Just When You Think You're Ahead of the Game

I was actually feeling like I was getting caught up on reading blogs and getting ready to post another...then the technical difficulties take over your life...I'm sure you've never experienced that before...ever...HA!!!

My satellite internet modem just quit working...done...kapute! So, I've been without internet/email since Monday 7/27...OK, I know that's only 5 days...but it's a dang long 5 days when my only other source of outside communication/information is by phone or to drive there. No TV here (by choice)...just Sirius radio...I can't even get the local radio stations in the house. I really wanted to hear the weather reports!!

But, Wildblue came through and my new modem arrived today...considering it was in Lexington Kentucky yesterday, I'm actually shocked it was at my door just after Noon. So, I've been working my butt off today to get my ads and articles to the publisher of Horsefly. We're going to make the deadline!!

OK...one thing I've got to tell you...I may not get the buckle from Colt's spectacular performance in the reining classes last weekend. My error. I forgot that they DO use a point system, and it's a possibility, that without making the last show, I would loose the championship. It's OK...I'm so totally pleased with Colt's try and performance last Saturday I don't care...well, I care, but winning a buckle is really not the most important thing...it's the outcome of learning and practice. My goal really is to have a well adjusted, happy, mentally and physically sound horse...that's the most important thing to me. So, we'll just see where the chips fall at the September show (during which I will be thoroughly enjoying our Pendleton Roundup vacation...heehee!!!).

OK...on to other stuff...second cutting is on the ground!!!

It's not quite as tall as 1st cutting, but that's normal.

It only had 21 days of growth, but it was blooming out!

Time to lay it down!! He should be baling by Monday.

Lil' Cindy Sue says "Cut it Mom...I can't see a thing!!"

I must say that we're going to get better tonnage than

last year though...better than others in the area too!

It's been pretty warm here too...but not in the triple digits like the west side of Oregon...so, I won't complain!! The boys were standing around the water trough talking about a way to keep cool...

Coyote, Rohan and Toby...

Coyote decided to show everyone how to do it...

Ha!! No wonder the trough is half empty every day!!

Lil' prissy Miss Catnip would have nothing to do

with all of that splashing around...

She kept her toes dry and drank from the

puddle Coyote made around the trough!

Today I Acheived My Goal in Life

Have you ever won a belt buckle showing your horse? Well, in all my 51 years I have not, and since I bought Colt 2 years ago it's been my "goal in life" to win a buckle...hopefully with him!

Today is the day that I reached my goal...

I have no photos to share with you of this memorable day, so I dug some out of my archives to share with you. My Man the official photographer stayed home to get some of his stuff caught up.

Did I do something special today?

Yes, Colt, you did do something very special. We have a small, local saddle club here in Harney County called the Great Basin Saddle Club. They mainly focus on rail classes, but they include a reining class in their summer buckle series.

Their first show was last month when the rain was so bad and it was moved from the outdoor arena to the tiny indoor arena at our fairgrounds. So, they had to cancel the reining class. At today's show, they gave us the opportunity to ride the pattern twice and be scored by two different judges.

Now, mind you this is really just a small local club...there were no fancy reining horses here...just nice folks (adults and kids) that enjoy their horses. There were 8 horses in the class. Colt and I took 1st in both classes!! I was totally amazed.

I knew he felt good; he was smooth in all his transitions, the circles were correct, the big fast circle was nicely extended out, and he came right back to my hands for the small slow circle, and lead changes were right on. As usual, his stops need lots more work, but his spins were decent. I was proud of what Colt did...no matter where we placed.

Colt says "I love when mom gives me hugs & kisses.

I really tried my hardest."

There's one more show in the series, but we will be at the Pendleton Roundup. But, with 2 1st places, I've got the buckle!!!

I will wear that buckle proudly...Colt works hard and is honest in what he does...I love this horse.

Hmmm...so what will my next goal be?

Talent~Some Just Have It!

I don't!!! But I know someone who does!

My friend and fellow cutting horse/cowhorse enthusiast sent me her latest piece of artwork, and I've got to share it with you all...it's just so cool...

"A Horse with No Name"

by Michelle Severe

I want to share what Michelle wrote in her email:

A Horse with No Name! I think fits this! Besides the fact I always liked the song by America! This is an American desert horse with no name, just a number freeze brand on his neck! This is Corinne Elser, works with alot of wild horses, and winner of the 2008 Mustang Challenge, and a horse she was gentling for a customer that adopted him 3 months ago. I was impressed how nice looking he was, he is out of the Kiger unit.

