Bad Cop, Good Cop

 

Saturday, March 19^th, 5:00 p.m.

Phone rings.  “Hi Scott.  How are you?”  “Juanita, I just wanted to call and let you know I moved the horses from the north section to the south.”  “OK, thanks.”  “I really called to tell you … that brown horse of yours ….” 

Oh, oh.  What has Alloy done now?  Apparently, after getting caught, loaded, and moved, Al had decided he couldn’t get out of the trailer fast enough, so he went charging out backwards, breaking the hay string that had been used on his halter to lead him and load him.  (We tend to use whatever is handy to move our horses around, be it a dog leash, hay string, belt, whatever – as they are generally very good about it.)  There was no way anyone was going to get near him again.  So we got the call that we now had a horse loose in a very large pasture with a halter on; an absolute no-no in all our books.

 We headed the 18 miles down off the mountain to see if we could be of help.  Fortunately, the time was just right for us to use our own canyon to make the trip.  Our canyon is under construction to fix flood damages from 8 years ago and you can only drive it certain times of the day.  We got to the pasture, found the horses and discovered we also were not going to get near them; even my boy who comes at a trot when I call said, “not now, there’s grass!”

                                        Washoe is the white horse, Alloy is hidden behind him.

We decided to just come back the next day and ‘walk them down’.  Sunday dawned bright and sunny.    This time Washoe walked right up to me and let me brush all the mud off, a good deal of winter hair, and detangle the dreadlocks from his mane; all without a halter.  We spent the morning walking the pasture behind a stubborn bay horse with a more stubborn black mare, who seems to have become the lead mare and wanted nothing to do with Alloy getting caught.  Washoe went back to the other horses and started grazing and the two errant horses decided to circle them.  You would have thought they were inside a 30 ft. round pen, instead of on 30 acres of pasture.  

 Fortunately, the mare is not the endurance horse Alloy is, and finally tired and joined the others grazing.  That made the circling game not so fun any longer and Alloy finally joined them after a few more circles. Bill did almost all the ‘lunging’ while I stayed on the outside incase one of them decided to leave the circle.  Finally, Bill walked back to the car for some water and more snacks.  In the interim Al decided to just hang with the others so I walked into the group and started rubbing faces.  Guess who wanted his face rubbed, too?  After a couple of attempts, he stood still when I offered him an oat granola bar in exchange for his halter.  He was very still while I unbuckled it, then almost forgot his oat bar.  He sooo wants to still be a wild horse! 

The whole process really only took three and a half hours.  Bill said Alloy considered him the ‘bad cop’ and me the ‘good cop’.  What a great way to spend a gorgeous day – with the horses.

Bionic Cowgirl

A Dark and Stormy Night

A gentle snow was falling, the clouds obscuring the full moon.  The wind was blowing, howling at times, dead calm the next moment.  No problem, Juanita was out feeding the horses and I was inside the lodge getting ready to fix dinner.  I took a moment for a quick trip to the restroom and just as I closed the door Juanita hollered at me from the front door.

"Bill!  Get your boots on!"  I could hear the urgency in her voice.  "We have a horse gone."

"Which horse?"  I asked as I was putting on my insulated boots.  The look on her face explained what a stupid question that was.  "Oh.  Alloy." I said.

We had just spent some time introducing Alloy the mustang to the rest of our herd.  As we had 3 other mustangs that have pretty good manners when meeting new horses, Alloys introduction went very well.  We took the other horses back to their pen, and left Alloy in his.  We were going to spend a little more time the next day getting them all used to each other.

Alloy took offense.  He had a new herd now, and they were gone.  It was obviously up to him to go find them. 

He failed.

The deep snow had made the fence and gates less effective, so he squashed a gate and got out.

Juanita and I split up and followed his tracks around the nearby fields.  The snow was deep.  We had had almost 3 feet of snow with temperatures well below zero degrees F.  Then a day of rain, which crusted the layer of snow.  Then we had another foot or two of snow on top of that.  One would be shuffling along in knee deep snow, and then break through to crotch deep.  I MUST get my snow shoes repaired.

We spent 20 minutes following his looping tracks that finally lead out to the plowed road and off to parts unknown.  He had about an hour head start on us so I went back to start up the pickup truck.  It has 4 wheel drive which I figured would be a good thing.

As Juanita was following the hoof prints left on the skiff of snow on the road, a sheriff's car passed.  Juanita flagged him down with the halter she was carrying.  Sheriff's Deputy Dan rolled his window down and asked her "You looking for a horse?"  She said "Yes I am!"  He told her that he had gotten a call from one of the volunteer firemen in the area about a loose horse heading into Rocky Mountain National Park, a couple miles down the highway from us.  He had tracked it into an area that was too deep to drive through, so he came back to town, and saw her.  I drove up in the truck after he finished talking to Juanita and had headed down the hill and he told me the same tale.  I headed up the hill and picked Juanita up and we headed toward the Copeland Lake area where he had been spotted.

