Gypsy Horses

Well, the bell mare and her groupies have been missing for several days again, only this time, it’s like half the herd – around 30 animals! So, Sue and I decided to use our ride to go bring them back – again. Tyler had brought them back at least 3 times, but never fixed the fence. So, guess what’s on Jeff’s agenda for tomorrow!

We chose two “dude” horses, that we figured would be safe enough taking off on our own – “Jim” and “Cowboy”. I led out on Jim and soon discovered that for a great big paint horse, he takes teeny-tiny steps – very uncomfortable. And, he’s LAZY. It was take 10 steps, stop. Take 10 steps, stop. And each time I’d beat his sides with my heels & he’d reluctantly plod on. Now, it WAS quite a steep trail to track the horses down – up, up, up one way and DOOOOWWWWNNNN all the way back. The wind was blowing like gale after we got a little ways up the hill, so that was pleasant also. One the flatter portions of trail, I’d try to get Jim to walk just a little faster. He’s the only horse that I’ve ever ridden who can take faster steps & yet move slower – I think his steps get shorter or something – weird.

Anyway, we finally got to the equine hideaway and it was, admittedly, quite a pleasant spot. We rounded up the group we could see & started back – they know where home is! Most of them were at a trot or lope most of the way back - and that sure woke up old Cowboy! He was nearly giddy with excitement and Sue kinda had her hands full with him. Then, on the last steep down hill portion of the trail into the ranch, Jim was stepping right out also. Susan said "He's not taking short little steps anymore!" and I replied "He just needed to get limbered up!" We had a really good time, even with the howling wind & cantankerous horses. But, our behinds will be aching in the a.m. I'll bet! And, we still only got about 14 of the horses back. The rest were way off on a very steep hillside & had about zero interest in coming down with the rest of the group we found, so they got left there for Jeff to wrangle tomorrow after he fixes fence!

We've also been fighting hydro issues for two days. We ran on the big diesel generator all day yesterday & last night. Mid-morning Jeff was able to switch back to hydro, but we're getting a lot of power fluctuations. They are very hard on lightbulbs! I'll be we blew at least a dozen or more bulbs just yesterday - probably closer to two dozen by the time we find them all!

Well, it's time to limp off to a hot shower & soft bed. Every year I find less of "Snowy River" in me and more of "Fried Green Tomatoes"!