CR RanchWear Blog

I used to be the Queen of Nerves. Black out before and during my runs? Been there. So nervous I couldn’t hear anything? Done that. Couldn’t remember my runs afterwards? Yep, still happens. But, the worst part of being a Nervous Nelly or Clammed Up Clint? (Yes, I just came up with that masculine version, and I am here for it! Using that one in the future)Well, the worst part is that you aren’t able to truly enjoy your time in the show pen because you are too busy being nervous about everything going on. So here’s my top five tips for overcoming nervousness, from someone that IS NOT a sports psychologist, or an expert by any means. However, I am someone who has had her fair share of nervous meltdowns before, during, and after a run.

1. Find Your Routine

Surprisingly, I’m not really a “routine” type of person, but when it comes to getting prepared to show, I most certainly am. I like to have my groom bag, bridle and chaps all in the show pen before I bring my horse in. I like to have a little extra time to groom and saddle my horse. That serves two purposes, if anything goes awry, I have time to deal with it. It also leaves me a little time to be calm, and quiet, and in my own personal space before heading into the arena. I have my certain little loping routine I like to do. I like to chat with my trainer ahead of time so I know when is a good time to work the flag, or cows. I almost always boot up and put my chaps on at the cattle change, and I like my horse to have a decent sweat on him when I do this. All these little things are just that, little, but i’ve found it so helpful in the scheme of things.

The great thing about cutting, and likely most other western performance sports, is the routine is generally the same from show to show, arena to arena. So, if you end up in an unfamiliar place and your nerves are wreaking havoc on your mind, fall back to your routine. Take a deep breath and go through the same paces you always do. It’ll make you feel better. Promise.

2. Don’t Stress The Small Stuff

So there’s this very famous term in horse-show-land, and it’s called, “hurry up, and wait.” If you’ve shown a horse, you’ve heard it. It’s the most truest saying in all the land because it sums up that nervous feeling of running late for your class, rushing to get ready and then showing up in the arena and realizing you have tons of time and you are actually there way too early.

I’m not saying don’t be ultra prepared, as I touched on in point one, routine and preparation takes a lot of my nerves away. But, there are some things you can’t control. Oh shoot, they are dragging the arena? Don’t let it bug you. Find a corner and walk some small circles, visualize your run and practice your breathing. You are first up, and you hate drawing first, don’t dwell on it. The more you dwell, the more you panic, the more your nerves will go crazy.

3. Speak Positively To Yourself

It’s so easy to say, “I don’t want to lose a cow”, or “I need to cut better today.” Don’t let yourself fall into the trap of going back to a negative mindset. I always try to say to myself, “I am going to be accurate and precise,” or, “I am going to ride to the right position.” When it comes to cutting, I say things like, “calm and confident,” and “drive your cow up into the middle of the pen.” If i’m feeling super weak-minded and can feel myself saying really harsh things to myself, like I suck, I don’t deserve to be here, my previous successes didn’t count… and hey, we’ve all had those days when we are just down right mean to ourselves… I try my hardest to counter those thoughts with how proud I am to show. How happy it makes me to show. How grateful I am to have a sound and happy horse underneath me and how lucky I am to be given this opportunity.

Which leads me to one of my favourite points to combat nervousness…

4. Visualize

Straight A students show up to exams prepared, they’ve done their homework, they’ve studied, they are confident and they are ready. Showing horses is the same. Leading up to a show i’ll watch previous videos, I’ll watch videos on cutting, I’ll practice and i’ll ride my horse. I’ll also visualize how I want my run to feel and how it will look in that pen.

I’ve shown in a lot of new arenas this year, and so sometimes, I won’t be able to picture the pen I’ll be showing in. I find it very helpful to sneak into the arena the night before the show starts. I picture all the riders in the lope pen and the show pen and then I picture myself getting ready. I walk through my little routine, the steps that it takes to get to the show pen. Then I picture my run, I picture my perfect run. I walk through all the things I need to do for a great run, and I walk through how that translates to my horse. I try to really FEEL it all, so that I can go out and ride the way it all felt in my mind.

