Diary of an Extreme Cowgirl

2007 was a very ruff year for me.

It started out great, with my first major barrel race back after my leg and hip injury from the year before.

I went from unable to walk to racing again.

Ok leg and hip still needs work :)





A month later I knew something was wrong with someone staying at my little ranch, but couldn't tell what.

A year before, when I was hurt, I helped a girl who was begging for help. Her horses were starving, and I was the only one who would help. I now know why.

for a year I fed her horses only asking that she help feed and pay for costs, feed, fencing and rent. I lost money every month, but those horses came in like skeletons and they were gaining so much.

Almost one year to the month, April first, she stole my place. Offering more money to the landlord and telling him I was charging a ton of money, Something I told him I would never do. So he signed a lease agreement with her behind my back and in one day I lost just about everything. A few people offered help and my horses were moved the next day.

On top of this she made a web site designed to destroy me, she launched it on April first, the day my place was stolen. Claiming I abuse horses etc.. complete with photos that were not what the site said they were. Mostly before photos... Anyone who knew me saw it for the lie it was, but the damage was done. 2500 hits later, I will have to deal with the lies.

In the 30 days of April I had so many people come and help take everything I built down and moved what could be saved. The web site came down about 1-1.5 months later, she claims it was taken down because it served its purpose, But it really came down because she used her moms address and her boyfriends credit card to make the site, something that both didn't want.

so in the span of 30 days I lost my ranch, boarding clients/income and a huge hit to my reputation. Not really sure how I got out with my sanity intact, But the worst thing I lost was Trust. I didn't know who to trust, who to talk to or who to turn to. I looked at everyone as threat, for lack of a better word. A kind of paranoia I guess, Who saw the site, Who believes her, How could she do this and the big ones-- I wish I never helped her, I will never help anyone again!

But something I didn't expect came out of it. People I had only met a few times, or had seen me at shows came out of the wood works to help me. They helped me keep going, to not give up and look at the good parts. I was free of a place that was dragging me down. It gave me the chance to move, or really look for something that would lead to what I always wanted. A true place of my own where my horses can run in a big pasture while I look out my window.

I applied for hundreds of jobs, all over. Even in Texas, Oregon, Tennessee, Oklahoma etc.. anywhere and everywhere that might put a smile on my face. I was in the mind set of just picking up and running. To where? I have no idea, just somewhere away from the pain.

I help out someone with 2 very sick horses and was basically slapped across the face. Never again!

Needless to say I was a very sad person for a good long while but there were a good few people that would not allow me to just shut the world out. The weekend of April 28, friends made me go to an event I was always planning on competing in called "The Spring Stampede, knowing full well that this girl was going too. I was so nervous as to what she would tell people, what would she do, would she bother me???????

I went and I did great, with the horse I had been working with for his owner to stop bucking and be calm around craziness, this was Mr. bob marley the slaughter lot rescue. He didn't buck, walked calmly all over and most important broke all of his own times. A huge improvement!

As for the girl, Yes she was there and she was blabbing all over. To my happiness though no one believed her. In fact a few had gone to a some people that had been around to actually witness some of the things she was claiming and asked what the H**L was going on, and they would get the truth from people that saw things with their own eyes, And a few people didn't even need that. They told her straight up that they remembered the claims she made a year before about the old boarding stables that I had "saved her from them and how her horses were doing so well at my place," those were her words one year before, that I "Saved her and her horses"... so she put her own foot in her mouth. She left after only a few classes into the show.





After that show I got e-mails from all over saying that I was welcome and encouraged to come to their shows. That I could come and not worry about anyone bothering me. One person was a show manager for a buckle series I had started in march, I was in the running for the buckle, I was solidly in 2nd place with 2 more shows to go. I think many people could start to see the stress that was building, the fear and paranoia.

The e-mails and calls helped to ease the fear, the paranoia took a lot longer to get rid of but the stress just kept coming. Around every turn there was that girl, her friends and then the people who believed her site (or they claimed to other people, this girl is known for making up fake e-mails and screen names) putting up posts on craigslist.

