At the rodeo at Rose Palace, I expected to see Elena competing in a little kids' event, but no. Along with her mom and her aunt, she competed in ranch sorting for the first time.
Here's how it works:
A team of two goes into a corral with ten steer in one corner. One rider sorts the steer and, one at a time, in order, gets them to leave their herd and go through the gate. The job of the team-mate is to prevent all the others from passing through.
These steer have "herd mentality" for real. They don't want to be separated.
Elena, the only child participating, sorted four of them on her first try.
Seeing her galloping around the arena with such confidence was impressive.
Will and I sat--mostly stood--on the opposite side of the field from all the other spectators and we both had tears in our eyes when we saw her bravely going into the corral on horseback. It was a rite of passage for our little cowgirl.
Here she is riding the same horse on her first birthday:
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