My New Baby

A quick update on my new love...

After a rough start to her first weekend at her new home, we've finally gotten acquainted wtj each other. What kind of rough start you may ask? Well, let's just say within seconds of getting on her at home for the first time, I quickly found myself somersaulting in the air and hittin' the dirt. I chalked it up to her being young and fresh (fresh means the horse has had some time off from riding so she's got some pent up energy). After regrouping and tiring her out a bit, I got into the saddle again with the company of a slithering snake close by (jury's still out on whether that was a factor in the previous flying incident). We've yet to be airborne again. :)

Jade has this amazing, smooth lope that I fall in love with over and over again, especially if I've just ridden my grey horse. He's as smooth as a scrawny boy in high school.

Soon, I'll be riding Jade in our BRAND new arena... Right in my backyard. Much thanks to Texas for getting on the ball and tearing up the pasture so quickly. It will be the first time in my life that I'll be able to run a standard size barrel pattern at my own house. Woohoo!!!!

Int the meantime, I've left you all with the above picture to 'ooohhh' and 'ahhhhh' over. This was my baby girl as well, a baby, in Canada. She's so sweet!

Goldilocks and the Many Horses

For the last several months since being back in California, I have been on the hunt for a younger horse to ride and train as a barrel horse. It's not that I don't love and enjoy my current "barrel horse" (I use this term loosely as he is also a polo horse, mountain horse, trail guide, jumper). I absolutely adore my 14 year old gray horse, "Im Handlin It" aka Romeo. It's just, he's getting older, and I never did have the chance to properly season him on the barrels when I first got him at 7 years old. ("Seasoning" a horse is introducing the horse to many different arenas at rodeos and barrel races and competing on the horse consistently until they are used to the atmosphere). While I still enjoy taking Romeo to barrel races to see if he will magically one day turn into this 1D (the fastest category of a barrel race) horse, he is getting older. Horses typically prime in their teens, and start to slow down anywhere from mid teens to early twenties, depending on the horse. Personally, I don't think Romeo will slow down until he's 40. That's a joke folks, horses typically live until 30 years old.

Back to the horse search..

I wanted a prospect that had the breeding, attitude, and conformation to succeed as a barrel horse. After seeing several horses and picking out what I didn't like about each one, I found it was quite similar to the story of "Goldilocks and the Three Bears".

Except, instead of the porridge being too hot or too cold, it was a horse who was too skinny or too green. (A "green" horse is one who has very little training)

Instead of three bears, there were many, many horses.

Here is my documentation of my search for the perfect porridge.

 Err I mean, horse.

At the beginning of the horse search, I browsed thru some online ads when I found a really cheap "barrel prospect" up in Red Bluff, about a 4 hour drive. I called the gal about the horse, and everything seemed pretty legit. I told her if the horse was everything she said it was, I'd probably want to come home with her.

Upon driving 4 hours to see this horse and riding her, I discovered this horse didn't have enough "Whoa". None, in fact.

Horse search continues. With the goal of trying to stay local.

Here is Sassy, a cute little cowbred roan just down the road from me. She had a nice handle on her, and she had plenty of "Whoa" unlike the last one.

Sassy was cute and had plenty of potential for cow work, but for barrels, she was just too small and a little older  than what I was looking for (she was 7 years old).

Horse search continues...

I found another horse locally to go look at, again just down our road! A local barrel racer had her marketed cheap because of high hay prices. I figured she was worth a look for being 15 miles away. I rode her around in their tiny arena, and she was decent.. but just not right.

When she took off the saddle, that's when I realized this one was too skinny. I guess she wasn't kidding about not being able to afford to feed all of her horses. Plus, this mare was unregistered which means if I were to resell her, she wouldn't go for as much as a registered mare.

Horse search continues, and it's starting to look dreary.

After looking at several "backyard horseman" and their "home trained horses", I decided to start going straight to the source - locally known horse breeders and trainers. I made an appointment with a pretty well known ranch in the area that had some race bred 4 and 5 year olds thrown into their typically cow and ranch dominated herd.

I really liked this guy, Will.

He was trained to the hilt. In fact, anyone could ride him. He was definitely farther along in his training than I was looking for, but I figured that meant I could put him on the barrel pattern quicker.

Problem with this one? Too expensive.

I thought the owner was giving me a quote of a down payment on his ranch when he told me the price of his horse.

The horse search continues...

After calling up a few local barrel racing breeders and finding out I was about three weeks too late to buy anything they had available, I found a lady through my horse shoer. She was located in my town with a 6 year old barrel prospect that was started on the barrel pattern.

Besides thinking this girl, Cassie, was a mule the first time I saw her, she was trained well and was easy to ride.

