Working Cow Horse and Cutting Up Next

Things are progressing well for us here at the show today. We are down to only one Arena once again with all of the Halter classes ending early. Some of those classes only had a single horse, congrats... your a winner! Hopefully some of the smaller classes will start to grow. If you have 10 horses, that gives you a 1 in 10 shot at winning and you'll be a Top 10 Winner too.

Tomorrow we'll pick back up with the Open Working Cow Horse classes and then Friday the Cutters will arrive and start their portion of the show. That means we will bring Will Rogers back online with the Wireless feed to my location. Both of these events are among my favorites to watch. I still have a little more Reining to watch as well over the next few days and its looking like the rest of this week will be fairly easy hours to work.

Slide right into home

This has got to be one for the record books. I made it home by 6:30pm with plenty of day light. The show wrapped up for the day at a little after 4:00pm a record time for the past 7 shows that I've experienced.

Its really nice, but so very strange to me. World Show has always been these crazy 15 hour plus days. What is only a 10 hour Show day? A breeze if you ask me.

The show actually ended before dinner arrived on the grounds. We had to wait and eat to make sure the food was not wasted. Great dinner by the way and I was fine with waiting.

Well even though my day was short, I still got in some photo ops and had a good time. I tested out the changes on the PDA app for the show. Really nice to click and see who is in the pen and what is going on in the other arena.

Well that is all for today's show events, we are looking at the final turn and home stretch now. Only 4 more days of show left, I have one more warm-up announcers gig to go. Still need to try an grab a few more pics for the final night video, but all in all the final curtain call is about to be made.

Good Night... I mean Good Evening

What a crazy week for my 8th Paint Horse Show. Year after year the show has always gone to at least 10pm or later, but not this year. Now we are looking at early nights and the sun is still up even in most cases.

Tonight we finally had some Reigning classes take place and they were suppose to be Prelims with finals taking place tomorrow. Two of those classes took went ahead and had finals tonight. So we are already short two classes for tomorrow, as best as I know that is. Now I've seen this happen once in awhile, but not as much as with this show.

Tomorrow was already projected to be an early night and it looks like its getting even earlier as the show progresses. I'm not complaining, its just something so out of place and strange for this time of the year for me. My family is awake when I come home now. Well its only 5 days left in the 2008 show and at least its been a little bit easy for the Open portion.

Photographers Digital Assistant

So today I had this idea about a PDA app (Photographers Digital Assistant) that would allow me to see what was going on in the various arenas. The easy way to do this would be a small web based app that would work on a cell phone that has web access.

Over the past few years, I've run around the horse show snapping photos for the final night videos we put together. But in addition to this, I've been asked from time to time to take some photos here or there. The only problem is knowing what class is going on and what the order of go they are on for a particular arena. That is where I thought a cool little app could help me out.

Tracy already had some stuff like this going for the video stream and I asked if he could make a scaled down version for a mobile phone. He played with it today and its almost exactly what I was expecting, but I think its more of an issue with my phone and web pages, but it is still a lot closer to what I envisioned. I wasn't able to switch between arenas just yet... phone issue I think again.

But so far a little idea I had looks like it could really work and with the right tools (phone) to access, I can see where this and a few other things could be really handy to the mobile staff photographer out on the show grounds.

Riding tall in the Saddle

I'm still at the horse show, but today I came in late to work having decided to take Freya for her second session out of six lessons. She had a blast and her eyes lit up when she heard they were going to go ride in the park for today.

The instructors are really pleased with her and think she's a great listener. I couldn't help but notice how well she looked while riding. Year after year I watch exhibitors compete and see how they ride and I can see tiny bits of them in what Freya is learning to do and is such a short time.

I had a rather busy morning... having the digital camera with me, I figured I would snap a few shots. I had no idea I would get a small morning walk in the Park to snap a few more pics.

Well next Saturday marks the third lesson and will be the final day of the APHA World Championship Paint Horse Show. I'll miss taking her to her lesson, but I'll look forward to the following weeks and the rest of her riding lessons.

I'll also look forward to regular hours and being back with the whole family again. It's a lot of work and hard being away for so long. I know the family will be glad I'm back and Edith will enjoy a real break once again.

Early night for once, really

Wow I'm home and its nice to get here at a decent hour for a change. Tonight it was rumored that we would go until 1am. Thankfully that all changed and we ended early. Not to mention the last class of the evening was Solid-bred Paint Horse Trail and with only two exhibitors.

Could you imagine waiting until 1am for a class of only two. Here's the thing, APHA is working to help grow this area of competition for Solid-bred Paint Horses. In most cases a class has to have at least 6 to make, but all of the Solid-bred Paint Horse classes will take place no matter what it seems.

