Last Wednesday and Thursday I had the privilege of attending Craig Cameron's Extreme Cowboy Race 8 competition at his ranch outside Stephenville, Texas. This Race was all female competitors which was an interesting mix. There were riders with all kinds of backgrounds: some women who ride for pleasure, some Miss Rodeos, a professional ranch cowgirl, professional horse trainers, and one competitor was 15! Everyone was cheerful and dressed beautifully for their TV debut.
The obstacles Cameron had set up were creative and difficult. Talk about a test of horsemanship and the ultimate test for trust. You could tell real quick who had a partnership with their horse and those who needed some work. One competitor was there on a Mustang that she only had 120 days on! The challenge is open to any breed of horse and any age rider, the only catch is the horse has to be 10 or younger. The competitors are allowed to walk the course to memorize it but only on foot (memorizing that is a challenge in itself!). Those horses did amazingly well on a course they were being hustled through never having seen it before.
Cameron's ranch is meticulously maintained with not a pile of horse manure to be seen-not even in the paddocks. He and his wife, Dalene, were very nice and welcoming. He had a new intern that was only in week 2 so he got broke in real quick to all the responsibilities. We were all pitching in and I got to do the back up timer for Ryan Dorhn (the other brain who created ECR with Cameron) so that was neat. The extra people helping had to be silent and watch the cameras and get down so you're not blocking the shot. Most of the time I had to huddle in a low area with my timer but that was okay because I could see pretty much everything. After all, I was there to help. I wasn’t expecting the cold front about mid morning Wednesday and it got chilly. The sky turned dark, the wind picked up and we thought it was going to pour down rain but it never did, thank goodness. I miss those cold breezy days-call me crazy but it doesn't get that cold down here around Yoakum.
There were two judges for this event: Lynn Palm and Joy Murray. What fantastic ladies. Both were so nice and willing to talk to you. Not to mention both are legends! Cameron gave the whole speech that he wanted no crying, whining, or pouting if you didn't get good scores and were not advanced to the next round. Not mention, who wants to argue with those judges?!
Everyone seemed excited at the chance of winning a Circle Y XP-HDR4 Frontier All-Around Trail saddle. We sponsor this event so the 4 finalists each go home with a saddle plus some cash. I hope they enjoy riding this saddle and it will serve them well. I can't spoil who won so tune in to RFD-TV in March when it airs. You'll be glad you did!
The obstacles Cameron had set up were creative and difficult. Talk about a test of horsemanship and the ultimate test for trust. You could tell real quick who had a partnership with their horse and those who needed some work. One competitor was there on a Mustang that she only had 120 days on! The challenge is open to any breed of horse and any age rider, the only catch is the horse has to be 10 or younger. The competitors are allowed to walk the course to memorize it but only on foot (memorizing that is a challenge in itself!). Those horses did amazingly well on a course they were being hustled through never having seen it before.
Cameron's ranch is meticulously maintained with not a pile of horse manure to be seen-not even in the paddocks. He and his wife, Dalene, were very nice and welcoming. He had a new intern that was only in week 2 so he got broke in real quick to all the responsibilities. We were all pitching in and I got to do the back up timer for Ryan Dorhn (the other brain who created ECR with Cameron) so that was neat. The extra people helping had to be silent and watch the cameras and get down so you're not blocking the shot. Most of the time I had to huddle in a low area with my timer but that was okay because I could see pretty much everything. After all, I was there to help. I wasn’t expecting the cold front about mid morning Wednesday and it got chilly. The sky turned dark, the wind picked up and we thought it was going to pour down rain but it never did, thank goodness. I miss those cold breezy days-call me crazy but it doesn't get that cold down here around Yoakum.
There were two judges for this event: Lynn Palm and Joy Murray. What fantastic ladies. Both were so nice and willing to talk to you. Not to mention both are legends! Cameron gave the whole speech that he wanted no crying, whining, or pouting if you didn't get good scores and were not advanced to the next round. Not mention, who wants to argue with those judges?!
Everyone seemed excited at the chance of winning a Circle Y XP-HDR4 Frontier All-Around Trail saddle. We sponsor this event so the 4 finalists each go home with a saddle plus some cash. I hope they enjoy riding this saddle and it will serve them well. I can't spoil who won so tune in to RFD-TV in March when it airs. You'll be glad you did!