We kept getting out of the truck and following the tracks whenever Alloy left the road.  He would loop out through the deep snow, and then head back to the road.  What a jerk.  He finally decided to stick to the road.  Deputy Dan drove back toward us and said he had found a new set of foot prints on the road another mile or 2 to the north that hadn't been there last time he drove by.

I got really excited and turned the truck around on the narrow dirt road.  About half way turned around.  I'm not sure I've been THAT stuck since I was a teenager.  Deputy Dan drove back and pulled me out.  (Thanks Dan.  I owe you for that.)

We went another mile down the road and the hoof prints lead up someones drive and right by their front door.  But he didn't stop, he just went cross country again.  Jerk.  So I followed him on foot.  I've REALLY got to get those snowshoes fixed.

Alloy found another road after a million miles of cross country in deep snow and went up it.  WAY up the little dirt road. After a half mile or so, the tracks started looking fresh.  Soon the tracks were fresh, and left by a running horse.

Jerk.

He was probably only a hundred yards or so ahead of me, and running away.

Jerk.

I started talking softly and calmly.

"Alloy, come on back here.  Just stand where you are for a moment so I can catch you and take you to the rendering plant and feed all of the good dogs in Colorado with your useless carcass."

I rounded another curve on the road, and there he was.  Just standing there like a good boy.

Now you may have noticed that I have talked about Juanita having a halter, but not talked about me having one.  It was still in the truck.  With Juanita.  Miles from me.

Damn.

So, I took off my belt, wrapped it around his neck (barely reaches) and started leading him back down the hill to the highway.  I met Deputy Dan about halfway back, and he drove off to meet Juanita and tell her where we were.  She brought a halter.

Now, our horse trailer had been snowed in, so the only way to get him home was to walk.

Jerk.

So I walked him home on the side of the highway, three and a half miles on the slick, ice glazed pavement of the highway.  Alloy and I walking, Juanita following in the truck, with Deputy Dan bringing up the rear.  Looks like we got us a convoy.  Alloy was behaving and leading perfectly.  He would only jump a little when a snowplow went by, or a truck with chains.

But evey time we passed a stretch of his footprints by the road, I would point to them and say to Alloy-

"Jerk."

We got home, put Alloy in the horse trailer as a box stall to keep him warm, thanked Deputy Dan for his (over and above) help, and went to bed thinking "Tomorrow is another day."

Then I got to pee.

Jerk.

Bill

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.

Big Thunder - Little Thunder

Last Thursday (1/14) we moved our horses from one winter pasture to another; quite uneventful as things go.  The horses came when called, were easy to catch and two loaded nicely into the trailer.  Since we had four horses to move and a 3-horse trailer, we opted to move in pairs, so while Bill and Compass took her horse, Henry, and Washoe to the new/old location I stayed behind with Ranger and Jesse.  It was a great sunny, warm day, albeit windy, and it gave me time to continue working on getting burrs out of Jesse's mane.  We would have gotten them all out, too, if Bill wasn't such a fast driver (teasing).  He did get back in half the time I had expected.  We loaded the last two on and headed to one of their normal winter hangouts.

Now we had been assured that all the fencing had been checked and was intact, but that possibly one section was not yet 'hot'.  It wasn't much of a worry since our horses knew that pasture, it was big - going from 7 acres to 20 acres - and there was no reason for them to stray.  There was a heavy layer of snow on most of it, but our guys are good at digging, so we left them.

On Saturday, we planned on going to Big Thunder, the draft horse show held at one of the local fairgrounds.  Most of the competitive large horse teams use this event to get their horses acclimated  and ready for the draft horse section of the National Western Stock Show in Denver.  On the way, we stopped to check on our herd and make sure we didn't need to supplement them with hay.

OK, they seemed like they were farther away than they should have been, so we drove to the end of the road, and sure enough, they were at the far end of the NEXT pasture..  We parked and started walking fence lines.  There's the break ... wait, there's a large section that was apparently used as a gate for large equipment, and not re-closed.  Can't fault the horses for deciding the next pasture was more pleasant looking.  After all, it had a huge patch of uncovered grass under some very large trees.

We walked most of the way across, in fairly deep snow, until we could get their attention.  True to form, my grays came the rest of the way to us, and the two other geldings saw the halters and decided "no way".  We slipped halters on Jess and Washoe and walked them back toward the gate, in hopes the other two would eventually follow.  For once, it actually did work (not a given for Ranger!)  Henry didn't want to miss out on whatever, and Ranger finally decided he didn't want to be left out and came straggling in.  We were patting ourselves on our backs about our luck; might actually get to go to Big Thunder.  You all know what happens when you do that.....

