Crooked River Roundup - Prineville, OR

For June 25-27 I headed east for Crooked River Roundup! It was a lot of fun with 3 PRCA performances and a parade on Saturday. I had a blast.

I think the best part for me was camping! I haven't ever camped at a rodeo before, and let me tell you, if you are planning on sleeping in a tent at a rodeo BEFORE 2 am, it isn't gonna happen. Luckily the second night, I got some ear plugs :)

I got to know a few more queens on this trip including Lacey McBeth, the 2010 Crooked River Roundup Queen, Ashley Zeigler who is our 2010 Miss Rodeo Oregon and the 2010 Canby Rodeo girls, Queen Katie Trapp, Princess Erika Roney and Princess Emily Wilhite. I am very thankful that the Canby girls adopted me and let me hang out with them, especially on the walk to our staging spot in the parade! We had a good time hanging out and getting lost in Prineville.

I had a wonderful time on Tough Enough to Wear Pink night and was especially enthralled with the Posie Shop in Prineville, OR who set up a booth named Double D Ranch and sold Bras For A Cause! It was amazing to see the people support the fight against breast cancer, which I get to do at my own rodeo next weekend.

I also want to say thanks to Lacey for asking me to help out with running cattle back during the rodeo. I haven't actually gotten to work cattle at a RODEO before so it was nice to do that before my chance came up at the Eugene Pro! I had a blast helping with the give-away of some Wranglers to two audience members and helping with the stick-horse race for all the kids! Thanks Prineville for a fun rodeo!

 and Lacey McBeth, the CRR Queen

Sisters Rodeo - Sisters, OR

This past weekend was the Sisters Rodeo and it definitly got me in rodeo/summer mode! The rodeo was June 11-13 but I had to miss the Friday night performance and the parade Saturday morning because of my high school graduation. (Congrats PHill Class of 2010!!) But after a little bit of rush and no sleep due to the all-night grad party, we hopped in the truck and made it LITERALLY just in time for the afternoon performance on Saturday.

The weather was amazing and I had a great time hanging out waiting for the performance later that night. I was pretty pumped when I found out that Sunday was Tough Enough To Wear Pink Night since I just happened to bring my pink stuff with me. I have to admit that my pink shirt looked a little odd with red, white and blue chaps :) I enjoyed getting to talk to the Cottage Grove court a little more and thank you Karen Hoagland for letting my tie my pony to your trailor when we left for some food! And while Im saying the thank you's, thanks Karissa for letting us stay with you!

I was also excited to be handing out autograph sheets for the first time this season! Emily Strub with Unbridled Imagery did an AMAZING job taking photos for me! At the rodeo, not only did kids rush me for autogrphs, I also had a few adults ask for one too! One man in particular asked for one and asked that I write it "Big Daddy Delish". I dont think that was his real name... lol

< Me and Cottage Grove Jr. Queen, Tana Weston

Strawberry Festival Parade - Lebanon, OR

On Saturday, I headed to Lebanon for the Strawberry Festival and Parade! I was very surprised that so many people came out to watch and it was such a beautiful day, which has been pretty rare lately :)

I had a great time getting ready for my first parade of the season and had a little help from Karen (Benton County Queen) who loaned me a couple zip ties. I was in need of these, mostly because of the incredible flower-pack that Tine Johnson made for me! The pack was huge! But Im sure my pony loved it. We too 2nd in the horse divsion of the parade. The Canby court was there, along with the Cottage Grove court, the Philomath Frolic Queen, the Benton County Queen and the Sweet Home Queen.

I had a great time on the route and even heard a few people say they would be seeing me on the 4th of July! I cant wait and the time is getting close to this year's EPR! This weekend I have my high school graduation and then leaving that night for the Sisters Rodeo. See you there!

Cottage Grove Rodeo Queen Coronation

On Friday night I visited the Cottage Grove Coronation at the Masonic Lodge in Cottage Grove. We had a wonderful dinner which doubled as a fundraiser for the Rodeo Drill Team, which being from the area, I have a lot of friends that are on the team. I had the chance to visit with my friend Bre Whiting who was the 2009 CG Jr. Queen. (Who in a few years better be trying out for Eugene!) I had a great time seeing Nicole, Hannah, Kayla, and the Salem Flag Team girls who all came as visiting royalty. Of course Karen Hoagland was there too, as she was the 2009 CG Sr. Queen and is now the 2010 Benton County Fair and Rodeo Queen. We all had a great time talking about how gracefully we could try to eat spaghetti and salad which obvioulsy did not go well :)
After dinner was the coronation and we got to meet our new Cottag Grove Sr. Queen, Jessica Marshal and her Sr. Princess Kristen Ankeny. Also we met Tana Weston who is the Cottage Grove Jr. Queen. Tana also won the MRO Spirit award, and just from listening to her talk briefly, I can tell she deserved it! I'm very excited to see them at upcoming events!
I want to thank Cottage Grove for having me, especially Tonia Porter for giving me some advice and working with me even though she has her own new court to worry about now!
I'd like to say the next event I'm going to would be the Salem Rodeo this weekend, but I haven't been able to find anything out about it. So my next written down event will be Sister's Rodeo in June. (However I know I won't be able to wait that long!)

