Open Wide for the Doctor!

~Keep neat and clean, avoid bad habits, be faithful,

and never take shit from anyone.~

~Rose White 1873~

LOL...that Rose White and I must have been twin sisters in a past life!!!

Last Wednesday, our new mobile veterinarian came out to do some dental work on the horses. Dr. Jessica Rue specializes in equine and nutrition. She did a great job, and the horses really liked her too...even though they got poked and prodded!!

Open wide Toby!!

The speculum is used to safely keep the horse's mouth open for the procedure. Of course the horse is sedated.

Dr. Jessica takes off the sharp points with an electric drill with special attachments.

Times sure have changed from the ol' hand float!

The most interesting thing was that Gus (my 2 year old gelding) had more sores on his cheeks and tongue than the older horses (from the sharp points). Dr. Jessica said that that is usually the case. Young horses need dental work more often than older horses because of their growth (changes in the mouth) and getting in their permanent teeth.

I knew that Gus was having issues with the snaffle, so I switched him over to the hackamore, but he still was gapping his mouth when I put too much pressure on the hackamore...what was happening is that the hackamore bars were pressing his cheek into the sharp points on his teeth...poor guy!!! Well, he's good to go for another 6 months. We'll have him checked again then.

Toby, Colt, Gus and Whiskey all got worked on. Colt and Toby both had a good equine dentist work on them in the past and it showed in their mouths; they didn't need too much work done. Whiskey had probably only had a hand float job done in his past and he had some pretty bad waves that will take a couple of visits to get straightened out. And Gus just needs to be checked more often because of his age.

What happened to me????

It's good to know that the insides of their mouths are comfortable for them to chew and carry the bit (she put bit seats in). We're very glad to have a qualified equine veterinarian in our area too...we've been lacking that for years!

Welcome to Harney County Dr. Jessica!!

Winter's Here I Guess!

~I listen to myself deep inside sometimes,

and it makes me strong.~

~Carrie Lucas 1878~

I've got so much work to do, I shouldn't be sitting here...but I'm going to blog anyhow!!!

Last weekend...uhhhh...that would be a week ago today...My Man and I, along with Cindy Sue 'n Bella Jo, headed to Central Oregon for the Columbia Circuit Finals Rodeo. We stayed with our good friends and had a great three days away from the ranch...lots of food, laughter and good times.

Three Sisters, Central Oregon

Yours truly, Cindy Sue & Bella Jo...one of those rare moments I let My Man have the camera!! ;~)

Mt. Jefferson, Central Oregon

The rodeo was a great time. We had second row seats with another friend of mine who's daughter is a PeeWee Rodeo princess. They were selling raffle tickets for the NFR...hmmmm...I wonder if I won?!?

World Champion, Bobby Mote, and his son presented Ol' Glory at the Columbia Circuit Finals Rodeo. This was so cool...they played the song titled Heartland from Pure Country where George Strait's lil' boy does the first part...it was almost a tear jerker!

I've yet to figure out indoor lighting with my camera. This setting is on ISO3200 and as long as things didn't move too fast, it came out OK...but grainy as you can see.

This lil' Buckaroo said he wanted to ride the bulls...his mom said she hopes he'll be a roper...only time will tell.

There's been more wild horses captured from the Ochoco National Forest where Dreamsicle resides. Horse number 705 in the photo below is one of them. The wranglers at the Corrals brought a group of geldings in for a photo shoot, luckily I got to be there. This handsome 3 year old is one of 6 captured. I'll post on them all. We sure would like to find adopters ASAP for them.

If you are interested at all, or know of someone who might be, please email. I'll get photos and info out to you.

Recently gathered wild horses awaiting adoption at the Burns Wild Horse Corrals.

Yesterday I finished getting ready for winter...and it arrived in the late afternoon. The yard got the leaves mowed up, all the garden stuff got picked up and stored away, the last of the tank heaters got put in, stalls were readied...and the temps were steadily dropping. Four o'clock it started spittin' snow, but thankfully the winds died down!

I forgot to bring in the picnic table! Anybody want to have a picnic?!?

It's not a huge blizzard or anything, but snow is in the forecast for the next week with temps in the mid 30's for highs and the teens for lows.

My favorite place to sit in the summer...

