I can't believe how long it has been since I posted! In that time, a LOT has happened!
While we were away celebrating our anniversary last year (2011), a friend called me to try to convince me to come and show a horse for her at a ranch sorting the next day. At that point, I had never heard of sorting, and to make it better, I had NEVER chased cows on a horse. I laughed told her she just wanted to see me get my butt busted and laugh at me! Finally, after a lot of talking, she convinced me that I would have a blast and to give it a try. I was a nervous wreck when we arrived. I was going to chase cows and, to again make this even better, on horse that I had never ridden before. (Yes, I am a glutton for punishment!)
ecome a very fast growing, family-oriented, equine sport. You have two round pens set up together with a gate in the middle. The cows, numbered 0-9 and one unnumbered cow (also known as your trash cow), are in one pen and you enter the other. You and your partner have 60 seconds to move the cows, in numerical order, to the other pen. If the cows go through out of order, or if your trash cow gets through, you're out.
The butterflies took over the moment we got there. Thank goodness the horse had a clue what she was doing! Zaphora (aka Turtle) was a NCHA money winning cutting horse. She was awesome! Everyone very graciously helped me out and tried to coach me when our turn would come around. It was an awesome evening! Ol' Turtle and I ended up finishing 2nd at our first show!!!! And, there it was, "Team Cotton" was formed - three friends and our trusty horses!
My next problem was a "sorting horse". I didn't own a cow horse, or I guess I didn't realize I owned a cow horse at the time. My friend and I got the bright idea to try my 16 year old Appaloosa mare , "Flash", on cows. After all, there wasn't much she was scared of! She actually did pretty well! She wasn't the strongest horse in the gate but with riding and practiced, she improved. I ended up winning $205 on her at an RSNC show in July. We finished the Buckle Series that we were in (at the arena I first showed at) in 2nd place - Flash and I lost it by one cow! I was off to a really great start in sorting! She got to the point though that she liked to chase the cows to much, so when we went in the arena, if I didn't let her go wide open after them, she would buck and throw a fit. I needed a new horse if I was going to continue in this sport and expect to get anywhere...October was the last time I rode Flash in a sorting.
I had a mare at home, "Bay", that we had used only as a broodmare because of her excellent bloodlines. She, however, had come from a farm where she had supposedly been used on cows at one time. I decided that I would bring her up out of the pasture and see what we could do. The cows didn't bother her; however, being handled by a person, tied or loaded on a trailer was a huge issue. She's always been hard to catch, and trailer loading...well, that was...nasty, at best. If you led her anywhere near the trailer, she would flip herself over backwards. She and I worked hard on trailer loading, and we have succeeded in getting past that issue for the most part. Every now and then, if there is a crowd around, she gets very nervous about it. She's not big on more than one or two people at a time. I don't know what happened to her prior to us and her previous owner, but I am guessing it wasn't very good...
We worked trailer loading - a lot, rode at home, and in November, I took her to the first sorting. She didn't care for the other horses being up close to her, and when they would run toward her bringing a cow toward the gate, she was getting the heck out of Dodge! All in all, it turned out great though, and things seemed to be heading in the right direction!
The first Saturday of December, we headed up to another RSNC show, and I took Bay. This was for the NC Finals. She was awesome! The arena was slightly wet in a couple of places, so it was slick there. We slid a couple times while we were in there chasing cows, and then it happened. Bay and I were running wide open around the arena bringing a cow to the gate, and before I had time to realize what was happening, we were on the ground - her feet had gone out from under her! When we hit, I somehow twisted, my chin and shoulder on the opposite side slammed into the ground, and I heard my back pop - it sounded like a shotgun going off - I was terrified that something bad had happened. But, before I really had time to process everything, I felt her jump up and realized one foot was still in the stirrup. Remember me saying she didn't care for people and she didn't like to be caught...Thankfully, I had the presence of mind to twist and get my foot out of the stirrup - which also meant I could still walk - THANK GOD - that really scared me when my back popped! We ended the day by winning the NC Finals for the Beginner Division, and we won a really nice vest!
We then went to a few more sortings but got the crazy idea to set our sights on the RSNC Regionals in White Pine, TN the last weekend of March. There were over 1,400 teams there!!!!!!!!! We headed up on Thursday morning. The facility was really nice. Our only complaint was that it was definitely not set up for cow horses! The footing was clay and gravel over clay, and was too hard for the horses. That said, we still had a wonderful time! The cows were absolutely CRAZY the first day!! They were like deer in the pens and were doing anything and everything to try to get out of there! I got really lucky that first day! I won the #4 class with a friend from Virginia and placed 5th and 6th with members of our "team"! I also won the fast time bonus in the class too! There were 112 teams in that class, so I won $1,332 and a gorgeous belt buckle!!!! I also ended up winning the high point for my division, so I won a gorgeous new pair of Justin boots too! The other two team members that went to Tennessee, also did really well! The friend who got me started in sorting, won over $1,200 in a class the next day, and our other member won over $200. All total, Team Cotton won $2,795 at the Regionals that weekend! It was an absolute blast! We are looking forward to next year's regionals already!
My wedding anniversary, on May 28th, will also be my one year "sorting anniversary" this year, and I can't believe how much I have accomplished that year with cow horses that I didn't know I even owned (laugh out loud)!!! My little Bay mare has been awesome, and I do believe that she had decided that this human is not going to kill her. I was completely addicted after the first round of that very first show - I think my husband is still regretting going to that first show!!! Since then, I have been on the road with my friends and our horses traveling to sortings, and since that first show, we have also added a couple of more members to Team Cotton, had a lot of fun and made a lot of memories together!
