2012

February, 2012 – It is calving season in Northern Nevada and with the newborn calves come the hawks and eagles sitting on the fence posts.  I drive by one ranch on the way home and out in the field you can see the tiny black lumps on the yellow winter grass.  At least it has been a mild winter for them.  I always feel sorry when those babies are lying in the snow, still wet, or a couple of days old with their butts to a blizzard.  Anyway, for me, it is the first signal that Spring, is indeed, on it’s way.  The next sign of Spring, born out of being indoors, looking out and dreaming of warmer days, is that my weekend calendar starts filling up.  Upcoming horse shows are scheduled, brandings and cow sorting practices are penciled in, horse camping trips are proposed and organized.  Training clinics are being considered and signed up for.  It is a smorgasbord of horse events which makes living in this area fabulous.

Currently, I have reconnected with Vince Pirozzi from my Mounted Unit days, to host a clinic to sensitize horses to many things, but specifically firearms. With the advent of mounted shooting clubs, there is an increased interest in target practice from horse-back.   This clinic will be a 2-day clinic (Sat/Sun), scheduled for April 14/15 at the Silver Saddle Ranch in Carson City.  It will be conducted similar to the Sheriff Mounted Unit’s trainings in that we start off with getting the horses comfortable working together in formations, then work our way from lit flares and firecrackers to a pistol off the back of your horse.  Like Vince says, ‘you can shoot off any horse once’, sometimes.   I  remember a training where Vince shot off his horse, Lacy, for the first time and she reared up so hard she went over backwards.  Vince, was nimble enough to bail out and no one got hurt, but you never know…..Lacy was a seasoned patrol horse too.  Anyway, I want to start carrying a firearm when I ride in the mountains, and so I have an interest in having a horse that will tolerate it without dumping me to hike out on my own.

I am scheduled to attend two brandings in Lone Pine, California in the late Spring.   These are exciting, exhausting, loud and dusty events.  There are usually two pens running at the same time.  Each pen has 2 or 3 ropers to drag the calves to the fire.  Once there, a ‘bouncer’ will put his weight on the calf to hold them down while a host of things are done to him in about 2 minutes time.  There are 7 ground people for every calf.  Three of them, usually  women,  each have a syringe to inoculate the calf. As soon as they are done, a pill is shoved down the calf’s throat, he is castrated,  his ears notched, and he is branded.  His cuts are sprayed and he is released somewhat dazed and bawling like the others.  Now, all the cows are Angus, so all the calves are black.  They all look alike and they are all being dragged in at once, how do you remember if each calf got everything he needed?  I have to keep track of the horses that are working the pens.  I know if I’ve gotten their calf or not, that’s the only way I can do it.  It really gets dicey about 3 in the afternoon, when you are tired.  The entire time the cows are calling, and the calves are bawling.  Lone Pine is not a big town, so the dust and the mooing resonate down the streets.

Training wise, Xena has really come into her own.  She has mastered the left lead at canter, and is working well on her downward transitions.  Last weekend we hooked her up to a cart (first time for a year) and she didn’t bat an eye.  We didn’t put blinders on her this time, and usually I drove her with blinders, but she didn’t seem to mind.  We also got her into trot in harness….a big step, really.  Be sure to see the photos.  Sundae has been my solo trail companion all fall and winter, carrying me through many miles of solitude and peace, although Xena is growing into it also.   I took Xena for her first solo ride last week.  She got out of the trailer, looked around and whinnied ‘where is everybody?’.  I put her to work up the trail and she did awesome until we came across some horse poop.  She whinnied again, looking for the owner of said poop.  But that was all. She was steady as a rock.  Nice little horse.

So, lots of things to look forward to.  The rebirth of the planet, celebrations, goals, rituals and friendships.  Enjoy!

 

 

January 2012  – Happy New Year!  I’m hoping everyone had a satisfying holiday season and despite all the preparations, you were able to get out for some saddle time.  Nevada has had a VERY dry winter….virtually no moisture to speak of, and mild temperatures.  While this is great for riding, it’s a little unnerving for the pasture irrigation this summer, and very dusty while working horses….cough, cough, choke, choke

A group of local women started a Facebook riding group which has been fun.  I do the majority of my riding alone, but it’s always nice to see who’s going where and it gives me options to see new areas, meet new people  and work with different horses.    On New Year’s Day, I rode at Washoe Lake on Xena with the FB group.  Washoe is always a popular ride… sand dunes, beach, water, and mountains standing in the background.  About 20 people showed up to ride, and as usually happens in large groups there were splintered groups, but that’s ok. I was very pleased with Xena.  She was a little power house, setting a brisk pace at walk that kept her in front most of the time.  Her running walk was smooth, her attitude was solid.  In the arena she is working hard on her downward transitions. Now that she has figured out and is consistent in both leads of canter, she just wants to GO.  So back and forth, we go…trot, canter, halt, canter, trot, etc.  It’s a lot more complicated because she is gaited so she has extra gears.  She needs to be able to come down from canter in a trot, or a gait, depending on what I ask for.  So far, when we are going left she will come down in trot, and when going right on the circle, she will come down in gait.  Still lots of work to do….especially between her ears….listening is not her forte

I rode Sundae across the river and up the hill  to check out the burn site (we had a fire across the river in January! Unheard of).  I am happy to say that the part I usually ride on went unscathed.  The cool temperatures get her revved up, and she could trot all day…..so it wasn’t the most relaxing ride, but she did alright.  She gets fabulous after about 2 hours of riding….which is why she is my choice when moving cows.  She will work all day, nose down in the sagebrush looking for calves, and just zeros in on them.  I’m looking forward to the cow sorting practices to start this spring.  We’ll be there.

The last horse I want to mention is a little red mustang that came into my life about 12 years ago.  He was 5, and started badly the first time.  He had serious trust issues.  I restarted him, slow and steady, and got him going pretty well.  I ended up selling him, but he has stayed at my ranch and in my care.  No one does much with him, so I started working with him again after a 10 year lapse.  He is super sensitive, and a tough guy, but he is loving the attention.  He hasn’t given me one bit of trouble.  I am very proud of him and our work together.  It just shows what a little kindness, a soft voice and a steady hand can do, vs. the old style of breaking horses.  So glad we have the knowledge of great trainers now to display alternative methods.

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