Driving a bunch home for the neighbor

[leanin' H]

My neighbor is a great guy. He always has a smile and is a guy anyone would love for a neighbor. Just a salt-of-the-earth kinda guy who we need a lot more of in the world. He also manages a ranch for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Today they trailed some cows over the mountain to the home ranch to winter. How can I put this next part......... He gets lots of great folks who "volunteer" to help him even though most aren't a lot of help. :wink: Luckily he has the patience to just smile and encourage them as they go! I was gonna wean my calves today but decided Scott may need some actual help more. Not that i'm a top hand or anything, it's just that folks who know cows were in short supply today! :wink: Away we go!

The route home is along the actual pony express trail over Look-out pass. A gravel road is pretty easy to follow.

Ol' Jace is only 5 but he was well mounted. The definition of a bombproof baby-sitter that hasnt missed many meals! :lol:

Shoot low boys! The fellar on the hill is on a pony!

Topping the pass with the metropolis of Vernon in the distance.

Down the road we go! 78 cows and 31 riders. We had em' surrounded!!!

Another little buckaroo mounted on an even shorter pony! My horse raised his eyebrows every time we got close to them! Pony's are shifty lookin' to a full grown horse! :shock:

Although the ride was 20 miles plus it was an easy day. The last ten is down a lane. Scott and I could'a brung em' alone but all the kids and others would of missed out on the fun.

We had a good scatter on them. But the guys on the drags gathered up what the guy taking pictures had behind him. :roll:

It was a grand day for a ride! The sheeprocks in all thier splendor!

The gate we were looking for! Somehow we arrived with the whole bunch.

It was good we were almost back to the house as the sky decided to darken quite a bit.

The contrast of the bright sun on us and the storm brewing up the valley sure stands out!

Those short legs needed a few more steps during the trip but they made it!

The last of the bunch approaching the goal of the day. From the corner of my eye i was noticing the distant storm wasnt so distant anymore.

So everybody but one slow learner loaded in the trailers for the last two miles on into town. It turned into a hail of a day!

Had hail stacked every where! Sure wish i'd got the optional umbrella with my Crate saddle. My Atwood kept my skull from bruising but most of ya know you can't hurt me by hitting me in the head! :wink:

But after the hail headed east, the sun went back to shinin' and the rainbow capped a nice day. A day of arabians allergic to cows, kids needing to pee, deer hunters wanting us to part the cows for their trucks, folks in the wrong spot every time, prancing horses, whining riders, and little balls of ice hurtling out of the sky! But enough about me! Ask the other folks if they had fun! Bet they did!

 

[Justin]

great shots H! that is a nasty lookin' sky. looks like there is a one rider per pair. as long as the boss is patient with those "trying" to help all is good. i struggle in that department :?

 

[Nicky]

Great pictures, especially like the stormy sky ones! Good of you to help him out

This is my second try at replying :x

 

[leanin' H]

great shots H! that is a nasty lookin' sky. looks like there is a one rider per pair. as long as the boss is patient with those "trying" to help all is good. i struggle in that department :?

Me Too! It works great though as he's is the good cop to my bad cop! Some of them didn't know come here from sic em', BLESS THIER HEARTS!

 

[Soapweed]

That was a wonderful picture story, Leanin' H. I very much admire your patience handling both dudes and cattle. I can take one group or the other, but having both at the same time would unstick the glue that holds me together. :roll: :wink:

 

[Justin]

That was a wonderful picture story, Leanin' H. I very much admire your patience handling both dudes and cattle. I can take one group or the other, but having both at the same time would unstick the glue that holds me together. :roll: :wink:

:lol2: :lol2:
you are a funny man Soapweed :lol: well said

 

[leanin' H]

Soap and Justin, Mrs. H and I just got a great laugh out of the fact that you guys are complimenting ME on my Patience!!! :shock: :lol: :lol: :lol: If ya knew me better you'd know i am wound pretty tight and can take people of any sort only in small bunches! Dudes raise my hackles just thinking about it! I'd rather work alone anyday! :wink: But it wasn't my parade today. Scott is destined for sainthood as he never lets stuff like that bug him.

 

[Grassfarmer]

Great story and pictures as usual H. I'm envious with all that manpower/horsepower available down in your country. I'm just getting organised to trail our cows home this week and get them weaned, sorted and preg. checked. Apart from trailing one group home along the road i'll be on my lonesome. At least this way I don't have anyone to fall out with.... apart from my dog and he's heard it all before :shock: :lol: :lol:

 

[gcreekrch]

The only time a cowboy has fun is when he has something to complain about at home.

My strings get stretched REAL fast around dudes and for the same reason I try to stay out of the way of other folks doing jobs I know nothing about. :wink:

Now on the other hand,,, that gaggle may be just what I need to flush about 20 pairs from a spruce swamp they are making home. Can you have them here and gone tommorow?

From your other post, all those beeves need is a fire and a fork, or do I mean a buyer and a poke? :wink:

Thanks, and take care Friend.

 

[WyomingRancher]

Thanks for the great trip ! I laughed at the pony and your hail pics the most... sure glad precious Reba wasn't with you on that ride.

I'd take a couple of dudes helping over some wanna be "cowboys" who screw things up more than help anyday :wink:. Not saying I'm very good, but I've seen some people create more problems than what we started with. You can at least tell dudes to "get back", or "lay down"... yep that comes out when I'm used to working with dogs, luckily people respond to those cues as well :lol:.

Actually my favorite kind of people help is from little kids since they genuinely want to learn and help, and get soooo excited when they have an important job... I know I still do .

 

[Soapweed]

Thanks for the great trip ! I laughed at the pony and your hail pics the most... sure glad precious Reba wasn't with you on that ride.

