I didn't...

break any bones, nor did I bounce with any grace. It's been a long time (10 years if I'm recollecting correctly) since I hit the ground from the top of a horse. Until yesterday.

I was in "hot pursuit" of a wayward cow, jumping creeks and sagebrush, having a great time... I don't know what happened next... did we jump a sagebrush and I fouled my horse somehow? He's a colt, in experience if not in age, and is still a bit on the green side. I must have bumped him, but he jumped up and sideways again and I knew I was off. I concentrated on getting my left foot out of the stirrup. It did come, but not until I was somewhat below it. I landed on my pelvis/lower back. My horse continued on at a high rate of speed over the horizon.

There were no witnesses, the Cowgirls, and our summer intern, Shane, were all over the hill, and the Rancher was down the road shoeing the neighbor's horse. So I reached in my pocket for my cell phone and called him to say I was laying on my back in the meadow at the top of the canyon. He was not pleased. I was up and moving before I got off the phone with him. He, being done with the neighbor's horses, drove up the road and found my horse about half way home. The Biggest Cowgirl came riding over the hill to find her mom afoot with no horse in sight. Like a trooper she eased on around the cows and got them turned before they headed down the canyon. I caught up with her and we got them back over the hill in the direction we wanted them. She kept with them and soon disappeared in the pine trees. I spied the other two cowgirls and the intern and hollered for them. They, too, were surprised to see Mommy without a horse. I doubled up with the Littlest Cowgirl, and off we went to help sis with the cows. After quite a bit more effort we got them through the gate, where we found the Rancher, sitting on my horse!

Thankfully, there was ibuprophen in the pick-up and I got to drive the pick-up home! All's well that end's well, and hey, it got me to post on my blog again!!

Swearing In

The Rancher has just sworn in the Cowgirls as Deputies of Ranch Security. They are off to the chicken house to see if the previous night's murderer has returned. Da, da, dum. There is a fresh blanket of snow, so tracking should be relatively easy. Stay tuned....

It's a girl!

Lil, the mare, gave birth to this adorable filly sometime between 8:00pm last night and 6:00am this morning! I think we'll call April 20th her birthday, since that is my trusty old gelding, Woody's birthday, too. (He's 24!)

On the payroll....

On Thursday, we hitched the Haffie's to the cart and headed out to feed the cows! Nothing like on the job training! They did a very nice job. We had to go about a mile to the stack yard, so The Rancher let them trot out. He said he really likes the way they move.

So we hooked the hay bale feeder to the back of the cart like we did last year, and then the girls got an idea of what WORK really is! They actually did better than the big team at not flipping out with the weight of the initial pull. Here are the pictures of the event, which are NOT in the correct order... I can't seem to change it either. The second picture should be last. The second bale was very flat sidded, and possibly frozen to the ground or the bale beind it... Either way the girls pulled so hard they bent the double tree, thus ending their work for the day. We fed the bale with the pickup and I ground drove the girls back home. Other than the slight equipment problem, all went very well!

GO TEAM!

No, this post has nothing to do with the Super Bowl. It's about OUR TEAM!!! We hitched our two Haflinger mares to the cart today! We affectionately call them the Haffie's, which you can see pictures of in a previous post.


So first we hitched them to the cart, but since they are so much smaller than our big team of Belgians from last year... they didn't really fit. So rather than have a wreck we un hitched them. I worked with each mare driving single for a bit. Then I took Sis, the younger one out and drove her around the front pasture. The biggest cowgirl came along with the snow sled she got for Christmas, and I had Sis pull her around... pretty soon we had two sleds and three cowgirls behind her!

Then I took Sis back and drove Lil and Sis together again... all this time, the Rancher was working on shortening the tongue of the stone boat (big heavy sled) to fit the Haffies, since the cart is borrowed and the owner may not like us shortening the tongue! By the time I was driving the team back past where he was working, he was ready to hitch them.

They did very well. Lil did try to have a little run away when the sled crossed a patch of gravel, rather than the quieter snow, but the Rancher held firm and all went well.

The camera battery was dead... but it's charged now! So maybe tomorrow I'll get some pictures! They sure make a cute team!

Hold Your Horses!

There may be some activity coming up on my blog! I've been working on my website, and my webmaster, The Great and amazing Ginger, reaalllly thought it would be good to include a link to my blog.

Guess that means I have to start posting again!
There's no time like the present!

Oh and if you want to check out how the beef website is coming along... go to www.BarLLBeef.com and feel free to leave comments or sugggestions here.

The Mighty Hunter!

Today, the Redheaded Cowgirl scored a first! She's the first cowgirl to have shot a turkey! She shot it on her first shot, on opening day of turkey season! She's proud, mom and dad are proud, and the other cowgirls are proud, too!

The Rancher prepared the breast, because we had been told that the rest may be a little tough. It was delicious!!! We roasted it with a whole stick of butter (due to having skinned rather than plucked the bird) and some soup seasonings that the Biggest Cowgirl made a while back and had accidentally read the recipe as ground pepper rather than green pepper. We'd have made a pepper steak rub out of them, but for the celery in the recipe... sooo... Mary Ann's Seasoned Pepper Turkey Rub is born! YUM!!! And just in time for the holidays!

And just so you don't think we tossed the rest of the bird... the "tough" parts are in the freezer and will have a great future in a pot of Mary Ann's Rocky Mountain Cranberry Bean Soup! (Yeah, I'm always marketing!)