I'll be sitting here at my computer getting the December Horsefly ready for the next few days...watching the snow fall...dreaming of next summer when I can sit on my bench under the lilac tree again~

Wordless Wednesday

~When you're busy trying to figure out life,

it passes you by.~

~Marg Cross 1889~

Pendleton Round-Up 100th Anniversary: 'Westward Ho Parade' Sept. 17, 2010

Enjoy a lot more Wordless photos at Wordless Wednesday~

Skywatch Friday

~Uncertainty brings us closer to certainty.~

~Rachel Melody 1886~

Thank you for visitin'!

First real snow in the high desert of SE Oregon.

Visit and enjoy views of the sky around the world at Skywatch Friday~

Finishin' the Job

~I'd be in for a long and uneasy ride if

something happened to my ranch.~

~Jolie Becker 1889~

Yesterday, I helped the 3J Ranch gather up and bring in the pairs that we had gathered last week. We had thrown them into a pasture above the ranch until they could figure out where the rest of the renegades had gone too (they were missing quite a few pairs because of open gates).

You might wonder how hard could it be to find missing cows...well, Harney County encompasses 10,288 square miles, has a total population of approx 7,000 of which approx 5,000 live in the only incorporated towns of Burns and Hines. The government owns approx 5 million acres and privately owned lands are a little over 1.5 million...and there are approx 15 head of cows per one person. So, when someone leaves a gate open from private land onto public land...it can take a while to figure out where they went!!!

Whoops...got side tracked!!

Anyhow, we had a bit of snow overnight, but nothin' too serious. The wind hadn't come up yet, but I was prepared just in case.

Colt's ready to ride! Jerry and some of the dogs are ready to go. I say "some" because I think there were seven!

We had trailered up above the pasture and rode in. There were quite a few pairs at the gate we went in at and we pushed them downhill.

Ty took the middle section and I took the south side and headed west. The only thing Ty and I found was one lone bull. All he wanted to do was follow the fence to the north. Colt and I had to work hard on gettin' him headin' down the draw to the creek trail that lead back to the ranch.

If you look closely in the center of the photo, you 'll see Ty making his way off the rim.

This gorge is awesome. I'm really zoomed in on it here (and it's spitin' snow on us so it's dark)...next time I'm up there, I'm going to ride to the edge for photos. The creek follows that gorge down to the ranch.

The trail around the gorge winds up the hill to the south. Three of the 5 bulls are seen makin' their way to the crest.

This is the gorge from the west side (with much better lighting as.it wasn't snowing on us).

Jerry rides up to close the gate. You can see the trail we took down on the right.

Two of the five bulls were someone else's, so we had to get their three separated and put into the winter bull pasture. The other two got put in with the cows...because there were pairs that belonged to someone else!!! See...everyone's missin' cows...and bulls! On horseback we sorted out the cows, calves and bulls that belonged to a neighbor.

Colt 'n his compadres are restin' after a hard work...the ground was pretty soft up on the hill and they had a good workout.

Using the pens pictured below, we sorted the cows from the calves...on foot...it's the easiest and we had it done in no time at all.

Old but well built in it's day, these pens are still being used today. Thousands of cows have gone through these workin' pens.

The forlorn calves...they'll get over it in a couple of days.

The cows? LOL...they seem to be relieved!

And what about Bella Jo the wanna be cow dog? I'm almost ready to say she IS a cow dog! She did great...every time we go for a day of work, she just keeps gettin' better and better...lots more training is needed, but she made me proud this day!

Bella Jo enjoyin' a piece of elk that was butchered from hunting season...one happy dog!

I need to get some pics of her with the cows...but I can't ride workin' cows, keep an eye on Bella Jo, and take pics at the same time!!!!  I'll bring out my ol' Fuji camera and give it a try next time. They wean calves in groups...and they've still got quite a few more. All righty...let's do it all again!!

Wordless Wednesday

~If ya don't find a husband by the age of sixteen,

you're not likely to find a good one.~

~Ruth Williams 1898~

Tuesday Mornin' Ramblings

~If you're going to be a writer,

the first essential is just to write.

Do not wait for an idea.

Start writing something and the ideas will come.

You have to turn the faucet on 

before the water starts to flow.~
~Louis L'Amour~

I have this printed and posted at my desk. I've read so many times on other blogs that they're just in a slump and can't quite figure out what to blog about. This has helped me a few times when I seemed to be "empty" of any ideas. The other thing that gets my mind moving are photos...but you've already figured out that I tend to like photos  ;~)




This mornin' we had the first real freeze! I even broke water on the troughs 'cause it was pretty thick. There was a nice frost covering everything and the sun was shining too...a stunning mornin' in "God's Country."






