WordPlay

By Patty Wilber

We are going to have a white Christmas here!

Happy Holidays from the current gang!

Merry Christmas from me! This is the most recent picture (last week) I have of myself. I am taking Donati from Kathleen's to 4 Winds Equestrian Center (about 3 miles) because Kathleen's road was too horrible for towing a trailer! Cold, but fun!

"excuse me," says Buckshot, "show season is approaching. where is my show blanket? oh yes, Happy Holidays!"

"are you taking a scenery shot? i need my picture taken. the boss needs a good picture for the folks for the Holidays. see my blue eye?" Yes Cometa, you are very handsome.

"Happy Hanuka!" JD is four, and hasn't been around much, so not sure how he knows about Hanuka!

Penny says"Merry Christmas! and at least this year i don't have to wear that ridiculous hat!" Hmm--think I will dig up the picture just for grins!

sigh. that one.

Longshot says "whatcha doin? i'm pretty cute. take my picture. oh! Merry Christmas! do we get treats?" Sorry no treats.

Lacey says: "so if i get really close i can see my reflection in that thing sticking out of the box in your hand. i could lick it! Merry Christmas! and what about those treats?" Breakfast will be served shortly!

Breakfast in the snow. Lacey (far) and Longshot (near) are buddies.

T says, "Merry Christmas! i am NOT eating the lead rope. i am just standing here minding my own business." Penny says, "i wanted a nice red ribbon! hmpff!"

So, this has nothing to do with Christmas, except I want to say Merry Christmas to Old Otis, whom I have never met. This 570 gallon tank collects water off the barn roof via a gutter, and it stays pretty much unfrozen because a) it is on the SW side of the barn and gets a fair amount of sun, and b) Old Otis suggested using a fish tank bubbler to keep the water moving to reduce freezing. This works in all but the very coldest weather and is WAY cheaper than tank heaters, which jack up our electric bill about 40 bucks/ month, each. So, Merry Christmas, Old Otis!

Next week: 2011:  My Year of the Cow.  Cowboy Poetry (which I have to say I am kind of excited about!)  Then: The Lost Art of Riding in the Dark.

Have a lovely Holiday!

By Patty Wilber

…a covered arena!  This one would be nice….

In order to put an arena of this size on my property, the cost of creating that big of a flat space might be more than the cost of the building! But if you're gonna dream, go BIG!

And I know this guy, Mike, that sells these metal buildings, and I know these other two guys that can do anything, so just as soon as I win the lottery…

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It snowed a foot last week.  Dry snow, but still, a foot is fair amount. And it has been pretty cold–teens and single digits at night and 25-45 during the day (but usually sunny).  The snow melted only in the areas where there was help.

Help in the form of horses walking through it.  Of course some of those spots just packed down and turned to ice. Which at this rate, might last until May, at least on the North side of the barn.

(Penny had a blast tearing around in the new snow.  “woo wee!  i can terrorize lacey!  she’s a runt!”

“am not!” says Lacey.  “i”m barely 1.5 years old! i’m a reiner! ”

Penny concedes “she does nice roll backs to avoid me!  i can slide on my new sliders! woo wee!  watch me do it again!  again!  oops, misjudged, have to slide sideways like a race car…hit the gate anyway.”  (shakes her head, runs off) “watch this!”)

Now if I can only get all  that slide when I am riding!

Help in the form of dragging the arena-thanks to the Spousal Unit and the F1 generation, 0ther-wise known as Progeny #2. (Could not resist, Heather!) The drag, pulled by the Jeep –maybe we will get a tractor next year!– kicked up a little of the sand.  Dark sand + sun = melting.

Where the drag went, melting followed. Not dragged = still covered in snow.

The arena turned into a lake during the day.  With good footing, as the base is deep.

Really, the footing IS good, under all that water.

(“yeah,” say Buckshot, Penny, and JD.  “we have to ride in the lake and we don’t complain –much– because we know better, but our feet get wet!  our legs get wet!  our bellies get wet. AND at dusk we can churn it up while she is riding us.  it delays the ice crystals and makes slush!”

Buckshot adds, “i’ve been to the indoor arena at the Santa Fe Equestrian Center. it is really nice. they have a guy that drags it for me.”

Um that is not just for you, Buckshot.

“but, i’m sexy and i know it.”

Of course it's for me!

Penny and JD roll their eyes.

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All we want for Christmas is…a 4 wheel drive truck!  Used is fine! I had to phone a friend (and neighbor) to come over with his truck and pull my trailer up from the barn. It is supposed to snow a whole lot more tonight (Monday). Which might mean nothing, or it might be two feet. (Note: It rained a whole ton instead Monday night. Snowed  3″ Tuesday night.)

Well, it's a stock photo, but at least there is hay in the back...

