Life on the ranch

Well I am having issues uploading my videos to youtube, it keeps saying it will take 115 minutes to upload a 2 and a half minute video from the show, and I have no patience for that, so I will keep trying and in the meantime post everything else that has been going on around here.

We are calving, actually have been for a while, we have 56 calves on the ground so far, still a lot more to go, but we are getting there.  We lost a few as is always the case (very sad and frustrating though).  But here is a bunch of them.

We had nice weather for a week or so and it really started melting around here which was nice, but it created mud.  And then we got cold again and snowed again so now its just miserable, but today is warm and it is trying to melt again.

And on Sunday afternoon I brought the ponies home from the barn I was boarding at.  Sure had a lot of stuff there and it is not the best here for the ponies cause I can not string out a hose for water for them so they are getting led to the water everyday which is a pain for me.  And not a lot of places I can ride out right now cause there is so much deep snow that its hard to make it on the prairie so I am stuck with the roads.  Which would be fine but a mile down our road is a texas gate so it is not very far till we have to turn around.

I need to go to the farrier this week and get Razz trimmed and Jessie front shoes, and I want to go for another lesson and go to the chiro.  I am undecided if I should go to the ACHA show in 2 weeks (April 20/21) or the unapproved show the weekend after (May 4/5).  I would like to wait the 3 weeks but I would rather the approved show if going for year end awards or something.  Both are in the same place about a 3 1/2 -4 hour drive from here so I would stay overnight, which would be kinda nice cause no travelling but more expensive.  I don't think I can do both cause I will be way to exhausted I think.  They don't have the class list of the May show up yet, but the April show I would show late Sat and early Sun so that would be perfect, then I can get over and leave while its still daytime.

I will still try and upload the videos so I can say how the whole show goes.

Tuesday Lesson

I had another lesson yesterday.  I picked up Jessie at 10 and headed over.  A couple of the same people were there that were there on Thursday and I found out they are both in the 2000 Limited Rider class like me and going to the show this weekend.  So that was kinda cool.

After a really long workout, Doug wants her tired before we work, more tired than I would make her.  But anyways we had a much better session.  We had her slowed down to get to the cow and stop and then he made me back her a step and then go with the cow.  And I had to stop her if she would turn in.  So much to work on!  But it seemed to go better than last time.  I think I was paying more attention this time to so that probly helped a lot.

(Jessie was kinda tired after our lesson, she just stood there no matter what I did, lol)

I said I was entered in the show on the weekend and he asked if I was coming back and I said I yes I think I need it and he says I definitely do.  Well I knew I was probly not ready but yikes.  So I guess I am going Friday and we will see how it goes.  I know I am probly not ready but if I wait till I am ready I may never get there, so I am going anyways, not gonna skip out like last summer.

(almost took one of the cats home, he was sunbathing on my truck)

I left there and had lunch in town then dropped off Jessie and headed home.  I like going early cause even though he is an hour and a half away and I have to stop at the barn both ways where Jessie is and had a visit with Doug and the other riders, and had lunch in town I was still home by 4.  Coulda been home by 2 if I skipped all that but its as much of the reason I go to be social as well as the lesson, so I don't mind.

I Rode Outside :)

It is still melting like crazy, I took a couple pics at the barn so I could show how wet it is around there.  I will be glad to bring the ponies home Sunday, not that it wont be wet here but at least we will have some dry spots around.  In front of the horses pen is a lake I have to walk through, I stopped at Wallymart on Sat and bought some rubber boots.

There whole pen is kinda a mess, it is like a lake, it keeps getting wetter and wetter everyday.  Although it is kinda good for Jessie, she doesn't even look at the water any more she just goes through it, slowly but she does it.

(even in front of the barn doors is water)

It was so nice out I caught Razz first, well she didn't give me much choice  she pushed Jess out of the way and stood at the gate, lol.  And I rode in for a bit then ventured outside.  She usually does not want to voluntarily leave the yard by herself so I just let her go as far as she wanted.  We only made it past all the horse pens and up to the houses.  But that's OK, it was her choice.  Its funny its hard for her to leave the yard but if I trailer her somewhere she is fine to ride out alone, but she is not leaving her buddies behind I guess.

Then afterwards I put up her tail in the tail bag and I cut 18 inches off it and it finally does not hit the ground anymore.  Its a medium so I thought it would have fit, maybe it I tied it to the top of her tail it woulda but not below the bone.  Hopefully that will keep her tail a little cleaner till I get her where there is not so much water.

(the cats were so funny all in the wheelbarrow at once)

Then put her back and got Jessie.  We also rode inside and then Denise was there and wanted to ride out so we did.  We only rode up to the road cause its probly wet and slippery farther out but it was nice to go outside even for a short time.  Then another girl had a young horse she was lunging in the arena and he is pretty unsure so we just waited and so my ride took a lot longer than I had planned but it was good.  And then I made Jess work a little bit later and boy was she stopping nice, so we called it a day.

Easter Weekend

We had a full weekend planned, Saturday we headed to Brooks for Neil's Dads birthday and then Sunday we had planned to go to Olds to my Moms house for Easter Dinner.  Saturday worked well, and we come home and had one new heifer calved and so no problems.  Then came Sunday.

Saturday before we left there was a cow in the creek pasture calving and she was doing fine so we left for town, we came back after dark so never went and had another look at her.  Sunday morning Neil went out to check on her and she hadn't had the calf...not good.  So he took his bob out there and brought her back to the yard.  Turns out she was a heifer who somehow got out.  If we knew she was a heifer we woulda watched her a little closer.  Well the calf was dead so we pulled it out.  It was presented right and wasn't that big so I don't know why she never had it on her own.  But then as she was laying in the corral, and we were getting ready to leave, she prolapsed.  So we called the vet and she come out and stuffed her back in and sewed her up.  But by then it was too late to leave for dinner so we just had BLTs instead of ham and scalloped potatoes.   We will go another day and have dinner with them, wont be the same with the whole family but that's how it works sometimes with cows.

It wasn't all bad, our snow is melting something crazy and the road is kinda a mess and really hard to get through.  And it was kinda nice to have a day to do nothing in, well kinda nothing.  But back to it today going riding and hopefully a couple more lessons this week then the show next weekend.  I am kinda nervous about it.  I know I am not really ready to show, but then again I also know I put it off all last summer and might as well get going if I want to.  I am also nervous about going alone.  That will be hard, always easier when there is someone going with me somewhere, but I am pretty familiar with the arena which is nice but still scary.