Kudos to the exhibitors for showing off the talents of their Solid-bred Paint Horses. They might not be loud and proud like most Paints, but they are still Paint horses just the same. I say they have color on the inside.

Well going to relax a bit and drift off to sleep. I'm going in late to the show and taking my daughter to her horseback riding lessons in the morning. Looking forward to seeing her for sure and the rest of the family.

Germany for the Win!

The Paint World Games were played today at the APHA World Championship Paint Horse Show and as much as I would love to see Team USA take the Gold, I'm really happy with Team Germany winning Gold this year.

I think its a great event for the Youth to take part in and to have seven countries all gathering together, to compete with Paint Horses is just plain awesome. The games were a nice way to bring an end to this years Youth show.

The awards nights took place as well and with a huge hiccup. For what ever reason the final video project was not played and an earlier version, a partial demo played on the big screen. A number of people said they thought it looked cool, if only they had seen the final video Tracy had worked hard on. Well hopefully they'll take a look on the web and see what was missed.

That's all for tonight, going to sleep in some for a change and go in late. Tomorrow is Trail Classes from John Justin and its expected to be a super long night tomorrow.

Excitement on many levels

Its been a busy day so far for me... running around and snapping photos where I can, trying to get more images for the Youth final night video to select from. I have to say this, just like the horse above, I'm jumping up and down too with the early version of the opening that I've seen so far. The video is going to rock big time if you ask me and I can't wait to see the final cut.

Now not all of the photos have been set and transitioned just yet, but some of them look great and fit right where they are in the song. Each year I submit a nice portion of photos and my buddy Tracy, a co-worker of mine, picks and sets them all to music for the videos. He does an incredible job year after year. Not only does he produce the videos each year, he takes great photos as well for the projects.

Well I need to get back out and shoot some more, its all about being in the right place at the right time. Sitting in front of my screen keeps me from catching those moments in time. So far I've snapped a little over 1,700 shots for the show.

Still going and going

One of my favorite shots from the day comes from Youth Working Cow Horse, a new class for the AjPHA Youth this year. They start with a Reining pattern first and then release a Cow to work in the Arena afterwards. It's pretty cool to watch and one of the things you see from time to time is someone get close enough to place a hand on the back of the cow, not something I've seen happen a lot to tell you the truth.

Today the show offered you just a little bit of everything. We had Heading, Healing, and Steer Stopping in Will Rogers from Open exhibitors for the most part. Then English events that involved some Jumping in John Justin to name a few things you could have seen today. Finishing out the night is Western Pleasure riding and its going to go long and slow. I'm trying to decide if I'll sleep in or not now, I'm scheduled to arrive at 10am and I think I'm going to follow that.

My girls love horses

That face says it all if you ask me. Tonight my daughters made it out for the Stick Horse competition and had a blast. One of the best events of the show and the kids light up when they get to run around the arena for a change.

Some of these little ones will actually move on to ride real horses and even show them perhaps. But as for tonight, its clearly their time to shine and show what they are made of. For the past 8 years, I've had the best time watching these kids on stick horses.

I'm sure this event will always be a favortie of mine and I know Miss V & Lil M have many years to perfect their stick horse riding skills. Freya will be learning to ride real horses and hopefully can share some of her stick riding skills with the little ones.

Its showtime all day long

Good morning and what a difference a little sleep can make for someone. I'm feeling really great right about now. Well day two of the warm up announcing is now in the books and I received a number of compliments from various Judges and Ring Stewards that our working our show. Felt really good to hear all of that for sure.


I've always been OK with a microphone and I do OK winging things... pretty much taking my directions from downstairs and calling out the gaits is easy. But something strange happened and I heard, STOP! come over the radio. So I said STOP!, then some people standing in as Judges said, Whoa! and I thought something might have happened and repeated the same. Of course the directions given were all wrong and I had to get them all started again. Walk your horses please, I know that one by heart.

It's hard to see what is going on right below the announcers booth and I pretty much followed the directions fed to me, I don't think STOP was suppose to go over the radio and hopefully that will be the last mistake in this regards I make (knock on wood).

Speed, baby! Its the events I love and I'm talking about Barrel Racing, Stakes Races, and Pole Bending classes. Some of the fastest riders on Paint Horses will compete today tomorrow. By the looks of the photo I snagged last night, it sure looks like they are having a blast if you ask me. Check out the APHA World Show web site and click on the Live Feed links to see some of the action.

Well this is an early post for today and this will be one of the longest days of the whole show. I'm expected to stay until about 1am and decided to post early. I want to try and post daily from the show and on events at the show this year. I hope you all enjoy my coverage and hang in there with me now. I'll see you all tomorrow, which very well could be the end of today's events.