Normally I pull my trailer out BEFORE a snow, but last week I forgot.  That foot of snow (truthfully even an inch of snow would stymie my truck) combined with the slope, results in fishtailing and buried tires and a big big mess on the gravel road from the barn to the house.  Yeah, I have all weather tires.  But not studs–because around here, it snows, and melts, in most years.

So, I don’t need 4 wheel drive very often.  But the next truck will have it. For the occasional snow, and so I can haul cows and horses where ever I need to go, in good and not so great conditions, highway or gravelled road.

I don’t want dry weather for Christmas.  I can haul to town and use the public arena.  I can go to Santa Fe.  I can plow my arena–well pay some one to plow it for me–to remove the snow.  I can ride on the road.

The wet, if it says wet long enough and sinks in deep enough = GRASS.  Grass = forage for cows.  If the cows have forage, we can buy some and won’t have to feed them. If we can afford to buy them…Old Otis says the price will be sky high if we have any moisture because all the guys from Texas will be here, snapping up our cows.  It could just stay dry in Texas, maybe.

Of course, when we get the cows back,  I am going to have to figure out how to show reining, American Stock Horse, Buckskin, ride the horses I have in training and live with the cows…

(“i got to drive the cows” says Penny. “i was the only one.“ 

Penny, wishing for warmer days and maybe a cow or two to harass.

“i went more than u,” says T from over in Moriarty.

“yeah but u are not here right now so u don’t count” says Penny.

“u haven’t seen the last of me,” says T. “and i stop better than u.”

“hrmpph,” says Penny, and stomps off through the snow.)

Um, all we want for Christmas is…a 30,000 acre ranch? (and an expense account to cover the ranch necessities: cabin, fencing, indoor arena, 4 wheel drive truck, cows…)

Not 30,000 acres, but not a bad location to call home!

By Patty Wilber

The 2011 show season ended in September and after we retrieved the cattle from the ranch (on the second try), Penny got a six week vacation.  She is only four years old and she worked hard in the show ring as well as with the cows at the farm and the ranch January to September.

The show season was a success (go to the bottom of the blog is you want to see The Brag List), and having a horse that will show in multiple events, trail ride, pony, push cows (in a herd–we are still struggling with the 1v1) and pack supplies, is really, really nice!

Penny the pack horse.

Penny under English tack.

Penny doing trail, Western tack.

I have had at least three outside horses + Penny and T here all fall so this in between the seasons time has not been very productive for Penny–I’ve been earning $ to pay for hay!–and shoes and shots, and well, a bunch of new horse stuff I wanted (and needed?).

But the first Shaggy shows begin in January, so the time has come to start planning for the year!

It is all about a focused vision. And while I cannot say I am psychic (but I have a this friend…), I can vouch for the power of seeing where you want to go, and keeping your eyes on the prize.

I won National and World titles, my first trip to that level of competition, on a horse (All Round Sundown) I trained for Whispering Spirit Ranch. On vision.

Ali got 3rd in Hackamore Reining and won Jr. Western Riding in 2008.

Not to say I didn’t prepare. I put hundreds of training hours on Ali in the arena and in the back country (yep she could hobble, highline and lead a pack horse).

Success is when all that hard work meets opportunity.  The opportunity YOU focused on despite roadblocks or detours.  The opportunity YOU created through vision and choice.

And don’t collapse at the last minute!  If you are lead to the water you’ve been craving, you damn well oughta drink!

I saw the Jr. western riding (a pattern class with lots of lead changes) finals online in 2007 and I KNEW Ali could do that.  I had a year to prepare.

At the Nationals in 2008, Ali was four years old.  She is cow bred and is only 14.2 hands high.  I showed western riding against 16 hand, super fancy, western pleasure horses.  My go was midway through the pack, so I watched a few of the early rides, and I started to panic.

We are too small, wrong type, ahhhh!

And then I put that voice on mute and heard this instead: This horse can change leads better than any horse I have ever seen.  Shut up and ride.

So I did. It was the best go she’d ever had.  And we won.

On Vision!

So! What do I see for Penny for 2012?  I dunno yet!

But I watched the Jr. Working Cow Finals for the National Appaloosa show and I KNEW.  Buckshot can do that! So, we are going to the Nationals and the Worlds (we have already qualified, too) in reining and working cow in 2012. There are 7 months left to prepare!

Buckshot says, "really? u picked THIS picture of me? hmpff"

Buckshot says: "much better, but u've used this pic before. u need more pictures of me, cuz i'm sexy and i know it."

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Penny’s 2012 Brag List:

New Mexico Buckskin Horse Association: Six time Jr high point horse (all the shows this year). Year End Champion: Jr. Hunter Under Saddle, Jr. Western Pleasure, Open Hunter Hack, Open Trail, All Breed Hunter Hack. Plus Reserve Buckskin Open Reining AND the big ones: High Point Jr. Horse, Reserve Super Horse.