5. Believe In Your Unicorn, and Believe In Yourself Too!

So, “Believe In Your Unicorn”, is a saying that i’ve used on my own blog for a long time, but it’s so true. It’s easy to go out there and let nerves take over how fun this is suppose to be. We ARE so lucky to show horses, and our horses - no matter barrel horses, cow horses, breed show horses - are amazing, they are definitely unicorns. So, above all, trust your horse out there, and then, believe in yourself too.

When I started out, I had small goals that weren’t affected by score or placing. Things like, “get a cow cut in the middle of the pen” grew into “cut three cows in the middle of the pen.” When I started out often it was, “be confident in the herd”, now my goals have changed to “use my feet to place my horse precisely.” Either way, having your own goals that are independent of anyone else’s are great, because when you achieve them, you can happily cross them out and move onto your next set of goals.

Good luck out there and remember, don’t let the nerves take away from the fun of it!

 

A big thank you to Callaghan Creative Co. for the images. Check her website out at www.callaghancreativeco.com or her Instagram at www.instagram.com/callaghancreativeco. In these photos i’m showing in a CR RanchWear Italian Cotton Western Shirt and you can shop the available Italian Cotton’s here: https://crranchwear.com/collections/italian-cotton-western-shirts

 

CR RanchWear sponsored rider, Morgan Cromer, walks to the herd during the NCHA Futurity

 

Sarah Dawson and Shiney Outlaw were the Open Hackamore Champions at the 2017 Snaffle Bit Futurity

 

So why the hype around all of this? Why is it that performance horse people are talking more about futurities than pumpkin spiced lattes? Aged events, and especially futurities, are a pretty big deal. Trainers work day in and day out to prepare horses for these events. Non pro riders hone their skills and try not to cry in front of their trainers year-round to show at these events. Clients put up a lot of money to make sure their futurity prospects are feeling their best and prepared for the big shows. Which, of course, also cost a lot of money to enter.

In most operations performance horses are started as long yearlings or early two year olds, then the training begins. It’s a process. In the cow horse, horses have to succeed in three events - reining, boxing and fence work. No easy task for any horse and rider combination! In reining, horses have to be prepared to stop harder, turn faster and transition through their leads prettier, than the next horse in the pen. In cutting the rider has to relinquish control of the reins, they have to throw their hand down while their horse stylishly and almost effortlessly keeps a cow away from the herd.

 

You’ll likely see all four of these handsome gentlemen at the NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity this year. Pictured during World’s Greatest this year is Chris Dawson, Clayton Edsall, Shadd Parkinson, and Brad Lund, all members of the CR RanchWear Team!

 

I guess we should start off by introducing who the heck I am. Hi! I’m Louisa, of Western Twist Media , my “Beginner’s Guide to Cutting” has been featured on the CR RanchWear blog before, and I’ve been honoured to be invited back as a regular contributor. So how did I get this gig? Well, uhm… I’m not *exactly* sure… but I’m thinking that a serious addiction to CR RanchWear helped.. I mean, that Italian Cotton though… BUT, i’m also a huge supporter of the western performance horse industry and I compete in cutting myself. I’m not some #BigTimeNonPro, after a long stint as a loper, I finally decided to try my hand at showing myself, so here I am, still just figuring it out in the 2,000 Limit Rider. There’s been lots of ups, and even more downs, but through it all I’ve always enjoyed bringing humour, with a big dash of #RealTalk, to my experiences in the show pen. So, that’s why we’ve found ourselves here! I wanted my first blog to communicate something anyone in the show pen, from lopers, to riders, to owners, could relate too, and through it, I found a much deeper blog post than I originally imagined. So, as they say, sit deep in that saddle, watch that cow, and hopefully… enjoy!