The long and short of it

Tonight turned out to be an early night for a change. I'm home now, but the family is out an about right now. Edith is working on her training and the kids are with Grandma & Grandpa. What does all of this have to do with the title. Well its been a long day just the same.

The baby had issues sleeping and pretty much woke me up around 3am (song playing in head...) and I find it hard to get back to sleep. I had to go in early and announce the practice. Now I'm really beat and need a little rest.

So the short is getting out early I'd normally run off and pick the kids up. They are in very good hands and this is a chance for me to get at least an hour of rest if not more in. I'm up early again for another go at the annoucer spot for morning practice. Tomorrow is expected to be a super long day.

Yeah I'm out of here, check you all later, I'm not going to last much longer at all.

I say let them grow up to be cowboys

Checkin went smooth as near as I can tell. Some tiny glitches in other areas behind the scenes, but no biggie. So the Youth Show kicks off tomorrow with Team Tournament events and I go live with my first stream around 4pm CST.

I hope it all goes over smooth, at least for me that is. Monday evening is the Stick Horse event, one of the coolest things to watch as these young Cowgirls & Cowboys show off their skills with their Paint Stick Horses. My kids should come out and have a blast, its the one event that my kids can actually take part in.

It's a blast to see these kids and their Paints as they show in all the events. Speed events start early and its a little crazy with some of the Open (adults) showing during the start of what is really the Youth show. Its also a little interesting to see some Youth come back in the Open show for the Cutting. It all has to do with setting the arena up for each events in the end. Cows come later in Open is why. Well that's it for today, going to relax a bit for one last time.

This is why we do it!

Day four of setup is in the books. The horses move in tomorrow and the show kicks off on Saturday. Tomorrow is the fifth day of setup and check in.

We still have a few odds and ins to take care of, but for the most part setup is really over and its time to put on a show now. Take a look at the photo on the left. This was clearly one of my favorite shots of last years show and the reason we do this.

OK, its our job, but we all pretty much enjoy seeing some great horses compete year after year. Reining as shown on the left is a favorite class of mine to watch and photograph. Speed events are favorites too.

Tomorrow I'll spend my time looking into the video stream settings and preparing to go live on Saturday evening. I have some web edits as well oh and I'm offering my services as a warm up announcer on a few days. Means I'll be arriving early to the show and calling out the various gaits.

Well that's all for now and from the setup stand point. Today was a good day, my video edits went well and the problem PC corrected itself more or less. I got to head home early for a change and even worked in a haircut. Should feel cooler during the show now. Hope you all have enjoyed the behind the scenes of show setup now. Please check back for more on the show now.

Look ma, no wires

Well we tested the wireless feed from Will Rogers to John Justin today for this years show. Worked like a charm with out a glitch. Looked like a good picture and sound came over fine. One of the best pictures we've had wireless too.

I setup my work station and streaming machines at the show. Wouldn't you know it, one of the stream machines is acting up on me. I'm fine for the show and will look at what trouble shooting I can do and see about reformatting perhaps. Streams go live on Sunday.

Testing from all arenas looks to be ready to go as ever. We are at the mercy of the coax that is in place and do what we can. I need to look into fiber video options and see what that all takes. Love new challenges like this.

Well tomorrow I hope to just work on video edits and try and get the AjPHA video completed. I don't want to really work on that for Friday. The event is Friday evening and I would like to be done with this and not stress on trying to complete a video. Wish me luck that it all goes well tomorrow.

3 Screens later on Day 2

Well it was day two and it came with a whirl wind of activity to say the least. We actually had a small storm blow through really quick. Later in the day I would find out that this storm had blown my Antenna on Justin over. I sure hope it still works.

The first day we hung the screen in John Justin and we were suppose to hang the NCHA screen in Will Rogers. Small problems kept this from happening until today. This was a slightly harder screen to pull up in my mind, but we did and are ready now.

Where does screen three come in. Well this is a little screen we use to monitor events in our command central. Funny thing is its been hanging since last year in the same place. So we didn't have to hang it really. We did mount are special projector holder and get that all set for the show.

So two screen for public and a behind the scenes screen later and we are another day closer to the launch of this years show. Tomorrow I plan to move my PCs out, test the wireless feeds and look at my settings for this years stream. Wish me lucky and no more rain or at least no wind please.

Setup has begun for World Show

Day 1 is now in the books, as we've moved out and staked our claim to Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth. The setup for the APHA World Show is an interesting time of the year. We pretty much work over 4 to 5 days on setting up one of the largest equestrian events to take place. It's our big show of the year and we go big ever year.

