Horse Drive 2013, Day 2: Smooth As Butter

This year on Day 2, the horses were much more energetic than they had been the previous year.  From our stopping point the night before, we had to get back on the highway for a mile or so, then turn off on to a dirt road that took us across the desert.  Then we'd get back on the highway for a few miles, then turn into a field along the road.  At the end of the field, we'd be back in the sage and sand along the road, headed up Sweetwater Summit and then down to towards the Sweetwater Ranch and our destination for the day.

We tried to find a route with as little pavement as possible as the horses were barefoot.  Last year, some of them got sore from trotting on the road, so we tried to keep them at a walk while on pavement so they wouldn't wear their feet off so fast.  We had a trailer ahead of us in case we needed to give a sore-footed horse a ride, but this year we didn't have too many.

For those of you wondering about the mileage we traveled each day, here is a rough estimate:
Day 1: 14 miles
Day 2: 18 miles
Day 3: 23 miles

Once we were off the pavement, we held the group up to get organized before we headed out through the desert again.

Do you like the very picturesque storage unit in the background?

Headed through the desert.  The bay horse with the blaze is Brave, the gray horse is Hugwapi, and the paint on the right is Shiloh.  

Some of the sneakier horses know that it's hard for us to keep them together in the sagebrush, so they lead their little groups off in different directions...and then they try to get ahead of us.  It's quite exhilarating to go crashing through and leaping over huge clumps of sage!  You can see Blair and Betsy in the background.

Rhiannon, Lauren, and Jon trot through the sand ahead of the herd.  Look at that beautiful sand...arena quality!  No dust, thanks to Mother Nature and her rain shower two days before.  

Shiloh decided to follow my horse almost the whole day.  He never tried to sneak past me...what a good boy!  Behind him (with his tongue out, silly boy!) is Cochise.

We held the horses in a little bare spot.  One of the horses had stepped in a tangle of wire (just baling wire, so not too serious), and I stepped off to get it unwound from her foot.  From here, we headed up a little draw and then back to the road.

Jon looks over his shoulder at the horses coming up the draw.  Shiloh's right on his tail!

Mulan, Otis, and Shiloh lead the charge up and out of the draw.  Jeff was trying making his way to the front with us but still has some fast trotting horses to pass!

  After a long lope to get to this little sheep meadow, the horses stop for a little snack.  Can you see any of your favorite steeds?

Sweaty horses at snack time!

Jon, Lauren, and Rhiannon.  Insert witty joke about "putting your life on the line" here!  Or maybe you could hum a few bars of "Walk the Line"...

The horses get a little drink before we head up the meadow. Liz, one of the members of our draft horse team, is drinking.  Behind her is Santiago, Dulche, Paisley (the paint horse), and Grant (Liz's teammate) who is getting a little nibble of the green grass.

Sim tries to lead the charge...but the horses are too busy with the green grass!

Ahhhh....a nice foot soak, a drink of water, and a bite of green grass!

Aaaaand we're off!  This is the beginning of a two mile lope on an uphill slope, headed towards Sweetwater Summit.

Rhiannon heads to the front.  You'll have to excuse the camera angle--the meadow 

isn't actually that steep!

 Starting up Sweetwater Summit.  Back in the sagebrush...

 

Hi, Blair!  Haley (she looks like a tiny person in a green shirt coming out of Blair's hat), cracked her whip at the bay horse to get her back in the herd.

 Getting closer to the summit....

 Shiloh, back to his position behind my horse.

 Denise made sure the horses didn't get on the road when we were going through the trees.

 My horse was pretty sure she wanted a nap...

But then Jon made her pose for a picture...never a dull, serious moment!

 Haley leads the herd down Sweetwater Summit

 Just a few miles to go and Sim is always ready with his whip...just in case!

Made it!  Little Joe looks glad to be done for the day.

 

We put the main group of horses in one field and our saddle horses in the field next to them.  Well, that was the plan...until we realized that the gate between the two field was open and several of the horses had found it...

 Hey, guys!  Wrong field!

A large, gray pair of behinds heads for the right field.  

And so ended Day 2...pretty uneventful, but super fun!  We like it when things go smoothly, even though the exciting bits make for a better story.  Stay tuned, tomorrow is the last part of the horse drive.  Hopefully you didn't mind the hundreds of photos... 

Until next time, dream of green meadows, fat cattle, shiny horses, and blue skies!

Horse Drive 2013, Day 1: The Village Idiots

Well, hello there!  It's been a while...too long, in fact.  Some of you may know that we drive our horses from Smith to Bridgeport in the spring, and when I say "drive" I mean we trot them the 60-ish miles over the span of three days.  Last year was the first year we had done it in twenty or so years, and what fun!  It does get a little wild at times but overall it's so exhilarating that sometimes we found ourselves laughing hysterically while leaping over sagebrush, butts smacking the saddle, fighting to stay ahead of the herd.

