Bittersweet

Well, since Romeo's been on a winning streak the last two weeks, I decided to take him to another local barrel race this weekend in hopes I could muster up the courage to push him even more.

Well, things didn't really go as planned. You know how I mentioned before the I could not get Romeo to understand the whole stopping factor? Hi Ho Silver, our tires were screeching like no other yesterday afternoon.

Instead of his usual third barrel blowout, Romeo had some difficulties turning around the 1st and the 2nd, but ironically came around the 3rd in decent time. Looking back at the video, confused and disgusted with how last time I ran him he was so smooth, and now he's back to not knowing what he's doing - I realized he was looking like he was very much in pain. I have mentioned before that Romeo suffers from melanoma - skin cancer. He has growths all over his body, including his lips which continue to get bigger and bigger. I have been trying to use a hackamore (headgear without a bit, so that his mouth doesn't get torn apart) the last month or two on him, but I had to switch him back to a bit two weeks ago when I was switching gear around.

My theory is that Romeo's mouth was sore from being in a bit the last two weeks, so he was less sensitive to the racing bit in his mouth yesterday. He went into the barrel like he was going to turn it, and when I tried to help him around on the backside, he literally stopped in his tracks and his head came up = not good, very much in pain.

We finished the run 1.5 seconds slower than we had ran two weeks before. Needless to say, I was pretty disappointed, confused, and worried.

Why would Romeo just do a 180 on me? What did I do wrong?

Well, cross your fingers folks that we get it figured out. First step is getting him back into that hackamore, and trying him out in another week or two at the next barrel race.

Funny thing is?

Texas and I left the barrel race before they finished because I assumed my time wouldn't win any money, not even in the slowest division. I checked online this morning to find out that we won the "slow" division for a prize money worth almost 4 times what I paid to enter. Woo! I guess that was Romeo's way of saying, "Sorry Mom, my mouth hurt, but here's some money, please forgive me?"

We'll see Romeo, we'll see...

Obsessed

My dog has this problem.

You see, he loves his tennis ball.

He takes it everywhere with him.

He takes it to my mom's house.

He takes it to work with the cows.

He runs around with it in his mouth until someone offers to kick or throw it for him.

When he gets that offer, he begins to bounce up and down in anticipation which I can only imagine he inherited from his mother, a Viszla. Viszlas are know for being a little bit bouncy. Stoney definitely has got some boing in his step.

In Your Pocket

Over the last three months, someone has come into her own...

Jade has completely come out of her shell. It wasn't like she was a mean horse when I brought her home, but she definitely lacked the special personality I like to see in my horses.

Now that she's used to her surroundings and me, she has turned into what I refer to as a lovebug. She loves hanging her head over the fence (yes, most times in hopes of grain, but she does enjoy a scratch on the head here and there too), she likes resting her muzzle on my shoulder, sniffing my hair whenever I'm working around her... She's just such a sweetie!

Being a sweetheart along with totally bullying Romeo around with her huge ol' body makes it fun to be around her. I have yet to watch her do anything mean besides pin her ears at Romeo here and there, but I think that stems from him getting bites of her grain. :)

Taking A Ride In Ol' Blue

I'm such a rude bloggeress.

I have yet to introduce yall to Ol' Blue.

"Who in tarnation is Ol' Blue?", you say.

Ol' Blue is our 1970's Ford Cattle Transportation Truck. It's awesome.

I love riding in Ol' Blue. Sometimes he doesn't start in a jiffy, but once he gets going, it's hard to slow 'em down!

Today, Stoney and I went with our Herdsman to the local auction a few miles down the road (that's about as far as Ol' Blue can go from the homestead) to drop off a couple cows.

Lovin' this life.

8 P.M.

In case you were wondering...

...this is what 8 P.M. looks like around here.

Dust Bowl 2011, West Coast Edition

Sometimes in the evening hours, the younger black and white gals get a little bit rowdy.

Last night was one of those nights. This picture may not portray it true to fashion, but trust me, we were experiencing Dust Bowl 2011, West Coast Edition.

Dang cows.

STEERS GONE WILD!

Last night, Texas and I rode the horses out in the beef pasture to cool them down like we do almost every night that we ride.

Last night though, something was a little off.

I think the steers out in the beef pasture have gotten a little full of themselves with their Daddio and Chief (Chico the Angus Bull) being separated from his ladies for the month.

Texas and I were just enjoying a leisurely ride and were headed back to the gate when we heard grass crunching and pounding hooves.

Steers gone WILD I tell ya! So glad my 4 year old horse thought nothing of it. Maybe she used to get run down by cows as a baby. Or maybe she's just really chill. It's probably the latter.

Folks, be forewarned, steers may go wild when not under Bull supervision...

Redneck Woman

For the last month, I have been waiting on a special delivery.