New Mexico Appaloosa Horse Association: Year end High Point Performance Horse–for the New Mexico horse with the most points (and she got points in English, Western, Jumping, Reining, Working Cow and Trail.)

Over all winnings: More than $525.00 cash, a brush tote, saddle pad, bridle bag, hay bag, a fan, horse treats, a nice buckle, fancy spur straps, a quilted English saddle carrier and some other stuff I have forgotten!!

By Patty Wilber

I expect to receive a check for my cows today.

I heard we should consider selling in Clovis, but we ended up selling in Roswell.

Ahem. 

Prices in Clovis were a lot higher last week!  So in spring maybe we BUY in Roswell and in the fall, SELL in Clovis! (‘Cuz we are STILL COW PEOPLE!)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Jim and I went to Grand Junction, CO last weekend for a memorial service for a relative that used to live near us when we first moved to NM.  He took us under his wing and we visited with him a couple times a month until he moved to Colorado.

We hadn’t seen him in quite some time, but he read the blog and we always exchanged Christmas cards.

He was a horse person.  Over the years, he had arabians, appaloosas and most recently draft crosses.  He farmed hay with his team.

Although the irrigation season in NM was not cut terribly short, it was cold and dry early and hot and dry late. Yield was smaller than usual. In addition, Texas has alternately tried to dry up and blow away or burn up, so hay is scarce there and commanding good prices.  NM hay is following the $.

Jim warned me in February that the irrigation season wasn’t looking very promising, so I worked hard to buy a lot of hay early…I almost got all the hay I wanted (700 of the 850 I’d planned) at 6.50 to 7 bucks a bale, but it took me May through September to get it done.

I thought I was paying a little extra to get it delivered and stacked, since last year I bought excellent alfalfa for 4.75 /bale, off a stack in Belen.  Turns out I got a bargain because hay is over 8/bale now, if you go get it yourself.

Scott had hay in the field when he passed and I was able to buy my last batch from his estate.  Kind of cool thinking about him behind the horses in the field.

It was ~1000 miles round trip so as to avoid the high mountain passes of a more direct route. And a bit of an adventure on the way back with 12,000 lbs of hay on the Cow Boss’s flat bed.

Of course, we had a blowout! 

That’s three flats in a month for me. (Well ok, one was caused by Style’s pawing the valve stem, but it still had to be changed.)

Jim did all the work.  I just held the trailer brake lever in the truck so the tire wouldn’t rotate.

The advantages of having help! I can supervise. The muscle can work!

We used the handy-dandy Jiffy Jack! But, with the heavy load of hay, the suspension on the trailer was sagged a bit and the trailer was about 1/2 an inch too low to get the tire on.

Jim said, “I hope we have the hydraulic truck jack.”

“HOPE?”  (Gasket blowing, imminent, by me.)  Is there some reason why we don’t KNOW we have the jack?

Breathe.

Of course we have the hydraulic jack.

The red handle is part of the hydraulic jack. Turn a screw, pump. Air in. Up goes the trailer. When Jim finished, turn the screw, out goes the air, trailer settles back down. Truthfully, I didn't know how that jack worked.

The Cow Boss had supplied us with two spares.  Smart man, that Cow Boss! (And he got some of the hay.)

Last lug nut tightening.

It took us a good 11 hours to get home (vs. eight to get there with the empty trailer).

The horses like the hay.

Thank-you, Scott.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I took pics of the two yearlings, Lacey and Longshot, who I thought were going to be today’s topic, but, HAY, perhaps next week.

Lacey is on the right and Longshot on the left, enjoying breakfast. The sun has not quite peeked over the ridge (8 am). It is 22 F. And, what a suprise, dry.

By Patty Wilber

But by Monday we won’t have any cows…

If you look at the 1st map you can see that much of the state is in extreme drought and in the 2nd map (NM is outlined) the winter forecast is for continued very dry conditions, except at the  northern edge of the state  .

The cows were on a 1200 acre farm in Torrance County, NM  from September 2010 until June 2011. This  acreage had not been farmed or grazed in a number of years and there was plenty of forage.  However, there was little winter precipitation, and soil moisture declined.

In January 2011, there was an unusual warm spell and sap began to run in some of my trees at my house in Bernalillo County.  Some of the grasses and forbs tried to grow on the farm.  Then in February we had a very rare (for us) and brutal cold front (-35F at night,  sub zero in the day) that lasted for four or five days. That knocked back growth and killed quite a few plants. Still no moisture.

March to June : continued dry, so we had essentially zero spring green up.  The standing forage plus supplemental hay got the cows through in good shape.

