Oh Boy!

Well last night I did some digging around on the website for the EMM (Extreme Mustang Makeover) events and I found the list of trainers for Colorado, which was cool. I'm the only one from South Dakota and aside from one in Montana and a couple from Idaho it looked like I'm the the only one from the northern states. There are 48 trainers listed.

I then made the mistake of reading through all of the rules and regulations for the event. Having done an EMM before, I thought I knew what was coming. Oh boy, I was wrong. The actual competition for this one is quite a bit different than what I did before. There are in total three riding sections, not including the Freestyle if I make Top 10. The required riding sections include a Reining pattern (entry level) and... cow work. Looks like I desperately need to find someone with cows. Getting a chance to work cows is something I've always wanted to do with Bo, but have never gotten serious about. I guess now's the time!

I had already been working on gathering information on the various Open show schedules in the area, so I have quite a list started of a bunch of events that I'll now be planning to take the mustang to. The first EMM that I did was in the winter and I never had much opportunity to take Onyx to any other events before the big one. I think that hurt us quite a bit when we had to perform in front of all those people. This time around I'll have the months of April, May, and the first part of June to get the new mustang exposed to a lot more.

But still.. the cow work and some of the other requirements have me pretty nervous. The good news is that I have the next month to work on preparations, before the real work begins.

Overall though... Excitement is still trumping nerves -- Whoo Hoo!!!!

2011 Colorado Mustang Makeover!!

Ok, it's time once again to dust off this blog and get cracking! This blog's original purpose turned out to be the sharing of my journey toward the 2009 Midwest Mustang Challenge, an Extreme Mustang Makeover event. For my maiden voyage into the EMM world, I was given a black filly that I named Onyx. The entire experience of training her and taking her to the (HUGE) final competition was wonderful and highly addictive. I've been longing, ever since, to apply again and make the journey once more. The stars finally aligned and I decided to send in my application for the 2011 Colorado event, to be held in June, in Fort Collins, Colorado.

I've spent a very anxious two weeks, obsessively checking my e-mail and hoping that my faxed application hadn't been lost. Today the wait was over when I received the e-mail congratulating me as being chosen to be a trainer for the Fort Collins Extreme Mustang Makeover!!

I will travel down to southern Colorado the second weekend of March to pick up my mustang. Then I'll have 90 days to train him or her for the competition on June 10-12th in Fort Collins. On a side note, I'm overjoyed that this time the event will return me to my home state. I am a Colorado native and I'm hoping to have a cheering section at this event of family and friends! Another exciting part of this particular event is that World Champion reining trainer Al Dunning will be at the competition to act as a mentor and coach for all of the trainers. The opportunity to learn from a trainer of his caliber while competing is VERY exciting.

I am hugely excited and a bit nervous. There is SO much to do in the next month and certainly in the 3 months after that! However, I am "chomping at the bit" to get started.

Whooo-Hooooo!