Car Accident and Kansas Reining Show

Howdy my brothas and sistas. i think you've all heard about the car crash that Pagel's were in on Thursday night. I heard it from a friend that heard it on the news, and I looked it up online, ends up that my good friends Ron and Tim Pagel were in a car accident that night, they called us back the next day while we were on the road and gave us the report: Tim's perfectly fine, just a little cut up, but Ron's got a broken hip. That's really tough because he's not exactly a little guy and he's got a farm to run. Tim says he's going to have surgury tomorrow then be laid up for three months at least. Owch. Thankfully Tim's got lots of people helping him with chores, including us. We went over tonight and I learned that yes, cows are not as smart as horses, they are also bigger and will try to run you over. So after 45 minutes and the use of a nylon rope that burns your hands, me and Tim got all the cows in their stalls. Then a little later Jake Pearson showed up, Holly and Tim fed calves and Jake showed me how to milk cows. Then we all spent some time in the calf shed chasing mice, then finally getting everything wrapped up by 10:00pm. He even fed us supper! Good times.
Friday morning we left for Topeka, Kansas for our first reining show of the year, and it went pretty dang well. It was a two day show. Youth 13 & Under, Holly won it both days, but there was only one other little girl in it. Youth 14-18 I was 2nd the first day and won it the second day. Dad showed my palomino colt (Cabin) in the Novice Horse, and tied to win it, I was proud of my little guy. Then the second day in the Novice Horse, Dad and I tied with each other to win it, that was neat. And the Non-Pro, the second day I tied to win the Limited, and tied for 2nd in the Intermediate and the Non-Pro. In other words, we took home 6 first-place plaques and 4 second-place ribbons. Great weekend. Good place to get our horses out before the year really gets going. And Kansas rocked. It was warm, grass was green, trees had flowers on them... and the people were awesome, everyone's so nice down there. Reinings are my true home, the only place I can walk around with my hat and belt and boots and am friends with everyone and feel important. Heck one of the young Open riders (Open = trainer/pro) even came up to me after the youth and said I had a good run. These are my kind of people. Sad there's none in this area. Anyway, last weekend Kansas, this weekend Fergus Falls MN, a good long trip north. This one counts for the North Central Circuit, and three or four girls from the 13 & Under group moved up to the 14-18 group in the Youth this year, and they all have "big money" horses and their trainer primes their horse right before they go in and show, whereas I train my own horse (with my Dad's help every once in a while) and do everything myself before I show. So it's going to be tougher this year, but I'm up to it. It's a great feeling when you show against an $87,000 horse who's owner pays thousands each month to keep it in training and beat it with my old gelding that we raised and trained ourselves. Hard work really does pay off.
If you read everything this far, I congrat and thank you. There will be a quiz on Friday. Not really. Can't wait for it to dry up outside and the ground get back to normal so I can take my horses out through the woods. Everything changes over the winter, and it's a great escape for me to just ride away and be by myself. Boots is ready to get out there too I can tell. Can't wait to go loping through the fields, coming up on a group of deer, kicking up a pheasant, crossing creeks, and just riding outside again...
cy'all