I'd take a couple of dudes helping over some wanna be "cowboys" who screw things up more than help anyday :wink:. Not saying I'm very good, but I've seen some people create more problems than what we started with. You can at least tell dudes to "get back", or "lay down"... yep that comes out when I'm used to working with dogs, luckily people respond to those cues as well :lol:.

Actually my favorite kind of people help is from little kids since they genuinely want to learn and help, and get soooo excited when they have an important job... I know I still do .

You have a great attitude on this subject, WyomingRancher.
Although you differentiate between dudes and "wanna-be cowboys," to me they are Sam Ting. :wink:

A man was walking down the street and noticed a sign reading: "Hans Schmidt's Chinese Laundry."

Being of a curious nature, he entered and was greeted by an obviously Oriental man who identified himself as Hans Schmidt.

"How come you have a name like that?" inquired the stranger.

The Oriental explained in very broken English that when he landed in America he was standing in the immigration line behind a German.
When asked his name, the German replied, "Hans Schmidt."

When the immigration official asked the Oriental his name, he replied, "SAM TING."

 

[WyomingRancher]

Thanks for the great trip ! I laughed at the pony and your hail pics the most... sure glad precious Reba wasn't with you on that ride.

I'd take a couple of dudes helping over some wanna be "cowboys" who screw things up more than help anyday :wink:. Not saying I'm very good, but I've seen some people create more problems than what we started with. You can at least tell dudes to "get back", or "lay down"... yep that comes out when I'm used to working with dogs, luckily people respond to those cues as well :lol:.

Actually my favorite kind of people help is from little kids since they genuinely want to learn and help, and get soooo excited when they have an important job... I know I still do .

You have a great attitude on this subject, WyomingRancher.
Although you differentiate between dudes and "wanna-be cowboys," to me they are Sam Ting. :wink:

A man was walking down the street and noticed a sign reading: "Hans Schmidt's Chinese Laundry."

Being of a curious nature, he entered and was greeted by an obviously Oriental man who identified himself as Hans Schmidt.

"How come you have a name like that?" inquired the stranger.

The Oriental explained in very broken English that when he landed in America he was standing in the immigration line behind a German.
When asked his name, the German replied, "Hans Schmidt."

When the immigration official asked the Oriental his name, he replied, "SAM TING."

That's a great story Soapweed :lol: . And you're absolutely right, they really are the same thing!

I guess I'm talking more about the "Cowboys" who know just enough to be dangerous... not helpful. The dudes I've ridden with know they don't know what to do, and are happy to "get back" or "lay down". The wanna be cowboy on the other hand, needs stronger correction... and then of course you have to deal with their egos... which I don't :roll: :lol: .

One time we had one of these cowboys helping gather off the forest. I was slowly trailing a foot rot to the corral to haul home (this was back when we still trailed home). He loped up and started really pushing on this pair, totally disregarding any etiquette for how I was handling her. At one point he took his rope down to help speed her up. (The guy helped clean out the arena during Frontier Days, and apparently thought we were handling an unruly bucking bull :roll. Long story short... I requested he slow-up, or go help gather the rest of the pasture since two people weren't necessary to trail one crippled pair to the corrals. Needless to say, he got a little upset, and became more defiant and insistent that the cow go faster, he was going to show me who was boss. He's never been asked back :wink: Never have had a dude become unruly like that before .

At the end of the day, I'll stick to working with my dogs . I enjoy managing cattle, not people.

 

[Faster horses]

Oh and don'cha just love it when they all get in the corral when you are sorting???????? :shock:

One thing that happened here, and the guy should have known better,
but when you go to gather a man's cattle, he sets the pace. It's the cowboy way NOT to ride ahead of the man who owns the cattle. We
do not rush our cows, we gather them, but we don't hurry them.
He went right by Mr. FH and started yelling and hollering at the cows
like we were in some big hurry!!!!! Not cool.

Then he came to help gather the day we shipped...we let the cows
leisurly walk into the corral. He got in a big hurry, started trotting his
horse, yelling at the cows til they were getting shook up. I finally said,
"I wish those cows would stop running." He said, "they aren't running, and we gotta get them in the corral."

He has trouble corraling his; we don't.
We didn't ask him back either...

I don't know what I enjoyed most 'H...the pictures or your story!!
Thanks for sharing with us...always look forward to what you have
to say...or do!!!

 

[bverellen]

Just think, that day made for 31 great memories of "days gone by" and stories of trailing cows, especially for the youngsters!!

Great work!!

bart.

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[gcreekrch]

Just a thought H, maybe you were the neighborly help and the reason your friend was so happy and easy going was the rest of the riders were paying customers. :wink:

 

[capt]

Sometimes those wanne be, hurry up types just need to be sent back to look for the 10 pair of 'missing few' you just noticed weren't with the bunch!

Great pics and stories. I have been lurking around for quite sometime and figure it is high time I started posting and visiting. Hope everyone enjoys what I post as much as I have enjoyed everyone elses and H many apologies for kidnapping your post.

THanks
capt

 

[leanin' H]

Sometimes those wanne be, hurry up types just need to be sent back to look for the 10 pair of 'missing few' you just noticed weren't with the bunch!

Then we'd be missing ten pair and the bunch we sent to find em'! :wink: Welcome Capt!

 

[Faster horses]

Welcome to ranchers, capt. Glad to have you aboard.

 

[Cal]

Those storm clouds make a cool background. Neat pics and story.

Not trying to cause conflict, but do the ranches, and a great many other Mormon owned businesses enjoy a tax exempt status?

 

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

Great pics and story to go with em H.

Welcome aboard Capt.