I don’t care if you’ve been hauling down the road for a world title, or you are a weekend warrior that just shows up when your budget allows.. if you’ve entered that show pen, you know about concession food. Any #ProLoper or #CraftyCompetitor is keenly aware that not all concession food is created equal. They know what to pick to eat on those days your show nerves are resulting in acid reflux. They know what’s easiest to eat on-the-go, whether that’s into the warm up pen, or out to the barn to complete chores. Concession food is an art. Who knew?!
The other day while sitting in the stands watching a go-round of the 5,000 Novice Horse Non Pro over a particularly bland concession dish, I nudged a good friend and loping compadre and asked, “hey, if you could only eat one concession food for the rest of your life, what would it be?” As we giggled over the idea and debated the very important debate of breakfast vs. lunch/dinner items, a blog post was born.
So, I reached out to Facebook and queried the same question and the results were overwhelming, Taco-In-A-Bag was the clear choice, with Breakfast Buns coming in as a strong second. Now, let’s dissect these items and why they are fan favourites, and before you get to keyboard warrior-in’, yes, I am VERY aware that some of you are at a total loss of what Taco-In-A-Bag is, and we’ll get there.

 

 

Let’s start with our silver medalist, the Breakfast Bun.
Every horse show enthusiast knows about “hurry up and wait” and that’s perhaps why the almighty breakfast bun was one of the clear winners in the race. Let’s dissect a great breakfast bun. Generally, a bun made of delicious bread, then add an egg, some cheese, either sausage or bacon, and if you’re really fancy, perhaps some salsa in there.
When you arrive at the show, you are probably in the “wait” phase, you have time to down a cup of coffee, or seven, and eat a delicious breakfast bun. What a satisfying combo! When you are in the thick of the “hurry” phase, you don’t have time for lunch, you definitely don’t have time for dinner, and your stomach is still decently settled because you started the day off with a Breakfast Bun. Makes total sense why this is what so many people would choose to survive off of.

 

 

 

 

Let me break it down for ya. You start with a bag of Doritos, or Fritos chips. You bust those chips up into small pieces - think about that terrible cow that ran you over with five seconds left when you do bust those chips - and then cut into the long side of the bag. You add some delicious ground beef, sour cream, salsa, maybe guacamole if you’re fancy, definitely tomatoes, lettuce - fresh is always better and cheese. As one of my Facebook contributors informed me, “Frito pie is a small bag of fruit chips with ground beef of the taco seasoned variety and whatever topping you want. Usually just cheese and maybe a little lettuce though, cause us southerns like our heart attacks strong hahaha.”
So why is this the go to concession meal? Well it’s pretty much the closest you are going to get to a salad at a concession, and if you’ve been surviving off burgers and hot dogs, sometimes lettuce is a well-received gift. It covers all the bases, it checks off all the flavour profiles, and if you had to live off one food for the rest of your life, it’s a pretty solid and safe pick. Kind of like that cow that’s driving up and away from the herd, go with it.
So where are we getting deep? Well, at first I was surprised that many of you had never heard of Taco-In-A-Bag, “are they crazy?!” I thought to myself, “have they never lived?!” I questioned. BUT, concessions are kind of like competitors… they are all from different places, they may do things a little different but in a weird and wonderful way they are all connected by a love for the same thing, our horses. So next time you are at a horse show, I dare you to make a new friend, bonus points if they seem a little uncomfortable and like the venue is new to them. Even if they don’t know what Taco-In-A-Bag is, they may be pretty cool, but better yet, they may appreciate your friendliness more than you can know.

& before I let you go, I double-dog-dare ya to post a photo of you in your favourite CR RanchWear shirt eating your favourite concession food item. (***CR is known for spontaneous giveaways, hint, hint***)

I want to know, if you had to live off one concession food for the rest of your life - what would it be?!