Bill fastened the gate - merely a single barb wire strand, as was the rest of that section of fence - and I released my horses.  To my surprise, Jesse took off at a dead run right for that section, ducked her head and peeled under the 'gate'!  Be careful what you teach your horses.  I had taught mine a 'duck' command to duck under things on the trail.  Last summer, unwittingly, Bill and I had both used that a lot to move the horses from one pen to another or to get out of our corral without having to unhook the hot wire every time or remove the top gate rail.  In our minds (besides being lazy), we were just reinforcing a verbal command.  In Jesse's horse mind, it meant she could move to the pasture she thought better on her own.

While Bill kept the other three from following her, I tramped back into that pasture intent on catching a horse who now did NOT want to be caught.  It quickly became clear she just wanted me to understand which pasture was better.  As soon as I called her, she returned to the fence line but instead of crossing in, she raced as fast as she could all the way to the other end.  When I called again, she came racing back, passed me and continued to the other end.  Now she was just having fun getting some much needed exercise.  This was a game we would play when she got bored if we had to keep them on the mountain in the winter.  So I just stood there and called again; again she raced past me to the farther end.  I had to laugh; she looked so like the big drafts when they go flying by in the arena, so I called her Little Thunder.

This time I just followed to the corner where she calmly waited for me.  I started to reach for her halter, but she just walked over to the fence and started to step over the wire.  When her leg touched the wire, she just put her foot down and stood there.  I realized then that the fence in that spot was barely 8 inches above the snow, so I stepped on the wire and told her to step over, which she nicely did.  I raised the wire back up to the height it should have been, gave all the horses a good pat since they had wandered down to watch the escapades, and headed back across the pastures.

Bill had secured the gate better and decided to halter Ranger to make him walk back to the proper end in hopes all would follow.  We decided to feed them a bale of hay so they would have something they didn't have to dig for.  Of course, this time the others would not follow, so Ranger got the whole bale to himself, which he promptly scoffed at and returned to the others.  Go figure.

We climbed in the truck and continued on to the fairgrounds, arriving just in time for the main events.  It's always glorious to see those huge teams in action.

The big yellow wagon won the 6-up - with all mare Percherons.  Second place was also an all mare team of Percherons - only 3 years old!  Go girls!

Nothing like traipsing around in deep snow in your dress boots to get your exercise!
Bionic Cowgirl

Miss Communication

R-  It is after time for night food Beel.

B-  I know Ranger.  But now that all of the neighbor herd is caught and back in their corral, we can feed y'all.

R-  Beel we all tried to tell you that the neighbor horses were out and eating my grass.  Before night food.  You did not listen.  That Mare kicked the food holder.  I yelled.  The Kid ran around like a crazy dog.

B-  I know buddy, but you always holler at dinner time, and Jesse usually kicks the feeder if we are too late at feeding you guys.  And Washoe is always running like a nut-case.  It didn't sound much different to us.

R-  I always say  HAY at dinner time.  This time I was saying HEY.  You must not listen very well if you can not hear the difference.

B-  Right you are, my equine friend.  I sometimes miss the subtle inflections in your incessant shrieking at dinner time.  I will try to listen to your caterwauling more closely.  Every night.  And every morning.  And every night...

R-  Good.  They were all out eating my grass.  I do not like that.

B-  Yeah, 30 or so horses will eat things down in a hurry.  But they were so well behaved, even when I saw them eating grass out of the window, it took a moment to realize something was wrong.  Then I suddenly understood what was happening and hollered for Juanita.  I think it scared our guests when I yelled and ran out the door with a halter in hand.

R-  It scares the neighbor horses when you drive the many van and jump out yelling at them.  I like that.  They stop eating my grass.

B-  Well, eat your dinner now Ranger.  They are all locked up for the night again.

R-  Good.  Now it is time for hay.  Not hey.  Listen better.

They Are All Bad

R-  Hay Beel

R-  Haaayy Beeeellll

B-  Humph  moan  groan  What was that?  It sounded like Ranger was hollering, but it's 3 hours till first feeding.  He's never that far off.  I better go look.

R-  Haaay Beeeell

B-  I can see Ranger standing by his feed bowl.  Can't see the other two, though.  Well, as long as I'm up I guess I'll let the dog out.

B-  What the... JUANITA!  GET DRESSED AND GRAB A LEAD ROPE!  YOUR HORSES ARE OUT IN OUR BACK YARD!

B-  Washoe, Jesse, stand right there and I'll get this halter on one of you..

TrotTrotTrotTrotTrotTrot  Stop  EatEatEatEatEat.

B-  Knock that off you two.  You need to go home.  Ranger is having a FIT. Okay, now Juanita is here so we can...