OH! and lets get one thing straight right now. I never asked anyone to post against her, EVER.. No matter what she wants people to believe I never did that. Just another lie she spreads.

Back in march, yes I know back tracking a bit here, the girl had E-mailed my horse club about an event we put on every year. A charity fun show to benefit therapeutic riding. Two members of her team had been banned from another clubs shows and she thought they were banned from ours, well they weren't but they were not well thought of. I kept silent because I knew something was going on but still had not seen what she was up to. She E-mailed the president of the club to ask if she would lift the ban, remember there wasn't one. She also told them I had a vendetta against these people, also these are 2 people that were running the old stables she claimed were starving her horses but now are her best buds. Well, I didn't have anything against them other then not a good impression of, well anything.

I knew the club did not want a team from that stables but because they were on this girls team no one had noticed that they were entered. I still said nothing. When the e-mail came the president asked the board, which I was a board member, what they thought and wanted info on the so called ban. I told them "I am too close to this and am having a problem with the team captain and would like to be kept out of even the deliberation, but about the ban talk to this horseclub for the why's" and that is how I left it and true to my word I was not even there for the deliberations.

I was shocked at the decision. They banned the 2 riders! This club is known for giving second chances, they did say that if the 2 people in question wanted to prove they were not the bad people that they are thought to be, they should come to the horsemen's meetings and work days. "Actions speak louder then words," show us you are good hard working horsemen and you can ride next year. They never took them up on that offer. I knew I was in for it when that happened. No matter how much the club told these people I had nothing to do with it they told everyone that I had. I DIDN'T! I actually thought they were going to be allowed to show.

Well, she found two new riders and was able to compete. This took place on July 29th. A day I look forward to every year. I told my team that I was going to pretend she was not there and they should do the same. We did. And surprise surprise, I actually did forget she was there most of the day!

I had so much fun as I did every year, my team won the costume contest again for the 3rd year in a row, but wow did we have a hard time. At least 2 other teams had amazing outfits. The theme was "Las Vegas" my team wore dresses that looked like $100 dollar bills. Another team was dressed as people from the national finals rodeo, which is in Las Vegas. One rider was a rodeo queen, another was clown and the greatest one was a bull rider full with helmet and vest but the horse was the best! brown vet wrap to make the tail look like a bulls tail and fake padded horns on the bridle.. AWESOME!!!

But the best team, other then ours of course, was a team fully dressed as the CSI Las Vegas investigators. Complete with handcuffs, latex gloves, badges and people chalk outlines drawn on the horses butts. OH I wish I had a picture for you! If we were going to loose the costume contest I wanted to loose to them, Perfect and brilliant idea!




As you can tell I had a wonderful day, to top it off my team won the whole show. I was shocked as all but one horse on our team are senior horses over 25 years old. I had always told people that the team that wins is not usually the fastest, consistent teams with few penalties wins this show. And my team did have our fair share of penalties. I got a 180 seconds added on when a team member and I finished a class in the wrong direction, we were yelling at each other one minute and then on the verge of tears apologizing to each other the next. This show is supposed to be fun.

Why am I going into such detail on this event? Well, because of what happened in the days after the show. Word got around to me through a former client of mine that had kind of bought into this girls talk, still not sure why. I think it was more that she didn't want to be in the middle of drama, I don't blame her one bit there, But it meant that her horse was still there at my old place which was now run by the girl. I got a call out of the blue with an apology from this person, saying they wished they had stood up for me, It meant so much to me to hear that. I just needed to hear it. She then told me that the girl was telling people that I was riding my very thin sick old horse. People were believing her until the photos of the event hit the Internet. Not only was I not riding a thin horse but my old horse was in very good shape and was trying to run super fast, the whole day I was holding him back and most of the photos you can see I am pulling back to hold him up. Hey he's old he needs to act like it lol... so she put her foot in it again.

