Slightly Off Day

Yesterday, we had sort of a 'day off', meaning we could break away from the Lodge and attempt to get some town chores done and maybe have a bit of fun.  Yes, we had guests, but they were all staying through and were fine with us being gone for a bit.

I had my yearly physical a couple days ago and was told that our doctor's office no longer draws blood for testing (insurance won't pay), so I got to go to a "certified phlebotomist" for the draw.  We also needed to get brake pads for the van and pick up more milk.  You know, just getting small stuff done.

Our oldest daughter (GunDiva) had suggested we ride their horses as an option for the day.  That actually sounded fun - even if it meant a long drive - so off we went to her place.  The horses happily greeted us at the fence, bringing with them a tumble weed they apparently like to play with; it had been quite a while since we had been there so they got a lot of loving and a good brushing.

After brushing them out, it seemed like too much work to saddle up, so we opted to ride bareback, and oh well, let's just use their halters.  While I was brushing Copper, Bill had hopped up on Skeeter.

The extra horse is Pearl, who turned into quite a pest because she wanted attention too.  I spent about 15 minutes just leading Copper around with Pearl following us so Bill could work with Skeeter 'unattached'.

We discussed Pearl and decided it was great training to just ride around in the corral with her being a pest so the horses could get used to paying attention to their rider and ignoring a loose horse, so I headed to the fence to get on Copper.

Neither horse thought using the fence as a mounting block was a big deal.  It took me a bit to get Copper to move.  Just sitting up straight on my horses means to move out.  I know neither of these horses like much leg, so I carefully nudged with my calves and he tightened up into a ball.  OK. Let's see.  How about a kiss.  Yep, that worked - we had forward motion.  It's been a really long time since I have been on this green of a horse, so it was a lot of trial and error, but Copper was patient with me.  My last 'green' horse has been extensively ridden for the last 10 years now.

This steering thing in a rope halter was very new to him but he picked it up quickly; much better after I remembered to keep my hands low and wide apart so the signals were clear.  We had a pretty good time trying to avoid the pest and not run into Skeeter and Bill, but it gave him a reason as to why I would want him to turn a certain way.  Our only near mishap was when Pearl kept jabbing him in the flank with her nose;  Bill came to our rescue by riding Skeeter in between us and Pearl.  Copper had given thought to a crow hop when he realized it wasn't me tapping him.

Apparently Copper always has his ears back like this when he is being ridden.  He's not mad or upset; just paying very close attention.  He is such a sensitive horse!  When Jesse has her ears like that it means she is upset with whatever Bill is doing with Ranger.

Bill got much more forward motion with Skeeter, but he has had more 'ride time' on her.   This was my first time on Copper and I was very tentative, which made him more so, too.

 All in all, we had great fun and everything went well, ending on a happy note.

Thanks, GunDiva, for sharing your horses, and Jay, too.
Bionic Cowgirl

Horse Kids Come Home 3/13/16

B-  Hey Ranger!  How's the old horse today?

R-  Good Beel.  Do you have treats?

B-  Yup.  And while you're eating... here's a halter!

R-  Beel that is not how we do it.  You tricked me.  I'm supposed to run away for some many times.

B-  Nope.  You're caught.  Let's get to the trailer.

R-  Beel.  The rolling shed do not smell like me any more.  It smells like others.

B-  Right again.  Juanita will write a blog about that.  I'll read it to you later.

                 **************************

We were called into action this weekend to transport GunDiva's and Jay’s horses to the Rocky Mt. Horse Expo.  They had entered a couple of the Mustang Days competitions, but their horses saw fit to not want to load into a very small trailer in the dark in the wee hours of the morning.  After 1 ½ hrs. of try, the kids opted to leave the horses home and head for the Expo, where they had volunteered to work the US Wild Horse & Burro booth each day.

 We had planned on being there also, so we said we would go get the horses.  We hitched up our trailer – considerably bigger than theirs – and headed to get the horses.  Of course, the horses had time to think things over, knew our trailer, and gave in.  I walked into the corral with two halters and Skeeter walked right up to me, stuck her head in the halter, then followed me to Copper, who also just stuck his head in.  I left both of them standing there while I checked on the repairs Bill was making to the hitch.  Neither had moved when I got back.  They very smartly stepped into the trailer and we were on our way.

We spent the next three days having a great time at the Expo (a different blog) and decided that when we took the horses back, we would just pick ours up on the way home, being as we were already off the mountain.  We left Denver shortly after noon, dropped Skeeter and Copper off at their home and headed for our winter pasture outside Lyons.