Yoncalla Rodeo Tryouts

Today I spent all day in Yoncalla, OR visiting old friends, helping as much as I could, and smiling a ton!
I had a blast and got to watch 4 girls compete for the title of the 2010 Yoncalla Rodeo Queen. The contestants were Whitney Richey, Katie Watkins, Kayla Weeldreyer and Koryssa Campbell. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that I was not the only visiting royalty, Miss NPRA Nicole Schrock came and so did the South Douglas Rodeo Queen Hannah. Also there to help was the 2009 Yoncalla Rodeo Queen, Jessi. I enjoyed meeting them and can't wait to see Nicole and Hannah around.
The girls competed first in horsemanship then modeling and speech. I thought everyone did great even when they had to switch ponies! I actually felt nervous like I was the one competing; imagine how they felt!

After eating some delicious cake, the new queen was announced! I want to congratulate Kayla on becoming the next Yoncalla Rodeo Queen with runner-up Whitney. I look forward to see her around at rodeos and having a familiar face to chat with! I know I will see her this Friday as we are both attending the Cottage Grove Rodeo Coronation. Good luck CG girls!

And one last thought, I  overheard Nicole (Miss NPRA) talking about her response to people when they ask why she doesn't run for Miss Rodeo Oregon and I loved what she said. (however I am bad at quoting, so I'm getting the gist of it :D) She said that she loved being Miss NPRA because she could be a part of the smaller rodeos that are family-oriented and tightly knitted into the community. And to her, that was what rodeo is about. I loved hearing this because that is what I think rodeo should be about also and I admire her for being humble and just totally awesome.

Spring Stampede - Corvallis, OR

On Saturday, April 3rd, I traveled up Highway 99 to the Spring Stampede at the Benton County Fairgrounds. I was invited by Karen Hoagland who is the 2010 queen there.
It was a huge rush getting there, as this weekend was also my last OHSET meet! The minute I got off of my horse after running poles, I went to the bathroom, put in my hot rollers and loaded the pony. Because horse shows run late, I was also running late to get to the rodeo by 6 pm. I ended up getting there and ready just in time and would have been locked out had it not been for the tractor going in to till the arena! I missed warm up and the time to meet everyone so I was pretty nervous!
Thanks to Karen for getting me cooled down; it was also my first rodeo without a court to ask something like, did that lady just say I go in after the Corvallis Queen? Does that exist? Turns out she ment Fort Dalles! I got to see Cera Kem who was the Benton County Queen last year and I got to to talk with Jean McPherson shortly who is the coordinator for Miss NPRA.
I was excited to see so many queens at the rodeo like the Northwest Youth Rodeo Assoc. Court, the Fort Dalles Queen, the Sweet Home Queen, Miss NPRA and more.
Sadly, I didn't get any pictures, and I had to leave almost as soon as I got there since I had to get back to Oregon Horse Center for my meet. I hope to see everyone at the next rodeo I go to, which will probably be the Salem Rodeo later this month.

Northwest Horse Expo

Last weekend I got the chance to ride in the Northwest Horse Expo, not only representing my pony's breed (POA) but also as the Eugene Pro Rodeo Queen! Friday through Sunday, the Oregon POA Club had a ten minute slot to ride in the arena. On Saturday, March 20th, we rode in the main arena and I got to do my first official run-in as queen! I was already pretty pumped and I was even more excited when I actually heard a some people cheering for me when they made my introduction. Right after getting off, my pony and I got stuck in the congestion of people outside and I got off to remove my chaps and a little girl came and asked to pet Dusty. I said yes, if she didn't mind a sweaty pony. (Ten minutes of being amped up in the arena!) She had a good time and told me about the pony she was going to get when she grows up and I remembered why I love this job out of all of the horse things I've ever done.

The weekend was long, lots of driving back and forth from Springfield to Albany, but I definitly had a blast. And since our arena slots were so late in the day, I got lots of laughs and comments on my hot rollers in my hair! And even more comments asking how I keep my white jeans and white pony clean! And I learned it is very hard to try to warm up a hyper pony with hot rollers in! A lady even asked if she could take a picture of me trying to ride with them. I declined :)
The next appearance I plan on being at will be the Yoncalla Rodeo Tryouts on April 10th. That way I can represent my rodeo, visit some old friends from my reign in 2008 and help out a couple friends trying out. Good luck Katie and Whitney!