It's Getting Green

Yay, spring is here! It's getting warm and the bluebonnets are out! I love looking at all the shades of green.

My finger is doing just fine now, it healed up really nice and you can't really notice anything is wrong with it unless I hold it next to my other index finger (you can tell it's shorter). I got a new horse, her name is Pistol. She just turned a year old in March and she is registered with AQHA. I have been wanting a new project to work with and hopefully she will be my new sorting horse when she gets old enough. She goes back to Hollywood Gold, Doc Bar, Doc O'lena, etc. Her grandsire is Holidoc. She is going to be a beautiful bay roan (hopefully).

Things have changed a lot on the ranch. Cathy (the camp director) is leaving and heading to Alaska for the summer. I am kinda jealous, that would be so much fun! We are left with a guy who took her job that has about as much smarts as a common goldfish. It's frusterating.... My camp horses are doing good, though. I think they are as happy as me that it is warming up. I hired a new wrangler, Mark, to help me and he is doing good. It is weird, though.... it is hard to share my horses... haha. I am used to being the only one to take care of them.

I guess we will see what the future holds, hopefully something good!!

Adam

Adam is doing so well here! I am so proud of him!! He has been guiding a lot for the ranch and he has been doing a fantastic job! He has guided hunters to trophy sika, whitetail, texas doll sheep, and other neat animals. He is such a quick learner and hard worker.

I am so blessed to have him in my life. He is my anchor, my rock. He always knows the right thing to say when I get all flustered or when to say nothing at all and just hold me. He is my best friend! We do everything together: hunting, fishing, riding our horses.... He knows me inside and out; he can read me like no one else can. I love his sense of humor and how he can sit and tell you a hundred (literally) jokes. He is the best story teller I think I have ever heard, haha! He is so detail oriented, he can remember every piece to every joke, story, anything! He also has the kindest heart. I am honored to be his wife. :)

Ah Winter!

So it has definitely slowed down here! My horses are getting turned out and are all growing their fuzzy winter coats. It is getting cold, the high today was in the fourties! The horses are all doing great, they keep me laughing! All are so different in personality, it can be really funny... One of my mares, Puddin, is definitely the cougar of the bunch. She is older but prances around swishing her tail and tries to get the attention of all the boys. Star, one of my younger ones, is kinda a doofus. He followes all the other horses around and mimmicks everyone. Each horse has a definite personality and it's funny because they can all be people traits. I have one that would for sure be the typical jock, one that would be the preppy boy, etc. The camp kids have a blast trying to decide what their horse would be if they were a human.

We got a new dog to add to our family! Her name is Dakota and she is a catahoula. I got her from a no kill shelter in the nearby town. She is really awesome! I take her on my rides and she never tries to chase deer, bark at the horses, or anything! She is very smart and really athletic. She is about 10 months old now, I got her in late June.

On a down side... I cut off the end of my finger Friday. I have a grill guard on the front of my Jeep Wrangler and it folds down so I can put stuff on it like hay, etc, to carry around. To get it to close I really have to slam it back up and the bottom part folds up and overlaps the top part (it's metal). Well I slammed it hard to get it to close and shut my right index finger in the grill guard. It completely cut off the tip and the doctor said it barely nicked the bone. It's pretty gross right now, but hopefully it will heal quick!

Yay Camp!

I guess I have been at my job for about two months now and I love it! The hours are long, I work from about 7 am to 11 pm, but it the winter it will slow down, so it's ok. The horses are doing awesome, no major accidents yet (knock on wood). We just finished a week of camp. It was by far the funnest and yet most frusterating camp week I have ever worked. It was awesome because the kids were great (except for one), so we did so much fun stuff with them! We branded some steers with a hot brand, went on many hours of trail riding, let the kids run through a huge pond of water on horseback, camped out under the stars with their horses, taught them how to work cattle on their horses, and awesome stuff like that. Oh yeah, and I rode a steer on Friday! It wasn't that big, but it was still awesome! I was the only girl that did it.