See you on down the road! <3

 

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Western Twist Media (WTM) is the creative outlet of professional writer and influencer, Louisa Murch-White. Murch-White is a published journalist, with work appearing in Western Horse Review, Quarter Horse News and features in Cowgirl Magazine and Cutting Horse Central. Personally, she is an avid and enthusiastic member of the performance horse world, and loves nothing more than showing cutting horses. WTM is driven by a passion for the performance horse industry. WTM specializes in assisting brands and companies tell their own stories through impactful marketing and advertising, social media management and freelance writing services. Our popular site also features unique and collaborative advertising opportunities.
We'd love to help you share your story: WesternTwistMedia@gmail.com

 

Hint- if you get stuck, try starting at the end and working backwards.

We're so excited to bring our good friend, Louisa's, amazing blog series, A Beginner's Guide to Cutting to our CR fans! Louisa is not only an amazingly talented writer and equestrian, but she is our CR RanchWear Canadian rep! Those of you north of the border can contact her at withawesterntwist@gmail.com for all your CR needs.  Long before she came on board with CR, we were huge fans of her blog-With A Western Twist-and we are pretty sure ya'll will love it too. So without further ado, here's the first installment from A Beginner's Guide to Cutting; it comes with a title we all can probably relate to...."Why Showing Horses is Really Hard". Enjoy! -Sue & McKenzie

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Showing horses is like… really hard you guys. I’m not even being sarcastic, I’m truly whining about it. Learning how to show a cutting horse can be equated to pulling out your teeth, slowly, one by one, for no reason. As your doing it, your dentist is telling you, “You’ll know why you’re doing this when all your teeth are in your hands and you’re in writhing agony.” Being a beginner in the cutting horse pen has so many different levels of… hard. 

There’s the cows. 

Do you know how to read cattle? 

Can you walk into a herd and confidently cut out the cow you want to work? 

What about cutting for shape – if you have a bunch of cows in front of you, are you able to control the scenario? 

What about after you cut one – are you able to read where they are heading to go? When they are going to stop? 

Can you look at a herd of 20+ pure black cows and tell them all apart? 

What about those ruthless cows that you cut out of the herd, drop your hand on your horses neck and that cow runs wall to wall like it’s jet-propelled? Do you have enough “courage” to hold that cow? 

There’s a reason people say that it’s an art form to pick the best cows in a herd and to show levels of skill, accuracy and difficulty while cutting a cow. That stuff ain’t easy.

There’s the horse. 

A cutting horse is expensive. Very rarely do “deals” work out in the show pen, ESPECIALLY if you are a beginner. So, as beginners we must cough up a pretty decent amount of money for a “starter horse.” Usually those starter horses are seasoned ponies that know their job, but you're looking at maybe a few years of use and a whole lot of maintenance bills from your vet in your future. If you have a solid horse that you can drop your hand on and it will get you through runs, no matter what your feet/body/hands are doing to it, you're one of the lucky ones. That horse is actually a unicorn and you should shower it with rainbow-glitter cookies because that’s what it deserves. Many of us are not so lucky, many of us have to deal with little idiosyncrasies that our horses throw at us in the show pen. Trust me, when your horse pushes a cow right under the judges stand and your practically sitting in their lap – it will not get you bonus points. There are certain places where sitting on people’s laps get you bonuses, and it ain’t in the cutting pen. The judge will check off “charging” on your scorecard and your run will be over before it even began.

There’s you. 

For many of us, when we first watch cutting, we think, “wow, look how effortless and beautiful that is, the rider just allows the horse to track that cow.” How wrong our innocent & stupid minds were. Unless you have one of those aforementioned unicorns, chances are that if you kick your horse at the wrong time, that horse will react to it. If you nervously hang on their mouth while your trying to cut a cow, that horse will react to it. If you accidentally are digging your herd-side spur into their side, you KNOW that horse will react to it. So not only do you have to be equal parts passive and active, but you better keep yourself in check. I mean it, cows read energy, horses read energy, and if you're sitting on top of your horse nervous as heck just desperately trying to get SOMETHING cut, it’ll show. 

