First Day Of Work

Real work that is.

It was cold and windy this morning after days of beautiful weather. Not bad cold but not as warm as it had been. My husband was out feeding and stuck his head in the door to ask if we wanted to chase some cows. Of course we did, so I started getting kids dressed and rushed out the door. My father in law decides he wants to do something and them starts regardless of whether anyone else is ready.

I have so much great stuff to share from this ride. I’m going to break it into a few posts to keep it manageable.

I saddled Rusty and Princess Onna. Rusty had been good through riding with a new horse in a strange place and checking cows yesterday. I thought he’d be ok for pushing them out of the corrals. He was raring to go. As soon as I hit the saddle he was off. Of course I made him stop and wait, but as soon as I allowed he started off at a trot looking for Princess Onna, they had left again without us.

He zipped along faster than Onna could go. Quite an accomplishment for a non-gaited horse out riding with a fast little gaited mare. Those two meandered happily and slowly along winding back and forth through the obstacles the yard offers. Once we got in the pen e was really off. We were OK though until we stopped to wait for a gate to be opened ahead of us. I turned him on the fence a couple of times and he started hopping. I pulled his head up and got him moving. He was tip toeing the rest of the way. I tried to stay close to Onna, emotional support and all. Onna poked along much slower than we were able to go.

We got the cows out. Really they went on their own, we just followed. We checked for a calf that may have been left behind. Then looked for him in the pasture. We didn’t find him.

Back at the buildings we waved to the guys as they got out of the feed truck then went around into the corrals to sort off the calves that are not going to the sale this week. Our heifers and a couple of steers. On my green, overly excited horse with a small child to help we were not able to pluck any out by themselves. We brought the whole herd out, with lots of help from the guys, and sorted in a different pen.

Having lots of trouble finding the right place to be Princess Onna was soon parked on the fence, her person off to play else where, and I was able to get some good practice in with Rusty on cattle. We may not have been the best help but it was good experience for him. He was working pretty good, if too forward and enthusiastic, mounted but I had to get off to take care of Princess Onna so I stayed off and led him. It was good for him to get exposure to the fast paced hectic environment of sorting with out the stress of figuring out what I was asking for from his back.

After everything was sorted I had a chance to play a little. This was a perfect calf and worked out much better than it should have. I was holding the phone with one hand and working the reins one handed. Rusty was showing that he is starting to figure this whole thing out.

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• It’s For The Dogs →