My riding story and how Buckaroo Bodywork came to be. You can learn more about my journey so far with horses, and what inspired me to get into equine massage below.

- My Riding Story -

I have been riding since I was quite young. I’ve had the blessing to have horses right outside my window in almost every place I’ve called home. For most of my childhood I wasn’t in any sort of “proper riding” programs, I learned the basics from my Mom. I participated in working ranch horse 4H for two summers, and went to 4H horse camp every summer for a couple years as well. Like I said I never really had any formal training, I was a ranch kid more than anything. My sisters and I grew up on broke ranch horses and Idaho mountain ranges. I had a couple horses in my later childhood when I did 4H, but most of them were temporary “just for the summer” horses. Although I did learn a lot on a big sorrel gelding named Red, he took great care of me for a couple summers. He was quite a lot for me though, and was quite grumpy and didn’t have the best temperament especially on the ground, as he was a stud for about 7 years of his life and was very protective and even aggressive around mares. We ended up selling Red after many years of him being my Mom and I’s shared horse. Last I heard he was happy with his herd of fellow geldings, and even became a very loving boy for another little girl. The next couple years (my late tweens) I had two different horses over a span of three years. When I was 14, Rango came into my life. I figured he would just be another horse I had for a few years, little did I know this horse would change the course of my riding journey entirely. The first 3 years I had Rango were not easy, he was extremely spooky, buddy sour, and just the kind of horse that would take advantage of you to get out of work. He wasn’t dangerous by any means, he had a big personality and was an absolute sweetheart on the ground. I did a lot of groundwork, liberty, grooming. And he was a good reliable horse for ranch stuff so we hung on to him. We were slowly figuring each other out in the saddle the next few years, but not much progress was being made. Our biggest issue was we both didn’t have a lot of confidence. I was used to riding been there done that horses that were practically bombproof. Rango was small, headstrong, but very wary of everything. We didn’t know much about his past, only that he had either cutting horse or reining bloodlines, and maybe even a bit of training in one or the other. He was very cowy so our theory was a working cow horse of some sort. At this point in my life I hadn’t done 4H in years, mainly due to my parent’s divorce and lack of time, commitment, and having to live in two different houses. I still rode at my Mom’s house from time to time, but between school, and family issues, my riding was on the back burner for about a year and a half. That is until 2022, everything changed. We had recently moved to the other side of the valley with our Mom who had taken on a ranch job with some family friends. It was at this point I started trying to ride more consistently again, but I was only becoming more frustrated with Rango. I had been slowly thinking about and discussing with my Mom selling Rango and looking for a new horse. It was a tough decision since I did still have a love for the little gelding, but it just wasn’t working. Now at this point your probably wondering where the heck barrel racing comes into play, well right here actually. It was mid winter and I was riding at our local indoor arena with my friend to tune Rango up for sale videos, and work on his hay belly. My friend was working her horse on barrels to prepare for the upcoming high school rodeo season. She asked me if I had ever tried running Rango on the pattern before? While I had jokingly done it a few times I really hadn’t actually tried to go at it with any speed or skill. She encouraged me to give it a shot. Now it wasn’t pretty by any means, but it sparked an interest in me, and maybe even in Rango. He had a knack for the tight turns, and I thought “hey why not hold on to him for few more months before putting him up for sale, and try to turn him into a junior rodeo horse for someone”? Little did I know, I would be training my own barrel horse over the coming year. By spring I had decided to hang on to Rango, throughout 2022 I “tried” to turn Rango into a barrel horse. I say “tried” because I really didn’t know what I was doing, my friend helped me on the rare occasion we could ride together, but I really had no clue where to start. Winter of 2022 we finally gained some confidence, and some speed as well, I finally entered my first barrel race in April 2023. Now what I really mean by entered, was an exhibition run, I blacked out, rode terribly, BUT I loved it, I loved the rush of competing. I’d only ever done any sort of competing in 4H, and back then I hated it. Now I’m not saying I love feeling like I’m going to throw up before I run, but I love competing on my horse, and I love the feeling of running even a second faster than the last race. I will admit, our first season wasn’t great, our fastest time was run at our last race of the season in October 2023. The first time we had actually traveled for a race, was our best run yet. Most of the year though, we blew barrels, and took wide turns. It was frustrating because I knew Rango was capable of impressive turns, our slow work proved that. My nerves just got the better of me, and we weren’t where I wanted to be. We had a couple setbacks as well, a couple spooks, one of which unseated me completely and made me really question if barrel racing was something I wanted to continue working at. Finally running that 21 after running a consistent 22 for most of our season felt amazing, and it is a feeling I will never forget. I decided to give Rango the winter off and start one of our mares on barrels. I recently even bought my own barrel saddle for $2,000 sooo yeah, hands down the biggest purchase I have ever made in my life. As of now (February 2024) I am bringing Rango back into work and getting him ready for his second season. While also training Mae from the ground up, in hopes of being able to run her alongside Rango this year. I hope to start my season in April 2024. Yeah, that brings us to where I am now, if you read all that, thank you so much, that is a condensed version of it all for sure. If you would like to follow my personal riding journey, I post very consistently on my personal Instagram which is @Barrelsand_Bays. Now that you know where I have come from riding wise, let’s talk about why I decided to get into equine massage!