Summer’s Activities

I’m going to tell you a little about what I’ve been doing here and why you haven’t heard from me. Well in the month of June, I made contact with a really neat guy named Greg Norris, who lives in Virginia in the Blue Ridge Smokey Mountains, and he hired me for a private clinic.

 

Well, this was my first trip to the Appalachian mountains, and it’s pretty darn interesting; in fact it was one heck of a fun experience. Greg has some really nice horses. We worked with him for four days and got a lot done. Greg’s a good hand, and he seemed to learn an awful lot. He’s also a fine guy–he treated us well, plus he introduced us to a lot of his local friends. They live in “hollers”. I didn’t really understand what a holler was for sure, so we went and looked.

 

Well, hollers are just little gullies with lots of trees and pretty mountains. The Blue Ridge Mountains are blue. They’re just as blue as it gets. I asked them why it kind of looks like there has been a fire because it’s blue, smoky looking blue. They said no, that’s just the way it is there. They have a very unique lifestyle with very grass roots and traditional values, and boy they stick to them.

 

We went to the Saturday night hoedown at the hardware store. They clear out the middle of the store and played the type of music they’ve played since the beginning I guess, whenever the beginning was. This is the same area where the Hatfield’s and McCoy’s were–lots of coal miners.

 

Anyhow they did the flat-foot dance–flopped their elbows, and clickety clacked with taps on their toes and heels. They do some pretty western dances. I didn’t see anybody there drinking if they were. They certainly don’t go there to get drunk but boy they do have fun. They’ve got the little kids and the old folks and everybody out there dancing at the same time. It is so nice to see that there are real traditional family values out there.

 

After we worked with Greg, we jumped in the car and went to the racetrack, Keeneland. We had quite an experience. We went back stage into the stables, looked at the horses, and met some of the grooms. We saw some of the trainers and lots of pretty horses.

 

Near Keeneland, we went on a thoroughbred ranch tour and saw the Kentucky Horse Park, which is very, very interesting. The tour of the farms was breathtaking. The horses that I saw were the greatest thoroughbreds in the world, and they did not look like thoroughbreds to me. They looked like the prettiest quarter horses I’ve ever seen in my life. They didn’t look real lean and long and lanky like I expected. These horses were really balanced and really beautiful.

 

Then we went on to Churchill Downs where the Kentucky Derby is held. They have a big virtual-reality room; it’s like a barrel. It might be 70 or 80 feet across, and there’s 360 degrees of screen projected around you. It’s like a surround screen. It takes you to a day at the Kentucky Derby, starting early in the morning when the grooms get up and start getting the horses ready for the Kentucky Derby. Boy! I will tell you; you can feel the tension, electricity, excitement, the color and the glamour of the day.  It’s just amazing. I can tell you, it had to be as good as or better than going to the Kentucky Derby. They also have a museum there where you can see the hats that some of the famous ladies have worn (They’ve got some bizarre ones). We watched the horses train there at the track and went on a riverboat ride. So the whole thing was pretty darn interesting.

 

Then I drove on to Nashville. I have never seen Nashville. I got to see the Grand Ole Opry, and the old building where it’s been. I can remember when I was a little kid watching television, when TV first came out I guess, and I saw the Grand Ole Opry stage, and by God it’s just like it looked then! That was a lot of fun!

 

We went on to Edmonton and did a clinic up there. I met a bunch of really neat guys that rope a lot. So I got to spend some time roping after the clinics. It was really a good clinic with good horses. We had a lot of fun.

 

Then about the next week or two, I went over to Calgary, in Alberta, Canada, and did a clinic there for Kent Williamson. Kent’s an old friend with some good horses. He’s doing really well with his horses. He’s got a Boonlight Dancer stallion that I think is really a nice horse.

 

We also went to the Calgary rodeo and that’s pretty bizarre! Now I’ve seen Calgary and Salinas. Those are the rodeos on the west you’re supposed to see. Salinas is wonderful, beautiful, and traditional. Calgary is like a stage play. The horses buck better than I’ve ever seen them buck anywhere in the world including the National Finals for sure!  Every rider there is by invitation only, so those guys ride better than you’ll see almost anywhere. It is like a stage play set up for family. It’s a big deal well worth seeing if you’ve got (choke, choke) $80 for a seat. Can you imagine that for a rodeo seat? And it’s a sell-out!

 

Actually that kind of caps it. I’m in the airport right now headed off to Roger and Sue Hart’s place in Yakama, Washington. I’m going to say I have done easily 25 clinics at their place, maybe 30! They’ve hosted two clinics a year for 10-15 years. That Sue Hart can hustle!  She’s filled up every one of them.

 

So here I am, it’s going to be 102 degrees tomorrow! We’ll see how it goes. Then I’m off to Alpine, Wyoming, and then back to San Luis Obispo, California where it’s nice and cool. Then back to Arlington, Washington. Then off to Cheyenne, Wyoming at the end of September, before I drop in at the Snaffle Bit Futurity for the final days. So I’ve got some fun times to look forward to!