After trying her out twice, I decided I just wasn't in love with her, and I had told myself I would never buy a gray horse again because of my gelding's melanoma problems. (Gray horses are susceptible to melanoma and sometimes it can be fatal - my gray gelding will probably die of melanoma as they are more than likely internal)

Plus, I thought she was a little too pokey (slow) to be a barrel horse prospect.

After I depleted the local horse sources, I didn't know how much longer I could continue with the horse search. I had spent hundreds of gas money to try out these horses, dragged Texas along to many of them on his days off, and was just downright sick of the horse search.

That's when I found her.

I had seen this ad online for this 4 year old for several months. The ad seemed promising, but the price was way more than I wanted to spend. After a price reduction on the ad, I decided to ask a few questions about this girl, Jade.

After talking to the horse's "agent" (her owner lives in Canada and Texas, and dropped the horse off with the "agent" in California to ride and sell), I decided to spend the gas money to come out and try her.

That's when I fell in love.

Jade's downfall is that the extent of her training is a bit of a mystery. She was sent to a barrel racing trainer in Texas as a 2 year old, but was not getting all the training she was supposed to. She was sent to the agent in California on January 1st of this year skinny, wormy, and a little scared.

Jade is a big 15.2 hand mare and still growing. Her breeding is spectacular. Her sire (father) is a leading Canadian Barrel Racing sire, and her dam (mom) is the offspring of a Charmayne James (11 time World Champion Barrel Racer) stud. I found her ad as a weanling in Canada at the ranch she was born on, and I found information on her half brothers and sisters. They are all successful barrel horses in the 4-D and Pro Rodeo world. Even if she never makes it big like her brothers and sisters, she can always be bred and should have amazing foals.

With the right guidance, I am hoping this girl will make a really fun barrel horse.

This porridge was perfect.

I brought her home about two weeks ago, and she has adjusted to ranch life pretty well. She is still young, and anything can happen with a 4 year old.

She has already made a friend...

The old man has a new girlfriend!

Welcome home Jade!!

Pep the Gardener

Sorry ya'll for the delay in blogging. I've been busy gardening and keeping up with our flowerbeds.

Thank goodness I have such great help.

Pepe, Peppy, Kitty Kitty, Will You Please Stop Meowing... whatever you wanna call her, she is such great help around the flowerbeds. She helps with the spices, like the peppermint and cilantro above.

She gives me massages, so I don't get sore from gardening.

She's so sweet. Definitely not in the way. At all. Never.

She helps me rake the garden.

She helps me by... well, I honestly have no idea what she's trying to do here. She does make gardening a little more entertaining.

Gardening would not be as fun without little miss Pep. I think she believes life would not be as fun without gardening.

Sometimes 9 Lives Is Not Enough

It's tough being a ranch kitty.

Growing up on a ranch with cats and kittens running around everywhere is so much fun for a 7 year old animal loving girl...

...until she watches a coyote snatch a 5 week old kitten off of a hay bale, or sees a mama cat laying on the side of the road.

Such is life around here - these cats really do need all of their 9 lives to survive out here. As a young girl, I tried sneaking back plenty of kittens to my parents house. I did successfully bring back one about 12 years ago. Wouldn't ya know, that cat is still alive and has defeated all ranch kitty odds of living outside. Long live Alfalfa. :)

While I am now somewhat used to the high turnover rate of cats around here, Texas just got his first "whiff" of outdoor ranch kitty trials and tribulations.

Wednesday was a rough day for ranch kitties and Texas. Bless his heart.

I got a call from my sister early Wednesday morning to check on a "sleeping" kitty in my mom's driveway by the road. She was afraid my mom's old housecat had resurrected just long enough to get hit by a car. Fortunately and unfortunately, it was not my mom's cat that has been gone for over a year. It happened to be a little bobkitty looking male cat that actually took on Tobe's dog a couple weeks ago out in pasture.

RIP Bobkitty.

Later that morning, Texas had to take the tractor drag out of my arena into one of the corrals. He hooked up the drag, and I held the arena gate open for him, so one of the horses wouldn't escape...

Unfortunately, one of the kitties from an old garage litter of ours had been taking a catnap underneath the drag... and I'll just leave it at that.

RIP gray kitty.

When there are so many cats around with heavy machinery and the country road with cars traveling up to 70 mph, we frequently lose ranch kitties. It's a way of life around here, sadly.

This is why my Colorado Rockies kitty has turned into an indoor bug eating machine.

She is much safer inside. She'll likely die of obesity or boredom rather than becoming coyote bait. Or roadkill.

One Big Happy Family

Here's a brain teaser:

Does my cat think she's a dog? Or do our dogs think they're cats??

Texas and His New Toy

A few weeks ago, one of my Uncles brought down our new welder.

