Thursday, April 2, 2009

You Have to Start Somewhere

After seeing the above picture, you are probably wondering what in the world? But let me digress a bit. I have some concluding thoughts to my bull-riding post. Don't worry, we'll come back to this picture. If you can stand to look at it again.

One of the comments on my post about bull-riding was from Sydney who asked if I'd ever heard of "mutton busting." Yep I have, but have never seen it live at a rodeo. Here is the definition of mutton busting according to Wikipedia:

"Mutton busting
is an event held at rodeos similar to bull riding or bronc riding. In the event, a sheep will be caught and held still while a child is placed on top in a riding position. Once the child is seated atop the sheep, the people holding the sheep let go and the sheep then starts to run in an attempt to get the child off. Often small prizes or ribbons are given out to the child who can stay on the longest. The children are on occasion injured by the sheep. Height and weight restrictions on participants generally prevent injuries to the sheep. Parents are often asked to sign waivers to protect the rodeo from legal action in that event."

Interestingly, this was also part of the definition:

"Anti-rodeo groups such as S.H.A.R.K
describe the practice as child abuse. Organizations such as the A.S.P.C.A also discourage the practice on the grounds that it does not promote kindness or respect of animals."

Most bull riders get their start at a very young age, probably mutton busting, riding bucking burros or calves, then moving into high school rodeo. You have to start somewhere. In fact, one of our fellow cowgirls, The Wife, recently posted about her own adventures riding rough stock as a young girl here. Can we get a woo-hoo? You go, girl!

I remember a video I saw over at the Pioneer Woman's site of her oldest daughter riding a bucking burro at their local rodeo last spring, which you can watch here. Goodness! Hold onto your hats. Can we get another woo-hoo (after knowing she was okay, of course!)

Let me tell you, I'm not sure I would have been brave enough to ride a sheep, a burro, or a calf as a 11 year old.....then again, at that age I did climb aboard my pony and did this, and in this outfit.

Oh, the humiliation! This one is going in the mortification memoirs. I mean, let's break down the whole awful mess.

First of all, let's take a look at the outfit. The hot pink too-small sweatpants. The grubby tennis shoes. The little 1980's rainbow t-shirt, also a size too small. WHERE OH WHERE were the Twisted X boots? The Cruel Girl Jeans? A shirt that fits? The Troxel Sienna helmet?

And how can a pair of sweatpants be too small for you when you appear to only weigh about....42 pounds?

I am most proud of the bareback pad I am riding on. After all, I made it myself, probably on my mom's sewing machine. Or maybe I even hand stitched it. Don't ask how it was secured around my pony's belly. I think I just knotted the nylon strap. I do remember the material, it was striped like a train engineer's denim overalls. The underside was some leftover batting my mom had in the sewing basket.

Now, that jump. One blue vinyl lawn chair on one end, an orange vinyl lawn chair on the other. Two cedar split rail posts and two 2x4's in between. It even looks like we (I saw we, because I am most certain Paint Girl was my partner in crime here) propped up the rails onto scrap plywood and bricks to give it an extra couple of inches of height. This was one well-thought out and designed obstacle, my friends. Which we probably also made the family dog jump over after we put the ponies away.

And just so you know how influential my fashion sense was at the time, here is a picture of Paint Girl jumping her pony the same day.

I guess I hadn't taught her how to make bareback pads yet. I was probably too busy filing the paperwork to trademark my pattern. But the too-small sweatpants and t-shirt, sneakers, and lack of helmet....she clearly took fashion advice from her big sis.

I guess I have come a long way since I was.....11.

But as I said, you have to start somewhere.


44 comments:

  1. Ah, but you forgot to mention your form in such a jump! And those pretty orange reins!

    Thanks for sharing!! :) :)

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  2. {Tammy}~ Oh, I don't even want to VISIT the form (I was hoping nobody would notice.) The reins were red (bad photo coloring.) I was red, red, red in all of my tack and gear. Paint girl was blue, blue, blue!

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  3. Ok sis, I haven't laughed so hard in a very long time. I really needed something to cheer me up and I am crying at work right now because I couldn't stop laughing! Am I making any sense?
    You look like you are wearing a clown outfit! And I so remember that bareback pad you made, putting together those jumps, since we didn't have much money and we did have to start somewhere, we just made do with what we had. No fancy, expensive trainers, we were lucky if we even got a lesson from our neighbor, no $5000 horses, only $200 ponies.
    Not everyone got to be as lucky as us though, at least we had those $200 ponies!
    By the way I liked my outfit better than yours! And yes, we did make the dogs jump those jumps too! Oh memories!

