The dreaded horse topic

I'm currently working on a cattle ranch in Colorado and last weekend we drove a mare up to Riverton, Wyoming to be bred. I kept a sharp eye out for the Devil's Hole boys but they were nowhere to be seen! ;-)

Can I assume you drove the mare using a horse trailer and not "drove" like Heyes and Curry would have? 

(Sheesh... my first thought was you "driving" the mare like a cattle drive.  Gotta get my mind from the 19th century to the 21st century.)

Ha ha there was some discussion about riding her up and checking cattle along the way, but we went with the trailer option! I can see why the boys didn't like signing on to cattle drives-they are a lot of hard work (which is something they seem to try and avoid like the plague).

Nothing hard on the back they always said . . . But that philosophy didn't get them out of a few cattle drives here and there. Considering the ease of the outlaw life with its only occasional very hard work (and risks) I can see where cattle drives wouldn't look so appealing. 

I'm sitting here doing professional writing with books and boxes of ppapers stacked all around me - drooling with envy over work that gets you outdoors working with horses, Claybank! But I realize it's physically hard and I'd probably be griping as fast as the boys if I really tried to do it.
HW

Oh you are sure right about that HelenWest!  The years I spent as a stable manager were hard indeed.  The winters of course are the toughest.  Everybody having to wear blankets and the water freezing.  I can remember having to take an axe to the trough in order to break up the ice in them and then use my bare hands to grab the chunks of ice and get them out just so the horses could have water.
There were a number of times the local deer would jump into the paddocks in order to get water and the horses would make a point of chasing them off. 
Still, it was hard work.  Cleaning the barns that might only take three hours in the summer would end up being a full eight to ten hours in the winter!  Then there was always broken fences, sick or injured horses and broken water pipes to deal with!  Why do you think I board my horse now and let other people do all the work!?

Yes, I too, fondly remember those days of yesteryear cracking ice and freezing my butt off--oh wait!  That was March.  

Having horses is definitely hard work whether you care for them yourself or board them out.  Those little darlings need lots of exercise and attention.  

Helen, when I'm sitting at a desk all I want to do is be out with the horses, but those days when it's hovering around zero and the ice sticks to my hands and crusts the hammer, that desk looks awful good.

Claybank--whereabouts in Colorado are you working?  I'm on the western slope.

I'm near Craig, right up near the Wyoming border in the western part of Colorado. It's pretty country up here!

Hey, horse gals, what's going on with your horses and cattle? I'm lonesome for them.
HW

just got done feeding them all -- we rushing before the storm came in and had to recover the hay trailers from selling hay today...but now I am inside dry comfortable and think how great it was to hear the herd whickering at us as we came out with feed

Thanks, Red! That's poetry!
HW

I just tucked mine in for the night a couple of hours ago. They're in a dry lot with a run-in shed because our one mare can't be on pasture in the summer, so they get hay and oats. We're taking off early in the morning for a ride up the backside of Grand Mesa. They've been feeling the heat lately so we're working them in the coolest part of the day.

Oh, love it! I'm insanely jealous, but I love it.
HW

Well mine is still having a lazy summer up in Canada. It's beginning to look like we'll be able to get him down into Washington state around the middle of next month. I have a really nice place lined up to board him and it's right in the middle of miles and miles of riding trails so once he gets down here his vacation is over with. I have already hooked up with some people who ride the trails all the time and are willing to show us around and I'm really looking forward to it. I really miss my horse so it will be nice to get him back under my own jurisdiction again!

Have a great ride InOut (how's your ankle?) but I still hope to see you on chat tomorrow!

It's coming along. The bone's healed fine, but the ligaments still give me some trouble. I can go about 90 minutes and then I have to start dropping the stirrups. It's all good, though. I'm just glad to be riding.

I know you must be dying to have Monty come down and I hope you get him into your horse-starved hands soon!

I last rode 8 years ago. You inspire me - maybe I'll find a place to rent around here. I sure miss those beasties! Last time I rode with a friend we got turned back by a bear.
HW

Yikes Helen! I've never come across a bear while riding. Never want to either!

It was just a black bear in the Virginia woods. I knew there was a den around there, so I was half expecting it. I've always been afraid of bears, but I keep my voice very steady and said to my friend on the other horse, "I think this is where we turn around and ride home." The bear ran away fast when it saw two 1,000 lb animals coming. But after it was gone, the horses smelled it and started dancing like mad. They hadn't been ridden in months, their owner having been ill, so they were terribly fresh. My friend on the more nervous horse had to dismount and lead it home. I was on the steady one and had no serious trouble.
HW

That's good Helen. I hear that running into moose is even more dangerous than running into bears when you're on horseback.

I trail ride a lot, but it's still mostly in suburban areas where you're main worries are drivers on the roads who think its funny to honk their horns as they drive past you at full speed ahead!

The place I'm moving my horse to here is right across a quiet street from the trail head so hopefully won't have to be dealing with those kinds of idiots again! Might come across a bear or two though. Oh well.

You were lucky, Helen!  Horses are naturally fearful of bears and that could've been much worse.  We stumbled across a bear last fall and it took almost an hour for the horses to settle and these are horses that live and work in bear country.  Jim and I both carry bear spray just in case we get close up in personal.

Yesterday morning, we rode with our neighbor for the first time.  He's 77 and still cowboys occasionally for old friends!  He told us a funny tale about being out with his wife and son and losing the trail they were riding.  He went out and circled around trying to pick it up.  He said that as he got to a stream bank his horse went to step off it and he saw what he thought was a large dog wallowing in the water.  When it lifted its head, he saw it was a young bear.  He said he drew his .45 just in case it charged, but he realized the only shot he would have would be through his toes since the bear was below him, so he very slowly holstered it and held his breath.  Fortunately, the bear was as startled as he was and took off.

We don't ride armed, although most of our horse friends do and tell us it's a mistake because you never know when you might stumble across a bear or have to put your horse down.  I agree about putting down a horse, but I've come across bears many times hiking and they have no more desire to run into me than I have to meet them. :)

BTW, Keays, we came across a bull moose, a cow and a calf on the top of Grand Mesa last year. We spotted them across a meadow while the horses were still in the trailer. That's one woodland creature, I have no desire to meet face to face!!

We were lucky that we weren't much more than a mile from the stable when we met the bear, and we were riding horses who live in a very rural area and so know all kinds of wild animal smells. The animal I came across one the same trail that frightened me almost as much was a wild turkey flying across our path right under the horse's nose. This horse, very different than the ones my friend and I were riding when he met the bear, didn't turn a hair. I was frightened and soon pulled up to gather myself for a minute before going on, but the horse was perfectly calm. I guess she had seen a lot of turkeys in her time.
HW

LOL! We have wild turkeys here, but I've never had to tangle with one.

This was in a very, very rural part of Virginia, near the West Virginia line. We have a relative who has a place out there and is nice enough to put up with us on regular occasions. It's a long way from Colorado! I hope I can get out your way some time. I have cousins there, but I've never ridden there.
HW

Let me know if you are going to make it out to Western Colorado and I can try to hook you up for a ride. Keays was here last fall and we had an awesome ride up Beckwith Pass (11,000+ feet and views to write home about).