May 2011 at the farm--not green. (Sold this calf on Monday for 1.49/ lb. He brought over $500)

For the summer, we moved the herd to the high country (10,000 ft)  in Rio Arriba County. Snow pack was close to normal there and in early June, it was still wet and cold. The summer was dry even at elevation, but there was plenty of grass and the herd did very well.

Snow still melting. June 2011!

Down south, the drought persisted.  The summer monsoons skipped this year, and the warm season grasses, like blue grama, did not grow much–definitely not enough to support the group for the 2011-2012 winter.  We found a second lease of 640 acres just down the road that we could use Nov. 1 to April 15.  It had two pivots, one of “hay grazer” a sudan grass mix, and one of winter wheat.  They wanted 100 cows but we talked them down to 80.

A pivot. The irrigation system pivots around a center point, thus producing a circular crop (or alien crop circle?).

But the winter wheat got planted late and didn’t come on. The lease start date got pushed back to Dec. 1.  The dismal winter precip. forecast came out (see above). The number of cows required was not decreased.  We worried we’d run out of forage before April 15.

That could mean we’d have to feed November, April, May and part of June, and if we got any deep snow.

Due to the drought, hay is scarce and expensive.  35 lbs of feed/ cow/ day * 35 cows * $ 250/ ton * 3.5 months + lease fees = a lot more money than we could hope to recoup with the calf crop. The auction barn looks like it makes the most ($ and) sense.

I found another lease, but it is 45 miles from me…too far to haul horses very often, trailer too small to move all my cows, my partners are selling, so I’d be going it alone…

Is it stupid to cry over selling cows I’ve only owned since March?  My partners might say so, but, hey, they’re guys.

You need good partners and here they are.

But I really LIKED my cows. They were part of my program to go for dreams I have always wanted rather than letting my life drift down to some cold little end point.  They were symbolic. Catalysts.

I liked riding out alone on the NM plains with the Manzanos to the W, Sandias to the NW and Sangre de Cristo mountains to the N when the snow caps were lit up in orange in the winter dusk.

I liked penning the cows and working them out one by one so the horses got practice.

I liked checking the fences and retrieving escapees.

I liked complaining about the fierce cold wind after I’d survived it.

I liked seeing a mama cow off on her own and then finding her new calf.

I felt brave and strong and invincible riding into the high country.  I was proud my young horses could do such great job driving cattle.

We are still cow people. I am holding on to that.

(And  hoping to restock in the spring.)

[Yes, this is WordPlay.  Yes, this is the place where the big Fitzhenry & Whiteside Writer Beware thing is going on.  If you're here for that, just scroll down a bit.  Fridays on WordPlay belong to The Write Horse guest feature.  Never fear, come tomorrow we'll be back to the dramafest. --Doranna]

By Patty Wilber

Gettin' in the dirt

I’ve been wanting to get more involved in stock horse and ranch versatility competitions, but I just have not had the horses to do it.  But Now I Do!

Last Saturday:  4:30 am.  Off to an American Stock Horse Association event. Geez, why do all these adventures start when normal people are still asleep?

Got dressed!  One outfit for the whole day!  (Instead of the typical horse show:  reining and working cow outfit, halter outfit, western classes outfit, and English outfit. Each of those also includes a unique bridle, bit and saddle for the horse, as well as slight grooming modifications. No wonder I own five saddles…)

Loaded Buckshot, Tabooli and Styles.  (Penny is having a vacation). No breakfast at home.  No breakfast on the road (it just blows all over in the stock trailer).  Just have to eat at the event:  Hay in a bag!

Drove down to Belen, NM, which I expected to take about an hour and fifteen minutes, but which actually took about 50 minutes. Some sort of odd time warp, apparently, so it was still dark when I got there and I could not see anyone at the venue!

Panic!

Called two people.  No answer.  Gee maybe they are still asleep?

Drove back and forth in the general vicinity, with my horse trailer of course, U-turn here, U-turn there, rest in the Walmart parking lot.  Repeat.  Finally figured it out!

Got everyone saddled up, only to find out I was misinformed about the paperwork I needed in order to register myself and my horses for their competition licenses.  Fab-u-lous.

We are just hangin' out, waiting for the paperwork to get done!

Oh, but no biggie–just take the forms home and do it later.  Whew!  That was awfully nice and laid back of them.

On to warming up.  The competition consists of a trail pattern with obstacles to negotiate; a pleasure pattern with walk, trot and lope; reining; and cow work.

The trail pattern was set up in the arena and we were allowed to practice the pattern!  Wow. that’s different than your typical show.  AND it was a pretty straight forward pattern–all except for the part where you drag the log behind your horse, which I just didn’t think about before-hand and then didn’t think to try while there was time to practice it either… Both horses managed, but had a few butt-tucked-under-them-might-run-off-if-the-log-should-begin-to-attack moments.

