After a consistent winning streak this summer, things have steadily gone downhill for me within the last month.

I have avoided writing about my rodeos and how I have been doing because quite frankly, it has been pretty bad. It has been a mix of broken barriers and drawing bad cattle, but I can confidently point a finger at my drawing luck.

In the roping events, contestants randomly draw what calf or steer they get in each specific rodeo, and my drawing has been dreadful. 

I have drawn calves that run hard and give me dirty moves. At Canby, Oregon, I drew a “runner” and then come performance time he was so slow that my horse, Ruby, dang near ran him over.

Then, the next day at the Moses-Lake Roundup, I drew a bonafide runner that went hard left. Because he ran to the left I had to steer Ruby to the left so that I could get myself in a good position, which inevitably takes more time.

I had an amazing start and was right behind my calf but he dodged left, causing me to take longer and be a 2.8. seconds. Although a 2.8 is a good time for the calf I drew, it was too long to win any money compared to the girls who drew pups.

On Tuesday, which was my second day of school, I drove two and half hours to the Tri-Cities area to rope in the Benton Franklin Fair and Rodeo. Can you take a guess on what kind of calf I drew?

You guessed it, a runner that went hard left. It took me 3.6 seconds to catch up and get him roped, and I honestly roped very well considering my calf. 

Although I am experiencing a total drought in my winnings, I am really happy with how far my personal roping has come and that I have been able to still make professional runs on crappy calves.

I am now third in the Columbia River Circuit, only $8 off of the second place spot and about $2,000 behind first place. I win a certain amount of money based on how I place in the rodeos, and the points system for the circuit is based off how much money I have accumulated. 

Honestly, I think that once I made winning the circuit my goal I got really in my head and was trying too hard to win, whereas at the beginning of the season I was focused and simply just doing my job.

I have only a few circuit rodeos left, and they are all really well-paying rodeos. Not only am I trying to win as much money as I can and come out of this dry spell I have been in the last month, but I am trying to keep my spot in the top three.

I plan on turning things around this weekend at Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, on Sunday. There is a circuit rodeo in Waterville on Saturday, but I decided that I wanted to stay in Pullman and enjoy my first weekend of school. 

While I am a little bummed that I am missing Waterville because that could be the difference of me winning the circuit versus not, I only have two years left of college and I want to make the most of my time here before it is gone completely.

It also has definitely been hard not being able to practice, especially because all summer I was able to practice every single day on multiple horses. 

However, I have a dummy that I have been roping outside of my apartment, which is better than nothing. So, if you see a short blonde roping a dummy calf on Greek Row, just know it is the Cougar Cowgirl.