July 24: Haley- On our most recent trip to the forest we had to fix an old lodge pole drift fence. We decided to build a little horse fence there too so we can camp there when we go check on the cows in the forest. Dinero and I drug poles down the trail to our campsite until my leg was so swollen I couldn’t stand the rope sitting against it. I'm glad we have horses because I really doubt I could get even one of them down to our campsite with my noodle nubs for arms. We chose an area that's right next to a little creek, surrounded on one side by a steep hill with a rock slide, and trees to border the opposite side. Basically, we have all the essentials for good boundaries for any runaway nags and cold water to keep our beer cold for us. We hobbled Slim and Redeye and it proved to be quite entertaining. Slim figured it out quick, while Redeye proceeded to double kick high enough to kick himself in the face. While we were building fence we decided to hobble Nevada and let the two colts graze a bit, thinking they'd stick around. One minute I'm hammering in a nail and the next the two lanky colts are no where to be seen. To be honest it was sheer panic as I followed their tracks not knowing if they'd be close by or if we'd be telling my uncle his colts were lost in the wilderness. Needless to say, we only let them graze with hobbles on or in their new pen after that. We got quite a bit of work done on the forest in the few days we stayed up there and we didn't find a single sick cow or yearling. July 30: Haley- We rode out this morning to check cows in Upper Robb. The one mangy yearling we doctored two weeks ago was surprisingly still alive, but so weak Joe walked up to her easy and heeled her. Hopefully the Resflor brings her back from the dead. I heeled a calf on Slim and he wasn’t bothered one bit. I struggled getting in the right spot because he doesn’t’ neck rein quite yet. I’ll have to work on that and a track a few cows on him so he knows where to be. When we got back Joe hopped on Redeye and rode him over the hill. We’ve been working so hard to get him over all of his silliness to get to this point. If there's anything we've learned it's that each colt has their own time frame. Slim for example is being roped off of, while Redeye is just now to the point where we can ride him without dealing with his attitude. I'm really proud of how they've progressed and I don't think it will take long for Redeye to catch up with the long days we put in. By doing the not so fun ground work and giving him extra pack saddle time, we got rid of his bad attitude which is far more important than sending him back with a fancy handle. I'd rather have a horse mind and behave, than have a naughty horse with a pretty neck rein. August 8: Joe- Haley and I rode cows in Upper Robb today. Our day started off pretty eventful. Haley was on Slim and he blew up right after we left the yard. I was on Jazz and as soon as Haley’s horse bucked her off I tried to catch him and Jazz blew up. In typical Jazz fashion as soon as he started he wouldn’t quit. I had to fight with him for a long time to get him straightened out. After we got all straightened out, things went good. We doctored a few but everything else looked good. We caught a little rain while we were out, but it wasn't too bad. Haley- Apparently the colts were feeling themselves this morning and Slim bucked me off. The worst part was I stuck with him the whole time while Joe was hollering at me "You got this!", then Slim took one last jump and off I went. While Joe was trying to catch him, Jazz blew up too. We ran them both up a bunch of hills and the two renegades were soaking wet and tired before the day even really began. We checked the cows in Upper Robb and our first one to doctor was a huge baldy cow with foot rot. Joe headed her and I threw a great heel shot, but Slim went left and cow went right so I lost my rope. Luckily, Joe was able to lay her down soon after. I went over and knelt on her to keep her head still. He had just gotten done telling me how powerful their heads can be and WHAM! As I was moving to give myself enough room to get her a shot of LA she threw her head. It connected hard with my hip, the same exact side I had just gotten bucked off on. Out of pain and frustration, I scurried through watery eyes for a new syringe. I kept telling myself that I had tough through it, even if my bones were screaming at me that tiny people can't put up with hits from a cow. We doctored a couple pneumonia calves and headed home as a storm rolled in. All of the hard blows I took today were on my right side, so I’m pretty sore. I have resorted to a lot of gin and making steaks. In all, today was a blast minus my aching everything August 17 Joe- Haley and I pushed cows into Swamp Creek today in anticipation of the move to the Sawtooth pasture on Monday. We got about 500 or so pushed over. It was nice and cool, so a great day to push cows. Haley- It was a perfect, cool day to push cows into Swamp Creek. I rode Nevada today. It’s nice to ride a broke horse every now and then. I brought Wylie along, he’s still learning to stay with me, not the other dogs. It’s hard to know sometimes what to do with him. One minute he listens great, the next he sits in the same spot for twenty minutes ignoring you. Once we got everything down into Swamp Creek, Joe took me to a “beach”. It was a neat sandy washout in the side of one of the hills with perfect white sand. By the time we got home, I was exhausted. My job at the brewery combined with our work here can be a lot. Only another month of extra shifts there at least! After this entry, we unfortunately lost track of our days and didn't journal the rest of our time at cow camp. Our minds were full of wedding madness and trying to round everything up to ship October 15th. I like to think pictures can be worth a few words, so here are a few of my favorites during the time we missed. Thank you for following along with my quest of learning to work alongside my other half, lord knows it’s been a journey, but a great one at that!
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AuthorThis is a blog to share many stories, laughs, adventures and lessons learned by yours truly, Haley Potter. Archives
July 2023
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