Earnhardt Grand Opening Promo Event

Yesterday was my first day promoting the rodeo actively, and I had so much fun! Halle, Brittany, and I walked around at the Earnhardt Dodge grand opening celebration (202 and Val Vista). We had a big stack of flyers and ticket vouchers to hand out to people. The event was amazing! There were bubbles everywhere for kids to play with, pony rides, a bull (Sorry, kids, no riding on that one!), lots of cars, and lunch was served! There were other booths, too, but I am not sure I remember all of them. There was face painting, I know that! The 2013 Rodeo Queen Court came to help us out, and we got a lot of flyers and tickets handed out! Lots of people asked for pictures with us, and all six of us were happy to!

 We sat down to enjoy some soft tacos and salad, but we ran into a very serious issue. We had no idea how to gracefully eat a very sloppy, very juicy, and very soft taco! Halle eventually gave up, but Brittany and I kept trying. Brittany decided to just gather all the corners of the tortilla together and eat it from the top, while I folded mine in half, then into a triangle. The salad, however, was a whole different issue! We didn’t want to stab through the foam plate, so we just tried sort of scooping the salad onto the fork, then balancing it across. Well, you can imagine how many failed attempts happened there…

After the Earnhardt promo, we went home for about 15 minutes to load our horses, grab our other outfits, and get over to the San Tans. A very close family friend, Arielle (not Ariel, like AR-EE-EL), came to help out with Elsa. Elsa is our new horse, and when I say new horse, I mean like, I’ve taken lots of lessons on her, but only have owned her since Monday. She is just the sweetest thing, but like everyone, she has her moments… like this one......  

She is also very well trained in Western Pleasure, and a little English. Elsa is living proof why no one should try to wash a WHITE horse with cold water when she has been used to warm baths! We tried everything, and she was not standing still! Like I said, she is usually so sweet! I am serious, check out that cute photo! 

 Anyways, when we got to the mountains, we parked and waited for the others to catch up with us. We found this amazing spot that had a bunch of different views of the mountain., Halle, Brittany, and I strapped on the chaps, but mine were too wide, and a little short. Poor Arielle tried and tried to get them to fit, but I think I might have been better off with Halle’s chaps! Eventually, we got them to stay on. J Elsa started dancing around as soon as she was out of the trailer. It was a new place she had never been to before, plus she had a new bit in. She danced and danced, and I was told to just stand and look pretty, but I have to tell you, it was very difficult not to get after her! Fortunately, for every thirty awful pictures, there was an occasional awesome one! 

 

The girls and I were having a lot of trouble walking in chaps. Let me tell you, walking in those is like walking in water! We tried holding them up, but that didn’t work, so we were stepping and kicking, and eventually became some weird dance, and somehow I know THOSE pictures will come back to haunt me later…. So we had a really good time making goofy faces at each other when it WASN’T our turn. Also, we discovered who had the best stink eye…which would be Brittany. 

Thanks to Maria from Dream Catcher Images who was very fun to work with and got some really amazing shots!  

New year, New adventure!

Hi! I’m Karlie, and my horse Scooter and I are super happy to be a part of Roots n Boots Queen Creek this year!

I have always looked up to the rodeo royalty. Even as a little girl, I ooh-ed and aah-ed over the “pretty ponies” in the parades, wishing I could have one of my own. When I was about six years old, my mom told me that I would be taking riding lessons. You can imagine my reaction to this amazing news! I joined 4-H three years later, and have been greatly enjoying it since!

 The couple weeks before the pageant, I was really nervous. I don’t think Scooter was nervous, but I was! I was to write and memorize a speech, study up on the history of Queen Creek, the rodeo, and parts of the horse, and practice hot laps (where the rider must run the horse around the arena, waving before coming into the middle) and flag runs (In this, the rider has to carry a flag while on horseback, and run a circle around the arena).

I used the Queen Creek website to study up on historical parts of Queen Creek, city limits, and history. I went to Horseshoe Park and Equestrian Centre to practice hot laps and flag runs. I also asked my 4-H friends to help me out, and we got together and swapped advice and information, since all four of us were competing.

I felt really good about the personal interview, since if there’s anything I know all about, it would be me! The other thing I was sure I had in the bag was the “Ag in the Classroom” teaching script. It just so happened that in the pageant, all of the 4-Hers got to be in the same group!

 The girls had to then give their speech, each category with a different topic. Mine was: What is your favorite part of the Roots ‘n’ Boots event? (By the way, that would be barrel racing for me!) After they gave the speech, they had to answer some impromptu questions. We all were more nervous than ever as we waited for the new Queen Court to be announced. I was thrilled to hear I would be the 2014 Roots n Boots Princess!

Now, Scooter and I prepare for the “Parada Del Sol”, the Parade of the Sun in Scottsdale. Hope to see you there!  Follow along with my blog to stay updated with our adventures over the next year!