I saw this item in a catalog a couple months ago and knew I just had to have them, especially since they were rather fitting for my new redneck of a horse.

Why is she redneck? Well, her registed name contains the phrase "Yawl", so obviously that means she's a little bit hillbilly, yah?

Anyways, back to the story. I ordered these special bell boots (boots that go around her hooves to prevent her from hitting her front hooves with her back hooves) about a month ago. They got lost somewhere between the mail lady and my mailbox, but they mysteriously ended up in my mailbox a day after I complained to the company I bought them from and the Post Office.

The End, And They All Lived Happily Ever After.

Wrong.

I put the boots on my precious baby girl, and they were too small.

Dang that red big boned, large footed creature.

So, I had to send the boots back and wait for them to send a larger size. Two weeks later, I check the tracking website to see what day to expect them.

Turns out, I missed the mail lady when she stopped by to deliver them the other day.

Does the world not want my horse to be stylin'?

I finally caught the mail lady yesterday and tore my package out of her hands, and then kicked her tire as she tried to escape before Texas came out with the BB gun.

Alright, that story may have been exaggerated just a touch, but I had some extreme anger and annoyance towards the mail lady for causing so much distress in my life over these joyous bell boots.

The End, And They All Lived Happily Ever After...

... In Their John Deere Boots.

6 A.M.

In case you were wondering...

This is what it looks like here around 6 a.m.

Or, 5 a.m. if you're Texas working in June.

Also, in case you were wondering, that dark haze in the sky is not actually a California smog haze! It's the Sierra Nevadas we have right out our backdoor! Or maybe 10 miles out the back door. Ish.

Today was a very long day. I don't think I took a breather between 6 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Our Herdsman and I sorted cows all morning to get all the girls ready for the vets that came at 1 p.m. to start the blood work process necessary for them to go overseas next month.

Between sorting cows, pushing cows back out to pasture, sorting cows again, running cows from one pen to another, figuring out the jumble of paperwork, plugging the jumble into the computer to make an organized jumble, and dealing with all the work when the vets were here in 99 degree heat, I'm done in.

Holy cow, that was a long day.



I'm ready for a Tri-Tip sandwich from our favorite beef joint in town, rightly named House of Beef (clever, right? I think it pretty well gets the point across) and a couple of cold brewskis. Which means, not only do I get the night off, but so do two rambunctious 4-legged beasts I know...

Today

Today...

our Herdsman and I went at it early to sort through a few hundred heifers to see which ones were pregnant, which ones were not, and to find the ones in between. We have another pending international sale in which we need to locate all of our ladies that could be pregnant from 1-5 months. From our standpoint, we want to find every possible girl on site that might be pregnant within that time, so we can sell as many as possible.

How, one might wonder, do you decide whether a heifer is pregnant, could be pregnant or is definitely not pregnant? Especially when we are going through girls that are no more than a month or two along?

 Eeny-meeny-miny-moe?

He loves me, he loves me not?

Rock, paper, scissors?

Red light, green light?

Sometimes, it definitely feels like that's how we do things - just pick every other one and you're good.

In reality, we have all of the information we need at our fingertips in order to determine which heifers are pregnant or not (or in between) via technology.

Everytime the breeder (the guy who comes in every morning to, well, breed via artificial insemination) comes in, he records what girl he bred, with what bull, and on what day. After a two week period, we take the compilation of all that data and plug it into the computer. From those figures, we decide when those girls need to get checked in a few weeks to determine pregnancy.

With that knowledge, along with steady record keeping of tracking what pens contain what heifers, we are prepared for drop of the hat sales like this one we are currently handling.

Today...

is also a beautiful day. Temperatures in the 80's-90's. Where did the Central Valley California summers disappear to? The ones where we had several days straight of 100+ degree weather? The ones that didn't have a nice breeze? The ones where you couldn't see the not so far away mountains and foothills?

Today...

cows got fed a lot of food.

Oh wait, that happens everyday.

Today...

I got paid to hang out with these black and white balls of fun. Well, mostly fun. I got slathered in manure a few times, but that's to be expected of nearly every job ... right?

Today...

Stoney played Superviser all morning.

Today...

I'm missing my best friend, boyfriend, and roomie as he starts his first day of school. See ya in three years Texas.

As you can tell, I'm a drama queen.

But dangit! I've been so spoiled the last 7 months to be living and working with my man, I've gotten used to having him around all the time. It still amazes me that we don't get sick of each, but maybe it's because that's how our relationship began, two friends amongst other peers living and working together.

Today...

is not over yet, so I must be on my way! I have to ride TWO horses this afternoon because my exercise rider is being studious. I need to get some barn chores done. Last but not least, I need to work out, so I can keep this new bod of mine in shape which is now twenty pounds lighter.

Happy trails!