Can you ride or not?

These may be my favorite lines from the movie, All the Pretty Horses.  Lacey Rawlins, John Grady, and Jimmy Blevins had been drinking "cactus juice" all afternoon before they rode on down the trail.  The two older cowboys ride back to find that Jimmy has fallen off his horse.

Can you ride or not?

Hell, yeah, I can ride.

I was riding when I fell off.

I'm a regular buckaroo.

Certified damn bronc peeler. 

I can't help but smile every time I think about this scene.  Between Jimmy's drunken cowboy demeanor and his Texan accent, you can't help but laugh.

This weekend I'll be entering my first reined cowhorse show on Lou.  We're ready.  My only hangup in these shows have been my nerves.  I can run barrels just about anywhere without another thought but showing is a whole different thing for me.  It's the precision of the pattern work I guess.  I have controlled every stride only to find that my horse can't work very well with his head tucked back to his tail.

JD has been my saving grace by helping me to smile before I ride in the gate.  Its harder to be tense with a smile on your face.  So tomorrow, I'll be thinking about All the Pretty Horses and riding like a "regular buckaroo, certified damn bronc peeler".

If you haven't seen the movie, watch it.  It'll make you yearn to be a cowboy and NEVER want to be a cowboy, all in the stretch of a couple of hours.  Its a great flick.