Moving Cows: More Fun With A Rodeo

I'm still waiting on my new laptop power cord... it should be here tomorrow. Gawd I hope so, I miss my laptop.

But, last Sunday, we moved cows. This time we called in some backup, in the form of my old friend S, his girlfriend, my newer friend K, and her boyfriend.

S, his girlfriend, and K, all had horses. K's boyfriend, J, didn't. I don't know much about the guy but after a (way too late) night Saturday hanging out and Sunday moving cows, I like him.

See, he rode Red. I'd like to say that I wasn't intending to be evil when I said he could ride Red. Yes, I find the imagery of other people on the little pony funny, but he's been behaving really well, and since Monkey was way too wound Sunday morning and I was riding Rebel, I didn't have any other horse that has been ridden recently.

Also, I had no clue that Red was going to go rodeo the instant J's ass hit the saddle. I gotta come up shouting for the kid, he stuck, and he didn't let him break completely in two again.

But I take no responsibility for him coming off when his girth wasn't tight enough and the saddle slipped when Red tried to jump out from underneath him. That one was all J.

Anyway the battle continued all day, and I think J actually enjoyed it. I feel just a bit bad, because I was pre-occupied, and didn't think to tell him to lunge him in a few circles before he got on. I've gotten on Red without that, but I'd also been working him for a few days when I did that, and the weather was nasty last week so he'd had three days off.

Some commentary about The Jackhammer, as S calls Red:

"He's not that bad."

"Ok, you told me he was round withered and the saddle would slip, but I didn't expect that." (Said when I rode up to him to check on him when I realized that Red had come cantering proudly by me, without J.)

"Oh god, that was my nuts..." (After a minor hissy in which Red managed to get J thrown forward into the saddle horn... poor guy)

"I almost wish he'd buck again... that's the smoothest gait he's got."

And somehow, after all that, he managed to remain polite. When he was telling me how "not bad" Red was, I smarted off with "So, you wanna buy him?"

He took a moment, looking at Red, with an expression that could have been taken for mental calculation on whether or not he wanted the horse but I took as an effort to not say something very rude, and answered me "He's too small."

I gotta admit, I busted up at that point.

We got the cows into their new pasture, no thanks to the llama, who decided to come see what was going on when they were coming in the gate... and when the cows ran decided it was fun to chase them... right back out the gate. I could cheerfully have shot her right then. Anyway it was mission accomplished, and plenty of laughs.

Day after tomorrow we go to the sale, and Red will find a new home. Hopefully his good ground manners and the bit of play I'm able to do with him on a lead (which Farmmom says is actually kind of impressive) will outshine any jackassery he pulls while I'm in the saddle. I'll spend most of the day outside working him on a lead and riding him, so that he hopefully won't be too bad in the ring.

Tomorrow, I'll work the hell out of him. We'll work on the ground until he's sweaty, then get on and work him some more. This will keep him from having too much excess energy, and make my job (making him look good... no small task when you're talking about Red, who has conformation, size, and under saddle attitude going against him) that much easier.

Hopefully it'll be enough....