isn’t exactly where anybody wants their cows. However, yesterday morning that was the only way to get this wayward bunch back to where they were supposed to be grazing, up the hill and over the saddle from there.
Lacy and I were thrilled about the opportunity to help move them. Her first reaction when I first swung a leg over at 6.25am on a chilly morning was confusion. Like, where are we going all alone, without dogs even, at this hour, are you nuts?
Then she saw the cattle that had spent the night in the old roping arena for safe-keeping, and her attitude changed to excited anticipation.
This little Divide Basin WY Mustang mare, the OG Wild Horse Outreach & Advocacy Ambassador Mustang, loves cows. That’s probably her favorite thing when it comes to “work”. Makes me happy to see her so willing and engaged.
I’m definitely still learning how to read the room and each animal, according to #8 and her calf who didn’t appreciate being hurried along and picked their own path. Oops. Learning curves.
Most people envision cowboys and cattle, wide open spaces and large ranches when they picture the American West from afar.
Try ranches getting sold and subdivided, springs, ponds and creeks running dry, grazing being hard to find, and riders dodging speeding cars on county roads, squeezed between barbed wire and pavement, horses tripping over trash carelessly thrown out of vehicles into the ditch.
It’s not all sunshine and rainbows out here, but it’s certainly not all terrible either. There’s always so much to be grateful for.
Many of us would give our left kidney for an opportunity to work cattle from horseback or help brand them in the spring. Lacy and I, in our rather cow-deprived state, were lucky to be able to squeeze this little adventure into a work day, with all of our kidneys still in place.
We even got a close look at a tiny, still wet calf born overnight in the old arena, resting after the stress of being born, a protective momma standing guard.
