Hello folks!
The weather outside reminds me of our Arizona monsoons. The sky is a mixture of grays, the air is thick
and moderately warm. The smell of the trees and grass is accentuated by the sporadic rainfall and every
so often, the stillness is cracked by the roar of thunder.
It’s Sunday and Randy and Dori both headed out early to Graze. Last week Dori, Chris and the guests
moved the herd into Elliott. The very next morning on Thursday, Dori discovered a calf kill. There were
wolf tracks all over the place, of course. Randy has been working with the government trapper but a
daily presence out there is definitely needed right now.
Onto lighter things though! Last week we had two returning guests, Chuck and Rome out to the
ranch. Rome, from New Orleans, is just one of those guys who makes you laugh because he’s just got
that kind of personality. He doesn’t tell jokes, he just acts like himself and in doing so, he had us all
rolling with laughter whenever we were around him.
Newcomers Jim and
Kathy wait their turn to
work a steer
Rome gets his fill
from the beer
fridge after a day
of riding. He
stuck with it all
week although he
was exhausted!
Rome and Chuck came in on a couple of late flights last Sunday, so we decided to leave a ranch truck
parked in the airport parking lot for the two to come back in. I told Chuck it would be a white ranch rig
and that it would be parked closest to the toll booth, with the keys in the gas tank. Chuck conveyed the
info to Rome, whose flight had come in about an hour and a half earlier. Chuck told Rome to get his
stuff in the truck and drive it up to the baggage claim for when Chuck’s flight came in so they could just
take off immediately.
Well Rome found a white truck with the keys in the gas tank and loaded up his bags. He said he thought
it was a bit cluttered for ranch truck, and it was a little odd that it had Oregon plates, but he got in and
drove it around the airport parking lot. He called up Chuck and described the vehicle and Chuck
immediately said “ROME! Don’t do ANYTHING else! Just park that thing and take your bags out while I
call Dori!” Eventually Rome got into the right truck, but whoever owned the other white one was
probably pretty confused to find their truck parked in another section of the airport parking lot! Next
time I will email photos.
Above, Mady goes in for a catch!
Above right, Chuck and Michaela assist in
branding a steer with Austin and Stephanie
Beside, Randy and Shayne have another
one roped!
Valerie came with her daughter, Mady and Kris came with her daughter Michaela. Both of those girls
were ropey! Each night the two of them were out on their own, practicing on the roping dummy and
even though Mady is right handed, she was roping just as well left handed. On Friday afternoon, Shayne
had Mady roping the dummy horseback and within an hour or so, she and I were in the roundpen,
breakaway roping on the steers and she was catching and dallying on each one! The really neat thing
about Mady is that she never sacrificed her horsemanship, whether working the cattle or roping them.
The guests had the opportunity to watch firsthand, some of the things we might work on with our colts,
or older horses who have “holes” in their training. One morning, Shayne showed how to quickly and
easily fix bridling issues with a horse that our guest Trisha brought with her. Shayne also spent time in
the roundpen with a former team-roping horse that Trisha had just purchased as “broke” before coming
to the ranch. The horse had a lot of spots that hadn’t been addressed previously, and he was very
nervous about any ropes behind him. Shayne had him “hook on” with him in the roundpen, as the horse
was pretty good about tuning the human out. He then showed everyone how he would rope hind feet,
and get the horse to stop by a hind foot from the walk. It was good for folks to see because Shayne
wouldn’t just release for softness in the foot—he waited for the horse to give with his mind as well, with
a soft eye looking in.
Shayne’s explaining working with the rope
with Cahill and Roby is getting Brumby used
to the flag
On the following day, Roby worked with a colt that Trisha was going to leave in training. He got him
used to ropes and tarps. Getting horses used to ropes, tarps and flags is so essential to visit, and re-visit
often in order to get these horses really gentle. Roping hind feet gets the horses better to shoe and if a
horse can learn to “give” when something is around his foot, he might be less likely to struggle and
sustain an injury if he did somehow get in a bind with his feet out on a ride or in the pasture. It’s a good
thing to learn and can be beneficial in SO many ways if done correctly.
But nothing worth having comes easy! This kind of horsemanship that we strive for requires a lot of
work ethic, patience and an infinite desire to learn above and beyond our perceived capabilities.
And with that, I’ll close for this time around.
Have a great week!
Des
Terhi found just the right spot to scratch on
Nemo!
Jim is helping to move the herd
Working on separating off branded vs. nonbranded steers
Chris is teaching
Michaela how to
build a loop
Good friends Trisha and Heather
The deer are all
around and the
first fawns of the
season are just
showing up!