We pulled off Hwy 66 at 3:03 p.m., drove the ½ mile to the pasture and pulled into the field.  We saw Washoe in the middle of the 40-acre field and by the time Bill had turned the rig around and I had closed the fence opening, he had trotted most of the way to us. Bill opened the back of the trailer while I collected halters from the truck.  When I turned around I saw Washoe peeking at me from the open doorway; he was ready to load himself!

Now we had not pre-planned on picking up the horses, so had not taken our halters with us.  There was one extra rope halter in the trailer tack area, and my mecate was at GunDiva's house.  She had also said we could use any halter we found there, so Bill had picked up one.  We figured we could make do since both of my horses load on voice command and neither gets tied in the trailer.

When Washoe met us at the trailer, he got the rope halter so I could lead him back across the field to find the other two horses.  They like to stay around behind the neighbor’s house and socialize with the pig; we also suspect they get treats from people in the house. 

When we had crossed to nearly the last area, Jesse finally noticed us and came wandering over – which is about the best she can do right now (read Weight blog).  I put the mecate bit on her, but she felt insulted so I took it off and just looped the lead rein around her neck.  Ranger finally decided to follow along.  Now, Bill had sort of hidden his halter inside his jacket (cheater) and showed Ranger the treat bag.  When Bill put his arm around his neck for a hug, carrying the lead along too, Ranger was caught.  Fastest time ever!  We walked the three back to the trailer and loaded up.  We were back on Hwy 66 at 3:31 p.m.  Less than ½ hour total.

When we got back to the lodge, I went inside and retrieved Jesse’s halter.  She had loaded and ridden with nothing on.  When we opened the door, she stepped out and stood by me while I put her halter on and she gave me lots of horsey hugs while we waited for the others to unload.  

When they got in their corral, Washoe rolled, Jesse checked out the salt block and Ranger headed for the creek.  Zero excitement.  Now we are getting snowed on so everything is normal.  We ALWAYS get snow when we bring them back – even though it was 64* and sunny when we picked them up!

Bionic Cowgirl

                **************************************

B-  So, Ranger, that's why the trailer smelled like other horses.

R-  Beel on this day it is doing the white falling thing.

B-  Sorry buddy.  We're much higher up here, and we got 4 inches of snow today.

R-  I was more happy with the pigs.

Riding My Daughter's Horse

Sunday was a fun horse day for us.  As soon as our guests checked out, we flew out the door to meet our daughter at the trainer's so we could video her rides on her husband's horse.  The trainer felt Copper would benefit from having a different experienced rider on him before going home.  Jay is a very new rider, and Copper, being a very green horse, could use someone with riding confidence on his back.

He is a very sensitive horse and needs to feel a lot of assurance that he is doing right.  He tries really, really hard and it was fun to watch him figure out the feel of someone different.  He did great.

It's been a very anxious week for GunDiva and Jay, getting ready for Colorado Mustang Days at the Rocky Mt. Horse Expo this coming weekend.  They are using CMD as a training time for their horses, to get them used to strange surroundings, noises, camera flashes, and other horses, plus just the traveling to and from somewhere together in a trailer and staying in strange stalls.  Both horses are quiet and laid back, but we all know how difficult it is the first time you travel with your horse companions!  I am really proud of the two of them - and a little jealous - for doing this.  It's something I always thought would be fun, but was never brave enough to actually sign up for.

After the riding session at the trainer's, we headed to our daughter's place to put some time on Skeeter, her horse.  Between the weather and our daughter's work hours, Skeeter has not gotten the optimal amount of training time.  The weather was great so we all took turns riding Skeeter.  First, GunDiva did a bit of groundwork with her, then saddled up and hopped on.  There was a little obstacle practice to keep her thinking.

Skeeter was behaving like the champ she can be, unlike a couple days earlier when she was showing how bratty a young mare can get when something is not just right.

Since she was handling everything so well, I finally hopped on.  I've been around for a lot of the rides, but never felt 'just right' about getting on Skeeter.  This was the day and it was such fun.  I handle the reins quite differently from GunDiva; it took Skeeter a few minutes to decide if she was doing what I wanted, but she quietly figured things out and did great.