Here is the photo that she did the work from...

Michelle is doing a series of pieces titled "Working Ranch Women." I encourage you to visit her web site at: www.michellesevere.com and take a look at some of her other work; especially the Ranch Women series. She's not finished with the series yet...so there will be more! Go to the "Gallery" and click on the thumbnails. It will bring up a brief description and some background of the piece.

Enjoy some cowgirl art!

Guest Blogger ~ Ms. Cindy Sue

Howdy ya'll...WoW!!! Mom is finally letin' me get to do the barkin'!! 'n this is a very important day too!

Today is RatCatcher's Day; the Anniversary of the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

I luv this guy...we have so much in common! Here's what HolidayInsights.com has to say:

Ratcatcher's Day commemorates the Pied Piper of Hamelin, the most infamous of Ratcatchers.

One of the most well known German folklores is the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. The town of Hamelin, Germany was infested by rats. The mayor promised to handsomely pay the Pied Piper, if he rid the town of rats. The Pied Piper played his flute. Lured by the magical music, all of the rats left town, and followed him. He played his music all the way down to the river. He waded into the river. The rats followed him and drowned. The mayor refused to pay him. So, one night when the townspeople were asleep, the Pied Piper played his music again. This time, the children of the town followed him all the way into a cave. Some versions for the legend vary here. In one version, th e Pied Piper kept them there until he was paid by the town for his services. In most versions, the children were never to be seen again.

How many Rats were lured to the River? Estimates are upwards of a million!

If you see a Ratcatcher today, wish them Happy Ratcatcher's Day!

---

The Origin of Ratcatcher's Day:

We have yet to discover why July 22 was selected as the date for Ratcatcher's Day.

According to the legend, the Pied Piper rid the town of Hamelin, Germany of rats on or around June 26, 1284. After the town mayor refused to make payment as promised, the Pied Piper returned to lure the children to a cave. In some versions of the legend, this occurred the next night. In others, he returned several weeks later. We speculate that "several weeks later" was July 22and.

OK...now here's what Wikipedia has to say:

Ratcatcher's Day

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ratcatcher's Day, Rat-catcher's Day or Rat Catcher's Day is celebrated on 26 June or 22 July, commemorating the myth of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. The confusion of dates is because the Brothers Grimm cite 26 June 1284 as the date the Pied Piper led the children out of the town of Hamelin in Germany, while the poem by Robert Browning gives it as 22 July 1376.

Well, it doesn't matter any lil' bit about all them dates...and OK...I don't play a flute...I just like the idea that they named a day for us Ratcatcher's!!! BOL!!!

OK...I gotta tell y'all 'bout this one...mom puts a live trap out in the Mustang Barn 'cause it's over-run wiff pack rats. Them dang vermints hide under the floor 'n I can't get at 'um very good. But, yesterday there was a rat in the trap 'n before mom could let it out of the trap fer me to git...Cowboy 'n me gots it out ourselves...BOL...ya shoulda seen us flippin' that cage upside down 'n evfury which way...it was SO MUCH FUN!!! Cowboy's a big helpin' brudder...but I gots the rat in the end!! BOL!!!

I've gots business to take care of...more vermint huntin' ya know...hopefully mom'll let me bark on here again...ya should tell her that...would ya do that fer me? Thanks!!!

Licks & Wags~~Cindy Sue

OH...I almost fergot...it's mom's birfday today too...maybe I'll get her a nice fat rat fer her present!!! BOL!!

Last Cutting at Roaring Springs Ranch

Well...it's the last cutting at Roaring Springs for this year anyhow. We had three cuttings there this year and I always love going there. This one was a hot one...100 degrees when we finished at 2:00!

The morning sure started beautifully!

My Man and Whiskey...always there

to lend a helping hand...he's my

personal photographer you know ;~)

Colt and I've been going to Bob Kerby's once a week for a lesson/practice and it's really showing. Colt is really trying to take ahold of the cow. He's still got his head a bit high, shaking it, bracing, and not coming back to my hands when I ask. But I see lots of improvement from two weeks ago.

