Trailing cows on a summer Saturday

Last Saturday Scott and I were able to take advantage of gorgeous summer weather and do some riding up at the Association.

The girls were also glad to take advantage of the day, and we let them come with us to help move a group of cows and calves from one pasture to another.

The girls take their job very seriously. In this photo they were going with Scott to help him get a cow out of that boggy area down in the draw.

The first task was to gather the cows...

As both my mares are still on baby duty, I rode Scott's gelding Deets.

The Ferrises and surrounding smaller mountains were very pretty that day.

The cows, of course, kept trying to drift the wrong direction - away from the direction of the gate they needed to go through - but eventually they were all pointed the right way.

This was when we finally had them all gathered and strung out up the appropriate draw.

Then it was just a matter of keeping them moving along - the trek to the gate was probably a couple miles from this point.

It was a lovely day for a ride! That's Scott and Fiddler off to the right.

Bob and his dogs were also out riding with us.

Eventually we left the lower end of the draw and got back into trails through the sagebrush.

Notice how Scott stole the dogs for most of the ride! I had no help with my wayward cows. :-(

And we finally reached the gate, where Bob is standing off to the left to guide them into the pasture to the north.

The pups were getting pretty tired by this point.

And then we rode home...

Foxy doing her Foxy thing. She's gotten pretty good at moving cows, but sometimes she gets confused as to which one she's supposed to go after, so she just bales into the middle of all of them, oftentimes cutting in front of the one you want chased up. :-)

I like the big clump of cottonwoods that signals how close - or how far - you are from the ranch house. They were very pretty last fall.

The dogs were greatful for a water hole along the way.

By the time we hit the gate into the yard, I was ready to stretch out my joints, and I wasn't about to climb back up on Deets, so Scott took this one of us standing next to each other, instead.

Lu and I resting in the shade of the horse barn after unsaddling and turning the horses out - we both needed a break!

Foxy was also pretty pooped, and had her eyes full of dust, but it was a good ride, and I think we were all glad to get out of town and enjoy the day.