Rain, Rain, Go Away! It seems to be following me wherever I go these days! This past weekend I spent my time in Owasso, Oklahoma for the Owasso Round-Up Club (ORUC) IPRA Rodeo and queen pageant. My weekend began at 4am on Friday morning to get me ready and on the road to make breakfast with the princess, teen and queen contestants as well as a morning radio interview via cell phone on my way into town. A dozen young ladies competed for the three titles and they were all beautiful and well qualified! I had a great time getting to know each one of them and participating in many of their activities. After we all had our fill of IHOP, we loaded into a caravan of vehicles to hit the trail to visit numerous generous sponsors of the ORUC. Before long, we were sitting down to yet another filling meal and then released to get ready for the evening rodeo.
The weather had been warm, muggy and full of hair-do-killing-moisture but I was thankful that by the time performance time rolled around, we were all looking our best and the storm broke. We were blessed with a beautiful evening, although a very goopy, soupy arena. I was honored to set grand entry pivots, lead grand entry, carry the American flag as well as granted a queen run to boot! Thank you to the ORUC for recognizing me so thoroughly, I appreciate your support! On top of the constant spotlight, I was given a wonderful horse provided by Marilyn Hardacre’s, ORUC Queen Coordinator, granddaughter, Lexy. Thank you to them for loaning me Mama for the weekend, she did well in the arena and was the perfect queen horse!
The night was a late one with the performance wrapping up around 10:30pm and slack to follow. Luckily, I was able to get to bed early enough to catch some sleep before my alarm brought me out of a deep slumber for the Saturday morning parade. Throughout the weekend, Kent’s Custom Cars and Trucks of Owasso generously loaned a truck to the club to haul around the beautiful horse trailer given to the queen for the year and I was thrilled to hop on the bed of the truck for the parade. My chauffer, Porky kept the morning entertaining with his jokes, choice of tunes, and slamming on the brakes right when I let go of my handles!
The contestants are not only judged on standard categories such as personality, interview and horsemanship but they take into account their performance in Friday night’s grand entry as well as the parade. Once they had finished the route, the pressure was off and they were free to enjoy our upcoming sponsor visits and a BBQ lunch. Our next pit stop was at the stockyards in Owasso where I was surprised to learn that I was a volunteer auctioneer who would sell off the first goat of that day’s sale! The poor auctioneer thought I wasn’t serious about following through with the dare but I was ready to steal that mic as soon as we began the sale. He let me watch a few examples but a whole lot of good that did! I couldn’t see any of the hands going up, nor could I understand a single word coming out of his mouth! Soon it was my turn and they brought in the CUTEST brown baby goat that was no bigger than a small puppy. I started the sale by saying “SOLD – To me because I’m taking it home instead!” We had a ton of fun and they slowed it WAY down and raised their hands extra high for this beginner but I think everyone enjoyed the unique change in their routine.
Lunch flew by and the rest of the afternoon was dedicated to tallying scores for the final results of the princess, teen and queen contests. The girls all did so well and I was truly impressed with their maturity and poise. I hope some of them consider coming to Miss Rodeo USA in a few years! After a few hours of paperwork, we had our results and were off once again to prepare for the final performance of the rodeo and the crowning moment.
The day had been a cool one and lacking moisture so thankfully the arena had dried out just a bit but we were still in need of our wonderful gifted zebra-print mud boots provided by the ORUC pageant staff. How cute they were, plus very useful! You haven't seen rodeo queens at their best until you've see a herd of them in bright colors and matching mud boots treking through the rodeo grounds! The opening went as the previous night’s had but after steer wrestling, I loaded onto the John Deere Gator to enter the arena and help with the crowning. Congratulations to Princess Emma, Teen Hailey, and Queen Jennifer for their accomplishments! After the new title holders received their awards, we were all coming down fast. It had been a hectic two days and we were all pretty wore out! I barely made it to my bed before I was out like a light and attempting to reenergize from our weekend.
Thank you to Marilyn Hardacre for sponsoring my visit to Owasso as well as opening your home to me for a couple days. I enjoyed getting to know you, Larry and the rest of your family. Lexy, thank you for the great horse to ride and Morgan, thank you for being such a good ‘chaperone’! Thank you also to Porky (aka: Piglet) Dana, Maddy, Austin, and Walker for all your help this past week! I look forward to my next visit to Owasso and seeing all the new friends I’ve made. Thank you all for a wonderful weekend and now it is two days of R&R before hitting the road to Pryor for their 70th Annual IPRA Rodeo! Weather, PLEASE cooperate this weekend for a change! Keep your fingers crossed and think positive thoughts! Until next time, God bless!
had soo much fun with you :):)
Posted by: Morgan | May 11, 2009 at 08:25 PM
Hey Jamie we are glad you are having a great year so far. We miss you back in Ellensburg. =D
Posted by: The Adams Family | May 14, 2009 at 08:18 PM
hey jamie!this is taylor the 2008 miss owasso ruc princess!i had a blast with you while you were here in owasso!i cant wait to see you at the pawneebill memorial rodeo!it will be soooooo much fun!well that is all!thak you!
Posted by: taylor | June 08, 2009 at 01:15 PM
Hey Jamie!This is Taylor the 2008 Miss Owasso R.U.C. princess!I had a blast with you here in Owasso!I cant wait until the Pawnee bill Memorial rodeo!It will be sooooooo much fun!well that is all!THANK YOU!:)
Posted by: taylor | June 08, 2009 at 01:21 PM