ProRodeo Hall of Fame

The ProRodeo Hall of Fame and Museum of the American Cowboy is located alongside I-25 on the north side of Colorado Springs. Every time I drive past it, I think, "I should go there." But I never do. There are so many other things to do in Colorado Springs, and honestly, I'm just not that into rodeo.

This might have gone on for another decade or two, had Carol not taken a job in Germany. We decided we needed to do all the things! before she left, and way down at the bottom of our list was the the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.

So after years of talking about it, yesterday I finally visited the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.

The museum is almost exactly what I expected. It's filled with rodeo art,

rodeo memorabilia...

and rodeo tack. 

The Hall of Fame...

pays tribute to rodeo legends of both the human...

and animal variety. 

Most of the exhibits are inside, but there's also a nice, sculpture-filled courtyard in the back. 

Scamper!

Next to that,  a rodeo arena and a barn,

which currently houses a small family of bucking horses.

Even though neither of us are really into rodeo, 

Carol and I both enjoyed browsing through the exhibits.

There's so much to see...

and all of it... 

is beautifully displayed.

 Of course, the saddles were my favorite.

Most of them are kept behind glass...

but right at the end there is a room filled with old saddles on saddle stands.

I loved this room!

It turns out that you don't need to be a big rodeo fan to enjoy the ProRodeo Hall of Fame. There's enough here to appeal to any horse lover. I am so glad I finally went. I look forward to going again.

Fun Sunday

Carol's car is on a boat headed to Germany, so she's been driving an old Chevy Malibu that belongs to her sister, Christine. Carol returned the Chevy yesterday, so today, I drove down to Colorado Springs to retrieve Carol.

We could have driven straight home to Aurora, but instead, we decided to make a day of it. Our first stop was the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

This zoo is home to all kinds of animals... 

but everyone goes there to see the giraffes.

And the giraffes... 

are awesome! 

I honestly think my life would be better if I could pet a giraffe every day.

After the zoo, we headed over to the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.

I've been meaning to visit this museum for years, and it didn't disappoint. 

There were a few real horses,

a lot of horse art...

and so many saddles.

This was a really fun day.

Please don't stay in Germany too long, Carol. I'm going to miss you and all our great adventures!

Organizing my tack collection

In a recent post, blogger and tack maker Nichelle Jones discussed organizing her tack collection. Since I have also been working on that lately, I decided a blog hop was in order. Here is my take on the Nichelle's topic.

I own a lot of model horse tack. 

Most of it is grouped together with similar items and stored inside plastic storage boxes.

A few of the pieces are tucked inside baggies...

but most of it is a big, jumbled mess. 

This has become increasingly unsatisfactory, so I've begun the long, slow process of really, truly organizing my tack collection.

I'm using the same storage boxes, but now every single piece of tack is individually bagged. My bags of choice are these snack bags from the grocery store. They are super affordable, plus their long, skinny shape is just right for bridles.

I've also started making id tags for each piece. This makes it easier to identify things quickly, plus I really like the way they look. It's hugely satisfying to open my previously jumbled box and see all these neat baggies and tags!

So that's my take on organizing the tack collection. Does anyone else want to share their methods?

The week in tack

Despite, or perhaps because of, all the other things going on in my life, this has been a surprisingly productive studio week. I've all but finished two of the tooled collaboration saddles.

A lot of people have inquired about these. I appreciate the interest, but I don't expect either of this will ever go up for sale.

The dark one is mine, the light one is Tiffany's and the one that still needs to be assembled belongs to Erin. 

I also completed two shiny Western Pleasure bridles. 

Like the saddles, one of these will stay here.

The other is my entry for this year's MEPSA Tack Making Contest.

But that's enough showing off... There's still a lot of unfinished projects on my desk. It's time to get back to work!

Belmont 150

A couple days before Justify swept the Triple Crown, I spent an enjoyable hour watching TVG's The Best of the Belmont show.  This was nothing more than a series of race replays book-ended with a few facts about that entrants in each of the featured Belmonts. 

No surprise, Secretariat's 1973 thirty one length route was the opening act.

photo by Neil Leifer/Sports Illustrated

This was followed by Affirmed's 1978 duel with Alydar. 

After that came Swale, Risen Star, Easy Goer, A.P. Indy, Colonial Affair, Touch Gold, Victory Gallop, Point Given, Birdstone, Rags to Riches, Tonalist and finally, American Pharoah.

For me, this program was as much This is Your Life as it was racing history. Each time the horses loaded into the gate, I remembered where I'd watched the race, who'd I'd cheered for and what was going on in my life that year. 

On Saturday, Justify won the 2018 Belmont Stakes.

AP Photo/Julio Cortez

What I will remember about this race is that I watched it at home, with my family. I was cheering for Justify, and this was the year that Carol was living with us in preparation for her move to Germany. Carol doesn't really follow racing, but since she is a big Mike Smith fan, she was as delighted with the outcome as I was.

Thank you, Justify, for making a hard month a whole lot happier. This was a good Belmont. I look forward to watching it again and again in the years to come.

I choose to believe

A lot of people have asked me if I think Justify will win the Triple Crown.

History says he will not. 

It is exceedingly difficult for any horse, no matter how fast, to win the Triple Crown. In the forty years that I have followed racing, fifteen horses have won the the Derby and Preakness. Of those, only two completed the sweep. One was withdrawn and the other twelve came to grief on Belmont's long homestretch.

 Justify is undefeated, but that doesn't mean he's unbeatable. He's run a lot of races in a short amount of time and is almost certainly tired. His speed figures and margins of victory have diminished with each race, and perhaps most significant, he's not bred to get the distance.

So when people ask me if I think Justify will win the Triple Crown, I know the smart answer is. "No, he's a nice a horse, but probably not a Triple Crown winner."

But, you know, I don't really care about being smart. I'd rather be happy than right, so I'm looking past history and statistics. I want the fairy tale, the Triple Crown winner. I want to believe.

photo be Stever Heuertz

Do I think Justify will win the Triple Crown later today? I honestly don't know, but I am choosing to believe.