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  4. {Paint Girl}~ A clown outfit? I mean really....well yes, I admit you have a point there. Glad you got a good laugh, I know you needed it!
    p.s. yes, your outfit was better. But you stole all of my clothes so it was probably mine. ;) xo

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  5. PG oh, now that is funny! You and your sis are just too darned cute, love it, thanks for sharing!
    Jane and Gilly

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  6. Great post. Brought back memories of my own adventures when I was that age.

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  7. That also brought back memories of my horse adventures when I was that age! Wow I didn't sew until much older so I am impressed! One of my old photos of me at that age with my horse I have on a shirt of 2 red bandanas sewn up on the sides and shoulders, instant top! he he

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  8. Great picture PG LOL, brings back memories, so good, some not so good LOL. Great stuff, made me laugh too! not at you but with you! And yes we all had to start somewhere!

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  9. Oh my gosh, I LOVE IT!!! So remindes me of myself! I think everyone had an outfit like the one you're rockin' here! I'm totally diggin' the lawn chair jump. Personally, I used plastic plant pots stacked up and an old piece of wood from a trellis. I don't think I was ever brave enough to jump bareback though...and to make your own pad! I'm thinking of purchasing one in the near future...maybe you can hook me up? ;)

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  10. lmfao amazing!!!

    I remember making jumps out of milk crates, brooms and whatever I could find to fill in the gaps so they didnt look run through-able.

    I digress I still make really stupid, random jumps. I used two ramps for the carriage in the trailer and then another time four pylons in a row. I think the best was an old canoe we found at the neighbors potlake. Propped it up with my friend with field stone and jumped it a few times then swam in the pot lake. Even snow and leaves are able to be piled and jumped. lol!

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  11. Look at my two cute little girls! Such memories! You lived on your horses!!!

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  12. I would definately have ridden anything that bucked when I was little! I have read about and seen video's of the "mutten" riding and I think it looks like fun but have not seen a child hurt, that could change my mind. However I think your fashion sense back then helped shape it today!LOL You went totally the opposite direction!!!

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  13. Sis, all you needed was a red wig and a red clown nose! Like I said, clown outfit! I am still laughing!

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  14. This is TOO FUNNY!!! (especially the description of the outfits) How in the world did any of us survive the stuff we used to do?

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  15. PG I am loving this post!! And LOL the whole way through!! I'm glad that another blogger has an embarrassing picture of themselves up LOL!! Great story and I think it's great you could create your own jumps!!

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  16. Dang, I have "gene pool envy." In my mind, I was and remain thin and willowy as you two. Alas, it does not match the reality of ample Teutonic bone structure.

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  17. thanks for sharing those photos - too cute! You guys both look tall and really slim, so that probably explains the small track pants!!! :-)

    Love the home-made jumps - I never thought to use lawn chairs! I just used old logs and stumps.

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  18. Oh, that is hilarious! The jump is really the best part, I can see you both looking around for things to prop the wood up with... the sweat pants are great, too!
    Thanks for braving the humiliation and sharing these pics!

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  19. AWESOME! Did we share a childhood? HOly smokes, when I think of riding in running shoes... my stirrups had covers, at least, but I didn't even have a saddle for my pony until I was about 11. I don't even care if it was embarrassing, dude, because you are correct: gotta start somewhere!

    My sweat pants had holes in 'em. I also had one truly ugly shirt - I mean it was so ugly I RAN from the house to the barn so nobody on the highway would see it. No lie.

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  20. I wish I had some pictures of me riding when I was younger. I can't even find the pictures of my horse and ponies!

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  21. Looks like you had an interesting childhood on horseback! I have to tell ya, I've done some pretty crazy stuff. And I'm a bit risky on my horse. But, it's fun, and that's all that really matters, right!? Haha.

    Lydia

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  22. LOL! Love the outfit. I think I had some of the same sweats and t shirts! Y'all were quite creative in your jump building. Great post!

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  23. Those are precious pictures. Very creative jumps you built.

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  24. No fashion sense required fo kids having fun!

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  25. Girl, that is hilarious!! I love the shirt!! I think I had the same one!! To go with my perm!! LOL!! The jump is great! Who needs safety when you are having fun? LOL

    And both my boys have ridden sheep! They love it. If you ask my middle boy, who is named after Lane Frost, what he wants to do when he grows up, he says "Ride bucking bulls". The first time he rode a sheep, he held on with his legs and put both hands in the air and said, "WHAHOOOOO!!" He was two. Boys......

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  26. I swear we were separated at birth! My mother has a photo of me cleaning stalls in my two piece swim suit, lol!

    I hauled my niece out to do mutton bustin a few years ago. She's yet to forgive me and automatically picks up a limp whenever she sees me.

