This past weekend was one of the greatest I have ever had. I cannot even begin to express the excitement and joy that came out of such a once in a lifetime experience at the Kansas Horse Council's Equifest event in Wichita.
I arrived Thursday morning with my drill team and began to get Skeeter settled into her stall. Our team began to ecorate our stalls and didn’t leave till about 11:30pm. We had a really elaborate Old West town theme that included special stall fronts for each stall.
In addition to all of the excitemet of building our stall area I also received my custom sponsored chaps from Russ Brown of R Bar B in Topeka! They were absolutely gorgeous, and done just in time for the weekend. The next three days I performed a total of 10 performances with my team, all amazing and each one better than the previous.
On Friday I was asked to be a “celebrity performer” in the cowboy drag race by Rusty Walker of 94.5 Country, who was also in the race. Now I have learned in the sport of rodeo to never say no to an opportunity, but I had no idea what I had just signed up for. After carrying the American Flag for the opening of the cowboy drag race I was then instructed to “watch carefully” because I would be completing the same course in a matter of minutes. The course consisted of a drag strip Christmas tree light, which you were supposed to watch and go on green. Once the light hit green you had to go down around a barrel, do two roll backs at the fence, run through the barrels at the end, jump a high jump, run around the barrel, stop back up and then cross the finish line. Now, Skeeter had never actually jumped before, so you can imagine I was a little nervous. But as soon as that light turned green, Rusty Walker and I were racing to the finish. I floored it around the course into the rollbacks and made for the jump. No spurs needed here I went straight over, my legs flapping out with surprise. It may not have been a pretty jump but we left it standing in one piece. Skeeter and I won the celebrity division, knocking out two other celebrity cowboys and earning us a “ Get em’ Cowgirl!” from the event sponsor.
What really made my entire weekend was the feeling of achieving a dream of mine I had since I was 10. I have had the goal to carry the American Flag since my very first Equifest. I cannot express enough how much it meant to me to be sitting there atop Skeeter, the whole crowd with their hands over their hearts looking at that beautiful American Flag we were presenting. Saturday night I was asked to carry the flag again, this time for the Ranch Rodeo. After all the cowboys had lined up in the arena, and we paused for a little Rusty Rierson sing along, Skeeter and I were ready to be let in the arena. Our instructions were simple, pray with all the cowboys in the middle and when the song angry American came on I was to walk with the flag and then to floor it when Toby Keith "... it’s the American way..” And that’s exactly what Skeeter and I did. It seemed like ages waiting for those words to come, but when they did we shot out of the dirt and made 2 laps around with the crowd screaming louder than I’ve ever heard. I got goose bumps, wanted to cry tears of happiness and couldn’t stop smiling! I had had the greatest day ever. As if all of this wasn’t enough to make one cowgirl happy, I still had Sunday left. I went around and signed autographs, hung out at the Roy Frey Western booth, met some really sweet little cowgirls, met Rusty Rierson in person and even took a picture with him! Equifest weekend truly was a blessing and I am honored to have represented Miss Rodeo Topeka there.
I arrived Thursday morning with my drill team and began to get Skeeter settled into her stall. Our team began to ecorate our stalls and didn’t leave till about 11:30pm. We had a really elaborate Old West town theme that included special stall fronts for each stall.
In addition to all of the excitemet of building our stall area I also received my custom sponsored chaps from Russ Brown of R Bar B in Topeka! They were absolutely gorgeous, and done just in time for the weekend. The next three days I performed a total of 10 performances with my team, all amazing and each one better than the previous.
On Friday I was asked to be a “celebrity performer” in the cowboy drag race by Rusty Walker of 94.5 Country, who was also in the race. Now I have learned in the sport of rodeo to never say no to an opportunity, but I had no idea what I had just signed up for. After carrying the American Flag for the opening of the cowboy drag race I was then instructed to “watch carefully” because I would be completing the same course in a matter of minutes. The course consisted of a drag strip Christmas tree light, which you were supposed to watch and go on green. Once the light hit green you had to go down around a barrel, do two roll backs at the fence, run through the barrels at the end, jump a high jump, run around the barrel, stop back up and then cross the finish line. Now, Skeeter had never actually jumped before, so you can imagine I was a little nervous. But as soon as that light turned green, Rusty Walker and I were racing to the finish. I floored it around the course into the rollbacks and made for the jump. No spurs needed here I went straight over, my legs flapping out with surprise. It may not have been a pretty jump but we left it standing in one piece. Skeeter and I won the celebrity division, knocking out two other celebrity cowboys and earning us a “ Get em’ Cowgirl!” from the event sponsor.
What really made my entire weekend was the feeling of achieving a dream of mine I had since I was 10. I have had the goal to carry the American Flag since my very first Equifest. I cannot express enough how much it meant to me to be sitting there atop Skeeter, the whole crowd with their hands over their hearts looking at that beautiful American Flag we were presenting. Saturday night I was asked to carry the flag again, this time for the Ranch Rodeo. After all the cowboys had lined up in the arena, and we paused for a little Rusty Rierson sing along, Skeeter and I were ready to be let in the arena. Our instructions were simple, pray with all the cowboys in the middle and when the song angry American came on I was to walk with the flag and then to floor it when Toby Keith "... it’s the American way..” And that’s exactly what Skeeter and I did. It seemed like ages waiting for those words to come, but when they did we shot out of the dirt and made 2 laps around with the crowd screaming louder than I’ve ever heard. I got goose bumps, wanted to cry tears of happiness and couldn’t stop smiling! I had had the greatest day ever. As if all of this wasn’t enough to make one cowgirl happy, I still had Sunday left. I went around and signed autographs, hung out at the Roy Frey Western booth, met some really sweet little cowgirls, met Rusty Rierson in person and even took a picture with him! Equifest weekend truly was a blessing and I am honored to have represented Miss Rodeo Topeka there.
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