Plus, if you are out there reining your horse around looking like you're trying to duel Louis the 14^th on the battlefield, your turn back guys are likely thinking, “what the heck is she trying to cut? I’m trying to help this girl but god only knows if she’s cutting that black one, or that brown… oh whoops looks like she’s actually trying to cut that white one that she didn’t drive up far enough... and oh look she’s still committing to it and oh look again... she lost her cow.” 
There's literally 7000x other things I could go on about, but you know, for the sake of keeping you reading you may now be able to see why I’m whining… because, to successfully show cutting horses right off the bat as a beginner you need to be equal parts Olympic level rider, cow-hand and mental sport psychologist with a healthy dose of sedative on board in your blood stream. Then, you need the aforementioned unicorn that sparkles erupt from every time you put your hand down to work a cow. That is, I’m convinced, the only way a total beginner to the sport can go out and mark 75’s every time they step to the herd.

As you can probably tell from this sarcasm-ridden blog-post, I am not the sedated cow-hand I need to be, nor is Lady the rainbow-glitter unicorn, but we’re TRYING to get there – damnit! However, the road to becoming a somewhat successful competitor is littered with sixties, sixties and tears people… sixties and tears. Now, just as you've come to the conclusion of this blog post and your going to write me a nasty comment about how i'm making anyone that's interested in the sport completely run in the other direction, hold up keyboard warriors and LET A GIRL SPEAK...

The sick thing with cutting horses is that, despite all the sixties and all the tears, the feeling of dropping your hand and working a cow perfectly in the middle of the pen, is one of the most addictive things in the world. I'm not kidding people, it makes EVERYTHING I just talked about stupidly worth it. It feels like magic. It does feel like your riding a glitter covered unicorn. It may only be 10 seconds of glittered covered unicorn riding but it's WORTH IT. So, we keep pushing forward at it, hoping that one day,we’ll stop sword fighting through our cuts, we'll stop picking literally the worst cows in the herd and a judge may actually think, “good run” and grant you something over 70. Here’s hoping, here's to riding cow-eating glitter-covered unicorns.

~Louisa
ORIGINAL POST

 

You can follow Louisa at With A Western Twist via her website With A Western Twist, Facebook, or on Instagram!

 

 
2. The Places I've Visited
Most people dream about getting to travel all across the United States, but thanks to horses I have had the opportunity to. I get to visit some amazing places, all while doing the sport I love.  It makes it a lot of fun when you haven’t had a successful show, but you still got to visit some amazing places. 

3. The Time I've Spent with Family
The thing I love most about riding horses is the amount of time it has allowed me to spend with my family. Most high school aged kids don’t get to spend just about every weekend traveling with their parents (and grandparents in my case), but I wouldn’t change it for the world. They support me in every way that they can, whether that be driving, helping me clean stalls, or just being there for me when I am in a slump. They support me 110%, even though it is a huge financial and time commitment. I am the one who gets the rewards of riding horses, but I could not do it without the support of my family.

4. The Lessons Learned
The lessons that I have learned from riding horses are irreplaceable.  In most sports, you have a team to fall back on, so if you aren’t on your “game” then other people can pick up the slack. That is not the case when it comes to horses. No matter how trained a horse is, they still need some guidance at times and if you don’t do your part, the outcome will probably not be what you wanted.  The horses also count on you for pretty much everything. They cannot feed, water, or clean up after themselves, so great responsibility comes with owning horses. I am so thankful that I have had the opportunity for horses to teach me how important it is to be your best and the responsibility of taking care of an animal.

