Health & Life at the Rough String

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Eleven Hours in the Saddle

...and I'm a lil' stiff today! I spent the day up out of Diamond helping the McCoy Creek Ranch gather pairs off of the Moon Hill allotment. We hauled the horses uphill for about a half hour on a rocky son-of-a-gun two track road.

Gretchen and I unloaded and took off into the west field while the others headed farther on up. I hadn't ridden in this area before, but it sure was a nice change from our flat lands. There were juniper and aspen trees and lots of hills to climb.

Bringing in 4 bulls that were hiding under a rock ledge.

They didn't want to be found...nor did they want to

leave their pasture!

As we continued combing areas, we'd find cows and it was a struggle to get them going down...none of the cows wanted to leave. They had plenty of good feed and the water holes were still full. But, the BLM sets a date to remove the livestock and the rancher has to comply.

Gretchen and I are heading up into the draw to get to

the top side of Moon Hill.

Part way up the draw I tuned back to have a look see.

What a view!

Up on top it flattens out and is so rocky that you can't even trot your horse. The dogs were working hard to get the cows moving toward the north where a two track road goes down the hill. But, the cows weren't very compliant.

Rancher Dan and my neighbors Rusty and Sam were gathering from the east, and Gretchen and I met them with the bunch we gathered from the west. Just as we get them started down, half of them break off at a dead run back toward the east! All you can do is go gather them up again!

We really could have used a few more riders, but it's hard when everyone is out doing the same thing with their own herds. Extra riders are hard to come by.

Thunderheads over the Steens Mountain.

Signs of fall are becoming apparent.

These are my 3 renegades. We split up to do a final

sweep and I came across this bunch hidin' in the junipers.

They took off through the trees in a cloud of dust.

Colt and I followed them...lost them a couple of times...

they tried to head up the hill again...then they crossed

over the two track twice before we convinced them

that down was the way to go.

Colt was good as gold and did his job like an ol' pro!

Colt and I were the last off the hill and by then it was 1:30 PM...we'd started at 8 AM. Gretchen and Dan rounded up everything we'd gathered and figured we didn't even have half the herd! The rest were hiding in the trees, rocks and draws. They'd have to come back up in a couple of days and do it all again!

I watered Colt in the pond and after a sandwich and a cold one, we start trailing them down the road.

Colt and all the horses were tired, but they have

such big hearts...they'll do their job.

Rusty said that if I wanted to swim my horse, this

is the hole to do it in...ahhh...maybe another time...

The view that goes on forever...

It was a long trip down...slow cows that didn't want to go forward. The last mile was the worst. I must have taken us an hour to get them across that last field. They just kept stopping...the bulls were butting heads...cows were butting heads...the horses and the dogs were doing their best to keep them moving.

Getting within a mile of the last gate.

Done...7 PM

It was a long day, but well worth it. I'm ready for the next one which will be up in the forest north of Buchanan for the Temple Ranch...but not until after Pendleton.

On the hay front, 3rd cutting is on the ground and drying nicely!