Last year I didn't get any pictures as I wasn't sure I could keep control of my horse, my flag, and a camera, so this year, I took along my trusty iPhone.  Some of the pictures were taken at crazy angles--I discovered I could take pictures over my head while trotting (and sometimes all out running!).  I'm sure it was entertaining to see me with my arm thrust in the air, phone in hand, while dodging brush, cutting off a bunch-quitter, or just trotting along in the front.  I'm amazed I didn't lose the thing!

We'll start with Day 1, as we weren't even sure we were going to be able to keep it all together!

Megan had purchased some horses from Southern California who had never been in with a large group of horses, but we were pretty sure they would be ok in the herd.  We had also purchased some horses at a sale in Winnemucca, Nevada, and they seemed to be integrating well into our herd.  Between those six horses, we were feeling confident they would find a leader within the group and that leader would keep them with our main herd....

My first indication that things weren't going to go smoothly was when I headed out to gather those six horses with the rest of the herd and they turned and ran as far as they could in the opposite direction.  After some mild swearing coaxing and a little help from Blair and his bullwhip, we got them in the corral about ten minutes after the main herd.

Plan A was to take the herd about a half mile down the ranch road, then turn off the road and into a huge lot of sagebrush.  My grandmother, Jan, parked her car by the gate to help turn the horses.  With over half the riders in the front of the herd, we started down the road.

It isn't unusual for there to be an extremely pushy horse or two in the front when we first set out; we had bullwhips and flags to use as we needed (we don't actually whip the horses with the bullwhip, we use the sound as a deterrent as the loud pops the whip makes are enough to turn or stop a horse...usually).  However, the six new horses were having hone of it...they pushed through those of us in front, leading about five or so other horses through and went streaking down the ranch road!  Blair, Sim, and I don't know who else, headed them off several times, only to have them shove through their horses and continue on down the road.  Blair told me later he saw Jan's mouth in a perfect "o" with her hands on her cheeks as that group went whizzing past her car.

Meanwhile, the main herd had gone in the correct gate, but without enough riders in front to slow them down, they reached down to their inner racehorse and left us in the dust.  Luckily, they were contained in the field and even though it was several hundred acres in size, they couldn't scatter out on the desert.  I could only watch as all the horses thundered past me as my horse was winded and dripping with sweat from trying to keep the main herd under control.  I wish I had pictures of all this, but as my horse was really fresh and silly that morning, I had my hands full and didn't want to risk losing my phone...but even if I did get pictures, they couldn't have shown the chaos!

Blair and Sim were having issues with their own rogue group.  About 3/4 of a mile down the ranch road, there is a huge field of winter wheat with no fences around it. From what I heard, the horses ignored the several trucks parked in the road as well as the people in the road trying to stop them, and turned into the winter wheat, where they were headed for what they were sure was FREEDOM!  Luckily, with a lot of help, Blair, Sim, and some of our friends were able to get them back on the ranch road and down to where the rest of us were holding the herd in the corner of the sagebrush field.

Once we put the escapees back, the plan was to take them east across the sagebrush field to a dirt road, head down the dirt road, and get out onto the desert....well, that was the plan until the newly-returned horses broke away from the herd and went pounding down the fenceline.  Admittedly, they were headed in the right direction...but with no one in the front to direct them, we knew we'd lose them.  We cut diagonally across the sagebrush to head them off and got them stopped.  From here, I have pictures to document most of what happened next.

Looks like we've got everything under control...at least for the moment.

Betsy heads to the front.  If you look on the far left, you can see a horse looking back toward the herd...and this is where things started to go downhill, again.

Can you see the instigators on the left?  Four or five horses had already left the herd and were headed home.  The horses left behind were very interested in heading that way, too...

Aaaaand that's where we lost them again.  The whole group merrily thundered north, headed home.  We had no choice but to follow them.  We decided to take them back to the corral and sort off the six new horses, now dubbed "The Village Idiots," and a few others who just couldn't bring themselves to behave. 

Megan follows the group back to the corrals. At this point, we weren't even sure if Plan B would work and were contemplating possibly waiting until the next day to start.

We decided to try again.  On the left, you can see how we really beefed up our road block.  The horses were a little aired out and feeling less fresh, so they were wanting to mostly walk or trot, and they didn't try to push ahead of us too much.

Looking a little more sedate as we head for the dirt road and then the desert.  No bunch-quitters this time!

Out on the dirt road, hitting a leisurely trot.  Jon's in the red shirt, keeping them on track.

Getting closer to the turn for the dirt road that leads to the desert.  In the lead, left to right:
Chuffy, Jake, Whisper Jean, Suede, Allie, and Sancho.  

Everyone's behaving...for the most part!

As we neared the desert, the horses knew they were almost out in the open...

...but we stopped them so everyone could catch up.

Once out in the desert, we held them against the fence and kept them along the road towards the local dump station, where we would get on the highway.  In trying to keep them from heading out and disappearing onto the range, I think my horse leaped over 900 three foot tall sagebrush, and that's only a *slight* exaggeration.

Once we got past the dump station and on the highway, we held them again at the bridge that crosses the Walker River.  We let our saddle horses get a drink before we continued down the road past the local school, and toward our destination for the end of Day 1.