The first day is setup of the Scoreboard screens and our wireless antennas to name a few things. The Scoreboard is used to display class details and results to name a few of its uses. Our Wireless Antennas are used to transmit a video feed from Will Rogers over to John Justin and in this location I distribute that live feed, along with John Justin, and Watt Arena through out the building and encode it live to stream over the Internet.

It takes a lot to put on this show every year and we spend a lot of time doing it right. This is the start of 26 straight days of work and putting on a huge show for the American Paint Horse. Its a great show and some of the best Paint Horses are on display here in Fort Worth during this time. If you can't make it to the show, then visit the web site and check out the Live Stream.

Father's Day Off

Happy Father's Day to all the Dad's out there now. It was 39 years ago I gave my Dad his first Father's Day and it was 7 years ago my daughter gave that gift to me. I hope you all have a great day as Dads or celebrating the gift your Dads gave you.

Its my day off today. Woot! Not because I'm a Dad and it doesn't mean I don't have to do things or get to do what ever I want. Just because I'm a Dad, I don't take a pass on things. I did sleep in a little bit, not having to be anywhere early just the same.

Its still my day off and a special Day at that. This is the last free day off I'll have for 26 days. You'll learn more about that later if you don't know already. So I hope to really enjoy today with my family. I'll see them over the 26 days, but my time will be so short because of my job.

I'm looking forward to see more of the family today. We don't have any real plans and that is cool too. Nice to have a day off and just do what ever and be where ever more or less.

Happy Fathers day again and enjoy this day once again. I'm off to do just that and will see you all over the next 26 days now. Oh I smell breakfast going... yep time for me to get out of here for sure.

Support only a click away

It's the last weekend before the big APHA World Championship Paint Horse Show and I spent part of my time running around helping my father and my In-laws with PC troubles.

I should have looked at installing Log Me In down at the In-laws, but I might hold off until they get a new PC. Now on my Dad's I managed to get it working once again and he can turn it on and off when he has an issue.

The nice thing about a program like Log Me In is that one they have a free version and I can pretty much help him when I get a chance and from home. With a simple few clicks and secure login, I have a connection from point to point and can see his screen and make changes like I was right there.

It comes in handy when a fire breaks out and something needs to be looked at and quick. With the show around the corner, I'm not going to have the time to drive over and look at something. With Log Me In working again, he can grant access and I can make a quick fix and get back to what ever I was doing.

Mind you I'm talking simple things and some stuff might need a first hand look, but at least with access I might be able to poke around and see something an trouble shoot from my end and then prepare to come on site and take care of things in person.

FCC looking to back free wireless broadband

I came across this story today and wanted to pass it on to who ever pops in here. Prices are growing like crazy for all kinds of goods & services. Apple has recently introduced its new iPhone, due out in July and the thing is sweet, but its the cost for the phone service and the price to get on the net that kills you.

My thought is at some point all phones will be more like the iPhone and PDA devices and the cost to make a call or browse the web will be cheaper. What I hope is just like all phones have a camera, they'll all be more PDA/net friendly and with cost effective services. Charge extra for something new like Video Streaming with voice chat and let those who want to have that pay for that service.

Well perhaps things like this will be closer in the future after all. The FCC wants to auction of a spectrum of network to a company with the goal of providing FREE Internet on a National level and at Broadband speeds. I sure hope they can pull this off and sorry to those companies in place now and charging an arm and a leg, better offer something else to cause us to pay & stay.

Here is a press release from a California Rep who has introduced an Act along the same lines. What a world it would be to have FREE Internet where ever I go on a PDA phone or a Laptop I can take with me.

Eshoo Introduces Free Wireless Broadband Legislation
Washington, DC – Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Palo Alto) and Rep. Christopher Cannon (R- UT) introduced the Wireless Internet Nationwide for Families Act (WIN) which, if enacted, would foster the deployment of a new nation-wide wireless broadband network.

The WIN Act mandates that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) auction certain spectrum that is currently lying fallow. The winner of the auction would be required to build and complete a network within 10 years that must provide coverage to at least 95% of our country. The licensee would also be required to provide service for free to consumers and public safety users. The WIN Act also requires the licensee to deny access to obscene and indecent material on the free service tier.

"The cost of broadband service is a barrier for too many families who want broadband, with more than 100 million Americans without broadband at home," Eshoo said.

"By every measure, the U.S. is losing the international broadband race and our competitiveness as a nation is at stake. The Innovation Agenda made a commitment to spur affordable access to broadband and this bill will go a long way to providing universal broadband access."

"The results of the 700 MHz auction disappointed many of us who hoped that a new entrant would emerge. 70% of the spectrum auctioned went to only two carriers. While the auction required under this legislation is open to anyone, it is my hope that the bold conditions of requiring free, family friendly service will encourage the entry of a new kind of national broadband service provider."