For those that don't know what a welder is or does...

Let me give you the 411.

I actually don't know that much about welding except that there are some oxygen tanks, hoses, sparks, and lots of dials on a machine that looks like it should belong in an airplane.

I do know that a welder can aid in the creation of many beautiful things.

One being a coat rack... which was so beautifully handcrafted and placed in our mudroom by Texas a few weeks ago. Horseshoes adorn the coat rack as hangers.

Other things such as lamps, chairs, tables... anything that you want to create out of metal, your imagination is the limit!

The latest creation Texas made was inspired by a candleholder we received years ago from our horseshoer. He made it all out of horseshoes.. obviously. I really wanted a candleholder big enough to house the candle my dad bought me about a year ago, so my mom suggested Texas try making one out of horseshoes.

An hour and one coat of black spray paint later, I am a proud mama of a pretty black horse shoe candle holder. I love having a handy man! :)

Nothing Comes Between a Dog and His Jolly Ball

My dog has this...

Problem.

It's called...

...a Jolly Ball.

 I have never seen this dog, or any dog for that matter, so excited to play with this ball.

Every single day.

It's like why he lives.

Because of this ball obsession, I have come to learn that my dog...

...may not be the most coordinated dog.

Nope. Definitely not coordinated.

But at least he's still cute.

TGIF

Well, this post was started on Friday... but life as we know it took over. So, how about we call it TGLWIO. Thank God Last Week Is Over.

This last week and weekend has been a little busy. Just a little. I feel like a 50 year old woman... tired, cranky, menopausal.

Ok, maybe not the last one, but my body does feel like it's been through hell.

Last Monday came and went just like every other day here on the ranch. We branded. Sorted. Checked preg dates. The weather's starting to get a little warmer, so my Texas man is slowly melting...

Tuesday turned into a semi busy day. It started out like every other day. Started branding in the morning, and I went to lunch smelling like cow flesh, smoke, and manure.

Mmmm. Sexy.

Later in the day, my mom got a call from a broker who we know from auctions. He had a buyer coming out from Pennslyvania.

The pair was supposed to arrive at our ranch at 2 p.m. that day to look at some cows. 

2 p.m. turned into 5 p.m.

 5 p.m. turned into 6 p.m.

And they finally showed up around 6:30 p.m. 

Everyone on the ranch was anxiously awaiting the arrival of the cow buying pair, even these two -

Once the fellas arrived, everyone worked out in the pens, going thru cows until dark.

 And after dark.

Pennslyvania man told us he'd be back Thursday to pick out two loads which is approximately 76 Springers..

Springers are Mama Cows for those who have not been following along... :)

We all had an auction down south in Hanford to go to the next day, so that's why they told us they'd be back on Thursday. In the dark, we all headed back to my mom's house for some pizza and a cold one. Or two.

Little did we know, the week of madness had just begun...

Wednesday morning came a little early, more specifically, about 5:20 a.m. I jumped outta bed all bright eyed.

Ha, sike!

After a few cups of joe, I could at least pretend to have my eyelids open.

The herdsman and I filled up the trailer tires with air, packed on 14 Springers (see: ABOVE), picked up my momma, and we were on our way down to Hanford. A nice little three hour jaunt with the cowsies. I drove. I love my new black beast.

When we finally made it to the first livestock yard, we unloaded the mamas, including my own mama, and I got to drive around the auction's little 4 wheel drive cart otherwise known as a "Gator". Since we now had a 30 foot trailer attached to our truck, we couldn't just zip on back to the corrals where the potential new cows would be located.

After looking at the first auction's cows, we headed on over to the next auction down the road. Quite literally, a mile down the road. We checked out what they had to sell over there, and then we giddy up'ed back on over to the first auction which always starts first.

The herdsman and I sat through the sale there to watch our Mamas sell, and then we waited on my phone to ring to know if my Mom bought any cows over at the second auction.

And we waited.

And we waited, for what seemed like eternity. Especially since we drank all the water in our truck, and the auction's kitchen had closed up.

Finally, we heard from my mom, and my uncles dropped her off at the auction we were at.

We didn't bring any new baby cows back, but we did buy the Gator.

Ha, sike!!! We didn't buy the gator, but we did buy 106 new little heifers to bring back home.

So, being that we brought the new rig, and 106 little cows a little bit too much to pack on one semi truckload, I brought some back in our trailer.

So, the madness begins.

It seemed simple enough to pull up to the chute to load the cows. I was, of course, nervous to back up the rig for the first time somewhere other than our ranch in front of a bunch of auction workers..

but they had to make it even more difficult on me by having me back up first in one corner...

and then decide I needed to back up to another corner...

and when they finally decided that I was in the right part of the yard...

they forgot that they had mixed all of our cows together...

which caused a headache because we had to separate 106 of them again...

before 20 of them could be loaded on my trailer...

and the other 86 on the semi...