Styles wasn’t entered in anything–he just came along for the experience.  Some of his breakfast fell out of its bag, so he pawed.

HE PAWED THE VALVE STEM ON MY BRAND NEW TIRE AND BUSTED IT!

Air swooshed out!

Horsie melt down.

His halter held, and after a few bug-eyed moments, he resumed eating.

Flattened the tire...i didn't mean to.

(I refrained from changing the tire until the end of the day, and this time I got a nice big guy to help me–well, I actually tried to get the tire off, was unsuccessful, so then I recruited help.)

I did all the parts of the competition with both Tabooli and Buckshot.

This is what I learned:  Tabooli needs to move faster and more eagerly, hold his head a little higher and just gain experience.  He spooked at the cows once and at a bunch of flowers in a bucket, but over all, he was more comfortable that at his last show where it took me an hour to warm him up–or warm him down- to where he was not worried about the arena.

He needs to improve his reining skills a gob. I actually already knew this.

Buckshot won the reining!  Spins to the left were the best ever!  Buckshot is super cool because I can ask him to flat out run, and he will, but he does not get all out of control. This pattern had one big fast circle and one small slow circle, and I somehow was thinking there were two fast…so I really started to put the pedal to the metal and –CRAP–we have to slow down NOW!  Whew!  Did it.

Got around to the last big stop and we put on the brakes and that horse slid about 20 feet (well including the part where he popped out of the slide but then kept going…) Then after all that speed, I just dropped the reins, he stood like it was no big deal, and sauntered out of the arena!

He also had a shot at the working cow, but our cow was a poop head.

The cow would not interact with the horse like a normal cow and I (for the first time ever) was not able to push the cow from one end of the arena to the other.  Hmmpf.  And I thought that would be the easy part!

Buckshot did move the cow back and forth pretty well on the first end of the arena.  (This is called “boxing” the cow.) We still got last!

T did well with his cow, but I made a mistake that cost him some points. He got 3rd!

Fun day, so I think we will go to Arizona in November and try another one!

By Patty Wilber

Three a.m. in the New Mexico autumn is dark, with a chill, but that is when the alarm bleeped, repeatedly.  The bed was murmuring “don’t go!” and that soft green blanket was really, well, soft.  And warm.

Not enthusiastically, got up anyway, pulled on some clothes, and stumbled (carefully) down to the barn to feed.

Not the standard storybook fare of apples or carrots or oats.  Nope, we’re talking working horses, feed ‘em something sturdy and affordable.  A flake of alfalfa hay and a flake of grass hay for each equid.  We were leaving in a hour and they were facing a long day of driving to the cow pens and a good many miles of riding.

Drove for four hours, saddled, and tied on saddle bags and slickers even though over head was the intense blue New Mexico sky, cloudless. Last year the aspens were decorated in gold, but this year the cold is just hitting the high country.  Not enough time to cause the light harvesting pigments in the leaves to degrade to their flashy last splash.

We took off…at a walk. No leaping upon the bare-backed steed and galloping across the grassy meadow, because a) I no longer have the spring of my high school high-jumping self who could bounce onto a 17 hand horse from the ground, b) no meadows; the ride starts on a rutted dirt lane between two barbed wire (Bob Why-er, if yer from Texas) fences, and  c) even endurance horses that can cover 100 rugged miles in less than 10 hours, do not gallop from end to end across the day.

We jog-trotted (slow trot, easy to ride, and ground-covering, without blowing up the horse) quite a bit.  Galloping? Not at all. We will gather cows this afternoon, after the 18 mile ride, and then push cows out tomorrow.  No point in wasting energy now.

The day progressed to shirt-sleeve warm.  No wind.  Good horses, good weather, no grading, no computers, no cock-eyed personalitied biology students! No place I’d rather be.

Last week’s cold, wind-driven rain and slick footing was an adrenaline rush challenge (yeah, I wanna be a cowgirl!); this is deep in my soul easy.

The elk and deer were everywhere in June, when we were the first ones up country after the winter snows.  Now they are hidden in the trees; hunting season has begun.  They’ve been replaced. By cows.  In fact, so many gates have been left open by thoughtless hunters or lazy-ass forest users, that at least four herds are hopelessly mixed.  “Leave the gates as you found them” is a good rule of thumb…except what to do when you are pretty sure they should be closed and they are open???

 We made the eastern edge of the ranch in good time, but then took the long cut to get in at the bottom where the fence is not good and some neighbor cows have been interloping.  Slithered down steep slopes of loose volcanic ash  that I would have preferred to avoid (shut up and ride, I wanna be a cowBOY).  Both horses were even tempered and sure on their feet. We did find some neighbor cows, but none of ours.

