North Dakota Winter Show

Here's Tommie and riding Joker bareback and bridleless during the show on Thursday Night.

Yes, I know I skipped the PA Horse World Expo on my blog. Don't worry, I'll get to it. We got to PA on Wednesday, set up our 5 horses, set up our booth, did 2 demos a day, rehearsal, shows on Friday and Saturday, signed autographs after the shows, packed it all up on Sunday, left Monday at 8am back to our facility in Illinois, got home at 10pm, unloaded the horses, slept, woke up at 7am, unpacked everything, repacked everything PLUS the chariots and gear, did office work, worked the western store, slept, woke up at 6am and left for North Dakota at 7am. We arrived here at 8pm during the truck pulls, sho we had to wait until they were done at 11pm, hit the hotel, slept, got to the barn at 8am, set our schedule for the show the 7:00pm show and took time to get caught up on phone calls. Sooo, now you know why I haven't written anything about the PA Show yet. That is basically our daily routine in a nutshell. We did the show here which was Tommie's 4 acts plus the chariots. It ran about 1 hr and was a lot of fun. The arena is narrow to race chariots, so it is really tight turns and side by side racing. I had Apollo and Dakota and Tommie raced Caesar and Spartacus. Now we are back in the hotel at 10pm. I leave for home at 7am Friday. Tommie is staying to perform at the Rodeo on Sat and Sunday. Once I get back I'll have time to answer the emails and comments. This is our first time at the North Dakota Winter Show. They have 8 ft snowbanks and its 10 degrees out, but the people here are fantastic. We love working with shows where the people are a joy to work with. The barn manager, Ben and his crew are awesome. They put panels up and made our area exactly what we needed. Thanks guys. Also, thanks to Nancy Allen for having us. Hope to see you all again next year. Ride Fast... Take Chances! karen

Here are a few shots of Tommie and I racing the chariots. It was a narrow arena, so the turns are pretty tight. We've raced together hundreds of times, so it was a lot of fun and a great audience. They were very surprised at the ending. Thanks NDWS!

Here I went deep to the corner. I knew Tommie wasn't cutting it enough so I could pass him as he slowed to turn. Dirt was flying as we got wheel to wheel quite a few times. It is quite exhilirating driving these 800 pound chariots with 2,000 pounds of horses pulling them. Like we say, "Ride Fast... Take Chances!" karen