Aw, hell...

[CowboysDaughter]

Sorry I haven't been around recently ya'll. It's been kinda hectic.

Ha. Kinda. :greenpbl:

We've been starting colts; I started my first one, put 11 rides on him. Got bucked off once, but heck, that happens to everyone. Every bronc stomper has been the bronc stompee at some point.

But now Fall Works is approaching (a period in the fall where we work and brand our cattle; there is a time like this in the spring) and I only have one horse suitable to work, Wyatt. So we got up this 4 year old named Alfred with only about 20 rides on him (he has been recuperating for 2 years from a suspensary ligament injury) and I gotta get him tuned up for Fall Works. Sorrelly (this little colt I started) isn't mine, I'm breaking him for a guy, and is only a 2 year old, thus can't work him hard during these works. And I need to work my horses pretty decent due to the fact that....

We can't find any day help. There's Grandpa, Daddy, CJ (hired hand), me and Tyler. That's 5. Okay then we have Dave the horse trader come in and help us. 6. Grandpa has a guy coming in on Thursday, Fridays and Saturdays. And Daddy has a guy that can only come for half of the time.

Please realize we have 128,000 acres and about 1500 head of cattle. Most people run a crew of 20. We will only have 6, on the lucky days 7.

See the dilemma? And see why the horses are gonna get a workout? Not only is Fall Works gonna take longer but we're all gonna have to work harder.

Oh. But there's more. CJ was riding Kansas, a 3 year old, on Monday and got bucked off and broke his arm between the elbow and shoulder. They may have to do surgery on it.

So this means that CJ is out for the entire fall works. So now we will only have a FIVE man crew, SIX on the lucky days. That is a 1/4 of a normal crew.

:er:

And yet, there is more. Daddy has 4 horses he rides regularly. He also has a 2 year old palomino colt he has to ride almost daily, as colts require regular riding. Also, we now must do something with Kansas. He will require 2-3 hours of riding daily, and in addition to the palomino and running such a large ranch, he will either have to make the time or sell him. AND he is helping Tyler and I with our young horses.

-sigh-

This is insanity.

Okay so this was a jumbled, random, confusing rant/complaint. I don't know what it was. But I have to go now. I have a couple hours to do all my school, then we are going to town for errands and my piano lesson. We have to be back by 4 so that we can ride our horses in the wide open for the first time.

So. Adios. And thanks for reading this... mess.

 

[LaFoto]

Wow. Your life is sooooooooooooooooooo different from mine!
And the amount of land you have and the number of cattle ... mind-bogglingly much! Whoo! Can't even THINK in those dimensions here! Not even the big farmers around, the full-timers (of which there are only few left, anyway, since most farms are too small to feed a family, so they are part-time farmers, most of them, and work in day jobs otherwise), have such amounts of land and cattle! Boy! That is MUCH!

 

[CowboysDaughter]

-laughs- Yeah it's alot. Especially since most ranches this size have about 4 guys on the place. We have 2- Daddy and CJ. Grandpa helps 4 days a week, and now CJ is out for 6 weeks entirely.

Down in Texas there was 38,000 acres that Daddy was on completely by himself. He just had us kids, since we were about 6, to help him. I don't know how he did it in that rough mountain country.

I mean Daddy has to take care of pipeline, fence, water, cattle, and to make it all worse, he just went out to take Kansas for a ride. Grandpa is going with him although I offered. He's a good enough rider to stay seated, in fact he's a phenomenal horseman. Still, it unnerves me.

SO. If I fail to get pictures for ya'll over the next couple weeks, forgive me.

 

[Overread]

hmm well I saw this once:
http://chinadaily.com.cn/photo/2008-01/24/content_6419043.htm
and I did have a site marked where there were examples of cat photographs - and there were some very good ones!

Now a horse is much bigger than a cat - so I reckon it can carry a DSLR on its cest without a problem - use something like a 50mm or less for the angle of view - and so it does not get in the way of eating and there you go - you can ride and move cattle and the horse can take the photos