We entered the 150 and 125 classes again. The video is from my first run in the 150. He started off really strong when we were seperating the cow out and got to jumping around a bit and I thought I should have warmed him up a lil' bit more, but he started working the cow as soon as we got it out. We scored a 65 even though we lost a cow and got the 5 point penelty. To me it means we would have scored a 70 if we hadn't lost the cow...our all time best in my opinion. I was thrilled with him!! Then we scored a 67 in the 125 class.

Photo credit to Andi Harmon.

Photo credit to Gene Harris.

Colt gets lots of hugs and kisses after a job well done.

Only one more cutting for the High Desert Cutters...August 1. But, we've got our local saddle club reining class this next weekend, stock horse shows in Grant County and Lake County (both in August) then the big Harney County Reined Cow Horse Futurity in September.

Where is the summer going?!?

Wordless Wednesday

Gatherin' & Movin' Pairs

It was a perfect day yesterday to move cows and calves; cool with a breeze. Ty came by and picked Colt and me up and we were at our starting spot by 8 AM. We rode out to the far SE corner of the allotment and started gathering and pushing them north.

After about 45 minutes, we merged with the other

crew driving cows from the SW corner.

The calves sure look like they're doing well

on the summer grass.

Colt's making a pretty dandy cow pony.

Waiting for the herd to get through the gate.

Happy mother cows and calves on the new pasture.

The crew, as we wait for the cows and calves to mother up.

A couple of the herd helpers.

These calves are thinking they've lost their momma cows...

they're looking back south.

But, the momma cows were too busy eating the beautiful

crested wheat to care too much at the moment.

Well, maybe not this guy...he seems quite content with

a big wad of grass hanging from his mouth!

Sunday Stills ~ Textures

The Sunday Stills challenge this week was Textures...So many subjects to photograph when you start looking around!!! This was a very fun challenge~~

Rawhide, mohair, and leather braiding.

Leather stamping on my chinks.

Brego's wild mane in the rain.

Whiskey's brand.

Medusahead...pretty, but a very bad noxious weed

we're working on erradicating.

Lichen on rock.

Old Princeton town wood.

Horsehair hatband and stampeed strap with wildrags.

Hollyhocks in the morning sunshine.

Visit the comments section at Sunday Stills HERE to see more photos of textures.

10 Years Ago Today~Memories from a Special Day

Hmmmm...Gtyyup in a dress?!?

What could the ocassion be?

What are all those folks doing under the apple tree?

Hay bales?

And this guy? Who's he and

where'd he come from?

Yes, you guessed correctly. A wedding was performed

10 years ago today~on horseback with

a true to life Circuit Preacher.

Sorry about the photos...scanning just isn't my expertise! Sure glad we have digital cameras now!!

Saturday, July 10, 1999...something had to make this wedding special. I'd had a church wedding before, and we wanted this wedding to reflect us. And "us" at that time was Carina (who we lost 2 winters ago), Toby, Cowboy, Abby, My Man and me. So, what would be more fitting than a wedding on horseback!

Abby was the ring bearer, the best man was Jon Brown and my matron of honor was my best trail ridin' buddy Kris Spencer. The Circuit Preacher was a friend of My Man's from year's ago. The beautiful buckskin he rode was 30 years old. He carried a rifle on the saddle and a pearl handled pistol on his hip, which he showed the audience as he pulled back his coat and drummed his fingers on it as he asked "Is there anyone here who doesn't think that these two people should marry?" That got quite the laugh!

The exchanging of rings. It was a hot day and

my fingers were swollen and My Man could

hardly get the ring on my finger!

The Kiss

And another kiss.

This is one of my favorite photos of all time.

Carina and Toby were soul mates just like us...they

had to show their love that day too.

Then a lil' celebrating with libation and food.

My Man with his infamous Hamms beer...me and my wine!

Of course the cake...white champage cake

with raspberry filling.

Real flowers decorated the cake.

My wonderful, long time, drill team ridin', trail ridin' friend Nancy made my riding skirt. She is an excellent seamstress. I still get beautiful Christmas gifts sewn by her every year!

Potluck was the menu. Cheap beer and boxed wine the libation of the day. Well, there was a bottle of Crown Royle being passed around too ;~)

Our closest friends and family attended and it's a day we will never forget.

Cowboy the party dog...passed out in the middle

of the garage floor...everyone stepping over him

as they went through the potluck line.

He got into some spilled wine before

the ceremony and got drunk!