The Good Ole’ Days

So as you know, I’m working home health to get through nursing school. Right now I’m between semesters and I’ve picked up a lot of overtime and night shifts. To pass the time when my client is sleeping (and to stay awake) I spend a lot of time on YouTube. What do I watch? Oh yeah, barrel racing videos.

Well, the other night I felt I couldn’t possibly learn anymore from the training videos so I started watching past rounds of the NFR. I started with the more recent ones, the ones I could remember watching…say 2010-present. Somehow I clicked on a Charmayne James and Scamper video and before I knew it I was watching the 6th round of the 1984 NFR… who would’ve thought? That’s eleven years before I was even born!

The thing I couldn’t help but notice was that they were all “Fallon Taylors”. The colored wranglers, the fringes, the puffy sleeves… real cute stuff y’all. It made me wonder how we evolved into wearing plain jeans and a black button up. Fallon’s been doing it right all along!

Now maybe I don’t have the right to call the 80’s “the good days” considering I wasn’t born, but they looked pretty darn fun! And I have to say, I wouldn’t quite mind if the cowboys went back to wearing their wranglers a little tighter!

As you can probably tell by now, this blog post is going nowhere… its just a 3am, nightshift, put my thoughts somewhere kind-of thing. But id love to hear your thoughts on rodeo fashion’s evolution– or even your thoughts on the 80’s if you were one of the lucky ones who lived through them!

That Girl

I have a habit of comparing myself to others in everything that I do.

When I’m in school… I compare grades.

In the arena… I compare times, tack, etc.

At work… I compare skills and even the clients home to my own. (I work in home health).

Last, but certainly not least on social media… I compare EVERYTHING. I’ve caught myself spending so much time stalking wishing I could be “that girl”.

Everyone has that one nagging thing they wish they could change about themselves. As confident as anyone may seem, there are insecurities. Day by day I’m working on mine. I recently read an article (and I really wish I could remember where so I could cite it, or at least attach the link) about how to become a happier you. One of the points the writer made was that happy people compliment others. Now, I don’t mean this in a “I challenge you to say one nice thing to every person you come across” kind of way, but genuine compliments.

Y’all can’t judge me on this next paragraph because even as I’m typing it sounds like a scene straight out of “Mean Girls”. I promise I’m a really nice person.

I find myself on Instagram and if someone has a ton of likes, or they’re some flawless beauty queen (or they have a freightliner with a 6 horse Bloomer and 3 slide-outs loaded with a half a million in horses) no matter how cute their post is I won’t like it. How pathetic is that? I told you you’d judge me.

But I’m changing y’all! #rehabtime It’s time for a happier, healthier me. I’m challenging you to do the same. Is there a post on Insta or Twitter but you couldn’t possibly like or comment because, duh? That’s the competition! LIKE! COMMENT! COMPLIMENT! I promise you’ll feel like the bigger better person. (and you might even make a friend). Is there a girl who just laid down a smoking run on her six-figure horse? “Nice run, girl”. Someone has better grades? “Wanna meet up at the library this weekend?” Someone has a nicer house? Spend a little extra time cleaning up or rearrange. Appreciate what you have. (There will be another blog on this later).

Okay. So this got a little wordy… but I love you guys.

In the words of Dr Seuss: “Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”

You may be a Basic Barrel Racer…. If….

I think I’m guilty of every single one of these!

The Cowgirl Manifesto

You may be a Basic Barrel Racer, if you are guilty of any of the following statements…

#1 You’ve ever taken a picture of a Starbucks Coffee with your horse trailer in the background.

#2 You’ve ever cleaned stalls in Victoria Secret Pink anything.

#3 You’ve ever posted a picture of an inspirational quote about “struggle” in your $100,000 horse trailer

#4 You’ve ever posted a picture of a blown tire trailer

#5 You’ve broken up with a guy because he didn’t understand why you spent so much money on your horse

#6 You’ve posted a picture of your truck parked and patted yourself on the back for doing such a good job.

#7 You’ve ever referred to yourself as a gypsy.

#8 You make fun of your friends who are getting married and having kids

#9 Your number one go to excuse is, “I’m living the Dream!”

#10 You’ve ever posted any…

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Warm Up

Welcome to my blog!

My name is Maranda, and in case you couldn’t guess… I’m a barrel racer! My horse’s name is Bitsy and I truly can’t imagine life without her, she’s my best friend.

So a little about our life: I’m in nursing school and its absolute HE-double-hockey-sticks. Nursing is my passion and my dream and I’ll do whatever it takes to make it happen. My ultimate goal is to earn my MSN and teach nursing. I work in home health as a caregiver when I’m not in class and it makes for a pretty busy schedule. Between keeping my grades up and making money there’s little time for horse work. Besides Bitsy, I have two other barrel horses: Hydro and Eeyore. (I’ll write a blog introducing each of the horses soon, I know you’re dying to meet them.) In short, I’ve been extremely slow in the barrel racing department for the past couple years.

About 2 months ago I had an epiphany of sorts. Bitsy is 14 this year and there will never be another Bitsy. As hard as nursing school is, and as busy as I am, I can make time to work my horses and go to at least one show a month. I wont be qualifying for the NFR anytime soon… but there’s absolutely no reason why I can’t make time in the week for my horses, for their health and for mine!

Our first show back will be September 5th. Stay tuned for updates on training progress and race results! 

For your viewing pleasure, I’ve attached a picture of Bitsy.❤️