Gideon and I spent our first several months at Winterview in English tack attempting to calmly jump things (“calmly” being the key word there – he preferred to close his eyes and launch over them at breakneck speed). But eventually I could not resist my true roots – the western world. Somehow I found out about rodeo pageants. Yes, you heard me correctly! A rodeo pageant is a pageant where the girls compete in cowgirl clothes (leather dresses and cowboy hats) and for the talent portion of the competition you bring your horse and do a horsemanship pattern. Let me make something clear – I was not the pageant type. I had done a couple of pageants, but until this point had never been successful. The fake smile and enthusiasm just weren’t my thing. Take me as I am or don’t take me at all has always been how I lived my life. The pageants preferred not to take me! But for some reason I still got sucked in.
This was before the days that everyone had a digital camera. I'm the girl in the red dress!
I signed Gideon and I up for the Dixie Nationals Rodeo Pageant, and pulled our barrel racing saddle out of storage. For months we lived and breathed the sit trot, fast and slow canter circles, and flying lead changes at the center of the figure eight. Some days I wouldn’t make it out to the barn until 9 o clock at night to practice. My mom and I drove an hour to the lady’s house to rent my pageant dress, and a lady who did Quarter Horse competitions loaned me a gorgeous leather jacket covered in rhinestones for the interview competition. We were serious. I practiced my model walk, and printed out everything I could find about professional rodeo. I memorized the names of the top rodeo competitors in Mississippi as well as the top in the country, and I learned all the rules for every event – the names of the equipment and everything.
On day 1 of the pageant we pulled up to the Mississippi state fairgrounds with the horse and trailer, tack, borrowed hats and hat boxes, boots, belt buckle, leather dress, and lots of hair curlers. Big hair is always popular at rodeo pageants, and I mean BIG! We met a lovely gal named Kimberly. Her horse’s stall was a couple down from mine. She sure was sweet, but I really couldn’t help but keep her at arms length. She was, after all, my competition. Once Gideon was settled into his stall it was time to register. Everyone had their big fake smile pasted on as my mom and I gave each other nervous glances. We tried to pretend, but it just wasn’t our scene. What a relief when I was given the number 5 when I registered! 5 happens to be my favorite number. Maybe this pageant wouldn’t be so bad after all…
Check back in a couple days to see what happened…
Lesson for the day: If you are going to do a rodeo pageant, please do your research and be prepared. Yes, they really do wear leather dresses and I actually think they look good! You may think it’s silly, but you’ll be the silly one if you’re not dressed the part and everyone else is. I guess it’s like that in almost anything in life.
Soli deo gloria,
Sarah
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