The month of October began in a rushed attempt to get my schedule under control before my events began, simply because I won’t slow down now nearly until January. I kicked of the month with a flight northeast to Columbus, Ohio for the annual All American Quarter Horse Congress and a chance to visit with some good friends, Dee Staley and Lonnie Best.
The morning of the ninth I was off to Tulsa to catch a 6am flight that brought me into Columbus that afternoon on a sunny but chilly Friday. Dee was there to pick me up at the airport and take me directly to the Ohio Expo Center where the 43rd annual Congress was held. After moving into Dee & Lonnie’s “humble little horse trailer” (I hope you all catch the sarcasm because it was nicer than most homes! J ) for the week, we were off to explore the grounds. If there is one thing Dee and I have in common it is our love for shopping and with 400 some-odd vendors on site, we were ooh-ing and aw-ing from booth to booth before we ventured over to the barns for a visit with Dee’s friends and trainer. They were a rowdy, fun, story-telling bunch who never failed to get a laugh out of me! Dee’s trainer Bill, aka Hank, was a hoot and entertained me the whole week and when his friends joined in, they made for memorable experiences! Dee was set to show on Saturday so we turned in early to get a jump start on the day coming up.
Buttons is a gorgeous 3-year-old mare who Dee entered to show in a halter class and they spent all morning primping and preparing. Do I mean DEE primped all morning? Nope! Bill had Buttons shining by the time they entered the arena but he pampered her for over 3 hours prior to the class! I know now how a hand vacuum, gel baby oil and white spray paint are used on a show horse. It might have been at that moment that I realized and accepted that this truly is NOT my world! Lonnie showed up that morning in time to join us all in watching Dee show and although she didn’t place how she hoped she would, we all had a wonderful evening none the less, including a trip to my favorite restaurant, Texas Roadhouse! Yum!
Sunday was queen day! I had the pleasure of mixing a little of Jamie with a little of Miss Rodeo USA on this trip and only dressed up a few times while relaxed during the rest. On Sunday, Dee had arranged for me to sign some autographs at Leonard’s Truck and Trailer booth on the grounds and I was pleased to wake up to sunshine regardless of the 50 degree weather! It was a tad cold for this girl! Apparently, I’ve been in Oklahoma too long and my blood can’t handle much less than 50 degrees, I’m in trouble for winter! Leonard’s was kind enough to set me up a booth in the heart of traffic that morning and I had the chance to meet many Congress-goers and sign a few photos. The rest of the afternoon was spent making the rounds in Congress Hall amongst the retail vendors, many of which took a special interest to this rodeo girl in a horse show world. I would like to thank the new and blossoming company of Good Ride out of Florida for their generous donations. They loaded up a bag full of shirts, caps and misc items for me and I was thrilled to receive such fun clothing and help get the word out about their growing business. Monday was the biggest day yet to come with Dee showing her stallion Wandy in the Performance Stallion Halter class. Off to bed to begin fresh!
To give you a bit of background on Wandy (or Mr. Wonderful as Dee lovingly refers to him) is Dee’s prime barrel and pole horse. He is a gorgeous stallion who apparently can really move and kick it into high gear! Dee has been really pleased with his performance in the arena but it was her trainer, Bill that decided they needed to enter Wandy into the Performance Stallion category that was recently created at the Congress. Admitting she was slightly nervous, Dee confessed she has never shown Wandy in halter before that day. When she stepped in that show ring, it would be their maiden voyage (at least afoot!) and she jokingly will tell you that she would have rather thrown a saddle on and entered at 90mph instead! With family and friends watching, Dee and Wandy did their thing in the arena and soon it was time for placings. We were thrilled to hear how nicely each of the four judges where ranking her and Wandy and by the time the overall scores were being tabulated, we knew she had a chance at first. When the moment of truth came, Dee came out on top! She strutted her stuff across that arena as I was coming unglued in the stands! We were all so excited for Dee and a Congress Champion is something to be extremely proud of! We were all on cloud nine for the rest of the evening and put us on a high going into Tuesday.
My final day in Columbus turned out to be a beautiful morning but I was sad to leave. I had had such a wonderful experience getting to witness the largest horse show in the country and to watch a dear friend win such a prestigious award. It truly was a wonderful trip and I can’t thank Dee and Lonnie enough for all they did to bring me to Ohio as well as what they do for the Miss Rodeo USA Association. Not only do they provide the career advancement award but they donate a tremendous amount of time to the pageant and we are extremely grateful for their involvement. Dee & Lonnie; you two are the best and I am SO thankful to have had the opportunity to get to know you both better, thank you for the laughs and the unique experiences of Congress, I can’t wait to see you both again soon! It was hard to leave but that afternoon I took off for Tulsa and was greeted by the whole Duvall family at the airport and enjoyed a delicious meal out on the town before heading home to Henryetta.
I barely had a moment to take a breath before Thursday arrived and girls for the seventh annual Miss Rodeo USA Queen Clinic arrived with it! This year we pulled in 10 participants from six states who were eager to learn more about our pageant as well as the queen world in general. Because of how the economy has been and how deeply everyone has been affected, our association made the decision to hold the clinic in the comfort of the Duvall home instead of an hour and a half down the road in Oklahoma City. Financially, it cut the cost dramatically for both the association and more importantly, the clinic girls. On Thursday night, girls began filing into the Duvall home in preparation for Friday’s kick-off. By 9am the next morning we had a full house and we were all anxious to begin! We dedicated all day on Friday to horsemanship and provide horses as well as coaching for each girl in order for them to have the opportunity to jump on various different horses and receive feedback on their skills. A BIG thank you to Tanner McElhaney for saddling and warming up all the horses for the girls, we appreciated being able to just jump on and get to work! We spent the morning on horseback, broke for a quick pizza lunch and were back in the saddle for a few more rotations. That evening we thawed out in the living room where we discussed horsemanship in more detail as well as all categories of interest.
Saturday was a FULL day for the girls of the clinic! We began at 9am and weren’t in bed until nearly 11pm because we had filled the day so full of activities and lectures in attempt to find everything in that needed to be covered. While I was able to do most of the clinic myself, with the aide of our incredible clinic notebook, I was thrilled to have four past queens on hand for additional opinions and feedback. Thank you to Joannna Blackwell (MRUSA 2005), Katie Woods (MRUSA 2004), Kristin Scott (MRUSA 2008), and Amy Duvall (National Director, MRUSA 1995), and Katie Wood’s mom, Janet who all helped out tremendously! What a great group of ladies! We covered anything from personal interviews and appearance to speeches and modeling. After putting in a full day, we all crashed to be up and going on Sunday to finish out the clinic.
One of the most beneficial aspects of the Miss Rodeo USA clinic is that we video each girl and send them back with clips of themselves as well as tips and critiques to help them improve. Sunday morning we add the most important video to their DVD, a mock personal interview. We spend the majority of the morning interviewing each girl and working with them one on one and tried to wrap up the weekend early enough to get the far travelers back on the road.
We had a phenomenal group of young ladies who attended this event and I’m thrilled to know that they all had a positive (and FUN!) experience at the 2009 Miss Rodeo USA clinic. Thank you again to all who contributed to the clinic; Clinicians (Joanna, Katie, Janet, Amy, Kristin), those who organized food and overall help (Julie Hettich, Debra Jones, Athie Duvall), Dr. Jones for the beautiful photos, and Tanner for helping out with the horses. We had a successful weekend due to the help and dedication of all those who attended and participated, THANK YOU!
Up next, “Amy & Jamie’s Dallas Adventure!” Stay turned to find out what kind of trouble we can get into at the Dallas Market this weekend. Look out Texas! J