This was also the first time the new Wintec saddle had been used.  I didn't get the stirrups adjusted right - shorter than I like - and the fenders are so stiff, it's hard to get your feet forward enough, although Bill seemed to be able to when he rode.
We only had one minor upset.  I like to dismount from the off-side; it's easier on my hips for some reason.  After checking with GunDiva to see if it would bother Skeeter, she said she didn't think so as she had done it a time or two.  Obviously, Skeeter did not agree.  When my foot hit the ground, she swung her head around at me and stomped that right front foot on the ground as if to say,  "that's not right!"  We all laughed because it was so obvious she thought I did not know what I was doing.

Bill then hopped on Skeeter and took a few rounds of the corral, but it was obvious Skeeter was becoming tired and wanting to end things on a good note, we decided to quit.

I will lay odds Skeeter has spent a good deal of time this week thinking over all these things.  We hope it will help at CMD having her know things can be different and still be fine.
Bionic Cowgirl

'Grandparent' Training

We spent some time with the kid's horses this week; it's an ongoing process - but they are learning so much so fast.  We introduce some new ideas to the horses once a week and the kids reinforce that and add to it.

This week's goals were:  hard tie Copper for the 1st time; saddle Skeeter while tied (always had her at liberty or on a loose lead before), more Copper leading practice, put a bit in Skeeter's mouth; more ride time on Skeeter; ... and anything else we could come up with, depending on their mental  attitudes.

We arrived shortly after GunDiva and needed to get some hay off the truck.  After unloading her 30 bales, she thought the truck would be a really good practice 'patience post', as it has good steel side rails and would be pretty hard for the horses to get loose from. 

Since Copper had not had any tying practice, we opted to 'soft tie' him to the horse trailer inside the pen first.  However, on the way to the trailer, Bill decided a little trailer loading would also be good, so .....

Is this a chin scratcher?

Skeeter thought she knew how to do this.  She has been half in and out several times, but ...

 

... to everyone's surprise, she stepped all the way in!  Just like that!  Even AliBird was amazed.  Well, let's see if Copper was paying attention.

 Copper:  "So what is so interesting in here?"  Maybe not yet.

Well, if you won't go IN the trailer, we will just have to tie you TO it.

 He was pretty cute.  When he realized he couldn't just walk away when he wanted, he tried all kinds of evasive techniques to go away - everything short of panicking and yanking on the rope.  He never once got scared or snorty.  However, he did get in trouble for pawing at the wheelwells and the hitch.  Soon, he was standing still enough, we thought he could go to the truck.


Parking the truck in a central location close to the tack room, both horses were brought out.  They sure do like getting outside the pen.  After this day, they might not be quite so anxious - as it does involve work!

 

Copper doesn't think this is too bad; sometimes there is hay leftover to nibble on.  Skeeter isn't too sure about this not being able to move around.  Both of their ears tell the story.

Well, since you are just standing here, let's try this bareback pad on you.  Hey, this one has a belly strap!  What do you think, Copper?

 

Look, there's a breast collar that goes on here.  Well, the front strap is way too long; that will get taken care of this week.   Something else is missing.  Braids!

After they got all pretty, they each got to go for a walk - Skeeter discovering the breast collar was not going to eat her - and Copper learning that he could stand next to a tree, also.  Amazing the things you can get tied to.  Next came the bit.  Just for a minute to get the feel in Skeeter's mouth.  She wasn't quite sure what to think of it, pushing on her tongue.  This week she will be getting to wear it around for awhile.

In fact, the horses were having so much fun, they didn't want to go back in the pen.  I had laid my camera down on a concrete block near the corral alleyway, and Copper stepped on it when he objected to going back.  I know better than to put it down, but even we 'forget' the kinds of things that can happen around horses.  End of pictures for the day.

However, it was not the end of work.  The gear came off of Skeeter and GunDiva got on;  a little more bareback practice.  It just keeps getting better, with a short walk around the area and successful dismount.

After Skeeter's ride, Copper got introduced to clicker training.  He 'charged up' pretty quickly and had fun looking for a silly little wood block we were playing with.  I bet he spent plenty of time that night wondering why he wasn't getting a treat for touching it.

 

It was a great day with both horses.

Bionic Cowgirl

Skeeter's First Ride

I've been lax in keeping up with the blog.  We've been pretty busy here at the lodge, and when we do get away, we have way too much fun playing with the 'grandhorses'.

Last week we spent about 1 1/2 hours at GunDiva's place, continuing with 'training'.  She was delayed at a funeral, so Bill and I just entertained ourselves -at her horses' expense, of course.  After spending time grooming, I started re-braiding Copper's mane.

Copper likes to sleep while I braid.

