My horse, Nikita

All right, today I am going to introduce you to my horse, Nikita .

She is the first horse I bought . 

I got her when I was 13.  She is a very interesting horse .

she has the ability to be a really good kid's horse when she wants to be, but she wants me to be at the top of my game always so every now and then she gives me a challenge to work through.We have great fun together .

she was the perfect first horse. She took care of me while I was starting to ride and then as I got better I started to get cocky and she bucked me on my head. Well it served me right.

But now that kind of thing doesn't happen very often.  Me and her get along pretty good now and I can even get a few jobs done off her.  ha ha.  I love her - she a great horse and my good friend.

this is Marshall and me. Marshall is on Max and I just got done flagging him around the round corral and helping him do his first ride outside of the round corral.

well good bye folks until next time.

Merry Christmas

Merry christmas !!!!

This is my favorite time of the year.

This is my favorite christmas poem I hope you enjoy it. 

Two burros

The burro was the last one left,the adoption pen was bare.

The were not surprised, for he looked the worse for wear.

But the youthful couple wanted him, no matter how he looked. 

The longer they looked at him the better they were hooked.

The forms were signed, the money paid, they put him in the truck. 

To get him back to the ranch, they needed lots of luck.

This burro was pretty wild and scared, and fresh from Nevada range.

And back at the ranch they wondered if he would ever change.

The couple worked to tame him,and October came and went,

But he had a mind of his own,his spirit was unbent.

November was no better for whenever the folks came near,

The burro fussed and kicked and trembled from the fear.

December came and with it cold, the taming process slowed.

Each time they tried to work him, the doggone weather snowed.

And as the Christmas time approached, the mother's time came too,

For she was about to have a child and soon the birth was due.

The father had to go to work on the day of Christmas Eve.

While he was gone it began to snow, a storm not to believe.

As he was driving home from work the snow began to lift 

For just a moment-he saw the road was blocked by a giant drift.

He trudged the quarter mile to home, through the blowing snow.

When he arrived he found his wife just pacing to and fro.

Her pains of birth had started to come, her nerves beginning to were.

The truck was just too far away-he couldn't carry her there.

(As soon as he began to pray, a mem'ry came at last-

Of a woman great with child so many years in the past

riding a burro to bethlehem just before a birth

The birth of baby jesus about to come to earth.)

He bundled up and then went out to the burro's snowy yard,

And whispered to the beast,"What I ask is hard;

I know your scared and so am I, but I need help from you 

  To get my frightened wife to town before the birth is due.

The burro came over to the man,softly nuzzled his face,

As if to say,"yes, i'm afraid, but I will take your place.

Carefully i will carry your wife through this blowing snow.

You and I will get her to where she needs to go."

So then the father placed a halter on the burro's head,

And led him to the house and helped his wife from bed,

He lifted her to the burro's back and with a prayer ha led

The burro with its precious load, the mother filled with dread

Through the drifts they struggled on and with a little luck

At last they found the place in the road, arriving at the truck.

He lifted his wife onto the seat, and turned around to face

The burro heading down the trail back to the old home place.

Soon the couple found the clinic in the snowy town,

And while she labored he just paced, walking up and down,

But he thought about two burros, years apart, in his mind,

Two humble burros which took part in miracles, in kind. 

 HAPEY TRAILS.

Trying to Get the Stray Cow

Howdy, so Marshall kind of told the story of the drive up to the point where I met them on the edge of town. we then brought the cows to our neighbors set of corrals and sorted everything and put it where it 

belonged.  

Then like Marshall said there was still a cow in the hills so I traded Marshall horses and left with the neighbor .

the goal was to find the cow and calf and load them in the trailer and take them back.  Well, easier said than done. 

 We tried to gently move cow and new born calf up the hill to the trailer.  No go.  The cow was a very protective mother and tried to get us even when we were horseback so I roped the calf  and we dragged it up the hill to the trailer.  Mamma was not happy.

