kbar2 said:
Had one of them jacks smack me alongside the head back in in my younger days! Cost me 8 stitches and quite the headache! Good to see you got WP to come up and help you!! He really is a pretty good hand! The pony looks alot like one that I seen sell out on a bull sale bout a week back? Great lookin calves,facilities, and help like always at your place. But what is the deal with the bad finger?
The day before we worked these heifers was beautifully warm with no wind, so the Kosmo Kid and I decided to ride a couple of recent horse purchases. Kosmo rode the five-year-old and I rode the three-year-old. I got a thirty minute head start with my project, and knowing that the horse would definitely have some buck in him, I followed all my own rules to a T. I led him into the barn, and gave him some grain while saddling him. Then he was gently led out of the barn to prevent a blow-up inside, and led to the round corral. Then still being a pedestrian, I choused him around the corral, and he blew up and bucked hard. He was circled one way and then the other until the buck seemed to be out of his system. Then I mounted the horse and rode in the round corral until fairly satisfied that he would behave.
I "just say no to spurs" when riding a bronc. The last thing I want to do at this point is to unintentionally gouge them with spurs allowing more animosity and ability to surface. :wink:
I got on and off the horse while riding him around, and opened the gate before circling the corral the last couple of times. Here is when I messed up. I should have headed out on a long trot to cover some distance before trying anything too technical. Unfortunately I didn't.
We had 156 heifer calves out on a meadow about three quarters of a mile away. One nice heifer calf was in the corral by the barn. She had been weaned for a couple months after selling the calf's mother, and I wanted her to join the rest of the herd. This calf had been turned out of the corral before saddling the horse, but she hadn't left. I was on the young horse and had to play ring-around-the-rosie trying to maneuver the heifer calf away from the round corral, which is in the middle of a larger rectangular corral. She was finally persuaded out the gate, and then we had to go through obstacles of various parked vehicles before getting her out on a meadow. Being quite gentle, she was not going fast the wrong way, but kept going the wrong way nevertheless. At one point she got in the house yard through an open gate, and I rode the horse in to play ring-around-the-rosie once again around the house. Fortunately Peach and our little granddaughter noticed my plight and broke up this game.
Back out on the meadow, Kosmo came along on a Polaris Ranger. I beckoned for him to come help, and we got the heifer through a couple gates to join the rest of the calves. At this point, my new sorrel steed had had enough. He blew his cork and came undone. When the dust settled, I was quite proud but surprised to see that I was still on top. Undoubtedly I had grabbed for anything available to hang on, and severely jammed (or possibly broke) the point finger on my right hand. Once again, the fact is emphasized that had I been wearing spurs, I'd have probably bit the dust and ended up on the ground. One more jump would have been the end-gate, as both feet had lost both stirrups. With spurs as an antagonizing agent, this one jump would have occurred, and I may have had more injuries than a swelled up finger.
Anyway, due to a sore finger and Sunflower being gone for a few days, I called on the helpful professional services of a good friend named LazyWP. We had a good crew on hand, which included the Kosmo Kid, Peach, LazyWP, myself, and my sister, besides the veterinarian and his assistant. Our morning job was to re-preg check 107 cows with ultrasound, and bangs vaccinate 157 heifer calves. The day was a success because we found 35 cows that ended up being bred, and we now know that the remaining 72 cows are definitely open. For anyone interested in some nice young cows that we would normally breed to calve next fall, we are taking 14 two-year-olds and 17 three-year-olds to sell at Valentine Livestock this coming Monday morning, November 5th.
That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it. :wink:
