Back to Riding

I had listed my barrel saddle for sale and right away a gal messaged me and asked if I would meet her somewhere.  She was from north of Edmonton and I'm in the middle of nowhere so I said sure.  She let me pick the place and so I picked Stettler cause I hardly ever get to go there and its not too far so Sunday I headed up there.  Weather is about the same up there as here but seems like more freezing nights than we had as lots of their sloughs were still frozen and ours aren't.  Neil was also curious about their weather as he wants to go pound posts at our place up there...way to muddy yet.  She was so sure she wanted it, she had gone to the bank and had cash.  She had been looking for a wide saddle for her horse for a long time and this was only the second 10" she had seen so she jumped on it.  She was using a treeless and I asked how they are and she didn't really like them on her round horse with no withers said it just rotated like a bareback pad so she was always adjusting it.  Hope this works better for her.

(looking south towards the trees has snow)

(but looking North not on white spot)

(And all around the sloughs has snow as well)

Then Monday I wanted to go riding but was too tired so I went yesterday.  Still exhausting but I had to go it had been 11 days since I been there and it felt like forever.  Trainer was sick which actually worked really good for me cause i wasn't sure I was up for a lesson.  And glad no one was around cause I fell off!  Really how silly was that???  I went to get on and hes pretty round and I'm pretty unathletic and so my saddle moves a little every time I get on from the ground but usually OK.  But this time I overcompensated and went to far to the other side and before I could get back in the middle he moved away from my weight.  Not really being bad I think I was unbalancing him.   He stood there and waited and I was super glad there was fresh soft sand in the arena.  Well OK I was fine nothing hurt except a broken fingernail (haha) and some sand down my pants, and so readjusted and used the panels to get on.  I woulda done that the first time but they are just leaning against the wall and I don't really like that.  Got on and wasn't sure I was up for him but after lots of trotting he was really good.  He seemed confused by figure 8s but did really good with moving sideways at a diagonal (brain freeze, cant remember what its called)  We did a little loping too and then he seemed tired, faking it I know as he woulda got lots of energy if he had seen cows anywhere.

(of course there was snow in the morning, but it was melting already)

(I love how he meets me at the gate :),

 even when his buddy Kory is trying to get him to play)

(shedding so much )

(hi cutie)

(I sure love this horse, can't wait till he gets to come home)

It was nice I had lots of time afterwards to brush him and surprisingly he is shedding lots even though he looks slick.  I love them sleek-ez they sure work well, I think I might make myself one (too cheap to buy one)  I also brought a lighter blanket cause its spring weather now, although I did leave the winter one there just in case.  Then last night I noticed my ankle was a bit sore and I looked at it and I think I maybe sprained it, it was a little swollen (very little) and still sore this morning so I wrapped it and will rest a couple days and hope it goes away.  Who knew you could sprain your ankle falling off a horse??  Also got one small bruise on my knee but that's not a big deal.

Moving Cows

We have a piece of land up towards Stettler that is just grass and we didn't use it last year because we had so much grass at home but usually we have cows up there.  This year it got a little late but we finally got 47 pairs up there.  We hired a big truck and Neil took his stock trailer and I took the old one and away we went.  

(he looks like going in the ditch but there really is an approach there)

Its not a big piece, but its all tame grass and they get a lot more rain than we get so it holds a lot of cows.  The trucker was coming about noon so about 10 we went out and got them in, Neil had sorted them out a week ago.  And we separated cows and calves and bulls too.  We ended up with 47 cows, 46 calves and 2 bulls.  We could not see another calf anywhere bauling and so we hauled them up and figured wed look up there as we mothered them up to find the one who doesn't have a calf and take her back home.  We never heard anything in the field the last few days bauling so I don't know what happened there.

(odd pic of the calves in Neils trailer)

(My truck and trailer in lots of grass)

We got loaded and up there about 4 and let them out, left them in the corral for half our or so and no noise whatsoever so we looked through them, we saw what might have been a dry cow but hard to tell for me in a corral.  So we let them out and went home, stopped in Stettler at Smitty's for supper even though we were not entirely clean but we were hungry.