TrotTrotTrotTrotTrotTrot  Stop  EatEatEatEatEat.

B-  Stop that!  Hold still so we ...

TrotTrotTrotTrotTrotTrot  Stop  EatEatEatEatEat.

B-  You jerks.  I've almost...

TrotTrotTrotTrotTrotTrot  Stop  EatEatEatEatEat.

B-  QUIT THAT CRAP.  You've gone around the block and are back home now, and Juanita has opened the gate.  Aaaand of course Jesse just walked in the pen like that was the plan.

R-  That Mare and The Kid are back Beel.

B-  I know Ranger.  Thanks for letting us know they left.

R-  They broke the fence so they could eat the green grass.  The neighbor horses did that yesterday. It is against the rules to leave without people.

B-  I know Ranger.  And we know you are big on rules.  Thanks for staying in the corral.

R-  I am surrounded by dee-lin-kwents.

I Am Not Happy

This is Ranger.  The horse.

I am not happy about the neighbor herd.

In this morning I was standing in the sun waiting for first food time.  Standing in the sun is my favoritest  thing.

The neighbor herd left their yard.  You are not supposed to go through your fence if there are no people telling you to.  It is the rule.  But they pushed over some of the fence in their yard and walked out.  They left their yard and started eating the grass by my yard.  They should not eat MY grass.  If they eats MY grass it is gone and I can not eat grass.  And eating grass is my favoritest thing.  So I watched them mean.

Beel ran out of the people barn and up to the neighbor herd.  I think he thinked they were going to run away.  They did not run.  The neighbor herd just stood and ate MY grass.  I watched them mean.  Beel just watched them.  Waneeta came and watched them too.  Maybe they do not know how to watch mean.  The neighbor herd pretended they were not there and ate MY grass.  After a long long long time Beel and Waneeta got big and watched them mean so the neighbor herd wented home.  The neighbor herd stooded on the hard dirt yard for a little time.  There was no grass so they runned away again.  Beel gotted into the sock-her-mom-tack-see and drived to farther than the herd to stop them from running away more.  But they had already stopped to eat some grass.  MY grass again.  By the people barn.

Waneeta finally catched one of the mares in the herd and they all followed her back to the neighbor herd yard and wented home.

Now it is almost first food time and that is good.

First food my favoritest thing.

Ranger.  The horse.

They Should Not Do That

This is Ranger.  The horse.

In the still dark, one of the bone head neighbors knocked the rails down in the big gate.  The Kid and That Mare WENT OUT into the NEIGHBORS YARD.

Then two of the neighbor horses came into MY yard.

I screamed and screamed.  Finally Beel and Waneeta came out and moved the strangers out of my pen, and the neighbor peoples brought the white horses home.

Beel patted me and telled me I was a good boy, but he did not kick or bite the white horses.  I stared at him as he walked away, and he did not even pin his ears back at them (any more than usual, anyway).

I guess I will have to kick the white ones later.

Beel is such a slacker.

Ranger

All Wet

When our kids were teens, and had gone "out", Juanita and I would wait up for them.  It was for their own good.  When I am awakened after several hours of sleep, I'm pretty much up for the day, and that leaves me extra cranky and hard to deal with by the following evening.  Rather like a four year old that has missed his nap.

About 2:30 this morning, I heard hoofbeats on the pavement heading down the road.

"$#!T.  Okay, you call Compass and tell her her horses are out again, and I'll get some halters."

By 3:00 a.m., the 30 or so wayward neighbors were back in their pen, and I was staring at the ceiling.

By 4:00 a.m., I gave up.

So let's talk about the weather, as long as I'm up.

This has been a very dry year here in Colorado.  The snowpack was about a third of normal, and we may have had 2 inches of moisture all year up to July.  Fires were making headlines nationwide, as most of them were within spitting distance of large cities here along the "front range" of the Rocky Mountains.

Nothing like a backdrop of smoke and flames behind your skyline to really ramp up the popular media.

Then came July.  Fireworks Bans.  No outside fires.  No outdoor BBQs.  One thousand dollar fines for smoking outdoors.  Dry, dry, dry.

The first couple days of July we got two, 1/4 inch rains.  Halleluiah and hot dog!  Maybe the end is in sight!

Then-
On the 5th of July, here in Allenspark we got 1 and 1/2 inches of rain.
On the 6th of July, here in Allenspark we got 2 and 3/4 inches of rain.
On the 7th of July, here in Allenspark we got 1 inch of rain.
On the 8th of July, here in Allenspark we got 1 inch of rain.

Our normal for all of July is about 2 and 1/4 inches of rain.

Our parking lot has washed away to bedrock in spots.

The horses are spending more time in their shed than at their feeder.

The trails in the national forest need some serious "shovel time" to mitigate the washouts.