She also attempted to apologize to me on a horse chat board. But how can you apologize while accusing me of more things I didn't do? No one respond to her posts, in fact for most of the time from April till August she had very little responses. This site she had attempted to hide under another screen name in April and posted her site. The back lash was amazing. Not one person believed her. I couldn't believe the wave of response post in my favor, when her post first showed up I was e-mailing the site owner asking for them to pull the post, they did and they also monitored her posts from then on, plus many were modified by the board admin. Thank You Guys so much.

August 18, Clements California. A day to show off my talent with horses. I had been working only 14 days with a 5 year old stallion to compete in extreme trail classes. I had also entered again to be on the RFD-TV show "Extreme Cowboy." This season was to be filmed on the East coast, I sent in my entry and video to be considered. My video was not as good as I would like. It was of the first time ever riding this horse and it was his first time being ridden outside of an arena and over some basic trail stuff. But on the 14th ride, we filmed us at the "Extreme Ranch Trials."

He did amazing. We got there and I took one look at a huge titter totter and told his owners "I don't know about that but we'll try." He had just started to walk over a bridge the day before but now the bridge would move lol... Well, I hand walked him through the course once giving him the chance to see each obstacle including water for the first time. I actually rode him through the water first but he wanted to run through it and not slow down. I had figured on that and brought some clothes to change into so I could hand walk him through. But one of his owners said "No I will do it so you don't have to change." So he walked though the water and discovered he likes it. Thanks so much for letting me borrow your boy :)

It was a great day and I wish I could say that the girl had no overshadowing effects but she did do something that was strange. As we were leaving to go to the event my cell phone rang. It was her. Of course I didn't answer and she didn't leave a message. everyone in the truck was laughing so hard, so she really didn't overshadow anything but she made a strange appearance with a call to my cell lol...



Well, I wasn't picked for the Extreme Cowboy. Don't know why. I still have not gotten rid of the paranoia thing yet so was worried that she had E-mailed them her site back in April or just e-mail and bashed me. She had done that to a horse rescue I took a horse in from. I didn't find out about that till 1-2 months later. I guess many didn't want to add to my stress and let me know that she had gone that far. Not just calling animal control with fake claims but called and E-mailed a horse rescue telling them to come get my horses. They didn't believe her because I had been sending picture updates on the horse I had and a few other rescue helpers had been to my place just days before the world blew up in April. So she was talking to deaf ears there, but how many other high up ears did she talk too? Could she have called or E-mailed the show people? Who else did she send an e-mail to?

Animal Control was annoyed that she had put their number on her site telling site visitors to call in a report. Animal Control had known where my horses were the whole summer by me. I tell them where they are and invite them to come anytime they like because I have done nothing wrong. They agree and kept my location quite, they did say that they could not stop her from finding me but that if she didn't know where I was then her claims were ignored as she could not tell them what she saw if she doesn't know where the horses are.

Then My car was broken into in front of my house. What makes this strange is what they took. Even the police are suspicious. They got in the drivers side door and opened the trunk.. yes, the trunk, what thief takes the time to open the trunk? Out of the 4 saddles in the car one was in the back seat and 3 in the trunk. they took one saddle. The one that meant the most to me. They left money I left in the passenger seat, CD's, tools etc... and took one saddle. Please keep a look out for it for me please. I want it back, I don't have another saddle that fits my horses. I now need a new saddle.

Well, I may not have been picked for extreme cowboy but I did qualify for the State Gymkhana championships. Held in October in Santa Rosa California. I did well but the time divisions were very confusing, and not sure why but people who were disqualified in most of the classes with no times ended up in the top 10. OK. But oh well, nothing I can do about that. I still had fun though.




The region awards came after the state show and guess what. I am 4th place in my region. Not bad for a girl still relearning to ride like I used to and a horse no one wanted. Mr. Bob Marley has become a really great horse. So proud of him.

I also competed in a competition called "Horsemastership," I did great with my feedlot rescue Marley. We had to complete 3 arena patterns. One was stock seat, a simple reining pattern, a barrel pattern and a pole bending pattern. I was in the gymkhana category. Also a Grooming pattern and a written test on the association bylaws and general horse knowledge. General knowledge, sheesh that was a hard test. I learned that under pressure I can't tie a Bowline knot if my life depended on it lol.. But I had fun and get this. We are now the Reserve Champions.

