"Cowgirl Up"

This is a scketch of the picture below! It was drawn by Lari Smith!
Goat Tying! Me!
Me!

Tom enjoyed the reunion so much I just had to post of few pictures of my CUTE Cowboy!!

Fran Bodine

Lori Jo Giddings

Reed Anne Richards Eisentraut

I always thought that old cowboys were the only people that sat around and told old "re-ride" stories about old broncs, mean bulls calf's you can't get tied, steer that run to fast, bull-dogging horse, team roping horse, calf roping horses, what horse or bull bucked which ones that didn't buck , broken bones and the list goes on BUT... I now know that old cowgirls sit around and tell old re-ride stories too!

So with the help of the "Locator" Reed Anne Richards Eisentraut. who lives in PA.... we had a minni reunion and it was fantastic! some of us had not seen each other in over 30 years! We laughed for two days solid and I have not laughed that hard in a long time!

So let me start with a few of the cowgirls names....

Reed Anne Richards Eisentraut / "The Locator", Lori Giddings, Kathy Addy Stevens, Fran and Wren Bodine (twins) Sharon Little , Michelle Howel and me! There were many other old cowgirl names that came up as well!

I have gone to many many rodeos with all of these girls! I was the youngest of the group and I have to say I learned a lot! But I also was able to share some of their horses! Mainly Reed Anne and Lori's horses!

All of us girls would use each other horses depending on where the rodeo was, what event it was and availability of the horse we needed! So if Lori was using her barrel horse I would ride my barrel horse even though her horse was a better barrel horse! I have to say though out of all the barrel horses we all had.... I think Reed Anne's mare "Sis" Was by far the best barrel horse out of all of our horses! Pet ran a close second! I am not sure if Lori would agree with that!

I do have a story about Sis that I will never forget! I was about 17 years old and I had qualified for the High School Final Rodeo in Douglas, AZ and I decided I would ask Reed Anne if I could take Sis down there to run on her! I knew this would be a tough rodeo and I needed to bring my game...I needed a first round pick for this rodeo! So the month and a half or so before the rodeo as would practice on Sis, she seemed to just not be running her best! This mare loved barrel racing and we could not figure out why she was just not giving her all! As the rodeo came closer I had my concerns that maybe I should ride my horse! Sis was very lean and athletic and she did not seem to have gain weight but she did look a little full back through her flanks! My back cinch was a little tighter but did not think to much about it! Well about 3 or 4 weeks before the rodeo Reed Anne went out to feed her one morning and standing next to Sis was a brand new baby foal! We were ALL shocked! Some how or another their stud horse "Driftwoods Ike" got out and got to Sis without any of us knowing! Well let me tell you this mare had heart and so did Reed Anne! A few weeks after Sis foaled, Reed Anne said lets take Sis over to the arena!We started her slow but she had no problem running! So what ended up happening..... I went ahead and took Sis and Reed Anne kept the foal home and bottle fed her. I would get up in the middle of the night at the rodeo and milk Sis and then I would milk her just before I ran! Sis had so much heart she was fantastic and did not miss a step And I ended up doing really well on her! I will never forget that mare! Reed Anne thanks for trusting me with your best horse!

When it came to Lori's horses now they were a little different story! Lori had horses that could skid to a stop on a dime and then she had horse that could RUN! But... we all laughed as we visited because...Lori's horses did one or the other. She never just had a all around horse! They either STOPPED OR RAN FULL speed! Lori would always buy horses off the race track that were fast and that was great and good BUT not a ton of control! Lori was the one that was never scared of any horse! She never rode a gentle horse! They ALL had some kind of issue! But I can tell you anytime I could use her "Flaxcy June" mare to tie goats off of...That was a good day for me! Lori's horses were always high powered horses and BEAUTIFUL! But we all loved each others horses and we always shared!

Sis, Angel, Rena, Flash, Pet, Sadie, Siggie, Ike, Kamata, Billy Chalkta, White Eyes, Faxly June and the list of names of horse could go on but we always felt like we were well mounted by all of these horses! I should mention the main goat we practiced on... Her name was Janie! I will never forget the day that Lori and I thought we could de-horn her! I will spare you the details of that!

We all use to run Quadrille! That was so fun! It was fast and sharp! We worked in pairs of two horses that looked the same in color and markings!

I will not go in to detail of Rodeo Dances, Boon-dockers, Harvey Wallbangers, sleepovers, traveling to and from rodeos, me driving when I did not have my license, age 14 or 15, and the list goes on with those kind of thing BUT... I can say that we had some of the funnest times of my life back in those days!

Tom has been out of town the past few nights and sense Rhett is gone I have had to do chores! I will tell you that I enjoyed going out opening a big bale of hay to feed! I love the smell of the hay and just being part of the chores as Tom has been gone! Let me make this clear...I enjoyed a few nights BUT...I will be happy when Tom My PRECIOUS cowboy comes home! I will say that I am so thankful I was "Good Hand",when it came to horses and a rope! I feel sure that is why Tom married me!

I would LOVE to go back for a weekend or two! These girls I will forever hold a place in my heart! I am so thankful for the "LOCATOR" Reed Anne for getting this reunion together! I feel sure there will come a day when we all get back on our horse and ride off into the sunset together laughing our heads off like we did for two days!!

To ALL MY COWGIRLS.....I will LOVE you forever! Lets do this more often!

NEVER FORGET...." COWGIRL UP"!

One small hint for anyone reading this post... If you want your horse to look like he is running faster than he is....Put his forelock back under the headstall of your bridle! This is a inside joke!

And never forget to "Ride- em hard BUT...Don't put them up wet"!

I LOVE ALL YOU COWGIRLS FOREVER!!