The rivers are running black with mud and soot from the previously burned areas.

The fires are out, which is WONDERFUL, but really, a full summer's worth of rain in four days?

At least it wasn't raining this morning while we were chasing horses.

Bill

Overheard at the Corral This Morning

"Looky there!  That's one of the big neighbors runnin down the middle of the road!"

"He got's no people with him..."

"Wow, he is gunna be in trouble!"

"Ain't he one of them Belgers?"

"Yup.  They are big 'uns for sure."

"No chair on his back, and no bag on his face like last time...  he gets to eat all of the grass!"

"I hate that"
.
.
.

"HAY YOU GUYS!  LOOK! LOOK!  All of the neighbors are out and going the other way"

"We know that Mare.  Do you think we is dummies?  (Say Kid, she is right!  They are ALL out!")

"Say, ain't that Beel coming outa the lodge with a lead rope?  He looks CRANKY."

"Well, you KNOW he hates leaving the lodge before the sun  comes up."
.
.
.

"It seems to be taking longer to catch them this morning."

"That is 'cause they are eating grass out here, and do not want to go home, I bet."
.
.
.
"Well, it looks like they are all back in the pen.  I wish we could'a  go'ed out."

"Someone should 'splain to Beel that Colorado is "Free Range" .  I think that means we gotta be fenced OUT, not fenced IN."

"Lawns are a waste of good graze"

"Yup."

Just Look'in Around

About 15 minutes ago, we looked out the window and saw a string of horses going down the road.  Probably 15 or 20 of them.

Not really an unusual sight around here.

They were all saddled and on their way.

With no one on their backs.

And empty feed bags on their faces.

Opps.

Team Lodge (Juanita, Bill, and grand-daugher "Autobot") mobilized and headed out to head them off.  In years past, I would have jumped in a truck or minivan to herd them home in, because they would be off at a run.  But these guys were obviously just out for a stroll.  We managed to get them stopped (okay, they stopped themselves at a nice lush patch of grass and tried to eat through their feed bags, with limited, to no success) and grabbed a few to lead them back to the livery.  Reinforcements arrived from the livery, and we got them home in less time than it's taking me to blog about it.

Back to breakfast prep....


Bill

Just For Bill

We went to check on Estes last week (I really needed a horse fix), Bill spent a lot of time trying to get the perfect picture of her for me.

You wouldn't believe how many pictures he took (113) just to get these three with her tongue sticking out.

--GunDiva

Estes' 1st Ride of Spring 2009

Shawntel came up to take Estes out for the first time this Spring. Lots of nice weather last week and this week we have been waking up to new snow every day; it’s called April in the mountains. We had 40” a week ago Saturday. That makes more than five feet of snow just in April! The neighbor plowed the front parking lot and created two huge snow piles, so I had to call Nelle and tell her to bring up the grandkids. We dug out the saucers and they had a heyday! What a great Sunday afternoon, sledding, shoveling, home-made chicken noodle soup and a movie.

A week later we are waking up to 2” of new snow every day. Snow or not, we are going riding today. Tel took the day off work after all the overtime she has been putting in, and stated she NEEDED horse therapy! Understood; Bill had said the same thing the night before and I will always agree with that. She calls saying it is snowing in Ft. Collins and looking yucky. Well, our snow had stopped and the sun was out and the wind was blowing the new snow away. So let’s go riding. The horses agreed.

Now it’s game time. About ¾ of the corral is a muddy mess, leaving just smaller dry patches. Of course, being human, we try to stay on the dry spots and the horses pick up on this quickly, turning catching into a game by wading into the muck and snorting at us. I love it when they are playful; heads and tails up, prancing and snorting. Soon, however, they understood they had to come to us if they wanted out of the corral, because you are only allowed out with a halter on, and they wanted to go, too. This was evident with the frequency of racing to the corral gate and staring at the Lodge hitching post, before racing around crazy again. We don’t have to do round pen work for stress release; we just watch this energy dissipate in the ½ acre corral! Soon they walk up to us and stand quietly for haltering.

By the time we had them brushed out and saddled, the wind had died down and it was a glorious day for a ride. All 4 horses got to go this time (Washoe was ponied) and the trails were dryer than anticipated, although we did get to break through a couple of two foot snow banks. The only near excitement was the horses letting us know “something” has awakened for the spring. About 1/3 of the way down the Rock Creek trail, Ranger was alerted to something below us. Since he is not usually the one to say “not going there” we opted to follow his lead and turn around. We headed off on another trail in a different direction, this time with Estes in the lead after the pivot changed our positions. Now when the trail split, Estes said “nope, something down there in the trees.” We have learned through past lessons to listen to our horses (by checking and finding large animal tracks or fresh kill). So again we take the safer trail, now putting Jesse and me at the end. No sooner were we past the split in the trail than she did a hop, skip, and turn around with the “there is definitely something down there!” message. Well, it is time for the bears to be coming out of hibernation and, come to think of it, we haven’t heard the coyotes lately, which means there is also a mountain lion around. We finished our ride peacefully and safely. Thank you horses!

