The Ride From Snowy River

About a year ago, I shared with you all the story of the end of my horseback riding career. And I had really held to that until our last trip to the ranch last weekend.

On Thursday, Papa and I were talking and he mentioned that on Saturday, he would like to ride from the gate, along the ridge, then down to the hogan. Then told me that if I would like to ride, he would saddle a horse for me. (Hello, passive aggressive, I'm Airplane, nice to meet you.) I said I would go ahead and ride with him.

After all, he made it sound like a leisurely ride. From the gate, along the ridge, down to the hogan. That is basically only one elevation change - I can handle that. 

I was so misled.

We got dropped off at the gate. Then almost immediately went down into the badlands. Rode through there for a little, came back out of the badlands, rode along the ridge, rode back down, back up, back down, and then ran across the open prairie.

Admittedly, that may be a little exaggerated, but not much.

I will agree that the reason I don't like to ride a horse is because I'm a control freak and that is not a situation in which I am in control. But that doesn't make it wrong. It is just the reality of the situation.

What I really don't like is going downhill - it just defies everything that I believe to be logical.

So, either way. I make it down the first hill with no problems. As we were riding around in the badlands for a while I was telling Papa how I really disliked the downhill portion, and he said, "just stay right behind my horse, and we'll take it slow."

Ok, I can do that.

So we cruise around for a while and are slowly making our way up a hill to the ridge, I am following right behind Papa's horse when all of the sudden his horse goes into a hole, his back legs buried up to the flanks. I freaked out a little, but my horse took control and went around, as Papa's horse got out of the hole.

Later, I was talking to my cousin who was also on the ride, and she said that when his horse went into that hole she just closed her eyes and figured her horse would get her to the top. Probably not a bad idea.

The rest of the ride was semi-uneventful. Though there was a lot of wind and a couple of times that I thought we were going to relive the descent scene of Return to Snowy River. We all survived the ride, but we never found the hogan.

(It occurred to me that not everyone has seen The Man From Snowy River and Return to Snowy River, so this wouldn't make sense to those people without watching this video.)

Bittersweet...

...Memories. That's all I am taking with me.


The family ranch has been sold.


For a lot of reasons, this was the best decision for the family.


But for a lot of reasons, it was also a very difficult one to make.


For over 30 years, H&M ran cattle and sheep on that ranch. There is a lot of history and a lot of stories about the time there. And I wish that I knew it all.


For my part, I certainly have stories and memories and I will likely share some with you in the next week or so.


For now, please enjoy the pictures that I have taken in our last two trips up to ship cattle.

I will miss this water tank and windmill - they are my favorite things to take pictures of. Also, I'm loving Instagram now!

Dirty taught me about an app that allows you take a lot of pictures and then put them together in a panoramic shot - clearly, I enjoyed it. (I think if you click on these it will bring them up in a bigger size on your screen so you can see more detail.)

There's that windmill and water tank again... One of the things that upsets me (for all of you) is that there is a not a camera that can capture the sheer beauty of Elephant Butte in the background of this picture. Seriously, I have taken A LOT of photos of that butte, and not one of them even comes close to how awe inspiring it is in reality.

Another Instagram photo. This is on the south side of the ranch, just coming through the gate.

This is a full circle view. Papa and I climbed up onto a hill of the badlands to look for a bull and I took advantage of the vantage point to get what I think is a pretty cool picture.

H watching the sorting and shipping of the steers and heifers during Halloween weekend.

Tiny loves the ranch!

That hat that Bunner is wearing was Popie's hat. I absolutely LOVE that he wears that hat. Every time I see it, I smile.

Tiny apparently does not like to have his picture taken...

Biggie doesn't mind it so much though.

Picture Pages, Picture Pages...

I truly wish that I had more to blog about, but sadly, my life has been kind of normal lately.

I was out of town all week last week at a conference for work and then went straight to Jonestown for a weekend at the Ranch with the family.

Rather than telling you a story, I will share our ranch adventure in pictures...

 This is how TinySmalls spent the majority of his weekend at the ranch. That kid LOVES the dirt!

Papa and Biggie pushing the cattle to the tank. 

My little men. How adorable are they??

Tiny was making sure to hydrate on a break from work.

Papa and Tiny "driving the John Deere tractor." That little guy is obsessed!

 

Post-lunch naptime. When it was time to wake up from this nap and head back to work, Biggie said, "It's hard to go back to work."

Back In The Saddle

Here goes nothing...

I'm back. The election cycle is over and I am working on destressing. (Which would be a lot easier if I knew where my next paycheck was coming from...but I'm trying really hard not to break into tears about that whole situation.)

