Canada Day

A few weeks ago I wrote about how my youngest brother bought my old horse back.  Well that lead to me trying to rope again.  Something that I used to do on a regular basis until I sold my horse. 
So this Monday I went to practise.  I caught quite a few, I think I missed 3 out of 12 actually, pretty good for not doing it for 11 years!  Tuesday I practised again.  Casey then convinced me that I should enter the Canada Day roping at a local arena. 
So what happens is you pick one partner and then your name is thrown into the draw and you get two more partners, so for every 1 entry you actually get a chance with 3 guys.  So I entered twice, once with Casey and once with my dad.  Then I drew 4 other people, so I went a total of 6 times. 
Now to understand how roping is you have to know that there are numbers involved, like a golfing handicap everyone is given a number.  They go from 1-10, 1 being a beginner, 10 being perfect.  I'm a 3.  I've roped but not a consistent roper, plus I haven't done it for 11 years.  Okay there is another part to this day, Walt Woodward was there.  He is a 10, perfect!  He's an NFR champion several times, so we're talking one of the best of the best.  He was there because for the 2 days previously he had been teaching a roping school.  Guess who was one of the partners I drew?!  Yep, Walt Woodward.  http://waltwoodard.net/lessons/  Here's his link just in case you are actually interested in who he is.  In the world of team roping he's famous, an icon, legend, yes I'm in awe of him. 
Now one would think that I would be really nervous about getting to rope with such a legend.  I wasn't.  I said to myself before I backed into the corner (rope talk) "he's just another person who knows how to rope well, just go out and catch, no pressure."  Yes I talk to myself sometimes. 
So I nodded my head, went out and roped the steer and Walt came around and roped, and he only caught one leg!  The goal is to catch the back two legs.  Can you imagine?!  My perfect 10 isn't as perfect as I thought.  It was really good though, good for my confidence because really I was the weaker of the two in our team and I wasn't the one who screwed up.  Now I know no one is truly perfect but I was still somewhat shocked.  Anyways we went on to rope two more steers, and those two he roped in perfect Walt style, two feet really fast.  We made it back to the short-go, (more rope talk) and then I was the weaker one, I missed.  Had I not missed we would have most likely placed, and won money.  However I missed, I guess that's why I'm a number 3, not a 10. 
It was still a really great day though.  I won the ladies high point, to which I got a really nice watch that is engraved "Ladies Highpoint 2010".  And I got to rope with a world champion!~  A pretty good day overall.