Later, Bill and I laughed that Washoe was the only one that had not reacted. But then, he wouldn’t notice a mountain lion until it hit him on the nose with its paw.

Picking Up Estes, New Baby, Truck - Again!

Long time since I’ve posted. With sunnier days now and then, it’s easier for me to be outside with the horses, meaning putting off my homework until evening and cutting into my posting time (do you see the priorities here?). So I will try to catch up somewhat, since we’ve had some fun happenings.

We had plans to meet our daughter, Tel, at John’s place to pick up her horse on Tues. For those of you who haven’t heard yet, Tel is getting married in May. After wracking our brains about a wedding gift (they already have all the typical household stuff, since both parties had their own places), Bill found the perfect gift: a horse trailer. About the only thing positive about this recession is prices are dropping, especially on things like used horse trailers. Bill found a jewel close by; not pretty by any stretch of the imagination, but a very serviceable 2-horse, bumper-pull. We decided it would be a good trial run to take it down the mountain to pick up Tel’s horse, and watch her reaction to the sight of the trailer. Of course, the first action needed was to get our truck set up for bumper-pull; all of our trailers have been gooseneck. The good thing about this is now we can pull anything – when the truck is running!

It was a fantastic warm, sunny, class day for me. Tel and I met after class in Ft. Collins, picked up her younger brother and headed to meet Bill at John’s farm. We called Bill and told him we would be there earlier than expected. We arrived and I watched Tel closely for reactions as Bill was pulling up with the “new” trailer. (We had decided NOT to tell her about it, in case she didn’t like it). I hadn’t realized how much it looked like a smaller version of our trailer until she asked what we had done to the trailer. Realizing it was a different trailer, I told her Bill had found a 2-horse, so she assumed he had bought it for convenience for us (we had talked about doing that). I was trying so hard not to give the surprise away.
Tel said, “We forgot to call Ida!” Fortunately, when I called her, she was close by at one of their leased horse pastures, and said she would be right there, to go ahead out in the back pasture to get Estes. Anyone ever tried getting through someone else’s pasture system (lots of cows) on a really mucky, muddy day?! And electrified. Which gates to use? We were having fun figuring it out when Ida pulled up and walked down a DRY alley next to the pastures, laughing at us. OK, Ida is always laughing; she is one of the happiest people I know whenever we see her outside working with animals – even fencing! We got ourselves un-bogged and went after Estes, who was definitely feeling her oats. No way does she move like a 19 y.o. mare. She and her 16 y.o. daughter, Meeker (10 months pregnant), are floating around the pasture like a moving picture of twins. It only took a couple of minutes to convince Estes it was time to get caught, and Bill walked right up to the two of them, putting his arms around Estes while Tel put a halter on her. Meeker sure looks great – expected to deliver about May 10. I will be driving this way to school in May to watch for the new foal.

As we were maneuvering back through the pasture system, Ida asked us to wait a minute so she could help her dad, John, move a pregnant cow into a shed. She said the cow should be delivering soon and they wanted to watch her for problems. Once the cow was moved we walked Estes around the house to the trailer; Ida stayed with her dad. OK, this might be fun. Estes is used to large, open stock trailers. I didn’t know if she had ever been in a small, enclosed one. She looked it over pretty closely, but after just a little persuasion, she hopped right in. Can’t say enough about Ida’s well-trained horses. Tel made a comment to Bill about the trailer, who in turn made a comment about ruining the surprise. Hearing that, I had made a comment on Jay’s willingness to paint old vehicles. Nothing else was said.

Having only been gone a few minutes, we went back to tell Ida and John goodbye, finding Ida behind the house washing her hands in a tub of water, with an even bigger grin on her face. I looked in the shed and saw something small, black and wet-looking on the ground. I said, “Is that a calf?” John walked over, smiling, saying they had just pulled it ‘cause it wasn’t positioned right. Mom and baby doing fine. Son Thomas said he knew he was a city boy, but he thought it would take a little longer than that. John laughed and said, “You never know what will happen around here when you walk around the house.” Worriedly, Ida asked how Estes had loaded; she indeed had never been in that type trailer. We assured her it had been no problem.

Time to head home. Tel, Thomas and I hop into the car and head back to Ft. Collins from Longmont; Bill starts off for the Lodge with the horse and trailer in tow. As soon as we get on the road, Tel looks at me and says, “Is that my wedding present?” with this big, hopeful grin on her face. She was surprised and seemed quite happy. Apparently, she and Jay had been looking at horse-trailers, too, since they want to get another horse for Jay after they get married.

