Dry
Creek Cattle Drive
Fire-breathing
Dragon and The Black Hellion
Notes:
Darrell M. asked if I'd help move cows Saturday morning. I
explained that I know very little about cattle management but if he
was willing to tell me what to do without yelling - I'd love to help.
He picked me and Jack up at my place by 6:30AM. The Pine Valley Ranch
cattle had come out of the hills and were mixed in with The Densen
Ranch cattle on their property.
We
were to separate the PV pairs and drive them up into the forest. I
don't know how Darrell could tell the difference in whose cows were
whose....but he sorted them out and got the PV cattle moving toward
the FS.
Jack
was a fire-breathing pain in the butt for the most part. He hasn't
been wound that tight since he was 6. He seems to want to get right
in the middle of them and eat them for lunch. Come to think of it -
most times I've helped people move cattle - it's been whipping,
spurring, hollering and chasing bovine all over the place. I
image he expected this experience to be no different. Frankly, neither did I. On the contrary – Darrell grew up on a ranch and takes great
exception to being called a “cowboy.” What I've seen take a half
dozen or more cowboys/girls to do – Darrell managed to do with one
horse and no dogs. I like to think Jack and I were helping...but it
was obvious he could have done it without us.
With
the PV cattle separated from the Densen cattle and headed into the
forest – Jack finally calmed down and got into his groove. He was
much happier to be bush-whacking up and down hillsides, crossing
creeks and going after stragglers. I'm just happy he feels good
enough to be on the muscle and snorting flames again – thank you
Scoot Boots.
We
got back late morning in time to pick up my sister and head up to
Duck Lake to get out of the heat. A great day.
Notes:
Well, that was unexpected – Darrell got a call from the Densen
Ranch saying more of the PV cattle were mixed in with theirs. The
text read: Hey you wanna go back to Dry Creek and chase cows again.
There was no punctuation so I can only assume it was a request and
not a statement. Regardless, it was accurate either way. It took
little for me to forego Groots Sunday Morning waffles and saddle up
Drifter. It was too hot for waffles anyway. I made a smoothie
instead. This would be an experience for the Black Hellion I did
not want to pass up.
This
time we drove all the cattle into a pen and sorted out the Densen
cattle and left them on the ranch. Darrell operated the gate while
Drifter and I cut out the ones he pointed out. I'm so proud of
Drifter – he's never done anything like that. He dove right in the
middle of them and we somehow managed to almost look like we knew
what we were doing.
We
then commenced to push the PV cattle into the forest. We started out
with a small handful but picked up 30 pair or so along the way. The
only fault I had with Drifter was his refusal to cross water. That
boy is a desert pony and DOES NOT like to get his feet wet. That made
crossing back and forth across the creek to eek cattle out of the
brush a challenge but we made it work. I can get him to cross with
another horse – but that wasn't happening when the only other horse
and rider are across the draw eeking out their own bunch of
stragglers.
We
pushed the pairs as far up as Darrell thought necessary before
heading back to the trailer. I took the opportunity to cross the
creek by following Jewel across. Drifter didn't hesitate but wasn't
about to get his hooves wet and leapt across like a black Lipizzaner.
For a little dude...he can get some air!
Apparently
– we missed a few and will be going back the middle of the week to
push up the rest.
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