Now to the frusterating part. One camper, let's call him "Phil" was from the city and was totally spoiled by his mom. He came from kinda a broken home, but he was 12 years old and had no respect for authority and especially not for girls. I would ask him to do something and he would look me in the eyes and flat out tell me no. One of the days he tried to run away and so I went to talk to him and he said "I just want to get away from asses like you". That wasn't the worst thing he said by any means, but it just hurt my feelings. Here I am busting my tail for these kids who I care about and try to teach and try to do stuff for, and he might as well of spit in my face. He did it to everyone, though, and you could tell the mother just didn't care to teach her son. We talked to her on the phone and she just didn't give a flip. All he said he does at home is play his Wii. I just get so frusterated at people who are too dang lazy to teach their kids anything, so they let video games and TV occupy them and they think it's ok. Parents need to get their kids outside and let them play and get dirty and not sit them down in front of a screen! We are going to have a country full of wussy kids here in not too long. Ugh! Ok, I am done ranting, it just really gets under my skin. For the most part, though, the kids were awesome!

We were supposed to go to Amarillo tomorrow, but we can't because we have to much stuff to get done around camp between sessions. I really need to ride and learn more trails to take clients on. I love trail riding with clients! I have had people from Dubi (not sure if I spelled that right), England, Ireland, New York, California, etc, ride with me. It is really fun! I am on a horse probably about 4-7 hours a day, so you can't beat that! Adam is doing awesome as well. He has really become an amazing boys counselor. It sucks because he has to sleep in a cabin with boys and I have to sleep by myself, but he is doing a wonderful job. :)

The New Job

It has been a crazy first week at my new job! I love it, but it is like nothing I have ever done before.... haha. Basically I am the head person over all the horse stuff. That includes riding the horses, feeding them, scheduling all their vet/farrier appointments, coming up with materials for camps and school groups, maintaining all the tack and barn area, etc. As you can imagine, I have been busy!! There is one guy under me, and he is cool, but kinda does stuff a lot different than me... I won't go into details... Anyway, the horses are awesome. They need A LOT of work, but I really like them. There are 13 of them (hopefully I can get more) and they are all quarter horses! Yay!

Anyway, this job is awesome! I ride about 6 hours a day (give or take) and spend the rest doing stuff around the barn. We work pretty much about 9-10 hours a day, but it's a different kind of work, so it flies by! I need about 20 hours to get everything done! Lol. It is so cool, though, because I can be riding down a trail and see Axis deer, Kudu, and Sables all in the same ride; maybe about 20 yards from me. It's insane!!

The funny thing about my job, though, is that I have to wear long sleeve button up shirts and a cowboy hat, and I am so not that type.... ha ha! Adam and I went into town yesterday and I got all that stuff and I feel so out of place!! But it is totally worth it! A few nights ago we went out at about 9 pm to net blackbucks. The ranch sold about 20 of them and we had to net them to transport them. We load up on a jeep with a big spotlight and a gun that shoots a big net out to catch them, and then we put them in a stock trailer. It is totally harmless for them, but it sure is a blast!

That is about all I have time to write about today! For anyone who loves to ride, you need to come out for a trail ride with me!! It will be a great time and it is not your average trail ride! :)

Tootie

I about wanted to kill Bug yesterday... I let her and Tootie out of their pen to eat grass while I brushed them and got all of their loose hair off. This is shedding season, so they kinda look pretty rough right now, haha. Anyway, I had their halters on with the lead ropes dragging just brushing them while they grazed (they stay close together and in the same area). I got done grooming them and caught Tootie right away to put him back. I lead them together, because they don't fight or anything and they both lead really well. So I am holding Tootie with one hand and reach out to grap Bug's lead rope. Well apparently she wanted to keep eating and would walk away just barely enough out of my reach. This went on for awhile and I was getting frusterated with her but I couldn't help laughing because she was so good about moving just out of reach! I finally caught her by stepping on the end of the lead rope and grabbing it. But it must have looked funny with me leading one horse chasing another... haha.

This is a picture of Tootie. He is a 7 year old breedingstock paint gelding. His registered name is El Pastor, but I haven't ever shown him... I got him when he was a yearling.

