Howdy and my apologies for taking so long to update the Gold Buckle blog. I pray everyone had a restful and peaceful holiday season. For those of you who are on Cloud 9 with me, Hallelujah… we made it! It’s been a long road and life undoubtedly has it’s ups and downs… let’s enjoy our time here while we have it. If you did not have a great holiday season, my prayers go up for you. I do understand that many people have dealt with the loss of a loved one, health issues and other life altering challenges in recent months. I want you to know that Jesus loves you. He feels your pain and will deliver you in time. Please keep your faith!
I have so much to share today. The first event we hosted in November was Race For A Reason, a barrel race in Denton, Texas, benefiting a local shelter called The Shepherd’s Hand. My heart was full of joy to see all the Christmas gifts, food and toys given for this worthwhile ministry. It was a day to remember when we delivered all the items in our four horse Cherokee trailer!
The second event was another race combined with a free barrel clinic on December 16 and 17. Again, all proceeds went to The Sheperd’s Hand and it was a very successful event. The cutest part of the weekend happened when the youngster , Selah Farmer from Mason, Texas, won the trophy saddle and stood proud (holding on to the saddle that was way bigger than she was) to take group photos.
When asked what her name means, this tiny little girl with a great big heart looked us straight in the eye and said into the microphone, it means “to wait upon the Lord.” Powerful words. And, little did we know how much they would impact the rest of our day…
As many of you already know, the highpoint trophy at our clinics is always awarded to the one person who is voted on to have displayed with best champion attitude with integrity and sportsmanship. We call it the Champion For Christ award.
After the clinic, Selah’s parents stopped by to tell us that on three separate times in 2011, their daughter had been beat out of winning a saddle by only a few points. They encouraged her to hang in there that her day would come, sportsmanship is important. Well, low and behold, this little angel was voted on by all her peers at our clinic to be the Champion For Christ! Not a one of us had heard her story beforehand and winning the saddle meant more to that young lady than it would have for any other person in the stadium on that day. Isn’t is beautiful to see how God brings all things together for our good?
It was also precious to witness another special young lady win the runner-up Champion For Christ belt buckle, Darla Delozier. Darla brought her pony Popcorn that morning on faith, hoping there might be an opening for her to ride as a student. I’m so proud of her and so thankful there was room on the rider list. I’ll never forget when this youngest group of riders left my session, they each rode up to me with big smiles and said “thank you” for teaching me today.
December 30 was a hoot and a half! Thanks to my sweet friends from North Dakota, Brent and Ryane Bakke, along with Barbie Claussen, Sarah Buchanan, Luis Franco and Kaiden Dickson, Gold Buckle Ranch got a much needed facelift and spit shine before the lovely Miss Kristy Lee Cook arrived from Eagle Point, Oregon.
Kristy Lee Cook is an American Idol finalist and an avid big game hunter. She has a popular show on TV called Goin’ Country. We were delighted when Kristy asked if she could come film one of her shows here in Denton, Texas. That morning, we enjoyed spending time with KLC and watching her test drive several horses, Texas Ranger, Bubba Gump, Dale Jr. and Chic My Credit. No sugar coating… this girl can ride a horse!
Dirk Webb at Diamond T Arena rolled out the red carpet and helped organize a Goin’ Country Shootout barrel race. Kristy Lee sang the national anthem on horseback, riding Ryane’s beautiful gray mare Maybelline. Later that evening, Kristy showed us all just how multi-talented she is by winning two checks on two different horses. It was a great night and the turn-out was fantastic! There were 256 entries in the race and we didn’t finish up until after 3 am. (Next year, KLC, I promise we will start earlier.)
Rodeo For A Reason kicked off again in Mesquite, Texas, where Dover and I tied for 2nd place. I was so thankful that Dover came back as strong as he did after having so many weeks off from competition.
Odessa, Texas, was equally good to us. Dover and I placed 3rd in the first round of competition, 7th in the second go and 2nd in the average. These recent wins will really help bump us up in the standings and I can not thank all of you enough for the prayers, support and personal encouragement. 2012 is very important for all of us at Team Gold Buckle. Last Easter, during the Sunday church service, God planted another big dream in my heart and I will be sharing details online very soon. Suffice it to say… 2012, is going to ROCK! 
Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to read my blog. I will commit to be better about updating this site more often and keep you posted on everything going on at Gold Buckle. May the Lord bless you and keep you and cause His face to shine upon you. ~KD