5. The Athletes (the 4-legged kind!)
The final thing I love about riding horses are the actual horses. They go out and do their jobs, all because we ask them to. They don’t understand the amount of money they just won or how prestigious the event was, they just go out and do their jobs. They are a thousand pound animals that are so willing to do whatever a human asks of them. All they want in return is some treats and some attention.
~Kylar Terlip

 

Summer is in full swing!  CR RanchWear had a very busy, exciting June! As you may remember from our last blog, McKenzie, Alexis, and their fellow American teammates flew to Australia as Team USA to compete against the Australians in the NCHA Non Pro Challenge. Alas, they did not come home with the trophy, but we're pretty sure if there had been a "Best Dressed" award, they would have been victorious. CR RanchWear was proud to provide the team shirts for the USA! 

Our second live auction took place on June 7th. Eleven CR RanchWear one-of-a-kind shirts went to new homes via the highest bids! Wine, dance moves, and some Name That Tune giveaways were among the highlights of the auction. Our next auction will be in August; follow us on Facebook for specific details. 

Next, we were on to the NRCHA Derby in Paso Robles, California! This is one of our favorite shows of the year. We love Paso Robles and all of our cow horse friends. We cheered for our Sponsored riders and all the talented competitors. It's also fun to see what new shirts our customers like the best. The winners of the week were the Blue Floral with Purple Check and the Pink Gypsy Heart Paisley (pictured in the header pic of this post). Better get yours while you can!  A quick wine tasting trip with friends topped off a successful week! 

We were home for a few days to round up some new shirts, then Sue was off to the NCHA Western Nationals in Denver, Colorado. Florals were a big hit; the Sweet American Floral, Blooms of Rhea, and the new Purple Floral Vine were the quick sellers. The set-up in Denver allows us to watch the show from the booth. It's so great to see our customers in the show pen, winning in their CR! 

While Sue was enjoying booth life in Denver, the world traveler, McKenzie, was off to Iowa to enjoy her family cabin in Okoboji. Who was also en route to the famous resort town? None other than good friend of CR RanchWear-singer songwriter Jeremy McComb! During his Troublemaker Tour, Jeremy was our first CR celebrity to take over our Instagram for 24 hours. A day in the life of Jeremy McComb! Jeremy did a great job with the CR RanchWear shout outs!  Who will be our next "Day in the Life" guest?? Stay tuned...

The rest of the summer is sure to fly by! Coming up for us is the NCHA Summer Spectacular in Ft. Worth and The Mane Event Cutting in Las Vegas. See you down the road, and CU in CR!

McKenzie and Sue 

 As you may or may not know, Mckenzie and I (Sue) are a CR Ranchwear Team! We brainstorm ideas, take on marketing, handle sponsored riders, sell shirts, etc.! We love our CR family!

Recently we added another member to the CR RanchWear family. It’s a little Sister for Ol' Red and Big Bertha, our first two trailers, a 31 foot 1975 Airstream Sovereign trailer/showroom!

 

 

We chose this trailer because we wanted to get something that we felt was Always Classic and made in the USA like CR. There is so much amazing country and so many people that we want to share our journey with, and we think this trailer/showroom will allow us to get out to more events of all sizes. It’s a bit of a work in progress, having almost as many years on it as Rhea Scott, but we are working to restore its classic beauty (so it can be more like Rhea.) We are able to do things like this because of the love and support we receive and we hope that y’all continue our journey with us as we get the Airstream cleaned up and ready to go.

 

But, we’ve run into a bit of an issue.

 

What should we name our baby airstream?

 

Just like any good horse or reliable ride, the Airstream deserves a fitting name. So what do you think? Something a bit fresh and wacky or more of a retro vibe? Email us your ideas at namethestream@gmail.com; ask family, friends, neighbors - we really are looking the perfect fit. We rest assured, with your help, we will find it. 

 

We will compile all of the recommendations, pick the few we think fit the brand best, and then have a vote on which name you think is best.

 

Please participate and know that we deeply appreciate the dedicated fans of CR RanchWear. 

 

Get your thinking caps on and let us know what you come up with.  Also- Let us know why we should come to your event or home town and maybe we will!  We are working on an itinerary for the inaugural road trip this fall!

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