Ay caramba!

So, after an hour dillydallying around the auction yard in Hanford, we headed back home.

Three hours later, we were all very excited to be back home.

Back home in the comfort of a lighted house, pipes full of water, and dinner on the table...

Ha, ssssiiiiikkkeee!!!!

Texas and my little sister had informed my mom on the way home that our ranch had lost power.

The ranch had conveniently lost power during The Texas Man's cooking hour in which he started cooking for us a delicious meal of:

Chicken Fried Deer Steak

Fresh Broccoli

BBQ Jalapeno Poppers

accompanied by Sam Adams Cherry Wheat beer

When our ranch loses power, we lose the phone, light, internet, and the water. The most important of those being the water because not only are we without water, but so are the cows. We may be able to go a few hours without water, but pregnant mama cows can't!

My mom called PG&E while we were on the road, so she could report the outage. Previous outages have proved to be not a problem for our neighbors who fail to report outages, so it's always my mom to be the one to call in. She figured this way the power would be on by the time we got home which would mean cows, old and new, would have water to drink.

Luckily, the power did come on right about the time we arrived home. We put the cows away, and we all went to bed, happy and full of deer steak.

Ha, sike!!!!!

The power came back on, but for some reason, the water hadn't turned back on. While my mom and the herdsman attempted to get the water turned back on, Texas started back on dinner which he was preparing for all of us.

Unfortuantely, the water problem didn't get better. My mom and the herdsman spent a good 30-45 minutes in the dark trying to turn the water back on. At 8:30 p.m., my mom had to call the "water guy" who came out to fix our situation instantly... and he flicked the "reset" button, and the ranch's water turned back on in a flash.

............

No sike there folks.

Apparently, we had a "brownout" which meant the power didn't fully go off at first, so the water pump had turned itself off to prevent damage. It just needs someone to turn it back on or push the "reset" button inside this handy little box by my house.

Everyone called it quits after that aorund 9 p.m., and Texas and I sent a plate home with my little sister to give to my mom after she got done with the water guy.

Phew. Wednesday, check.

Let Thursday begin!!

We expected the Pennslyvania buyer Thursday morning at 8 a.m. to go through cows to buy. Since he only planned on buying two truckloads, we figured it would take him no more than two hours to pick out some Springers. We set up the Brand Inspection at 10 a.m. with this is mind.

A Brand Inspection is needed everytime we sell a cow, whether it be to an auction or to an outside buyer. Auctions hire their own B.I.'s, so we don't have to worry about calling a B.I. unless we are doing a private sale.

Back to Thursday morning. The buyer showed up late again. Fortunately, only 20 minutes late instead of 4.5 hours.

Anyways, the two hours we had set aside to pick cows turned out to be nowhere near long enough. In fact, the buyer decided to buy three truckloads instead of two which means 116 cows instead of 76. The increase in cows along with the fact that the buyer handpicked every cow out of 300 cows led to our long day. Along with the Brand Inspector, we were out sorting through cows from 8:20 a.m. until about 12:00 p.m. Instead of going to lunch, we all ran around like a teeny bopper in Los Angeles, and we got the cows ready to ship out. By 2 p.m., we had sent out two thirds of the cattle.

Have fun in Pennslyvania girls! While the day was much shorter in length than Wednesday was, it felt just as long if not longer. We barely had time to grab a drink of water in those six hours, nonetheless think.

We spent the rest of the day sleeping. Seriously. All day. Texas and I woke up long enough to feed our animals and ourselves and go back to bed.

Thursday, check.

Friday was a little less hectic with my day starting out by dropping off some cows at the auction in Turlock. The rest of the morning was relatively calm. At 2 p.m., we had the vet come out to take care of shots and legality matters for the other 40 head of Springers waiting to ship to Pennslyvania. After an hour of writing down numbers, ripping off tags, putting on new tags, etc., we were done and just had to wait for the truck to arrive Monday.

Dun dun dunnnnn....

I wish I could say I had a nice, relaxing weekend, but Texas and I had friends come into town that we know from working in Colorado. This is a story for another post, but I can leave you with the knowledge that I can still NOT move after dancing my cowboy boots off on Saturday night for the Oakdale Rodeo.

I thought weekends were for getting rest???

To be continued...

Do you want a tissue?

Seriously... do you want a tissue??

Sooo not lady like.

Seven Months

Help. Someone, please help.

I've got a problem. I'm obsessed with my puppy.

How can you not love a face like this??

He's an old man this month... seven months old.

Please stop. Stop being so cute. I can't get any work done around this place.