 Ours were grazing the big meadows east of the bunk house–40 of the 62 anyway.  Sent five neighbor cows out a spot on the north fence that was down.  Fixed the hole. Then we bunched the rest and moved them closer to the horse pasture where we planned to hold them for the night.   The horses had to work back and forth, first to mobilize and then to  motivate the grass-fat bovines.  They had to be quick over rough ground.  Wanna be a cow HORSE? They worked up a full body sweat.

Next we dropped over into Barlow Creek to look for my big red cow. She likes to hang out there, away from the main herd, with her own personal entourage. Up and down, more steep terrain.   The two horses, after 8 hours of riding were still right there for us.  Very game.  Penny is just four and Tabooli, although older, at five, has only 1/3 the number of training hours. As TrainerMom, am Very Pleased!

Found Red and Co., and pushed them up to the first group.  This left 10 still missing, so we made a big loop: back down to Barlow, turned left instead of right and rode east, into the night, as the sky softened through yellow-orange to mauve and starlight gradually filled the moonless sky.  It went from shirt sleeve warm to fleece hat, gloves and three layers on top, cold.  At 10,000 feet, when the sun disappears, the warmth follows, immediately.

 Untacked with the help of the head lamps, and brushed the caked sweat streaks off the horses.

Penny still has her short summer show coat, and although Tabooli has begun to hair up I’d sent blankets up in a truck coming in from the other side.  Given the long day, and the cold night, blankets would reduce stress. T went in a pen too small for two horses when one is PMS-y…yes that would be Penny.  So, she was hobbled outside.  They both got big piles of alfalfa, and water.  No apples. No oats.

Both horses looked sucked up in the flanks–like grey hounds instead of their usual plump selves.  By morning, T looked normal–he eats and drinks very well away from home.  Penny still looked a little dehydrated, although she did eat well.

They were saddled at dawn, which is 6:30 ish at this time of year, and had another ends-at-dark day, starting with finding the last 10 cows and ending with all 62 off the mountain, down at the pens.  In the last big pasture we crossed, Penny (who was working on only three shoes all day–one came off on the night loop) and I went to move the resident bovines out of our path so we didn’t gain mass as our bunch passed through.  She still had it in her to lope a long way at a good clip and get after those cows, then come back to ours, who were moving at the speed of molasses in January at this point, and get after them.

The cows are all at the farm near Estancia, NM now.  Horses got new shoes Thursday and the week off! (And still no apples.) I wanna be a cowgirl.

By Patty Wilber

I bought  new riding rain coat from a company called Muddy Creek.  As we are in a record drought, I have been toting it all over, unused, for months.

Saturday, I was up at 4:15am and on the road by 5, under dark (’cause the sun wasn’t up) and overcast skies.  We made the ranch, at 10,000 feet, near the border of Colorado, around 9 am.  Clouds were building to the south in big puffs of white and gray, shot with spears of sky.

I flopped my green saddle bags behind the cantle and threaded the leather lacings on the saddle skirt through the grommets to secure them.

I dutifully rolled and tied my new rain coat with the left over leather AND clothesline attached to the saddle bags themselves.

The wind gusted and the clouds kept  layering up.  Three drops of rain dotted my horse as I swung on.

We headed out, two riders and a ponied horse.  The ponied horse was superfluous, but she came along so she would not bust out of the barb-wire pen in a fit of lonely despair and come searching for her mates.

The cattle were half a mile east of the bunkhouse  in a sloped meadow near the salt blocks.  The grass was knee deep on the horses and in the seeps and rivulet streams, the sedges were emerald green.

I kept eying the sky, but the clouds were not falling.  Neither was the rain.

Spent some time (futilely) trying to rope the three newest calves, one of which is mine –my fourth. They need to be ear tagged.

Roping calves off a horse that does not neck rein while ponying another horse is impossible.  You’d need four arms–two for reins, one for the lead rope, and one for the lariat.  I was born with the normal number of appendages, so  tied up and tried to sneak up on the calves.

…

I could get pretty close...but not close enough to git ‘em with my rope.  Roping takes a lot of practice, plus MY rope was in my trailer, which was at home.  Truthfully, that is a feeble excuse because even with my own rope, chance of catching was slim.

Gave up.  Maybe next week.

Instead, decided to move the three interloping bovines from Espinosa’s and push them back out the SE fence.

Mounted up.  The intruders were on the edge of our herd, so we cut them off and hurried them down hill.  I mainly provided blocking manuevers because I had the non-neck reiner and the pony horse, which, for fast speeds and quick turns really requires three hands.  Still only have the two.

The sky was was opening up...in that the clouds were parting to let in the sun.  Chances of rain diminishing.  So glad I packed The Coat.

We moved those cows down a drainage, across a creek, took a sharp left around a wall of granite boulders and paused there.  We only had one lost-in-the-trees moment, but other than that, put those animals exactly where we wanted them. (Getting better at that!)

