Before and After pictures

[Faster horses]

We had a nice gelding we bought from Kyd Cattle Co. in Three Forks.
Buck Brannaman was young and rode the horses there. He had ridden this one. He was a Silver King, and a nice horse. We loaned him to a friend to use on a big ranch he worked for and he doctored calves with this horse that spring, as it seemed like the horse just craved doing that. Mr. FH went out one day to help doctor and he rode this same horse. We called him Melvin. Anyway, when he got home, he told me, "I'm not hand enough to ride that horse to doctor on. He goes at those calves like he's killing snakes."

We intended Melvin for a heading horse, so that summer Mr. FH started heading off him. Melvin hated it. Absolutely hated it. When you'd get your rope and ride back up the arena he would insist on looking outside the arena. Then he started cheating in different ways. You'd get one deal figured out and he'd throw another one at you. Mr. FH gave up on him, but the friend that rode him doctoring calves really liked the horse and he bought him from us, thinking he could turn him around and get him to be a nice heading horse.

It never happened. Same old thing, cheat you one way and then another. So he gave up on him too, sold him to a rancher in Wyoming that appreciated him for what he liked to do.

BTW, PPRM, I really enjoyed the story of your favorite horse.

[PPRM]

Yeah, on that horse, one thing Mr Hall always told me is there's too many good horses out there to waste any time on ones you have to fight. It has stuck with me.....LOL....

I will say, in the winter, we used to ride outside on pasture with horses we wanted to be heading horses.There were always calves to rope and Doctor....They learned real quick that the harder they went to calves and the quicker they got there, the less running they would have to do....

Bracey and bad box mannerisms, takes a lot of work before hand to keep them out of the horse and still not always 100%....They get nervous, somtimes it shows in different ways....Maybe this horse just liked outside, anyways, sounds like he found his Niche......That isn't always bad..

BTW, the mare in my story, she was a little standoffish when we first got her. They foal and her both had trust issues. I think it was the owners before the lady that sold her, maybe it was the accident where her ankle got hurt.....But they have both settled down a lot and the issues seem to be gone......Trust isn't something given freely, it is earned through consistency and success....


PPRM

[Ranchy]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!! He doesn't even look like the same horse............that must be some great feed they gave him!

My Raven mare was in about that bad of shape, when I bought her. The rolled barley the previous owner said to feed her, just wasn't enough umph for a growing filly, so I switched her over to Omolene........she blossomed in the next few months. I think he was just starving her down so she'd be easier to break, if ya wanna know what I think. Might not work as well for an old horse, though, as it did her.

A good way to keep from having to float an old horse's teeth, is to give them a gallon of whole corn a couple of times a year. It sure has saved us some headaches, and the horses seem to really like a little change like that on occasion............

[peg4x4]

My horse Charley figgured out I'd make him go smell what he shyed at--took to shying at tall green grass ------had to put a stop to that