Been a Long Time...

Wow, I just realized how long it has been since I've updated my blog. A lot has happened this summer with the facility and of course, Tommie. My brother just returned from his West Coast rodeo run with Cotton Rosser's Flying U Rodeo and Steve Gilbert's Diamond G Rodeos. Tommie said it was fun, but there were lots of forest fires and it was HOT. He was happy to get to meet so many people on the west coast and Utah. It isn't easy being on the road from June 5th to August 16th and living in a LQ horse trailer with 3 horses and 2 dogs. Some places were nice with indoor stalls covered from the heat while some were just panels under the grand stands where people throw their garbage. It's not luxorious, but that's the entertainment biz. You never know what you'll get from the promoter, but the audience is always makes up for anything with their support. Tommie said he did at least 3 interviews at every stop, so he would have to pack up and move to the next rodeo a day or 2 before the event just to do the media calls. Then, when Tommie got back to the facility here in Sterling, he wasn't here for more than 2 days and he was scheduled to work on a new movie in Chicago. This was for stunts, so he went for the one day. After the shoot they hired him to work the horse scenes the following week. This is a big budget movie that I bet most of you will be going to see next summer. I can't give any details just yet. As this is happening, we are preparing for our own show here at our facility, The Wahl Equestrian Center @ Double G Farms in Sterling, IL. We have been advertising and putting all the details together for quite a few weeks. It was a 2 hour show with equine entertainment featuring some of the best acts in the world. We had a great line-up with Tommie performing his 4 trademark acts, plus with me in the Chariot race, Matt McLaughlin our friend from Texas who is an incredible high school dressage rider and instructor, Cassie Bastien who saw Tommie a few years ago and got inspired to want to perform on horseback, she is 14 years old and she did vaulting and wild west style whips and mounted shooting, plus our very own Lori Miller with her fun skiing act, the Midwest Renegades Drill Team from Woodstock, IL who has two of our former interns on the team, and many surprises and giveaways. My Dad and our friend Rich Brunner played the characters of Poncho and Lefty. They kept the crowd entertained and laughing with their antics. We also had the great Sumo challange where we put two people in these sumo suits and they try and wrestle. It was hilarious!!! My husband did the announcing, the music, and kept the show flowing. The attendance was awesome. We had well over 1000 people and lots of people from Wahl Clipper. There were a lot of new faces too. We really appreciate the support from everyone. This facility takes a lot to keep it going and every time you come and support us here it helps us keep this place alive. Tommie signed hundreds of photos after the show courtesy of Wahl. Even after all of this, Tommie had to leave at 4am on Sunday with our Dad and 2 horses to make it to the movie set in Chicago at Soldier Field. I am so proud of my brother. He is doing exactly what he wants to do. We even had Sugar, our American Cream Mare, Eve the Black Friesan I am training for Aline Wiersema, and Cees my loveable easygoing Quarter Horse in the show. We got a special treat when Matt McLaughlin brought his horse Corral II. Corral is 22 and is retiring this year after 19 years of traveling and performing over 3000 shows around the world. We were lucky enough to see this great horse one last time with Matt. He also brought his new Andalusian, Pecos. He is 11 and is a beautiful strong horse. It was awesome. If you didnt' get to go, we are planning another show hopefully in October when we do our pumkin and haunted hayride here. Now that's gonna be fun. I love Halloween. Well, I gotta run. We leave for a show in Las Vegas at 5:00am with the two trucks and trailers, seven horses, 7 people, 4 dogs, and tons of stuff. We'll be back in a week. Then Tommie goes to PA for 3 days of performing at the Lucerne County Fair. That's over 5,000 miles of traveling with horses in 13 days. So, I'll try to take some time when in Vegas put some pictures up. We'll be at the South Point Casino, Hotel and Spa, but don't count on it!
Ride Fast... Take Chances!
karen