The Apprenticing Life

There was a CCPA (California Cattle Penning Association) penning this past Saturday. Show days means waking up early in order to drive out to La Grange (a two hour drive on a good day), get the horses fed, wash and groom the horses we'll be taking, loading everyone into the trailer, changing into show clothes and hitting the road. This is roughly how my Saturday morning:

- Wake up at 12:30 (I don't usually go to bed until 12:30!)
- Ride with my fellow apprentice two hours to La Grange (he drives, thankfully!)
- Get caught up to speed with my trainer
- Wash four horses (in the dark, mind you)
- Groom up said horses until they shine (still in the dark!)
- Help feed the remaining horses
- Gather all the tack we'll be taking with us and store it in the trailer
- Help load the horses into the trailer (sun's just coming up)
- Check the trailer then hit the road!
- Arrive at the penning and unload horses
- Touch-up grooming and tacking up
- Warm up my trainer's horse
...all before the 9:00 start.

Once the competition started, I helped out by working the gate. If you're planning on competing in any event, I definitely recommend working the gate at least once. It's the best seat in the house, and I learned a lot -- not only from watching the runs, but also from the commentary between teams. They discuss their game plan as they enter the arena, they talk about what they did right as they leave the arena after a good run, and they talk about what went wrong after a bad one. Also, the teams waiting to go into the arena will analyze the run of the team that's in the arena, so there's tons of information milling around that gate. Plus, everyone in the CCPA is extremely friendly, so they were all willing to answer any questions I had about strategy, the cows and the rules.

Besides that, I really liked being able to wish each team good luck as they entered, and congratulate them as they left, no matter how their run went.

After the show, I helped break down all the sponsorship posters, which gave me a chance to talk to the president of the association. Once that was done, it was time to take the tack off of the horses, groom and load everyone in the trailer for the trip back home.

I did get to see Kachina, briefly, and try on her fancy new halter (which I tried to get a picture of her wearing, but it was too dark!). We fed the horses their dinner and, finally, packed up for the two hour drive back home. I was in bed at 11:30 -- long day!

Sunday more than made up for it, though; P and I took a drive to Mt. Tam. It was beautiful and warm and we scored tons of this great, soft, green rock that looked almost like jade. No idea what it is, but I want to do something cool with it eventually.

For those of you who have followed Kachina's twitter, you know that I've been dying to make Cash a rattlesnake skin collar all summer. Well, with Ana's help, I finally got it done on Monday (even though she was freaked out by it). It looks amazing! I can't wait to take tons of pictures of him in it. Now I just have to get him a Good Dog Tag and he'll be all set.

It's been a long, long week, and it's only Wednesday. Expect some pictures of Kachina next week, as well as a little dive into her family history!