(Neil witching for water while waiting for cows)

We had to leave the bulls behind, not enough room, kinda sucked but Neil went up with them early the next morning which turned out goo cause he could check on them cows and there still wasn't an unhappy cow up there. So he left them and looked at home and nothing crying here either, so I guess all is well.

(the cows love the trees to rub off bugs)

(happy cows and calves in long grass)

We took all cows with heifer calves up there and the plan is to just take them to the Stettler Auction Market in October on the way home, rather than haul them home and then a few days later haul them to town.  We are hoping it will only take one trip home that way.

Hauling Cattle

So on Sunday since Susan wasn't coming out like she planned (he daughter had ball again, sometime I just wanna cancel something she wants to do cause I have to go watch someone play ball, not that I begrudge her watching her daughter, but every game?)  Anyways we  Neil decided that we should haul cows up to out place at Stettler.  I call it the Stettler place but its really Rosalind, but no one knows where that is.  We were bringing up 46 heifers, a 2 year old who lost her calf but we wanted to keep her, and 2 bulls.  So 3 loads in Neil's trailer and 2 loads for me.  When its a 5 hour round trip, that is way to much for me to do in one day, but Neil don't mind, so I was gonna take one Sun, and one Mon and he was gonna do a second one Sunday.

(sure did a number on that one!)

But as we were going down the Dorothy hill, Neil blew a truck tire.  Of course he is all worried about me and having a spare, since Friday night I had 2 flats on the trailer (I think I musta drove over something)  and he had to fix the last one at 11 at night cause I could not get the jack down.  But anyway he had his spare tire in the nose of the trailer.  But whoever designed the trailer never put a door on the outside, so we had to go in with the heifers and get it from there.  Not good.   And the spare was not good either, we pumped it up but figured we better head home cause we were not sure it would hold.  And he had no jack, we had to borrow one from the same guy who pumped the tire up.

 (haha I got her in the air!)

(The tree that broke off and landed on the corrals)

We got home and let the cows out (the rest were still in the corral) and he found a better spare and put it on and after lunch decided to try it again.  We got loaded with a different bunch of cows and left to go through Hanna rather than Drum cause its closer.  We were only going through Drum to stop at East Coulee cause they were having thier monthly breakfast there.  We were almost to Hanna and I called Neil to tell him to turn around cause I needed to change a tire.  It was not flat yet, but the tread was coming off in big chunks.  Not sure what caused it, the tire looked good, wasn't that old, but sure was hot and I was sure it would blow if we left it.

 (another mysterious bird)

(too much water, it killed the trees)

We put the spare on and decided to keep going anyways.  Have I mentioned how I hate tires!!!  Well the spare everyone thought was crappy lasted the rest of the trip without any trouble.  Which was good.  We got up there, unloaded the cows and came home.  We were exhausted and it was about 7, so we decided to call it a day.

 (Pretty rose bud)

Monday morning we got the rest of the cows in and loaded all but 12.  My truck can haul 6, Neil's trailer 13 and so the last load was one cow light.  I am amazed how much more power my half tonne gas truck has than our old dodge 3/4 ton diesel.  And better fuel mileage too.  When I used the old truck I always had to stop for gas at Castor (hour or so from home) and with this truck I still had 1/4 tank left.   I know the gas tank is bigger, but still it was quite a load for a half ton.

 (wide loads again, you know its heavy when it has a bajillion tires and 2 pusher trucks)

(weird bee stuck in my radiator which is much smaller than the one being hauled above)

We had no problems except for 6.5/10ths of rain on Sunday made the corrals a mess to be in.  Luckily the cows were fairly cooperative and the trip was good.  Sure lots of good grass up there.   And another tenth Monday night and lots Tuesday.