Gave up on the rain.  It was supposed to really let loose.  Ha. Not here.  Guess that means we will actually have to finish our day-work and go home.  No stuck in the mud excuses to stay. Drat.

Checked Barlow Creek for additional strays.  Gotta hate that. Had to long trot, toting the pony horse, down around two bends of green trimmed canyon next to a clear running stream with small trout flitting from rock to rock.  No one there.

Got the three we did have pushed up the hill, through the trees and across the dry lake bed, which was  a boggy marsh in June but is a soft meadow right now.  Opened the fence (the handy dandy fence tool came in handy dandy!), and sent those girls home.

My the commotion they caused!  The stayed-at-homes were mooing a “Where you been?!” greeting and crowding around to see the returnees.  We left them to their inspections and headed east along the bad fence to the S, to see if it had completely fallen.

Still up, and those cows were on the correct side–theirs.

Rode between Elk Ridge and Grass Mountain, where there is not much water.  The elk use the area but the cows do not.  Gorgeous steps of grass sliding steeply into the Brazos river canyon.  Five elk were clinging to the volcanic tuff slope on the opposite side and then bounded up the cliff when they saw us. Wound back around to Barlow Creek and the horse pens.

Saw a porcupine, all golden quilled at dusk, waddling through a meadow on the drive down the mountain.

We hit a little rain, and stopped to tarp the saddles.  So the rain quit.  Rolled into my driveway at midnight. I think I am getting too old for these 20 hour days.

Monday, I went to work cows with my friend Mark, and I did not bring my rain coat.

Got a six incher. The raindrops were 6 inches apart.

The arena got damp on top but the dust was still  hot and loose underneath.  I rode my name across the arena for grins.

Got a little wet, but by horse three, it stopped and we dried right up, and so did the ground.

If we do not get more rain soon, all the cows in Torrance county (where I hope to winter my bovines) are either going on the auction block or are going to cost their owners a bundle of feed for the winter.

I really want to hold on to my five girls!  Having too much fun to give up now.  (Not making any money, but hey, still working through the “start up costs”.)  Just keep telling myself that!

By Patty Wilber

I have been thinking I need to get an official Judges Card, so this past weekend there was an opportunity to judge a 4-H horse show for Torrance County.

And I even get paid!  No idea how much.

First thing: What to Wear?

Ahh!!! I have no nice long sleeve shirts that look “professional”.

Oh wait!  My Show Closet!  Pressed blue jeans and a pressed shirt. Still, I do need to increase my supply of long sleeve shirts. There was only one that was passable and it was yellow plaid.  Something a bit more muted would have been better.

Black hat or tan hat?  Went with black.  More authoritative.

Turned out to be a HOT day.  Six bottles of water and 2 cans of soda, and I rarely drink soda, but I was going to keel over without the sugar and caffeine! I learned from my 50 mile race running sister that coke can be a lifesaver when you are bonking on the trail, so why not if you are light headed in the arena? It worked!

I wonder if the light colored hat would have been cooler?

The organizers asked if I would give the kids a few pointers during the show.  That was their first mistake. Totally brought out the teacher in me.

Net result.  Judge talked.  Show took forever. 9 am til after 7 pm.

Ok but the participants were partly to blame.  First class.  Three entrants, one of which was dead lame.  Stop the class, excuse the rider.  Q from the ringside:  Can she switch horses?

Sure!

A long time later, class one is underway!

As a novice judge, I was pretty happy the classes were small, and usually pretty obvious. Since I got to give pointers to the riders, they also usually knew what I was looking at.

“Halter” is class where the the judge evaluates the horse’s conformation.  One girl came in with  her  halter nearly hanging off her mare’s nose, a matted mane and eye goobers. Oh dear.

But: Teaching Moment! (rubs hands together!)

Western Pleasure involves walk, trot and lope on the rail (around the arena).  Matted Mane won!  Kind of by default, but sometimes that works! Everyone else made major mistakes, and she did not.

English Equitation and Western Horsemanship are pattern classes.  The riders must learn the pattern and then perform it. They can ask questions if they need to, prior to beginning.

I DQ’d (disqualified) both riders in one class.  The ring steward (judge’s helper) was appalled.  They were in a race for most mess-ups, but primarily they Did Not Know the Pattern. You can write a wonderful paper on butterflies, but if the assignment was West African Rivers, you will still get a rotten grade.

School of High Expectations. 

Those two knew all the rest of their patterns for the day!

I got a free lunch!

Two horses really stuck out for me.  One was a beautiful two-year old (so young!!) that was the most gorgeous mover, while being very calm and correct in most of what he did.  The other was another  two year old with only a month of training.  She was not polished yet, but darn sure game for anything.  Trained by the 16 yr old showing her!