Bill was leading Skeeter around and somehow ended up on the tub/mounting block.  I turned around in time to see him sitting on Skeeter.  When I asked him why he decided to get on her, he said she made the decision.  As he swung his leg up to rest on her back, she took a step sideways and he could either fall between her and the tub, or just slide on - obvious choice there.

She took five or six steps backwards and stopped.

Bill only had the lead rope so he just sat there waiting to see what she would do; she just stayed calm and thought things through, so Bill stayed put.  He had just about decided to get down when Skeeter relaxed so he tied up the other end of the lead rope to use as reins, and did some flexion exercises with her head, getting her to turn her head from side to side until she actually turned around in a circle in both directions.

 Finally he sort of encouraged her to take a couple of forward steps.

Soon she was moving around at a nice walk like this was a normal thing.  Check out the video clip on GunDiva's blog.  The next time she stopped, Bill slid off with a 'job well done' pat.  The only sad part was GunDiva not being there to see it; it was totally unplanned!

When GunDiva did arrive, she tossed the saddle on again, just for practice - and Bill had to give her a new hairdo.

When the saddle came off Skeeter, it seemed only natural to toss the pad on Copper, who had stood patiently by while all this was happening.

Copper was a tad apprehensive when Bill approached with the pad, but after a couple of rubdowns and sliding it on his back, it was no big deal.  Soon he was walking all over the pen - being careful to not let it fall off.

They are such good horses!
Bionic Cowgirl

Mustrang Training 101 - Beel's Way

We got to spend some time with GunDiva's & Jay's horses a couple days ago and had great fun.  As most of you probably already know, we have some 'unusual' ways of going about the horse training business.  Beel's first rule of thumb:  throw out the training manuals and have fun!  The human's safety is always first and foremost in whatever we do (no biting or kicking allowed - by the horse, of course), but after that - anything goes.

I guess we do follow a few 'guidelines':  be consistent, do things with purpose, always praise the 'try', enjoy what you are doing, always stop while you are succeeding, don't push too hard - listen to your horse tell you when to quit.

I got to play cameraman most of the day; it seems when Bill tried, he couldn't manage the little buttons on the camera very well with his gloves on, so he tried to take off the gloves at the same time he was filming.  That did not bode well for picture quality.

We spent a good deal of our time with Skeeter messing with the saddle.  This was the first time she had to stand for the pad and the saddle.  Always before it was one or the other.  She wasn't quite sure what to make of having both put on at the same time, but was willing to see what we were up to.  It took her a few minutes to decide it was OK to move with that tight thing around her belly.  Once she got moving, she seemed to forget about the whole thing, no matter what we did; shoving the saddle around, slinging the stirrups against her body from either side, hanging off the strings.

Bill decided the pen was boring and took her outside for some longer exercise, when he spotted the trees in the yard.  Aha!  Good for tying practice.  He just walked right up to the tree and had her tied before she even knew what was up.

 In fact, she was tied almost 10 minutes before she realized she couldn't just go where she wanted - of course, that was because there were leaves to chew on, shoots of grass to nibble, etc. - and she is a bit food oriented.

She looks like a well trained cow pony!  Pretty girl.

 I was beginning to wonder what we could do to get her to realize she had to stay there, when something got her attention and she tried to walk off.  Oops.  Can't go there.  Why?
She looked at the tree, tried turning her head a couple of times and then decided she could bite the rope around the tree - or maybe the bark under the rope - to get it to come loose.  She inadvertently got her nose under the rope and tipped her head up, causing the rope to slide down her neck and pull her head to the off side, so she was standing next to the tree with her head twisted to the other side, putting her body between her head and the tree.  The rope had gotten caught on the saddle horn in that position and the more she pulled on her head, the tighter she snugged herself to the tree.  We watched her really closely for any signs of panic, but she stayed calm and finally let out a little whimper with her nose next to the stirrup.  Bill tried to release the rope, but she had too much pressure on it, so he finally just released the off-billet and let the saddle slide off her to get the rope off the horn and release the pressure.  That meant he could untie the rope and lead her away.  He led her back to the tree with no problem; she didn't seem to hold any grudges against the tree or the lead rope.  We headed back into the pen.  I held her near the fence while Bill threw the saddle up near her; she didn't care so we just put the pad and saddle back on with no problem.  You would have thought nothing had ever happened.  She is a steady-eddy for sure!