 (More wild roses, so pretty)

 (the diplomat mine site we always stop at to use the washrooms)

(pretty butterfly on the red rock that is so popular up there)

I stayed home for the second bunch and Neil made it home by 8:30, so all in all a much better day on Monday than Sunday.  Guess that's what happens when you work on a day of rest.  Either that or Neil shoulda just been more prepared.  I think we shoulda called someone to haul them for us, and we are this fall cause they will be bigger and it will take even more loads.

 (already mowing ditches up there, guess no one hays them)

 (peek a boo, I see you)

(OK, come on out!)

Bringing The Cows Home Part 2

Toady we headed up to Stettler to get our last bunch of cows home.  We borrowed a neighbors stock trailer and took ours and on our way we went.

First off we stopped at Cactus Corner for breakfast.  I had eggs Benedict, a day can never be completely bad when you have a good breakfast.  From there we were gonna head up to the cows, but Neil had left his light on in the truck, we go out thinking the battery would be dead, but instead he has locked his keys in the truck.  He phones a locksmith who was on his way back to town and he lets him in and the battery wasn't dead! it started right up, whew dodged a bullet on that one.

We go through this cool tunnel every time we go up there, so I thought I should get a picture of it.

We go through the Battle River Valley twice, and the hills are actually really nice, not too steep and not too curvy.

We got up there about 1:30 is and the cows were pretty close so we got them in and since the trucker wasn't coming till about 5, we just sat in the truck and tried to nap, I was wishing I had my computer or a book or something to keep me occupied.  I had put my hip out, so sleep wasn't gonna happen.

 While I was standing on the fence taking the pic of the cows, I looked at Neil and had to laugh, he looked so short so I tried to make him stand closer to get a better pic, but he just pointed his stick at me and said no way, so I took it from where he was, lol.

About 4, Neil looks up and the cows had escaped cause he didn't tie the gate good enough.  So we got them in again and this time sorted the calves from the cows.  There are some really big calves up there.Our "horses" for the day were done too, as mine wouldn't start again. Not like a real horse which I would prefer anyday over theses ones.

Finally at 7 ish, the truck shows up, they load pretty good and we are on our way. I had to stop in Castor to get more fuel, those Chevs just don't have as big a gas tank as the Dodge and it won't make it there and home on one tank.

We got home and everyone unloaded by 10:30 and way too long a day for me.  I am kinda partial to yesterday when the day ended almost 12 hours earlier!

Moving up North

Well we finally got to Stettler today. Wow I never thought it was gonna actually happen. We got up early, Neil run the cows in and said at 8 we will split them, so I go out at 8 and he's just leaving the corrals saying they are all ready to go! I guess he wants to get them up there as well. Our trucker cam early, so we loaded up and off we went. I tried something different with the dogs, I waited till the trucker and Neil left, then I got ready, fed the dogs and told them to stay home. Not sure they understand, but one can try.

We got to our place about 12:30 and unloaded and then decided to go to Donalda for lunch. We actually had breakfast and its always good there. And cheap. We each got a pan scrambler with toast, I had coke and Neil had beer all for $23. Not bad.

The grass up there is awesome! Its all tame but it just grow and grows. I am sure the cows just love going up there, not very far to move till they are full, and water everywhere as well. And trees to rub on too.

On they way home we stopped at the chiropractor to get all fixed up and we were talking about how the government doesn't pay anymore and Neil said ya its now $30 a crack. I laughed and he never even realized what he said, lol.

Sure was wet up there as well, the hutterites have a garden across the road from our pasture (and it sure looks A LOT better than mine!) but it was getting flooded, so they put an old door in front of the culvert to stop it, well the water was going over the road, so the county came out and removed it and now they have dug a huge dugout, but meanwhile our slough is super over flooded, but I liked how the clouds were reflected in the water, unfortunately it also means out cows won't get to the east side because they won't go through the water.

So all in all we got 46 pairs and a blind steer up there. Hope blindy does alright, he just seems to hang around the other cows and it might be easier where the pasture is smaller.