After the show, I drove to the farm where the cows had wintered to check the grass (it was right on the way home).  About one inch tall-not enough rain.  But, it was dusk and the clouds over the mountains to the west were flaming tangerine (or is that Mango Tango?). A hawk was scree screeing as it swooped over my head.  No one else was around.

Nice end to a long and fun day!

PS Lacey aka Esmerelda got a great result on the culture of the joint fluid we pulled the 1st of the month!  No bacteria! Infection cleared!

By Patty Wilber

The farrier (also known as “The Shoer”) came to work on the horses last week.  He did  four  horses.  One trim, one full shoe (all four feet) and two half shoes (front feet only).

The Other Farrier came the week before (I use two different farriers because The Shoer is very good with Penny’s club foot and Risa’s quirks.  The Other Shoer does one of my client’s horses and he has done Cometa most of his life.)  The Other Shoer did one trim and one full shoe, with sliders.

In the wild, the hooves wear off naturally, but this does not occur in a pen.  Without regular care, every 6-12 weeks, the feet may grow unevenly or break off, which can lead to lameness, joint issues or in severe cases, deformity.

For my horses, cost is 40-50 bucks for a trim and 85-125 for a full shoe.  It varies by farrier and shoe type.  And my equines are all pretty straight forward.

Cha–ching.

The youngster (Lacey) got a trim– a quick trim at that (and a discounted price!)  The idea was to get her used to having someone up under her moving her legs this way and that (she was pretty good) and to keep her legs and feet growing straight and balanced.  In young horses, good hoof care can prevent, and even correct, problems.

This will be great so long as she ends up sound! The last X-ray  indicated no improvement in the bone lesion caused by the infection (which means another month of antibiotics and more waiting), but she has far less discomfort (a very positive sign), so the inflammation is less.  She is off pain meds and barely a limp!

She is mainly a Pasture Ornament (or is that Money Pit #2?–Winston being Money Pit #1) so she doesn’t need extra hoof protection or cosmetic enhancement. (You can shoe yearlings that are being shown so their feet meet the “pretty” requirement.)

The oldster (Cometa–14 on the 9th!) got a trim.  His Mom, his Dad and all his relatives back about 100 years had to fend for themselves on a rocky barren ranch in Arizona.  Those with crummy feet, poor teeth, or bad digestive systems, died. As a result, Cometa has great feet that are well shaped, and hard.  He has only had two shoes his whole life, on the back feet, because for a while I was  doing quite a few stops and I wore his feet down.

Lily and Risa got shoes on the front, trimmed in the back.  Risa is working as a pack horse this summer and not a lot, at that.  The forests are nearly all closed because we haven’t had significant rain in most of NM for months.  We are drier than a kiln dried 2×4.  Really.   An ATV and a chain saw spark have led to thousands of blackened acres.  Check out inciweb.com for all sorts of interesting info on fires across the country! There’s a huge fire in the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia.

Lily never had shoes before.  She’d had regular trims, but because she’s here going to school, her feet were wearing down and were tender on gravel.

A horse carries around 60% of its weight on the front end, so an animal in light work, can be comfortable in front shoes alone.  Also, when getting a first set of shoes, it can be nice to just deal with two feet.  The hammering and the feel the the nail in the horn of the hoof (painless) is bothersome to some.

Penny had all four done.  I ride her a lot and her feet are pretty soft.  I had her shod “for the mountains” which visually seems to mean that length of the nail where it comes up and out of the hoof is longer than a on a “show” shoe.  The longer clinch and more grip vs. a shorter clinch and prettier.

All the horses lost shoes in the  mountains last month.  Extremely inconvenient when you a) paid 85 bucks and b) are far away from the farrier and have no phone service!

Farriers normally guarantee their work and will replace shoes that come off, for free. Given the cost of gas, this is a nice feature!

You can see where the nails are bent over and are flush with the hoof. They are clinched.

Penny also has a mild (grade 1) club foot, which needs regular care.  If left unchecked, changes could occur in the alignment of the bones resulting in lameness.  With proper shoeing it is hard to see!  It did not develop until she was two.

Grade 3 club foot.

I tried a barefoot “shoer”. The assured me that with a correct trim I could keep my horses unshod.  “But I ride a lot.” (I have worn the shoes off some of my horses in five weeks).

“No problem.”

After a few trims, they said, “You need shoes!  We have no foot to work with.”

I said, “Duh…” Only to myself, (until now).

Buckshot had all four feet done and got sliders on the back.  The sliders are wider, smoother and longer than regular shoes and, yes,  they help a horse slide!  Slides are important for sliding stops in reining.  Buckshot IS a reiner, by breeding and by ability.

Sliders are the 3rd picture. There are different types of sliders, too...

There is a whole lot more to this shoeing business than these few examples, but hopefully this provided some insight!

No hoof, no horse.