Captured memories

There aren't going to be very many words with this post - just a lot of photos! I've been taking tons of pictures with my new camera, but I haven't shared many of them with you. So here's a bunch of random photos to make up for my lack of them...

:: peaceful ::

:: reflections ::

:: i love the way her eyes sparkle ::

:: she's such a lil' cutie ::

:: the fresh scent of spring ::

:: i love the color in old brick walls ::

:: my lil' Jessie the cowgirl ::
(her name isn't Jessie, but she loves to pretend that she's Jessie the cowgirl from Toy Story)

:: bokeh ::

:: s'mores! ::

:: art ::

Just wanted to let ya'll know....

The cowgirl queen contest scheduled for yesterday was postponed due to rain, and the date was moved to this Friday (July 1st). I was a little bit disappointed about this change of events because I had pretty much everything ready and was almost to the point of  "let's just get this over with"....and now I have to wait another week! But on the bright side, I'll have some extra time to work on a few things that need some improvement (leads, patterns, and stopping). Another advantage is that they changed the time to 5:00pm...so I don't have to be up at 5:15am again!!!! I'm praying that the weather is nice on Friday and that everything runs smoothly.

Thanks for your sweet and encouraging comments on my previous post :) I hope that all of you had a wonderful (and dry) weekend!

:: banding Flash's mane ::

It's show time!

Clean tack. check

practice. Practice. PRACTICE. check

Makeup and hair. check

Get Flash all "prettied up". check

Show outfit. check

Make a list of everything that has to be done so that I can check this off of the list. check

 . . . . .

On Saturday I'm competing in my first Senior Cowgirl Queen contest - and let's just say that even though I've put a lot of effort into the preparation, I still feel really un-prepared!

The 4-H horse group in our county has a Cowgirl Queen contest every year, and the winner of both the Junior and Senior divisions will get to represent our group at the state competition in August. This will be my second year competing, and my first year in the Senior division. The past few weeks have been kind of crazy trying to get everything together!

The competition consists of rail work (pretty much a western pleasure class), a horsemanship pattern, and the cowgirl queen salute to top it all off. This year there are only two of us competing in the Senior division, so that helps a lot. We will mainly be judged on our horsemanship abilities, and then slightly on appearance. It's kind of fun to have an occasion that I can go all out with Western show attire :)

If you think about it, I would really appreciate your prayers on Saturday morning (the show starts and 9:00 - bright and early)! Right now I'm a little bit nervous about the whole thing, but also really excited about the opportunity. The results are in God's hands - I'm going to give it my very best and leave the rest up to Him.

I have a busy preparation day ahead of me tomorrow, as it is the "get-all-the-last-minute-things-done" day. I'll try to post a lot of photos and the results sometime later on this weekend, so I hope that you'll check back soon!!

I love my horse :)

Keep your helmet on

You know, life with horses can be quite the adventure. During the past 4 years of owning Flash I've learned so many things! There have been many opportunities to learn more about horses in general, but I've also found that owning a horse can teach you a lot of life lessons. Who's better at teaching you patience, perseverance, and endurance than an ornery pony???

There is one riding "rule" that I try to be very strict about obeying - always wear a helmet. No matter what horse I'm riding or where I'm riding, I always wear a helmet because accidents happen. Yes, they can be uncomfortable or get hot in the summer, but if something would ever happen it could save your life. Flash has never tried to hurt me, and I don't think she ever would, but that doesn't mean that accidents won't happen.

A week or two ago I was out riding Flash through the field, and I asked her to canter. She took off much faster than I was hoping, and I had a little bit of trouble controlling her. As I was working on slowing her down she stepped in a hole and stumbled, throwing me off the front. Praise the Lord that both of us were fine and I came away with nothing more than a few bruises and mild whiplash. It could have been so much worse, especially if I hadn't been wearing a helmet.

The reason I write this isn't just to tell you to "always wear a helmet when you ride", but to remind you of something much more important than wearing your helmet. Our trust in the Lord, in some ways, can be compared to a helmet. When we put on a helmet we are not promised a perfect ride with no accidents...but we are going to be protected if we fall. In the same way, when we put our trust in God we are not promised a perfect life free of trials and persecution, but we do have the hope of eternal life and the peace that comes from knowing that everything is in God's hands. If we fall off of our horse, we aren't going to take off our helmet, throw it on the ground and blame it for the accident...if anything it will make us more thankful for the helmet knowing that it may have just saved our life. When trials of this life come we shouldn't "take off" our faith in God and blame Him for our problems, but let those things draw us nearer to our Savior, knowing that He cares for us and wants what is best for our lives.
 

(this is no one in particular, just a cute little girl that was at the barrel show that I went to today)

So my dear friends....keep your helmet on....especially when the road gets bumpy.

Enjoy the ride :)

Giveaway at Shining Stars

I just wanted to let you know about a giveaway that's going on at the Shining Stars magazine website! Hannah at Shining Stars has hosted multiple book giveaways over the past few months, and the winner of this month's giveaway will receive a copy of Sarah Bryant's book, The Family Daughter.

I have not yet read this book, but I hope to soon as I've seen many wonderful reviews about it! So even if you don't win the giveaway, you can still buy a copy of this book for yourself at the King's Blooming Rose Ministries website.

This giveaway ends on June 22, so I hope that you'll all head on over to Shining Stars and enter this giveaway (and if you aren't already a subscriber to Shining Stars Magazine, I would highly recommend that you do that as well!).

. . . . . . .

Sorry about the lack of posts as of late...I have several in the making and hope to be back at it very soon! There will be plenty of pictures coming too, as I've been putting my Nikon to use!