This weekend we went to the ranch for round up and shipping. It was a blast!

Diddy and I left on Thursday afternoon after enjoying lunch with O'Dub. The ride up was just like old times. He drove. I controlled the radio. It's how we remain friends.

Diddy has this fancy Sirius radio with a remote and I can go through the channels to see what else is playing without changing from the song I'm listening to. On a good day this means that we never have to go a moment without ROCKING music. On a normal day, this means that we rarely get to listen to a full song...

I will admit, I have a little bit of music ADD. I'm so afraid of missing a good song, that I'm constantly going through the stations to see what is playing. And nothing angers me more than finding a great song and clicking on that station only to hear the last line. Talk about road rage.

Either way, Sirius wasn't letting me down on Thursday. Vanilla Ice, Warren G, Tag Team, Bell Biv Devoe (I did feel a little old when I was singing, That girl is poison... and Diddy looked at me like a fruitcake and then told me he didn't know who Bell Biv Devoe was), the list goes on and on - suffice it to say that there was a dance party to end all dance parties.

Friday morning, we wake up and head to the ranch with Dirty and PapaBear. Dirty and PapaBear and some others had rode on Thursday and gathered the majority of the cattle herd, but there were a few missing and Diddy, Dirty, and I headed out on horseback to find a cow and her calf. 

It was all fun and games - we were laughing and having a good ol' time - and then we found the pair and they took off from behind the tree they were in. So Dirty and I went one way and Diddy went the other way and we were going to turn the cattle around and head for home, when the horse I was on came up with her own plan. She took off running at full speed.

Let me break for a moment to tell you that this horse comes from race horse stock. When we had a horse race at our family reunion (yes, we did that), this horse KILLED the others. It wasn't even a contest.

So, there we are running full speed after a cow and her calf and I thought I was going to die. Seriously, I have no idea how I held on. Or made her stop.

I always wanted to own a race horse, but I never wanted to be a jockey.

Either way, we all ended up back at the HQ without the cow and her calf and I wasn't getting on another horse.

We had lunch and then took off for the corrals to sort the cattle.

I learned a long time ago that sometimes I can be most helpful by staying out of the way. So gates were assigned and I didn't have one so I grabbed the camera to record the activities. 

Do you see that horse in front? With the red arrow? I hate that horse!

Papa is working his gate, always with a cigar.

 Looking north from the corrals, this is the view.

Now I'm no photographer, but that is a great picture, if I do say so myself.

It was a successful trip to the ranch. We shipped the steers to the feedlot, the heifers to H&M's house, and moved the mama cows to the east side of the ranch for the winter.

We all laughed a lot and we're looking forward to the next trip.

Miscellany Monday

one.

We had a blast at the ranch. Lots of stories to come! But I'll give you a picture so you can see the grass.

Picture by SuperFan

two.

I am torn. PapaBear has scheduled our fall visit to the ranch for the same weekend as the half-marathon I am signed up for. I set a goal for the race, but I don't know how many more times I'll get to visit the ranch with my whole family.... Ugh - I hate decisions.

three.

I'm already dreaming of a vacation after Election Day in November. Now I just need someone willing to fund it. Any takers?

four.

I am 100% in love with my nephews, but after a full weekend with them (without their mom), I'm not sure I'm ready for some of my own...

Ranch Ready...

Regularly on our adventure tours, Diddy and I contemplate the reasons that we are single. We can not come up with a good reason. Diddy is an AWESOME guy and well, let's face it, I'm a catch! We will admit that we are not without our flaws, but our positive characteristics far outweigh our negatives ones...

One of the things that I needed to brush up on was my "ranch readiness." So Diddy and I created our own little training program to make sure that someday I would make a good ranch wife (or owner at the rate things are going...). After this weekend, the training is almost complete.

Gather cattle in a truck? Check.
Gather cattle on horse? Check.
Ride a horse all day? Check.
Work at the chutes while processing? Check.
Drive a truck with a trailer or gooseneck attached? Check.
Drive the feed truck through the pasture? Check.

My next lesson will be backing up with a gooseneck attached and will be taught by Banana. She tends to have a little more patience than the guys...

One of the funniest parts of the weekend was when I was sitting on the porch at the ranch house with our Navajo friend, Homes*. He was telling me stories (as he frequently does) about when he was younger. I almost wet myself when he told me the story of his time as a drug dealer in a Mexican Mafia gang. He told me that the only time he ever got dressed up was when he went to see "The Man." He would put on his Rolex, his diamond ring, and his gold chain with the gold medallion that said his name, "Homes" on it. And he would carry his gold snake briefcase. It was hilarious!