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about horses & horse care

Well, it appears that we've got a new occupation....runnin' Moonshine! Now hold on. Before yuh expect a nip at the bottle, yuh gotta set down and listen to our tale.... If'n after our tale yuh still want some Moonshine, well, by all means.

The day started out fantastic...got up in the mornin' and saw that we had another new calf. Our ol' Black Angus cow Spooky produced a nice solid black bull calf for us...we've named him Blacksmith - Figure we'll call him Smitty for short.

Anyhow, the day flowed on in good form. We gotta say that the weather is so unlike our usual February snow and ice - instead we're experiencin' spring in northwest Montana. Actually we've had spring pert near all winter...or has it been fall?...what the hey, its just been a ridiculously mild winter here. But at least we’re havin’ perfect weather for calvin'. On top of that, we've enjoyed the magnificently bright moon each night as we trek out through the cow pasture to check on calves.

The weather ain't only been good for calvin' its been great for ridin', so early in the day we couldn't resist spendin' some time forked on a horse. Not takin' the time to throw a saddle on we just climbed on 'em bareback (the horses were bareback...not us) then worked on trainin' maneuvers such as side passing, turns on the forehand and haunches, etc, etc.

Well, you’re probably wonderin' when we're a goin' to get to this Moonshine business, ain't yuh? Now be patient, we're gettin' to it. Anyway, this evenin' when we went out to hay the stock our dad and a visitin'  friend of his wanted to go see all the new calves so they followed us out. Dad didn't want to go over to the fence with out us as he was afraid him and his lady friend might spook 'em and off they'd run. We told 'em heck no and off we went to the hay barn. Well, all was goin' just fine. The cows politely showed off their calves to the onlookers while we fed hay out to the east herd of horses and the three old mares in the barn yard. Then we brought hay out to the cows who were mighty eager for it.

While we were puttin' out the hay, the two day old black baldy heifer seemed to become a bit confused ‘bout where her mama was and started lopin' sorta helter-skelter through the pasture. Awe cute little thing, ain't she? We weren't too concerned ‘bout her as shucks, we figured she an' mama would work it out as they usually do, so we set our minds on wrestlin' with little Smitty. We needed to band him (that's the modern way of makin' a bull into a steer) Well seems Smitty wanted to keep his jewels so's every time we tried to put the bander on him he kept a sittin' down. Finally we decided to put him on the ground and commenced to sit on him rather than do him standin'...this went much better.

In the mean time the lost little heifer has managed to climb through the fence into the round pen, then back out, but instead of headin' back to the herd she makes a beeline for the pasture fence line and west ridge. Dad is a watchin' her and see's that she has managed to climb through the barbwire fence and disappeared from site.

Now right here we got to tell yuh that cows ain't the smartest of creatures the good lord has placed on this here earth, fact is they're down right simple minded critters. Sometimes this is a good thing...other times, well shoot things can plumb go from bad to worse. This 'un was of the latter sort.

Once we finished up with Smitty, we headed off to help dad look for our wayward heifer. While we had been busy with the bandin' dad had hiked north along the fence line hopin' that she hadn't gone too far, but after not spottin' her he took off up the west ridge toppin' out on one of the loggin' trails then headed back south. He soon called out that he had found her. She was just below him and was stymied, havin’ difficulty gettin' up the steep slope to the loggin' trail that dad was on. Well, she spots dad up above her and turns back down the ridge, tumblin' and fallin' over brush and logs...whew well at least she's headed home.

Wrong. The heifer turns south but dad’s friend is standin' right smack dab in the heifer's path so we're thinkin' great, she can turn the heifer back and we'll haze her right back through the pasture fence and in the general direction of her mama.

Now we really can't fault this lady. She ain't a rancher by no stretch a the word, so when the heifer came up to her she just put out her hand and petted her as the heifer slipped right on by. That was as close as anyone had managed to get to the little gal throughout the entire episode. (Sigh).

Directly the little heifer slips through another barbwire fence and has entered the south pasture and she's makin' good time on her new course, headed due south for your neck a the woods, the great state of Texas. Presently we're wishin' we had a horse under us, but we also realized that seein' as how she's a little Houdini, if'n we were a horse back we'd need steeplechasers to get on the other side of all them fences that she has a special knack of slippin' through. So all we can do is hoof it, that is foot it as fast as we can at the same time tryin' to swing wide so's to get out a head of her and turn her back for home.

Well, if'n she was a race horse we'd sure as shootin' put our money on her! Not only did we trail her down through our south pasture, but on through the neighbor’s pasture as well. Luckily an' with another gal's help who just happened to be drivin' out of the neighbor’s lane at the right moment, we managed to point the heifer back through the fence, back through the neighbor’s pasture and on back into our south pasture, managin’ to keep her on a fairly steady northern course.

When we finally got in proper site of the south corral and ranch buildin's the south herd of horses eyed that little black baldy heifer that was a runnin' in their general direction and off they took in a cloud of dust....you idiots, some cow horses you turned out to be! So now the heifer seein' them nutty horses, she decides to make a quick right turn slippin' through yet another fence line, and into the pump house pasture she ran. We're still a puffin' along behind and seein' that she's set a brand new course we follow suit, swingin' wide to haze her back north. Without too much difficulty we get her turned north again. Poor little thing was finally gettin' as tuckered out as we were so when she came up to the next fence line she didn't immediately climb through, thus givin’ us the opportunity to close the gap. We shake out our lariats (which we've been carryin' durin' the entire chase) and go to buildin' a loop. As the little heifer shoots by, Kari sets her rope in action and settles it neatly over the calf's head, but the little devil runs right on through the loop before Kari can pull out the slack and close the loop. Dadgum! Okay the cute little calf ain't really a devil, but about now we can’t help but see red.

At this point she spins ‘round and our hearts sink as we realize that she’s headed south again, and there is no way for us to get up ahead of her to turn her back. Dad’s  friend is there on the other side of the fence just enjoyin' the roundup, and we half heartedly call on her to block the heifer's way (we know we're askin' way too much from her - as she'd most likely just give the little gal a pat and send her on her way). ...oh good lord help us!

Well, low and behold we luck out. Hoot, Figure and Song are smack dab in her path and as the heifer runs into 'em there's lots of circlin' and stompin', but the next thing we know good ol' Hoot is actually chasin' her back toward us! This time Kim makes a toss with her rope and catches the heifer by the hind legs, but the little rascal slips out again and is on her way. Well, at least she's headed north again! At once she's through the fence and has the east herd of horses dancin' and snortin'. We trail after her, on through the fence and out into the east pasture swingin' wide again so's to head her west. The next fence line is home and there waitin' for her is mama! Now this would be a good time to remind us of why we bother raisin' a few cows on this sorry spread.

Oh, by the way, did we tell yuh that the little bunch quitter's name is Moonshine? So there yuh go.....we've been runnin' Moonshine.