Outside the Turn

08/10/2025

It is a privilege.
And I sometimes forget that.

I have goals and dreams.
I often fail to believe in myself the way others believe in me or in the way I believe in and support others.

Being tired and worn out from the work you’ve wanted to do your whole life is a win.

We can’t forget that winning takes many forms.

Sometimes the win is in simply sitting in our horse.
Sometimes it’s besting the field.

But most often it is in simply being privileged enough to wake up each day and do something so may others only dream of doing.

08/10/2025

We have 38 days until our first official run at the BFA!

This is a bucket list item for me: I’ve done the best that I know how to do at this time in my life to prepare my horse, Bet Shesa Lady (Fireball).

I’ve loved on her, hopefully become her friend, worked to become her partner/leader, and continue to educate her to the best of my ability.

She’s a cool cat (no pun intended since she’s by a winning son of Bet Hesa Cat). While I do not currently have her clocking where I want her clocking, we are capable of more.

Every opportunity we get is a chance to learn. And, I’m certain this experience will teach me more than I can imagine.

I’ve never gotten to ride the “top”, “winning”, bloodlines. I’ve had to do the best I can with what I have. AND... I'd be lying to you and myself if I didn’t come clean and say that there’s a part of me that thinks, “Maybe I’m not worthy to be entering the BFA, teaching people, or training horses…”

You’ll hear people say; “this horse taught me how to ride a winner” or “taught me how to win”. I don’t know what that means. But, I think this mare is going to teach me.

Because Fear and Doubt? They are LIARS. LIARS!

What I know is that if I let one seed of doubt, or any thought of unworthiness creep to the top of my mind, it can and will destroy any chance I have to make the best of the opportunity I’ve been given.

While it is true that I’ve spent more time developing the foundations in young horses than I have on the backs of finished horses, that does not make me any less worthy to show off my skills with this sassy, red roan mare.

As such, I wake up and tell myself,

“I’ve done the work. I’m experienced. I can ride the hair off of her, and she’s a winner.”

I tell her daily that she’s a winner.

And the thing is, she is.
I am.
We are.
Because every time she lets me throw a leg over her, and climb off of my own accord, it’s a win.

Every ride can be a win if we choose to see it that way.

I visulize daily what it will feel like to send her down the alley at the Lazy E come 11/15. How it's going to feel when she snaps back around the first, and how brave I'll be to send her as fast as she can run across the pen to the second barrel -- which this mare can flat SMOKE. She has moves. It's my job to let her use them.

I shared all this to say, growth doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Training your brain doesn’t happen without work. Becoming better at your craft isn’t going to be easy, but we can do it if we try.

Curate what feeds your brain - feed it positivity, solid mindset, and winning attitudes because our mind is powerful. Use it for good. Use it to win. Don't mire in the bad. Revel in the good. Believe that winning takes many forms. Because it does.

And if you feel so inclined to cheer for me on my first futurity c**t since '08, I'll be grateful.

08/10/2025

Living in the moment is the best way to fight anxiety and worry.

It’s the best way to be grateful and find happiness in the day to day…

Don’t forget to focus on what you do have. What you want is still important but don’t trip over your successes on the way to wanting more.

08/10/2025

Tell me - What do you love most about it?!

06/10/2025

If you have to choose hard, which one will you choose?
Personally, I don’t like to say anything is hard because that can set us up for failure. Instead say, I can do ANYTHING I set my mind to do!

06/10/2025

“You are one decision away from a completely different life.” - Mel Robbins

Change doesn’t always come from huge leaps—it often starts with one small decision.
Saying yes.
Saying no.
Taking action.
Believing in yourself.
What’s one decision you can make today that will move you forward?

05/10/2025

The moment I stop learning how to be better for my horses is the moment I stop riding.

Training a horse is really about consistency on our part. That’s it. It’s that simple. It’s doing the same thing, the same way, every day.

When we train ourselves to be consistent, get ourselves balanced, and our emotions in control, the rest gets easier.

That’s not to say we don’t have to develop feel, because we do: and that feel is going to get better with each ride, each horse, if we ride with awareness.

I need to be aware of gait cadence, softness in the feet and face, as well as roundness in their body.

The better we get with our timing and feel, the easier it is for the horse to do what we ask because we will ask with better timing and more effective feel. Yet again, this comes down to our level of awareness and consistency on our part.

How will you work to get better for your horse this week?

03/10/2025

02/10/2025

Never underestimate how much you can get done one-handed if you’ll try.

Riding legs first, with reins supporting the legs, is an oft underused technique in barrel racing. It’s used a lot in the show horse/bridle horse world but this industry we sometimes forget that we can get a lot done more quietly with our bodies than we can with reins alone.

One way you can train yourself is to set your hand in one place and use your legs to guide your horse.

I like to practice this at the end of the ride as a cool down. And then test it in subsequent rides at a faster pace.

Ideally we’d like to be able to ride them one-handed around a barrel and have them stay square.

Will you practice riding this way?