Tonight we're supposed to have 70% chance of snow/rain and 40% tomorrow. Ty at the 3J Ranch called last evening and wanted to know if I could help gather and sort either today or tomorrow...YES!! Well, today would have been the better day, but they decided on tomorrow...guess I better get out the serious winter riding attire...it could be a long, cold day.

My neighbor friend Sam is coming over around noon today to ride. Sam competes pretty successfully in teh barrel circuit and I've been helpin' her with some stuff with her new horse she just got a few weeks ago. It's nice to have someone to ride with.

It's going to be Gus' first outing to the big arena. I've been riding him in the hackamore and he's coming along much better than in the snaffle. I've got a call in to our "new" mobile vet...who specializes in equine...we're all very excited about that...to get everyone's teeth checked. I'm sure Gus hasn't had his wolf teeth removed, so I know that's a big part of the snaffle issue. But, he's doing really well in the hackamore, and if all goes as well as it has been, I'll just leave him in it and follow the training structure that I'm learning from Mike Bridges.




Cowboy must not have gotten a very good sleep!!!

OK...why is it that horse poop balls taste much better when they're frozen?!? Because of the freeze this mornin', Cowboy and Bella Jo were packin' around what I call sh*tsicles...what fun!





Tat loves to help feed too...he usually follows me every mornin' and evenin'. For a 13 year old cat, he's doin' pretty darn good. He felt a lil' bit thin, so we're supplementing his kibble with a bit of canned cat food in the mornin' and he's startin' to fatten up! He'll be good for another winter I'm sure.





Ahhhhh...and Bella Jo...she sure enjoyed her "Gotcha Day" celebration...the cookies were the best! Thanks for all the wonderful comments on that post...I read them all to her...she was very proud!

I've got a new recipe in the crock pot...and the kitchen is startin' to smell mighty good...the wood stove's a goin'...and daylight's burnin'~

Macro Monday

~Age doesn't matter to me,

but it seems to matter to my body and face.~

~Amy Ruddell 1902~

I haven't posted a macro in a very long time. Last week with the gorgeous mornin's we had, the lil' bit of fall color in the yard was on the lone apple tree.








Check out more Macro Monday photos HERE~

Hope everyone has a fantastic week!!

Bella Jo's Gotcha Day~One Year Today!!

~I won't change my mind because someone told me to.~

~Rebecca Akins 1910~

Where did 365 days go?!? It was one year ago today that I drove to a foster home for Harney County Save A Stray Rescue to pick up a rescue dog, Bella. We were contemplating another dog...which would make a total of 4...and would take her on a trial basis (actually My Man had to be figure out if 4 dogs would be takin' it a lil' bit too far over the edge). Bella's first story is here.

Bella's first photo...ridin' in the back seat of my truck...on the way to her new home...and a better life.

Such a confused look on her face...sided up to Cowboy for comfort.

I wanted Bella Jo to be my cow gathering dog, but not only had she never seen livestock before...she was terrified of them!

On day 5 she proved herself useful with her very first varmint...and she never looked back! She's the best ratter on the place because she's so quick.

After a week with us, I started lookin' at her belly because they said she could be pregnant. It had a lil' bit of a pooch and I made arrangements with Save A Stray to have her taken to Bend for a spay operation ASAP...thank goodness we did because she was 5 weeks along and had 10 puppies in her! It's hard enough to place 1 rescue dog...let alone 10 more puppies. I know it's sad, but it was for the best.

Bella Jo finally came to terms with Tat...who she would chase...they seem to have an agreement.

Trail ridin'...Bella Jo took to it like a fish takes to water.

Her confidence increased daily.  Always on the look out and always a pretty picture~

Farming alfalfa brought new sights and smells...mostly varmints!

Of course her BFF neighbor dog Missy and her still play like crazy dogs!

Cattle dog? Yes, she is actually learning what she's supposed to do. The trips out gathering pairs this fall have really changed her. We've got to work on commands (actually I need to figure it out) to make it all come together. But she's getting the herding drive that I didn't think she had.

Bella Jo's a momma's dog and gets the most pathetic facial expression when I have to leave without her. She's acclimated herself to ranch life and is the happiest dog...can you blame her?!?

Bella Jo~a full-fledged member of our family.

Cheers to you Bella Jo to many years of companionship. We love you dearly!