    And yes, Harney County is southeast Oregon. Come with me. We'll play with wild horses together. We'll just be better dressed than we were 30 years ago!

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  27. {Tracey}~ I think you should post that photo! C'mon, I did it! ;) By the way, doesn't Karen over at the Rough String live in Harney County? We can start a whole new bloggerville ranch!

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  28. What a sweet story! (even with the outfits!LOL) I love to read stories like these on peoples blogs i think they are great! As far as those kids riding sheep and such..I wont get on my soap box completely...but I bet you those people against it and who claim child abuse never even knew an animal while growing up or to this day know nothing of what a great life it us...and the crazy things kids do (in front of or BEHIND parents backs) Geez..I wish they would just leave the animal saving to the animals that actually need it!

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  29. Those clothes are so funny. Ya gotta love the 80's. Now the lawn chairs had me cracking up. That is such a thing kids would come up with when left to their own devices. Where were your Mom and Dad? I don't even think you can buy that kind of lawn chair anymore,I kinda miss them!

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  30. {Sares}~ You can still buy that kind of lawnchair! I have a deteriorating one that I bought a few years ago on my patio as we speak. I think I might sell it at the garage sale, LOL! It's been left outside in the rain a little too long.

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  31. Haha, great post!!! It brought back memories of my friends and I and our home made jumps. We always had metal barrels around for some reason, I don't even know where they came from originally. Anyway, we'd put boards on them when they were laying on their sides. If you were really daring you'd stand them up and put the boards on top. (I wasn't that daring!) We'd find all kinds of things and make jumps out of them. We even had a cross country course in a field that was down the street. Oh what fun times!

    Oh, and even though I am a little older than you I can tell you that the outfits in the 70s were every bit as bad (or even worse) than the 80s! Thanks for sharing your photos!

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  32. Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving such a kind comment! Absolutely love your site! That photo of you riding as a girl (with the pink trackpants)and your commentary on the outfit is hilarious!! :) I will enjoy exploring your blog further.

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  33. Funny post! I laugh and cringe at the same time because we all looked so goofy back then. I really don't think I have the inner strength to post any of MY pictures from those days (mostly burned them so my future husband wouldn't wonder how our kids would turn out)--so I give you kudos for bravery!

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  34. Funny... You say your tack was red and PaintGirl's was blue... Then I look at your picture on your side bar of you two today on your ponies... You have a red bandana on and PaintGirl has blue! ;)

    By the way, my tack was all forest green! Then I graduated from teal... Now I'm more natural and added brown to my teal. ;)

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  35. LOL!!!! I think that our mother's shopped at the same clothing stores or something!!!!!
    What we they/we thinking????

    My sisters and I used to make crazy jumps and obstacles like that too. Thanks for the trip down memory lane. :)

    PS-Maybe, when I have the time, I will do a post like this one!

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  36. {Mud-Ranch}~ Those were our "vintage cowgirl" outfits for that trail ride on the sidebar picture, funny about the colors being opposite from when we were kids, LOL! Currenly, Paint Girl's colors for her mares are burgandy. Mine for My Boy are green. So I guess we've left red and blue in the dust, LOL!

    {Melanie}~ I would love to see a post from your childhood days. Just do it~ it's not as embarrassing as I thought, hee!

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  37. fernvalley is right. As kids we were only into having fun. Fashion? Oh my I hate to look back and remember the things I wore. he he. I did love to ride bareback. Fun post. Thanks for the sweet comment.

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  38. Girl~LOL! What I would give to have been riding at that age! I started later in life! Love the outfit! I'm sure it was all the rage back then!

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  39. What a wonderfully silly post, so funny! I love your '80s dress sense as it was just like mine!
    And I just noticed your footer photo....WOW!
    Thanks for your lovely comment :D
    Slobbers xx

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  40. Oh how as kids we were fearless! Just hink of what we go through now to ride horse and how easy it was back then..LOL!

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  41. I LOVE your blog!!! I think we are kindred spirits-bad outfits and all ;) If you dont mind i would love to put your link on my blog! Keep up the good work!
    Jen

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  42. You were so lucky to have ponies, I would have worn burlap potato sacks everyday to have a pony !

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  43. Dear Lord PG... I may have to check in the dusty photo albums around here for some embarrassing pics to see if I can top that. Not sure I can beat that outfit though!! Your fashion sure has improved... as (I imagine) your form has too!
    :-)
    BB
    PS Do you twitter? the question at my place!

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  44. Oh kids... no fear! Loved it all and thank you so much for sharing.

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I love hearing from my readers!! I truly enjoy all of your feedback, advice, helpful tips, and stories. You all make me laugh and I learn so much from you, too. I will try to post replies to your comments as often as I can.

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