We figured she had learned a great deal that day and would probably be worn out thinking about it all.  Now she knew sometimes you have to stand in one spot.  Things can get you tied up but your person will help if you ask.  Having a saddle slide off your side and hit the ground under you was no problem (but we had done that before, just not out of necessity).  Trees have lots of good stuff of interest.  More than one thing can be put on you at a time - and you can still move.  Weight on the stirrups was no big deal.

Bill tried a little exercise in neck reining but it was obvious she was tired so we quit on a good note. She did enjoy following Bill around after he 'saved' her from the tree!

Look ma, no hands.

Next, we spent time with Copper.  He just needs lots of play time with the lead rope; remember, he was adopted about three months after Skeeter, so he has a ways to go to get to the same point, but he is doing very well.  He is also pretty unflappable, but I think he is a much more sensitive horse.  He can tend to shut down when things overwhelm him, and that can be really hard to spot.  It's much easier to see a horse getting too excited or worked up.

The first thing we noticed with Copper is his idea of 'work time'.  He's a union animal; after ten minutes, he's done.  He led well for Bill for about that long, but when Bill stopped to tighten the halter, Copper thought the halter was going to come off and they were finished.  He was sure surprised when that didn't happen and was not about to move again.  He was pretty balky after that, so I  picked up a training flag and tapped it on the ground behind him - from a long distance away.  At first he did scoot up behind Bill, then turned and spotted me.  I dropped the flag and started just walking behind him.  If I got a tiny bit too close, he would dart in front of Bill, whirl and stare at me, then Bill.  He had decided I was the culprit, not the flag.  It dawned on me that he was under too much pressure, so I walked to the other side of the pen.  Things went better after that.  Check  GunDiva's blog for the videos. (http://gundiva-talesfromthetrail.blogspot.com/2014/09/play-day.html)

Copper ground ties really, really well.  Once you drop the rope, he is like a statue, so Bill used that to practice picking up his feet, rubbing him all over and just being a nuisance.  He was so good, Bill turned him loose.

I needed to make nice with Copper so he wouldn't be afraid of me, so while Bill played keep away with Skeeter and the flag, I brushed out Copper's mane and put a few braids in it.  I had him in the smaller pen to do this, without a lead rope or halter.  He stood nicely by me for the first braid but kept sticking his nose in the way while I was doing the second one.  Without thinking, I gave his nose a little flick with my fingers and you would have thought I damaged his ego!  He flipped his nose in the air and laid it down on the fence rail and gave me the most mournful look.  I had really hurt his feelings!  That's when we really realized just how sensitive he is.  He is going to take some careful handling.  I loved on him a bit after the last braid and he followed me like Skeeter followed Bill.  We called it a day.  They had both worked hard.

Copper is so handsome with his braids.

Bionic Cowgirl

Clicker Training - Again

Today Bill and I got to have a sort of 'play date' - very unusual for this time of year.  All that means is 'we got to go to town' together; something we love to do.  We tackled the lodge chores quickly and the guests wished us well as we saw them off to their various hiking adventures, letting them know they would probably beat us back to the lodge.

We figured that if we got our town chores done in a timely fashion, we could play with GunDiva's horse, Skeeter, a bit.  She had mentioned wanting to teach Skeeter her name, having been appalled to discover her horse didn't have the slightest clue as to her name.  Now in the horse's defense, she was the only horse on the property for three months and was always happy to meet any person willing to come by her corral and chat with her.  She didn't need a name.  Since I had used a considerable amount of 'clicker fun' with Jesse (many years ago), GunDiva suggested Bill and I could start teaching Skeeter to come when called.

We stopped by GunDiva's and picked up the clickers.  We were so excited to work with Skeeter when we got to her corral that we got the box of carrot chunks that were waiting for us, snatched our cameras and a couple clickers and headed out to see the horses.  I told Bill we needed to teach her targeting before we could start on the name game.  Skeeter was all excited to learn something new, perfectly willing to watch Bill and try to figure out what he wanted when he said 'touch'.  We decided to use the lid to the carrot container as the 'target'.

Bill held it out; Skeeter focused on the yellow band on the clicker; Bill clicked and ...

"Oh, I get a carrot!"  Skeeter thought she could do this!

When I tried it with her, she focused on the lid ... and got her treat.

She was very gracious in taking her carrot tidbits, which surprised me because GunDiva said she could be a bit 'muggy' about food.  She snuffled my carrot hand once, got a good bop and left it alone from then on.  We did notice, however, that she didn't seem to focus on the 'click'; she just expected a treat for touching the target.  We let it go and started playing a name game.

