Levi's Remuda

Levi now owns more horses than any other three-month-old that I know.

Thanks to coworker Denise, he inherited this collection of model horses.

They will remain packed away for quite some time still, but I'm looking forward to watching him play with them when he gets older.

My thought is to get a few out for him, saving enough for his younger siblings that they can each have their own. Why not share the good fortune?

All I know is that I would have loved to have this many model horses to play with when I was little, so I hope he enjoys them as much as I would have. :-) Thanks, Denise!

Autumn in Wyoming

The other evening baby Levi was very grouchy, so I loaded him up in my white truck and off we went to check on the mares and colts. That's my mare Jazz, third horse from the left.

I wanted to try to get some good photos of Levi while we were out there, and I even had some props and outfits, but he wasn't having any of it. After I took these two photos of the horses he was crying again, so I put down my camera and got him to carry around while I looked at the horses. That's Jazz's filly, Cindy Lou Who, in the above photo. She's getting big! I love how pretty the rimrocks and shrubs are, with their red and orange autumn color.

Like I said, love the autumn color. :-) Speaking of autumn color... we're headed to Estes Park in a few minutes for the weekend, and I have two fancy lenses that I rented from the local camera shop - one for the fall color and one for the bugling elk.

The girls love it when they get to go somewhere where they can run.

Geese flying south for the winter at sunset.

It was a lovely fall evening.

And now I need to get going to finish packing, because Scott's home and anxious to hit the road. Let's see if I remember everything I need to pack for baby. :-)

Then and Now: the Pets

Continuing with the 'then and now' theme, I thought I'd do a post about the aminals that have been around over the last five years... You'll have to forgive the randomness of the photos, they're just the first ones of the appropriate animals that I came across on my external drive.

Then: The photo above features the one animal, besides my mare April, who came to Wyoming with me and is still with me... That would be Link, who continues to be a character with quite the personality. He was about three or four months old when we moved to our apartment in Wyoming, and he has been a great companion ever since.

Now: This is a recent photo of Link, showing a little bit of his personality... Apparently it's too much effort to stand and drink at the water bowl..

Then: Lexus joined Link and me in the summer of 2007.

Now: Lexus stayed with us through November 2010. She was a sweet, lovable little kittie, but had to move on because of unresolvable behavior issues. It was a sad decision to let her go, but I enjoyed having her for the few years that I did.

Then: April is the bay horse leading the line, and she came with me in 2006. At that time I kept her in a pasture west of town with several other horses, before moving her in to Galles's so I didn't have to drive so far to get her.

Now: April lives west of Casper again, in a friend's pasture, and recently had a filly. She's 18 now, and starting to show her age, but is still in good health.

Then: Jazz came out from Iowa in the summer of 2008, I think. I can't remember exactly what year I got her, but it was the summer my dad got fed up with putting up with her harrassing the cows and calves. :-)

Now: It's been good to have two horses around, as over the last couple summers I rode enough that both got consistent use and I alternated what jobs and trips I used them for. Jazz came with me on last summer's pack trip to Gannet Peak from Dubois.

Then: In February 2010 Lucy joined the family as a four-week-old pup. Needless to say, Link was not impressed with my decision to get a dog.

Now: Lucy's a year-and-a-half old, and has grown up to be quite the cow dog. She loves to work, and would do it all day, every day if we gave her the opportunity. She's also a nut, who always sticks her nose everywhere where it's not wanted, and her curly tail is her trademark.

Then: Foxy joined the clan in June 2010 at about eight weeks old. She came from a friend of ours who has a ranch near Thermopolis, and the first day we had her in Casper she was very grouchy and growly and didn't like anybody.

Now: She's actually turned into the sweetest little dog, and her trademark is her slouch and her eyebrows. She's a lot more calm than Lucy, and she loves to be loved. It took her a little longer to come into her own working cows, but now she's a tough little girl who will bail in and bite them wherever she can get a hold. We thought she was a non-shedder. Turns out, she just holds onto all her fur and lets it all go in the span of about one week in July. There was a lot of vacuuming needed!

Now: New this spring was the addition of two fillies - Cindy Lou Who and Pipsqueak, who is the lazy one in the photo above.

Cindy Lou was born the end of March, and Pippy came two months later, I think. She was a month later than I had expected, and was the tiniest little foal. She's growing well now, and will be a very cute, feminine horse. Although she's the one with the stubborn, feisty streak. Cindy Lou is much more laid back and easy to get along with.

And the next 'now' that will be the latest addition to the family in a few weeks is Baby Martinez!!

Summer's Heat

Another weekend already over! They do go by so fast, but really, if not for the work week to separate the weekends, I don't think we'd appreciate them so much.

This last weekend I took the equivalent of six hours in naps, and it was wonderful. :-) Friday evening and Saturday morning it was just cat Link and myself at the house, so we did some organizing projects and worked on baby things before heading to the ranch late Saturday afternoon for dinner. I took a rhubarb cobbler and ice cream to share - coworker Jody and I made a visit to the Casper farmers' market Saturday morning, where I picked up the rhubarb.

All of the 'menfolk' had spent Saturday gathering and trailing cows, and everyone was pretty hot and tired, and our dogs were pretty worn out after that. I was kind of glad for a good excuse to stay out of the hot summer sun.

So Sunday morning we all woke up at 4 and they saddled their horses and we had breakfast together before loading up the horses.

They were headed several pastures in the direction of town, so I tagged along with them and pestered them for photo ops after they'd unloaded the horses. Thankfully they were obliging, as I wanted to experiment with some silhouettes, which I haven't done a whole lot of.

After they headed back west toward the cows on their horses, I slowly made my way east toward town, making a few stops on the way to try some more photo experiments. This one of the tree I'm not in love with, but it's close to what I was looking for.

And I'm not in love with this daybreak one either, but again, it's close. Practice makes perfect! I was glad for the prime opportunity to take early-morning photos.

After getting back to town the pups and I had some more breakfast - it had been four hours since the first one, so I figured it was ok - and then headed out to check on the fillies, which I hadn't seen in two weeks. I turned out staying longer than anticipated, but I did get my red two-horse trailer sold, so it was worth it. I also took the chance to ride each of my mares a little bit, and I think that's the first time they've had a bit in their mouths all summer long.

Then I came back to town and slept for two hours. :-)

Weekend in Photos: Honest Horses

Yesterday we went up to Kaycee to help Uncle Sonny and Aunt Carole brand a group of calves between rain showers. The weather held, the cattle worked smoothly and I, being on 'light duty' this summer, kept my camera in hand.

At this branding, in addition to the usual photos and angles, I tried to focus on the horses.

You just can't beat a good working ranch horse.

They know their job, and they do it well.

After April had a filly last Friday evening, bring me to two for two, I will still be in search of a gelding to get started.

 

These horses know how to quietly move into a bunch of cows and calves, tracking one calf at a time for their rider to rope.

They don't get excited, or stir things up.

And then they patiently drag calves, one by one, to the branding stove.

Then they wait, some of them holding one end of the calf, until branding, vaccinating, ear-marking and castrating is finished up, all of which only takes a matter of a minute or two.

They are the silent partners on ranches, but that doesn't mean they're underappreciated.

Because every cowboy and rancher knows the value of having a sound, solid and smart partner.

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.