on Itunes

Quote of the Day: ” Determination gives you the resolve to keep going in spite of the roadblocks that lay before you”

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Sentence issued in Justice for Dually Case

FORT PIERRE — Wendy Halweg won’t forget the night of July 4, 2009, when her horse was seriously injured after a Fort Pierre man rode off on its back.

Now that Fort Pierre man won’t soon forget July 4, either.

Flint Dahl, 23, will spend the next three Fourth of July holidays in jail as part of a creative sentence handed down by Magistrate Judge Mark Smith.

“You’re going to serve five days in jail consecutively starting at 9 o’clock in the morning on the Fourth of July 2010, 2011 and 2012,” Smith said. “You’ll remember why you’re there.”

Dahl was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty to four misdemeanors in a plea agreement with prosecutor Tom P. Maher.

As part of the deal Maher dropped a felony grand theft charge and six other misdemeanors.

In total, Dahl was sentenced to 570 days in jail. He received credit for 28 days he spent behind bars after violating his bond agreement in November and 32 days he spent receiving inpatient alcohol treatment in Yankton.

In addition to the 15 days in jail he will serve over the next three years, Dahl has 495 days in jail suspended. If he breaks the law during the next three years — when he’ll be on unsupervised probation — Smith said he wouldn’t hesitate to toss him back behind bars.

He also agreed to pay $25,000 restitution to Halweg. In return, Halweg agreed not to sue Dahl for damages to the horse.

Dahl’s attorney Patrick Duffy said Dahl had handed over the restitution money and Halweg would have access to it Monday. (read more)

**For those of you that have followed this case from the beginning, was justice served??

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Tana Poppino Talks about her Upcoming Weekend…

 

May 24, 2010 – Although I didn’t compete in but one rodeo, this weekend was packed full. My son, Brodie, and I competed in the slack Thursday morning at Ada. It was great to have a pro rodeo back at the Ken Lance arena. It was also great that the tornado that was just west of there didn’t make it to the grounds! Lots of rain and some hail hit late Wednesday, so the arena was really sloppy for slack.

 Claremore, one of my two hometown rodeos, will be welcoming rodeo contestants to the Will Rogers Stampede this weekend. As part of the rodeo week, Friday and Saturday the Roundup Club hosted a WPRA barrel race. Even with the rain we’d had the ground was pretty good, we even kicked up dust on Saturday. The vendors started arriving this weekend, and the committee has begun in earnest, getting the arena grounds ready for the big event. Wednesday night Marty and I will be attending a barbeque for the sponsors and steer roping enthusiasts. Thursday morning, rodeo slack will start at 9 am with the barrel racers, followed at 1 by the men’s events. I believe that the steer roping and tie-down roping will be at 7 pm, so it will probably be an all-day event for me.

The rodeo performances start Friday night a 7:30. I will be competing Saturday night in the performance so I invite all my friends to come cheer me on that night. I’d love to win in front of the hometown crowd!! (Goose and I have been working very hard on that.) Sunday evening will start off with a concert by Susie McEntire for a Christian Cowboy Celebration.  The people in Claremore are working very hard to put on a top notch pro rodeo for the people of Will Rogers home stompin grounds, so come and enjoy!!

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Brazile chips away at Murray’s all-around record

(Photo Credit)

As he attempts to break Ty Murray’s record for the most world all-around championships, Trevor Brazile has broken far away from the pack.

Last year, the Decatur cowboy tied Stephenville’s Murray by securing title No. 7 at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas.

This year, Brazile’s huge lead in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association world all-around title standings shows his willpower to move ahead of Murray. He’s ranked No. 1 with $110,274, $58,968 ahead of No. 2 Ryan Jarrett, who has $51,306.

In recent years, Brazile has had the all-around title nearly secured before making his first run at the National Finals.

“I just try to make it a goal during the regular season to put as much distance as possible between myself and the other contenders,” Brazile said. “I like to look at it as if there is no NFR. I like the regular season to be the best it possibly can be, and when I get to the National Finals, I want it to be the same.”

As he goes through a typical year on the national circuit, the 33-year-old Brazile said he thrives on dividing the season in segments.

“I like breaking it up in different pieces so I can be the best in every situation,” he said. ” I have certain markers throughout the year. The first would be the winter months until the Reno Rodeo. Then, there’s the Reno Rodeo through most of July. And then there’s August on.” (read more)

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Lindsay Sears stays on sidelines following second surgery

A second surgery to overcome severe abdominal pain will keep Nanton’s world champion barrel racer Lindsay Sears on the disabled list for at least another month.

She hopes to return to action in mid June at either the Daines ranch rodeo at Innisfail and/or the American Wrangler Tour rodeo at Reno. Nev.

“I have a followup appointment in the next couple of days and depending on what the doctor says and how I feel, I’ll be able to figure out where I go from there,” she said.

“I know I’m not up to a third surgery.”

Sears, 29, has competed only twice since the $1.6-million Reliant Stadium rodeo in March at Houston where she earned $6,375 and boosted her 2010 earnings to a world third-best $32,658.

Since then, she has slid to sixth in the world rankings.

Sears, who maintains a winter home at Ropesville, Texas, a tiny community about 11 kilometres outside of Lubbock, originally underwent surgery last month.

But, the pain continued and she was given a series of tests, “every one that I think is known to man,” she chuckled. (read more and photo credit)

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Linda Gail Stewart and Miss Gay Bar Abby Take the Win at the Franklin PRCA Rodeo

Linda Gail Stewart

Franklin, Tenn.-Sometimes there is just no arguing the genetics. Take the Franklin Rodeo, the largest pro rodeo in Tennessee, held May 13-15. After three performances and slack, the WPRA barrel racing winner was Linda Gail Stewart of Matthews, Ala., and her horse Miss Gay Bar Abby.