I ended up getting a job in my state lol, at a University Hospital laboratory but its 1.5 - 2 hours from my house, and you can't say that I am not dedicated to work my butt off to make sure my horses do not suffer because I drive to work 5 days a week and spend about 4 hours a day in the car to do it.

Through out this whole summer I have taken odd little jobs to get some money to pay bills but not enough.

I cleaned houses, some I think that even marry maids would have run screaming from, and others that were normal but hey its a job. I also cleaned stalls, hauled junk, delivered feed, did movie theater inspection (something I have been doing for years now) and so many more that I can't remember them all. But they all took time and energy, I am so tired now. The debt is huge and I don't earn enough in the new job to pay everything back in a timely manner. One person being selfish and greedy caused a chain reaction of debt that I will feel for a long time. To make matters worse she owes me for about 4 months of horse food I paid for. I continued to buy her horses food even though she had stopped paying. Nice huh?

My horses are doing great, I on the other hand seem to have developed an Anxiety and Panic disorder, No I don't go running around panicking lol but I do have chest pressure, heart flutters and pain to the point of needing air. It is all stress related and I don't see it going away anytime soon. I trust so few people right now.

Can Ya Blame Me?

Mixed in with all of this stressful private horror I did something's this summer with the insistence and aid of many new friends. I competed in ranch trials on a beautiful and quick learning young stallion. I competed in CSHA and now am the Reserve Horsemastership Champion, and I went to state in barrels and gymkhana. I am also 4th place CSHA region 5 gymkhana, Plus I ended up Reserve Champion in that Buckle Series too!So not bad for a summer of stress and sadness.



I wrote this in hopes that I could get some of this anger and stress out, it has worked. But I also hoped that it can help others learn from my mistakes this past year.

1) NEVER go so far out on a limb for another that if something happened you take the fall

2) Stand up, Dust yourself off and keep going.

3) Buckle down and do want needs to be done

I know cheesy but its true. The first was my biggest mistake and caused all my problems. She owes me money and caused a huge debt, my horses are scattered and I drive all over the place to work, home and to see them. My car hates me, all those miles lol.. I can't move closer to work because I need money to do that. So I commute 5 days a week and hope to be able to save money, but its slow and hard to do that.

My world was rocked and I have spent most of the year working my butt off to recover. Please learn from this and plan better. Look for the hidden agenda when you get that feeling that something is not right.

In 2006 I was called the "True Cowgirl up Spirit" for getting on a horse and competing in extreme cowboy with limited use of my left side. I think this year I really showed it by getting beat down but getting right back up and working hard. I not once sunk to her level or made a site to bash her, or post things about her. I let her dig her own hole and put herself in it. I follow my horsemen's club motto "Actions speak louder then words," Just watch me with horses and you can see that there is no way I can get a horse to work that well if I did any one the things she claimed.

The debt will be with me a long time, but it will go away. I just need to keep my head up.

And I have left out so much that was done to me, because well I can't write that much lol, and this is long enough already. Lets just say I think there is enough for a few movies here.

I live life one day at a time now, and I have been coming out of my shell shock.

I will tell you what I would like to do in 2008.. "The extreme mustang challenge" which will be at the western states horse expo in June. I had worked with 2 mustangs over the summer, both had come from questionable situations and have trust issues. We all have something in common lol. So I think I have a great shot at doing well in the competition the only problem is I need a place to train the mustang. I have until Jan 25 to enter and send in photos of the facilities. Cross your fingers for me.



I want to share some songs that have lifted my spirits and motivated me this year. And if I have coded this blog right they should have been playing while you read.

"If you're going through hell
Keep on going, don't slow down
If you're scared, don't show it
You might get out
Before the devil even knows you're there"-- "Rodney Atkins, If You're Going Through Hell"

"So let it rain
It's pourin' all around
Let it fall
No it ain't gonna drown me
After all
I'm gonna be okay
So let it rain" -- "Faith Hill, Red Umbrella"

Hope your 2007 was better then mine and that 2008 meets you with clear skys and fast ground.