I had a mare named Rosie when I was 12; she was abused when I bought her and it took me a month before I could even touch her. To make a long story short, she ended up becoming one of the most awesome horses I have ever ridden. I would ride her for hours, and she would do anything I asked of her. We would go swimming in rivers, I could run her on a draped rein and she would never try to take off, and we would play hide and seek... haha. I would hide in her pen (there was lots of space and trees) and she would run around looking for me until she found me. It was cute. She didn't like anyone else and would shake when anyone else tried to pet her. When I was 16 (she was 6), I went down to the barn to go ride her and saw her lying down. I put a halter on her and tried to get her to get up, but I could tell it was very painful for her. She was colicing (which is a term that simply means stomach problems). I thought maybe if I walked her I could help her get better (which is the first thing you do when they colic), so I gave her a shot of Banamine and walked her for a long time. She kept trying to lay down, so my parents and I took her to a vet. Turned out she had an impacted cecum (part of the intestine) and it was back where the vet couldn't get to it to operate. He had to put her down. I couldn't go down to the barn for at least a month and I wasn't sure if I even wanted a horse again.

A good friend of mine had Tootie and offered to let me have him if I wanted him. I reluctantly agreed and started working with him. My friend put the first ride on him as a two year old... I am so glad it wasn't me... lol. Before I tell you about that let me just say when Tootie was weaned he was so mad he just stuck his head in the feeder for three straight days and wouldn't move. So anyway my friend put the first ride on Tootie. He rode him in our round pen which is about 5 feet high. Tootie got mad that he was being ridden and literally jumped out of the round pen with the guy still on him. Tootie is really tall for a Quarter/Paint horse, but still! The guy took him back into the round pen and kept riding him. Then he tried to turn Tootie, and Tootie got mad again so he threw himself down on the ground.... just having a tantrum... lol. So pretty much my point is Tootie is stubborn... But I love him for that, most of the time. I have ridden him in the middle of town and through a Sonic, right next to rattlesnakes (stupid), and up the "Cliff of Doom" in the Palo Duro Canyon (stupid again...haha). That horse has been so amazing, he has done everything I asked, even if it was really dumb on my part. So yeah, I love Tootie.... He probably has one of the most offbeat personalities I have ever seen in a horse. He is a huge horse, but he is the biggest chicken around other horses. Horses can pick on him and he'll just take it... He is the best horse to pony another horse off of. The other horse can just be bucking and freaking out and he'll just calmly walk or trot them around without a care in the world. He loves to put things in his mouth, he is like a vacuum. I'll have him tied up and I will look over and he will have the lead rope in his mouth... not chewing on it or anything... just holding it all crammed in his mouth looking totally content. He loves to chase our dog Clutch. I will be riding him and Clutch will run up behind him and bite and pull his tail. Most horses will kick or freak out, but not Tootie. To him it is a game... He and I wheel around and take off after Clutch. Clutch loves it and runs while we track him, like a cow. He will run right ahead of Tootie and be looking back at us while he runs, tounge flopped out and everything. I keep waiting for him to run smack into something. I must have a knack for aquiring goofy animals.

Anyway, I love Tootie. He is an awesome horse.

Stress!

So this weekend was fun! Adam and I went on our first camping trip together :) We took the dirt bike and 4 wheeler and met some friends at the river to ride.

This is the 4 wheeler I ride. It's a 2008 Polaris Outlaw with the KTM motor. I absolutely love it! Jumping on it is like jumping a marshmellow... lol. Anyway, Saturday night we had a campfire and some of our good buddies came over and we drank beer and roasted hot dogs. It was kinda a last time get together... Yesterday morning we spent cleaning up our campsite and rode one more time. It was hard to leave the river, especially for Adam. It will be a long time before we get to ride there again.

Yesterday we took Ruger to Lubbock. He was our 4 month old wolf puppy. He was so cute and absolutely GORGEOUS! It was hard to let him go, but having a wolf at a hunting ranch with people and kids probably wouldn't be the smartest idea. He went to a really good home about 7 hours from here with lots of area to roam and other wolves to play with.

So Adam and I are way stressed out about moving! We walked into the apartment last night when we got home from Lubbock and we were both just overwhelmed with the amount of stuff to do. Boxes and random stuff is everywhere. It looks like a tornado went through the whole place. We are working on it tonight and Adam's mom is helping is pack Wednesday. She is so nice! My parents will drive up Friday night to help us move everything to the ranch Saturday (they live about 45 minutes from the ranch). It's funny how much stuff you can accumulate in a year!!

I am posting some pictures I found of the ranch, so you guys can kinda see what it looks like :)