I’m finally driving up the canyon road. I had tried calling Bill while still in cell-phone range and not gotten an answer. This concerned me since he had plenty of time to get home and unload, unless the truck was acting up again. We just can’t seem to trust it right now. In less than 2000 miles it had quit on us three more times, for no reason that could be found. This is after we have put $10,000 into repairs on it in four months. That’s right, $10K!!! Sure enough, I round a corner and find our rig parked on the side of the road at a pull-over. If you let the truck sit for 15 minutes, it will start and run for a short period of time – maybe long enough to get 1 – 3 miles further and hope there is another place to pull over. The 45 minute trip from John’s took three hours that day. Back to the Ford dealership with the truck a couple of days later; no problems found; truck ran great both ways. It’s really frustrating. Right now is when we have the time to travel with the horses and we are afraid to go anywhere because we don’t know when we will be stranded along the highway with live animals in a trailer! I think Bill is starting a blog about no longer wanting to be a Ford truck owner, after having them for 35 years. He will not be good advertising for the 6.0L engine.

First Big Horse Adventure of 2009, March 21

Last night I was on the phone with my back to the window when Bill hollered, “Drop the phone, the horses are out!” Thinking they were our horses, I indeed dropped the phone as I turned around to look out the window, to see our neighbor’s horses making their first great escape of the year. Happens every year and we are usually the first responders. The people managing the livery across the road currently have seven horses of their own and had just brought in seven more to get ready for the season.

Bill had grabbed a halter and headed out the door. He had them turned around in the street and headed back into their own yard, when the livery’s kitchen door opened and one of their dogs charged into the yard, right into the pack of horses. So much for going back into their corral; all 14 turned tail for the trail to the National Forest and the chase was on. By that time, Pat (the Livery manager) had a halter and Bill came back for walkie-talkies. We hopped in the car and drove to the trailhead, where Bill caught up with Pat. Now it’s 7:00 pm and we know there’s not a lot of light left before nightfall. I took the car back away from the trailhead and waited. Soon I could see horses coming back down the switchbacks toward the highway. It was Pat’s personal horses; the two herds had split and his were ready for dinner. At this time of night there should have been no traffic on the road, so of course here come cars from both directions. By the time five cars had passed, the horses had turned around and headed over the hill again, not on the trail this time, and it was now dark. No use hunting them with flashlights; these guys have not been trained to night lights, so the decision was made to just leave them alone for the night and gather them in the morning. It was national forest with plenty of graze and water so they would be safe enough.

It’s 6:15 am, Sat. morning, and we hear Pat’s truck start and drive away. We hit the shower and by 6:45 we each have a halter and a can of grain and are across the street offering any assistance. Pat’s wife, Vickie, says they’ve been up since 4:30, searching with flashlights. Just then we heard horses on the trail and saw Pat and Justin leading two of his horses. When he got to the yard, he explained about finding nine of them back at the old mine building, grazing. They got halters on two of them and headed back with the rest following, feeling like the Pied Piper; however, part way back some of the loose ones got frisky in the cool morning air and raced up the trail ahead, then took off again. They walked the two they had down and Bill joined them to head back up the trail. I realized we had forgotten the walkie-talkies, so I ran into the lodge and retrieved our set, giving one to Vickie so she and I could keep in touch. I drove to the trailhead and noticed a group of horses coming down a hillside away from the guys. By the time I parked the car on the edge of the road, seven horses had met the pavement and headed toward Wild Basin, away from everyone looking for them. I hopped back in the car to cut them off but another car came along and actually herded them on down the road. A neighbor pulled up behind me and said he and his wife would go head off that bunch; for me to go back to the trail to the livery and head them back in.

I waited a few minutes at the business loop turnoff and sure enough, here came the horses, being herded back by the wife in their truck. Looking good, and then the last little bugger, Gizmo, herded them back across the road and up the hill from whence they came! That was enough! I followed them up the hill and we started the “walking down” thing. Finally, at the top, they stopped for a breather and I was able to call to a couple I knew and shake my grain can. A lot of patience later they decided to check me out. I spread some of my grain on the ground then walked up to the biggest one, Dakota, and put my halter on him. I talk to him a lot when I go to feed our horses, so he was fine with me, although my halter barely fit his head. I led him back down the hill until we intersected with the trail and we followed that on down, with the rest coming meekly along. Once, Gizmo tried to take a couple back, but I just kept talking to them and told him to get away by himself. Next thing I know he is poking along behind. One of the 3 yr olds tried to get past us on the trail, but by then Dakota was enjoying being “boss”, so he laid his ears back at her when I told her to whoa and get back. That settled that. I got to play the Pied Piper and brought in seven, alone!