Stewart is the daughter of Faye Faulin, a qualifier to the second NFR to host WPRA barrel racers back in 1968. Abby’s “little brother” is Gay Bar Casanova, winner of the 2008 BFA Futurity Championship.

Both Stewart and Abby are looking to put their own names on the map next to their famous kin in the 2010 season. So far, they are doing a heck of a job, ranked second in the Southeastern Circuit standings and in the top 40 of the WPRA world leaders.

The seven year old black mare is owned by Darren Scholl and was campaigned during her futurity season by Todd Holder. Serendipity brought her to Stewart’s barn.

“Darren moved down near us and I had just bought a horse from Todd,” Stewart explains. “Todd told Darren he had just sold a horse to a lady down in Alabama, right near where he moved.” Scholl contacted Stewart and she began to ride Abby about a year ago….(read more)

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Spencer Turner… Wearing Pink Pays Off

On Saturday the May 15th, I was entered in the PRCA rodeo in Franklin, Tennessee. This is always a great rodeo, and I have attended it for years. The contractor is J-J rodeo company. The Horse I drew was, 145 Faded Charm. I knew this horse because I had ridden it last year at Franklin, and made and awesome ride but I missed my mark out. I was excited to have the horse again. Last year it bucked really well and was pretty bucky.

So I was feeling pretty good about my draw, and waiting to see how it turned out this year. They loaded the horses in the chute, and most of them were standing pretty good in the chutes, including mine. Faded Charm stood pretty well for the most part while I got my saddle on and pulled tight. I got on and knodded, and we came out of the chutes in a hurry and a little high in the air. I made sure and made a good mark out this time. The horse was bucking good and I started the ride OK. The horse went straight down the pen and was kicking and bucking good but was changing leads. Towards the middle of the ride I kinda got a little bit forward with my upper body, then I got to bicycling my feet, which means I would spur with my left then my right, kinda like when your riding a bike. After the ride, I didnt feel totally great about how I rode but was satisfied with how things turned out since I havent been on a lot of horses so far this year. I was 73 points and that wasnt good enough to place at the rodeo. Although I did recieve a bonus cause it was Tough Enough To Wear Pink night and they give a bonus to the contestant who has highest score or fastest of run of the night in each event who is wearing a pink shirt for Breast Cancer Awareness. There was and 80 point ride the night I was there but he wasnt wearing a pink shirt and I had the second highest score that night so I got the bonus. Which was nice cause it was enough to pay for all the fuel and entry fees plus had a little extra. That was a real blessing. 
   

Keep checking back to On The Rodeo Road for updates from upcoming shows. Thanks and God Bless

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Dan Mortensen- Bruised but not beaten, cowboy rides again

Most kids come home from school, hop on a bike and go for a ride, but when Dan Mortensen was growing up in Billings, Mont., he used to hop on a horse instead.

“I spent a lot of time on horseback when I was a kid,” said the 42-year-old rodeo champion, who will be competing in the Cloverdale Rodeo this weekend.

From humble beginnings, he rode to the top of the bronc riding world, polishing off a shining 17-year career as a professional cowboy.

He has won seven world championships, one as an all-around cowboy and six for saddle bronc. He was the first rough stock cowboy in Pro Rodeo Cowboy Association history to surpass $2 million in career earnings.

All this from humble roots that flourished under the big blue Montana sky.

“I started rodeoing when I was about 11,” he explained in a soft voice with a slight twang in a phone call from his Montana home. “I always wore a cowboy hat and boots and just considered myself a cowboy. There is a lot of tradition and history in the sport and just the western way of life in general.”

Not that it was easy. He got on 17 horses before he finally managed to stay on. (read more)

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Tana Poppino….Dry ground.. to a mud hole!

May 14, 2010
What a surprise. When I got to Abbeyville, KS last night, it was dry! With
all these storms, and there had been water standing in all the fields and
in the ditches all the way to Hutchinson; I just knew that it would be
knee-deep in mud. But no. This is the first time that I can remember that
it hasn’t been wet at Abbeyville. The ground last year was wet, but still
good. Today we were kicking up dust. Good thing I took Amigo. He loves thatpen. We were winning it after slack, and there were clouds moving in. Who knows?

Vernon, now that’s a different story. It poured during the barrel race last
night (Jeanne Anderson was there). I just pulled the weather up on the
internet and it doesn’t look good. Brodie talked to a buddy of his that
said everything was under water tonight. I guess I’ll check the forcast
tomorrow before I leave to see if we even need to drive five hours to wade
the water. I may just save my diesel money and pay the turn out fine.

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Little Cowboy Missing His Horse… Attention Stolen Horse! – HORSE FOUND!!!

This story has a great ending! Read here!

 

How do you make a cowboy cry? Steal his son’s favorite horse.

On his horse, Kirby Berry looks like a tough guy. But the exterior quickly crumbles as soon as you ask him about his son’s missing horse. 

“Oh, she’s got a big ol,’ kind eye and (is) real pretty to look at,” he said.

Sandbox, a 9-year-old mare, was stolen over the weekend at a team roping competition in Stephenville. 

“She was the best horse,” said Kade Berry, Sandbox’s owner and a 6-year-old cowboy-in-training.

He said the theft “made me feel sad.”

Micah Berry, Kade’s mother, said it was “pure panic” when they realized early Sunday morning that the horse was gone.

“I burnt the battery up in this phone four times yesterday just texting and calling and e-mailing and Twittering,” she said.

The Berrys purchased Sandbox seven years ago, specifically for their children to ride, and they think she was stolen for the same reason. (read more)

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