We decided to stand a few feet apart and take turns calling her to us, giving her a treat whenever she changed direction and focused on the one calling her name.  It took quite awhile before she would focus on our voices; she was just interested in the closest one to her.  She would stare at you for awhile, until she realized you were not going to give her anything, then turn back to the other.  Soon she was going back and forth - but we realized she was coming to the sound of the click, not her name.  When I explained this to GunDiva, she asked if we had 'charged the clicker'.  Duh.


In hindsight, I should have taken a glance at the clicker book also.  I seem to have forgotten a lot about the beginnings of clicker training.  I had totally forgotten that step.  No wonder poor Skeeter didn't quite 'see the light' for us.  She tried her best - and was getting it - just much slower than if we had done it correctly.

Sorry, GunDiva, hope we haven't set you back too far.  She's a smart girl; I already had her following the target to the ground and touching it when I would give it a short toss.  We might have another frisbee partner one day.

Bill, of course, had to play some other 'games' with her, trying to teach her to 'mane lead' like he does Ranger - by putting his arm under her neck, grabbing a piece of mane on the opposite side, and walking.  She was doing well with it until she figured out he was going to pick on her by leading her to the tub.  She's pretty sure he's a goof.

We took time to give Copper some good scratches through the fence panels so he wouldn't feel left out.  He definitely wanted in on some action, too.  Soon, Copper.

It made for a fun day.
Bionic Cowgirl

One of Those Days

Some days just don't go as planned.  Today was one of those days for me.

Today, I was going to go down the mountain to help with the delivery of our son-in-law's new mustang.  He was to leave the Canon City BLM holding facility at about 9:am, and we expected his arrival at his new home about four hours later.

I finished most of my chores at the lodge and pulled out a little before 11:am.  An hour and a half drive time, and I would be there with time to spare.  Only some trips down the mountain are... not as fast as usual.  They may or may not involve a HUGE land yacht pulling an equally oversized SUV.  And may or may not be going FAR below the posted speed limit.  With perhaps a dozen or so drivers putting along behind, trying to go faster by shaking their fists out the windows.  Not too sure how well that works.  Strikes me as being as ineffective as rocking front to back like you are on a swing while going up a steep hill.  Just gives you something to do, I guess.  So I took that time to pull over and make sure the burning smell that was assaulting my nose wasn't MY vehicle.  It wasn't.

I made it down the mountain in record time (and not in a good way) and dropped some stuff off at our youngest daughter's house. As I walked out of the house, I got a text from the oldest daughter.

"He's here"

Oops.  Hard to help unload when you are still 30 minutes away. 

I texted back "k". 

I mention this only because it is the first time I have successfully sent a text to another person on purpose.  I am afraid I am something of a troglodyte.

I continued my journey down the road and got onto the freeway, got up to speed, and immediately slammed on the breaks and started a five mile long, five mile per hour crawl up the interstate.

I passed a number of odd pieces of debris, damaged vehicles and a large tractor-trailer flatbed with no load backing very slowly up the interstate. 


Low bridge.

Not so low a tank, no longer on its' trailer.

You might be surprised how slowly traffic passes by a sight like that.  From both directions.  Lots of emergency vehicles were just showing up.  LOTS of them.

Traffic sped up after that, and I arrived at my destination about 10 minutes later than I had originally expected.  But the horse had arrived an hour earlier than expected, so I was still way to late to help unload.

Copper the horse was already in his new digs.

Meeting his new room mate.  Er,  corral mate.

Copper, Skeeter.  Skeeter, Copper.

And learning the joys of being brushed.

Having your very own human can be a good thing.


So I spent some time torturing  teasing training skeeter.

 

At one point, I lay myself across Skeeter's back, but she walked off.  Since I only had a loop of bailing twine around her neck for control,  I went ahead and just slid off.  Seemed like the thing to do.

It was while splashing water on her from the kiddie pool that I had another first with my cell phone.  It fell in the pool.  I quickly removed the battery and blotted most of the water off.

Not long after, I headed home.  I stopped at a grocery store that I knew had a pay-phone and called Juanita to ask her if she needed any thing from the store before I came up the mountain.  She said no, and asked why I was calling from a pay-phone.  I told her I had taken the batteries out of my cell phone.  She knew what that meant.

She laughed.

I guess in the greater scheme of things, my day might not have gone the way I expected.  But it still went a lot better than at least one truck drivers day...

Bill