Vickie and I put them in the corral. I gathered up my grain can and headed back up the trail to look for the guys. They had the hardest ones to find and I had no way of knowing where they were, so I decided to play tactical and go the other direction, looking for tracks. I felt good thinking I was at least finding where they weren’t. We were closing the circle. Then, going cross country to avoid large snow drifts, I spotted large tracks; one of the horses was a draft-cross, so I knew it was the right set of tracks, not the ones left from yesterday’s ride that went out. I reported to Vickie that I was following tracks and headed for the meadow. No horses, but more tracks. I continued on to Fox Creek, which was still frozen. I could see where the horses had crossed and followed them, partly on trail and partly cross country, up a steep hill towards a pond. Before I got to the pond I noticed a lot of changing up of the tracks, some up and some down. When our two mustangs had been turned loose 10 yrs. ago, we had found them on Olive Ridge, right where theses tracks were leading, so I followed that road and suddenly realized I was being watched. A lone horse was standing in the middle of the fire route road. I stopped and we talked for a while; she didn’t know me and was unsure, but not wanting to move much. That’s when I noticed she was hurt, so I slowly moved up to her, offered her some grain and watched the relief in her eyes as I put the halter on her. I then realized the tracks I had seen were the other horses trying to get her to follow, until they just gave up on her.

After checking the mare for injuries, she and I started back towards home. She had a scrape on her right hind leg, probably from barb wire, and it was quite swollen, but she was able to walk slowly. As soon as we started walking, she kept staring towards the pond, so I assumed the rest had gone that way, so we walked that way also. Saw lots of fresh tracks, but no horses. After I got back in range of the radios, I talked to Vickie and told her I was coming back with one horse. She was very relieved and said the guys had just called, and they had the other four. All horses accounted for! The next call came from Bill. They had just gotten back with the horses and he said he would walk out to meet me. It would be nice to have company walking back. Such a nice hubby!

It turns out Bill had found the other horses and had a halter on one of them and was feeding them grain while waiting for the other guys to meet up with him. Then they all walked them out. He had actually found them a short ways from the pond, in a favorite picnic spot of ours, and taken them out just ahead of me. He wondered how we hadn’t run across each other, but there are lots of trails intersecting that region and we just happened to be on different ones, with a hill between us. End of story 3 1/2 hours later (and final count): Pat and Justin, 2 horses; Bill, 4 horses; Juanita, 8 horses!

Horses Home 2009

Spring 2009 ... Horses coming home! (Mar.19)

Tomorrow is officially the first day of Spring, and we've come down the canyon to pick up our 3 horses. A couple weeks ago, we got a phone call saying the graze was too sparse because of the dry winter and they were being moved to a different pasture. Instead of looking for other boarding, we opted to bring them home, so we found more hay (enough to last until the first cutting in June) and hauled it home.

We met Ida at her dad's place, hooked up our horse trailer and followed her to the pasture. When we pulled into the parking spot by the barn, Ida got out with a tub of grain and started calling "Hey, Guys!" We couldn't see the horses. They were on the other side of the 40 acre pasture, over a ridge. I hopped up on the trailer ledge and could barely see their heads as they came up. Soon all 12 horses came at a gallop, knowing Ida's voice. Everybody nosed in to get a bite of grain, with Jesse soon taking over the grain pan. Bill got a halter on Washoe, led him into the trailer and took the halter off. We had inadvertently ended up one halter short. I managed to get "Miss Piggy's" head out of the grain, put her halter on and she loaded right up. OK, only the champ wild horse left. Ranger had grabbed a bite of grain and off to the races. He was ready to play!

Anyone who knows Ranger and his love of wide, open spaces, or who has read Bill's last blog, knows what is coming next. Yep, 45 minutes of "you can't catch me". Bill and I followed him across the pasture with all the other horses, while Ida spread some hay on the ground. She then drove her new little Smart car over to meet us and we managed to separate Ranger from the rest. Step number one accomplished. Ida hopped on Estes bareback and raced the other horses over to the hay, where they nicely stayed. Bill kept Ranger separate, difficult at times because Ida's mini and her youngest gelding both wanted to play with Ranger. She and I kept the herd together while Bill made 2 more trips back and forth across the pasture, "walking Ranger down", as Julie Goodnight says. It does work, but truly wild Mustangs take a little longer. They don't intimidate well. Finally, Ranger gave it up and walked up to Bill with his head down, soaking wet from running in the hot sun. Bill hopped on him bareback and rode him back to us. Ida was amazed he could be ridden bareback, after the way he had behaved. He then calmly walked into the trailer like it was the everyday way of doing things!

We got them home and unloaded uneventfully, but poor Washoe stared at the trailer and cried his heart out the rest of the afternoon. He must have fallen in love with one of Ida's gorgeous mares.