We passed the school, where nearly every class K-12 (yep, we have a small-town school) came out to watch the horses go by.  Aspen and Rhiannon waved at their classmates and I am pretty sure their classmates were a little jealous.  In this picture, Aspen (on Chief), checks behind her to see where the leaders are.

Haley & Ruby in the lead, about 2-3 miles from our destination.  Haley looks exuberant, 

Ruby...not so much.

 Ahhhh...finally!  Hay and water at the end of a long trot.

Scarlett had her eye on me.  You know, in case I had some grain! 

So that was the end of Day 1.  We made it, even after the Village Idiots tried to foil all our plans! Stay tuned for Days 2 and 3, coming tomorrow and the day after.  

Until next time, dream of green meadows, fat cattle, shiny horses, and blue skies! 

My New Friend, Ferdinand

I made a friend today!  Not exactly groundbreaking, I know...but I thought I'd share because I think all of you will find him charming, much like I do.  He isn't very big, but he's stout.  His hair is a mix of reds and his eyes are dark chocolate brown, fringed by eyelashes of which I am very jealous.  Are you dying to know who this mystery man is?  Could he be someone famous?  I'll let you decide for yourself.  Here's his portrait.

 Isn't he handsome?!  I thought so, too.  He thinks he's pretty hot stuff as well...nothing like being president of your own fan club!  Or should I say he's "out-standing in his field"?  Bad joke, I know...but I couldn't resist.

I had gone out to check on the heifers and their calves just to make sure everything was kosher.  We tag all our calves with the same color tag and same number as their mother so we know which calf belongs to which cow.  Bull calves get their tag in the right ear, heifers get their tag in the left ear.  It makes ID pretty easy when you're out in the field...unless, like my little friend here, they haven't been tagged.  Sometimes the heifers are super casual moms and they don't keep track of their calves, so when we go to tag them, we don't know who the mother is...and sometimes the calves are sneaky and won't go to their mothers.  This guy?  Well, he's super cool, calm, collected, and casual.  I never did find out who his mother was...but I think I have a pretty good idea. 

The heifers and their calves had gathered around the truck, hoping against all odds that I had a bale of hay and was there to feed them...I was surrounded...and then they started looking in the cab of the truck...

 Right after I took this picture, this heifer stuck her nose in the cab of the truck.  She only looks innocent, don't let that wide-eyed stare fool you!

I got out of the pickup to see if I could find the mother to the little guy I had my eye on.  I circled around behind the truck and sat in the shade of the flatbed.  A lot of times, cattle will approach you if you crouch or sit on the ground.  Their curiosity gets the better of them and they can get close enough to lick you, which isn't exactly pleasant unless you like having slimy saliva dripping off your pants or sleeves.  I wouldn't recommend doing this unless you know the cattle fairly well, 'cause sometimes you might find yourself in a place you don't want to be!

This photobomb brought to you by #44.

I slooooooooooooowly reached my hand out to see if he'd sniff it.  The curious ones usually will sniff from a distance, but as you can see, this guy wasn't scared of me at all.

 What do those fingers taste like?

 That feels so nice on my forehead...but lemme clean my nose out while I'm at it.

He let me rub his forehead, down his face, under his chin--that was where he really liked it.  But rather than write about it, I'll let the pictures do the talking.

 That's not so bad....

Who knew your eyeballs could get so itchy?!

I've been trying to get that spot scratched since I was born! 

I should interject here that it's very unusual for a calf to just approach you in the field, especially one who hasn't really had any contact with people.  Sometimes, a former "bottle calf" (one that we had previously fed on a bottle for some reason or another) will come up to you, but it's generally not something that happens.  They will get curious, but they mostly keep their distance.  One other calf got brave, but only for a few seconds, and then my first little friend butted him and made him leave.

This calf got brave enough to lick my fingers....

...and then I rubbed his forehead a little bit before he decided that was enough!

Little ol' Ferdinand came back to check me out.  I think he might have pushed the other calf out of the way so he could get scratched again...

Ferdinand got mad when another calf tried to sniff me...and so they had a stand-off.  They were probably pretending to be big bulls and that they were having a real fight.  Boys!

I love it when they scratch their necks like that.  It's adorable!

Back again...

Oooooo...a little to the left...back to the right...

That's the spot I tried to itch with my foot!

He nearly fell asleep with his head pressed on my leg while I was scratching his neck.

He kept licking my pants...I'm not sure what I had on them but it was really tasty, apparently.

His favorite spot to be scratched.  Sorry for the blurry picture! 

I got a few videos of him, too.  I apologize for the horrendous filming...it's so hard to film when you can't see exactly what you're getting!  But I think you'll get a better idea of his personality if you watch them.  Plus, the cute factor is overwhelming!

That's it for this post.  I am assembling pictures from our horse drive from Smith Valley to Bridgeport and doing some editing, so I hope to have that blog post going up within the next two weeks.  Until next time, dream of green meadows, fat cattle, shiny horses, and blue skies!

My favorite picture of him.  Gotta love that face and those ears!