Fall Branding & My Man's Birthday!

Sunday was just about as fun as it can get for us...branding in beautiful fall weather. Well, as usual, my hands were busy with a rope and a wad full of two-rein gear on Colt! But I got My Man to take a few photos of Pierce and Colt after the branding.

The Bros!
After the branding, I took the boys to the creek for a drink, and then lead Pierce back across the wood bridge...he did so nice. Colt pawed water right into Pierce's face at the creek (that's why he looks so splotchy)!

It's time to take Pierce to every outing we can. I saddled him at home with the other boys and when we got to Diamond, I tied him to the trailer, gave him a hay net and rode away.

Occasionally I'd hear Pierce whinny, but all in all, he was a very good boy!!

We had to sort off the slick eared cow/calf pairs, the bulls, and the neighbor's stock that was mixed in with Rancher Dan's herd...I love the sorting! Once we had all the slicks together, there ended up being about 30 calves!! And oh my...some of them were big enough to go through the squeeze chute!

We had the son-in-law there who's a professional buckaroo...we let him and his buddy do most of the really big calves. But, we learned a lot about handling those big ones and got in on a couple...it was a really good experience.

Ah yes...the birthday boy :~)

Happy Birthday dear husband!!

Gretchen had to work at the Hotel...so for lunch, we all headed over to the Hotel for beverages and the best burgers!!

Branding goes hand in hand with good food!!

This is why we always say that "We're livin' the dream!" Friends and life experiences just don't get any better than this.

Happy Birthday to My Man!!

I love technology...sometimes. In this case I love it because I can schedule a post and hopefully surprise My Man with a big Happy Birthday without even being home!!

We'll make up for it next week dear. ;~)

I've been wanting to tell the story about where the term "My Man" came from and this seems like the perfect opportunity.

Many years ago when we lived in the Willamette Valley, we would vacation with our horses in Central Oregon. This particular year, we spent half of the week at Whispering Pine horse camp and the last half at Sheep Springs horse camp. On the day we moved camp, my best trail riding buddy Kris needed to pick up something at the feed store, so we stopped in Sisters for breakfast and the feed store.

We definitely didn't smell the best since it'd been raining and camp fire smoke permeated from every one of us, but what the heck...we still had 4 more days of the same coming up! Breakfast was wonderful and the trip to the feed store was totally...well...memorable...

As we were all standing at the counter waiting for the proprietor to finish up with his current customer, we got to witness what I term as "Yuppy in the Wilderness." She was requesting "deer food" so she could feed the deer...which you are not supposed to do anyhow. And as you all know, there is no such thing as packaged "deer food." He asked her if she wanted COB...she kept insisting that she wanted "deer food." He finally just sold her a bag of COB to get rid of her.

Then it happened...he asked what rig she was driving so he could load it up for her...she looked at him down the bridge of her nose and smartly said "I'll have my man pick it up."

We were all biting our tongues and ready to bust a gut...so from that day forward, Kris and I always joke about how we will have "My Man" do it...whenever there's something we'd rather not do.

My Man does lots of things that he loves to do...like

being Gate Man at the Kelley Youth Rodeo.

Or just lookin' good on Whiskey.

No matter what he's doing, "My Man" is the best man in the whole world and the best thing that ever happened to me.

Happy Birthday handsome...see ya soon.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox ;~)

A Birthday and A Gotcha Day!!!

Not only is it St. Patrick's Day it's also Cowboy's birthday and Catnip's gotcha day!!! This definitely is cause for celebration. The corned beef is in the crockpot...simmering in beer and spices...it's already smelling really good!!

So, my Cowboy is 10 years old today!! How can the years go by so fast...he was a pup not long ago in my mind...and a cutie he was too!

Day one at home.
He only puked once on the 2 hour ride home!

Cowboy on his first horse camping trip...
we did provide a bed for him, but
he seemed to prefer grain tubs!

How could anyone have resisted those
cute lil' white eyelashes and the white tipped ears?!?

On our wedding day, he got into some spilled wine...
he was passed out on the garage floor during
the whole reception!
I think he looks pretty good with pink flowers...don't you?

He prefers cow manure of course!

Cowboy was a very good friend for this calf named Angelo.
Angelo was paraplegic and I was trying to rehab him.
Cowboy loved to keep him company.

Cowboy is showing signs of hip dysplasia...we bought him
a new therapeutic bed and he loves it!

Thank you for a wonderful 10 years Cowboy.
Happy Birthday my lil' buckaroo!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And of course we can't forget Catnip!! We adopted her from the Sheldon National Wildlife Refuge in 2006; three years ago today. The wild horses and burros on the Refuge are not protected like the BLM land horses and burros. There have been some pretty bad stories about round ups gone very bad with lots of causalities.

My Man and I decided that we'd like to have a baby around, but I'm not really into mares, so we decided a burro jenny would be fun. We'd never had a burro before. So, we contacted the Refuge and they were in the process of bait trapping burros and not long after, 2 jenny's and their yearlings were caught.

Caught in the trap on the Refuge.
Catnip is the largest brown burro.
The gray jenny was adopted by my friend in Vale Oregon,
and her name is Zelda.
The yearlings also found homes.

