Sometimes You Just Don't Know Why

~The stars out here are so bright,

I can ride my horse anywhere at night.~

~Edith Wright 1862~

If you're a horse person, then you know how hard we work to make our places safe for our horses. But, yesterday, I found that making something safe for my horses was a death trap for another species...deer.

When we built the fence line for the irrigated pasture, it met here in the corner with another fence at an angle which made a really tight spot for the horses to get into a wreck if they got to fighting or just playing too hard. So, we put three rails up across that corner (which made a tiny triangle) to prevent any accidents. The new fence is built of woven wire that we call sheep fencing, and we brought it across the H braces to the gate.

At the far end of the irrigated pasture, the existing fence is 4 strands of barbed wire which I have put two lines of hot wire up with it to keep the horses away from the barbed wire.

I rode two horses yesterday and was out there for almost 4 hours (until about 2 PM). I didn't see anything strange at the time. But at feeding time, I found the body of a baby deer inside the triangle of the corner.

It was awful. The poor thing had its front leg through the fence and its head was turned around over its back. All of the hair had been scraped off of its neck and there was blood splattered everywhere. It was quite evident that it had been struggling for a long time and died a horrible, painful death. The body was cold and already stiff. I'm assuming that it had been trying to get through the fence and that's how it lost all the fur from its neck.

What I can't figure out is if its leg was actually stuck in the fence and it couldn't pull it out. The other thing that is bothering me is if Colt chased the baby into the corner. When we put a cow with its calf out in his pasture last summer, all he would do was chase the cow...well, duh, he's a cow horse. But would he chase a baby deer? Or, did I just not see the body while making four trips to the gates with the horses?!?

I'm just feeling awful about the whole thing...no matter how it happened. I think I'm going to cut a hole in the fence so if that ever happened again, the lil' one could get out.

Life is hard...we have to take the good with the bad~

SkyWatch Friday

~I've been called a fun-lovin' woman by many a man.~ 

~Betsy Mueller 1902~

The days are getting shorter...we're moving wheel lines in the mornin' before the sun comes up...sort of by Braille since we can't see much.  But we're up early enough to see the beautiful sunrises!






The Canadian Geese are already flying over...does this mean an early winter? I surely hope not...but the cool mornings are starting to feel like fall already.






Click HERE to see more SkyWatch Friday photos!

Gathering in the Forest

~When things get ya down, go for a ride.

You can think better in the open.~

~J.P. Harder 1898~

We don't live too far from the forest, but we rarely get time to go there to ride. Last Sunday I got a call from Ty asking if I could help gather and move pairs on Tuesday in the forest...what a treat!!! I'll be there!!


Ty and I were up at the meeting spot by 8 AM, but the other riders were already out on their horses. We rode up to the top of the hill where the boundary fence was and found Glen. We all split up at that point. I took the fence line since I hadn't ridden up in this country before, and I could keep my bearings.

OH my gosh...the smell of the pine trees was incredible!!! I don't think I'd been in the trees since February when I drove to Portland. I love my sagebrush ground, but trees are nice too!

Ty and I met back up at a two-track road by a cattle guard as planned. I didn't find any pairs, but Ty found a few pairs. We started them out moving north along a fence line.

Moving Along the Fence Line

 
Ty headed out toward the ridge to the west to find some more pairs, and I kept the herd going on north. Cows will be cows of course and instead of staying on the fence line, they took off toward the northwest as they topped the rise...and took off at a run down the hill...in a cloud of dust.

Colt and I just kept up a good long trot down the hill following the dust cloud!

I caught up to them when they hit this two-track.

Beginning last summer, and infestation of White Pine Butterflies started killing the pine trees. At that time, it was just a hundred acres or so...this year they have devastated thousands of acres...and at this point, the government is letting it go unchecked. Right now they are in the worm stage...there are literally thousands of these inch long green worms crawling on every pine tree...spinning their sticky, silky threads...sucking the life out of every tree.

The trees on the hill on the horizon are ones that have been
killed by the butterflies vs the trees in the foreground that they haven't touched yet.

Cows are creatures of habit and have a pretty good sense of direction too...they knew exactly where they needed to go, and we came out in Cabin Meadow where Glen and his dad Ron were waiting with the pairs they had gathered.

A clean, fresh spring is piping water into this hand hewn log water trough.

This log trough will out last metal water tanks by decades.

Colt enjoyed a cool, fresh drink!

 
The government requires that the cattle owners fence off all of the meadows to prevent over grazing and protect the riparian areas. The meadows are very beautiful.

I liked the capture of Ron riding his horse through the meadow (he'd gone through the gate to check the spring. He's 76 years old and still puts a good day's work in the saddle. I hope I can do that when I'm his age!

Riding the meadow

As we were waiting for Ty to get down with his bunch, one cow took off out of the herd. She headed back up the hill lookin' for her calf (which may or may not have been in the herd). I went after her, and every time I got in front of her, she'd blow past me. There were too many rocks and trees in the way to keep her from getting past us. But, I kept trying. Pretty soon I'm in the middle of a small herd that had been missed.

I got them all together going down the hill (including the renegade cow). But, pretty soon, the herd split. Again, with the rocks and trees, it was impossible to get them back together. I followed two pair down to the meadow, met up with Ty and he went back up for the others.

We finally got everything gathered up and started them down the road toward the new field.

Buckaroos, good horses, and good dogs...teamwork.
L-R is Ron, Ty and Glen

Glen brought two horses...he rode one and the other one just followed along...totally loose, not lead. His second horse was a young two year old, so when the work was easy, he'd switch to the young horse and his older horse would just tag along...Glen's quite the horseman!

Taggin' Along

Well, those boys all got to go back up on Wednesday and do it all over again (I had to work at the Post Office). We had found maybe half of what was up in that field. It usually takes two days to get them all flushed out. And still they usually find a few pair down at the meadow as the snow starts to fly that are finally wanting to head for home...and hay!

Thanks for comin' along for the ride!!