The horses, and evening entertainment

Over the weekend it was time to re- shoe some of the horses. Brian, Jesse, and Jake worked on 4 of them, I think there's a long way to go. Brian had not done this work before, so he has learned now to remove old shoes, file, and clip the hooves.....but the more skilled part, re-shoing, he hasn't done yet. Even after just a portion of the job though, he's decided not to pursue being a farrier as a lifetime career. (and he thought concrete work was hard on the back).

Most evenings, Brian and I, and Knuckle go for a walk on the ranch. Often, as we walk, Brian practices his roping skills. Roping is a really valuable skill to have

on a ranch, but I think takes a long time to develop, especially from the back of a running horse while you've got both hands on the rope, and neither on the horse. As we walk, he can rope a fence post (handy that it doesn't move) and sometimes he can rope the dog. Unfortunately, Knuckle is not a very willing participant. He tried roping me a few times....yeah, that didn't go so

well!

Yesterday evening we spent about an hour watching Maura and Gareth working with some

young horses. (Maura's sister Ricarda and her husband Jesse are the ranch managers) Both

horses are about 2 years old and belong to someone in Washington. They are here for about 8

months so they can be trained consistently. It was really neat to watch the process of getting the horse accustomed to the rope, blanket, the saddle, and having some weight just in the stirrup long before they ever tried to get on the horse. Personally, I like the idea of a well trained horse much more than a horse who you try and keep control of long enough just to get a few cows moved.

This weekend there is going to be a course here at the ranch on riparian restoration....stream health and habitat restoration.....for BLM and other professionals. Its like a continuing ed class. We helped Gareth clean up the barn a bit last night since they'll be holding some of their classes in there. It will add a little flare to the next few days to have extra people around!