Where did the name Catnip come from? I tend to name my wild ones with something that came from the area. On the Refuge there is a Catnip Mountain and a Catnip Canyon Creek. So, there you have it...not very exciting huh?!? But, she seems to fit her name.

Getting to know Catnip.
Food is a good motivator for burros.

We didn't know for sure if she was in foal when we got her, but there was a very good chance she was, and sure enough...she kept getting bigger and bigger...

"What are you lookin' at?"
"Haven't ya ever seen a pregnant burro before? Geesh!!!"

We waited and waited...my friend's burro, Zelda, had her lil' burro baby in June...so we figured it shouldn't be long now...we waited, and waited...and waited some more...

Then finally on the morning of August 23, 2006,
Catnip presented us with Silverbelly Stetson.
Baby burros are the cutest things God ever made!!!

Catnip is still a lil' standoffish, but that's because I don't work with her near enough. But we can trim her hooves and get her wormed and vaccinated. We love to hear the two of them sounding off...always for food!!

Glad you're here Catnip...you are a
special part of our family.
~~~~~

My Old Man Turns 22

No, I'm not talking about My Man...I'm talking about My Old Man...

Tucs Big Boy aka "Toby"

Way back in 1987, I was living in Marana Arizona (just north of Tucson) working for a guy riding his horses. He raised cutting horses. One day he said to me that if I wanted that big sorrel colt in the pen of weanlings I could have him...he said he saw him cribbing and couldn't have him around.

I asked if he'd give me the papers too, and he said yes as long as I gelded him...not a problem...so this huge 8 month old colt comes home with me.

Now, I'm 5 feet tall, so you can see that at 8 months, this guy is pretty tall. I named him Toby, and he turns out to be just a sweetie. At 1 year old, he's gelded and gets his wolf teeth pulled. But, the funny thing is that this colt never cribbed. I think Jim had mistaken Toby for another colt...which he got rid of too. So, I got a perfectly good horse by accident!

I stayed in Arizona for another year or so and than came on back home to Oregon. In the spring of 1989, I took him down to the local boarding stable that had an indoor arena and started him under saddle. He was a piece of cake to start. We started trail riding as a late 2 year old and even won a competitive trail ride that year!

Look at the legs on him!

At that time in my life, I was starting a few colts and mostly just trail rode with my girl friends.

Riding around Timothy Lake on Mt. Hood.
Me 'n Toby on the left.

Then in 1993, I got a wild hair to join a drill team. Toby really wasn't a finished horse by any means...I didn't even know how to teach him to do flying lead changes. I could start colts pretty well, but didn't know to finish them...but, riding drill pretty much self taught Toby to handle himself to make everything easy...he was a super horse!

1993 at our very first demo exhibition.

Our team was practicing once or twice a week and competing 3-4 times a year and also riding in local parades. In 1994, our team decided to ride in the Portland Rose Festival Parade...the biggest parade of the year in Oregon.

All dolled up and waiting.

Riding down the streets of Portland...it was a blast...
something I never dreamed I would do!
Me and Toby even made it onto the TV cameras!

I've never had children, but Toby was still a good baby sitter for the kids I did have...here's Cowboy hitching a ride at his first camp out!

1997 at Sheep Springs campground,
Deschutes National Forest

A very monumental day in my life was on July 10, 1999. My Man and I got married. And we did it in the best way ever possible...

My Man on the late Carina & me and Toby.
A day never to be forgotten!

Drill team continued on for a total of 7 years for me and Toby. It's a hard sport when you have that many women (with different personalities) and that many horses (who always seem to have lameness issues). But all in all, it was a great experience.

The team in 2000.
Toby on the left and his twin on the right.

This was my favorite of all the outfits we ever wore.

In the latter years, some of the team members wanted to participate in rodeos as a pennant team. That was the most fun out of all the drill team stuff. The crowds, cowboys, and running fast...it was a true adrenalin rush!

Yamhill County Fair and Rodeo
Year 2000

The year 2000 was my final year in drill, and somehow I ended up being the coach as well as riding on the team. It was one of the most challenging things I've ever done. I'm proud to say that our team tied 3-4 that year at the Oregon State Meet...something the team had never done before!


We moved to Central Oregon that same fall and Toby has continued to be a super trail horse for me and My Man. And the years have gone by so quickly since then...I've gentled 4 mustangs, bought Colt and started to train him for working cow horse...something I never did with Toby.

But, with Toby's breeding as a cow horse, I thought I'd try him out as a practice horse (practicing cutting training on him while getting Colt ready to start cutting). So, Toby started his cutting career at the age of 20!! We just cut with our local club here and it's a perfect environment for beginners like me.

2007 - 2nd place year end standing
in the Novice/Novice class
after 7 competitions!!
I absolutely love this old man!

Toby injured his hip after a fall on the ice in 2007 and I gave him all of 2008 off. He's sound again, but I think I'll just ride him lightly. He loves to help me with the colts...

Toby ponying Dakota up our hill.

Toby grew to 15.3 hands and actually did pick up the bad habit of cribbing when he was about 4. But, he has been the best horse I could ever ask for...willing and kind...with good looks thrown in for good measure.

Thank you Toby for the years of friendship and fun you have given me...may you live a long and happy life here on the Rough String.

~~Happy Birthday my friend~~