The plan at this point was to try and get the calf in the trailer without mamma killing us so I dragged the calf  to the very edge of the trailer then the neighbor, Chad,  roped mamma and did his best to keep her away while I jumped off my horse and put the calf in the trailer behind the center dividing gate and then hi-tailed it back to my horse to try to escape the wrath of the new mother. 

That part worked but now we had the problem of making the calf bawl to try and get the mother in the trailer. No go.

 So we wove the rope through the bars on the side of the trailer and even with Chad pulling as hard as his horse was able and me moving her from behind all we succeeded in doing was breaking half of the hinges on the back door and choking the cow down. 

 We were both mad at not being able to get her in the trailer but it was getting dark so we pulled the ropes off, kept the calf, and went home.

Chad decided he would drive her to the nearest set of corrals the next day and load her from there.

But I don't know if that happened or not.  For all I know, she may still be up there.

Well thanks.  See ya next time and happy trails.

Cattle Drive: Day 2

On the second day of the drive Monson woke up sick so it was just me for the first part of the trip.  Monson showed up later in the day.  (I think he was just scared of the morning cold.)

The second day we had to take the cows through town to their winter calving grounds. Before we got to town we had about 7 miles to go.  In this 7 miles my mom, dad, and little brother came up to see how we were doing.  My mom loves to use her camera and I'm camera shy but she kept making me stop to take my picture - which is just fine I guess because pictures make posting on this blog a lot easier.

 On the second day Pepper was very tired but he took the cold and the miles like a champ. At the end of the day it was my turn to feel sick.  

That morning we left one cow and her new born calf on the mountain so when we got the rest of the cows down we had to go get them. I was too sick to go so Monson took Pepper and went.

Monson will have to tell you his story of the calf and the killer mamma.

My New Schedule

School is a bear. 

 My mom just introduced a new schedule for our winter learning. It sounds something like this:

 7:30 clean the house and feed horses breakfast

8:30 math 

9:30 more math 

10:30 write 20 page essay 

12:00 lunch 

12:30 even more math

1:30 science 

3:00 history 

4:30 finally outside to horses... 

the sun goes down at 5:00

5:30 free time 

7:00 dinner block 

9;00 lights out 

Then wake up in the morning and do it all over again.  

this sounds like what I envision a prison camp to be like.

This is how I would like my day to go:

 wake up 7:00  Do chores,  eat breakfast 

go saddle up -  ride till lunch 

12;00

Rope till dark

Eat dinner then go to bed. 

Then wake up in the morning and do it all over again 

  

but unfortunately this is where Dad says," you're out of line and you have to  do school."

Moving Cows

 This last week we helped our friend move his cows down from his summer range.  On the first day we had to gather the cows off his ground.  Gathering is a lot of fun if it is done right. Wen you gather the easy way all the riders spread out in a wide arc and cover all of the ground.  After we gathered we had to drive the 130 pair 15 miles to that nights stopping point.  By the time we got there that night everything was tired: man and beast alike.  It was along day. 

There were five riders, including my brother, Monson, and me.   We all had a lot of fun even though it was 5 degrees above zero when we started that morning.  That's all for now folks.

The Dave Stamey Concert Was Great

Howdy Folks.  

This last weekend we got to go to a Dave Stamey concert in Marsh Valley, Idaho.

It was incredible. It was just him and his guitar and he sounded really good .

he is a top notch entertainer and I highly recommend watching him perform if you get the opportunity.

The concert went like this:  We pre- ordered tickets so we found our seats and sat down when it was time for the program to start.  He had a cowboy poet start things off for him. he was really great. Then he came out and started to talk and sing. he pretty much had a funny story for every song.  It was great .

During the intermission when every one else was talking, my mom and I went and found Dave and said hi to him from Kent Frecker, a local saddle maker who is a mutual friend.  Then we had him sign a cd and got a picture and then went and enjoyed the rest of the concert . 

He did sing, Buckaroo Man, and a bunch of other good songs.
 Well see ya next time.  Happy trails.