Quick and Dirty

The quick part:

Foal update: He's doing great! Because of his congenital joint 'crookedness', the general consensus is to keep him and mom in a pen to keep his tendons from strengthening too much before he straightens out. His legs are getting straighter on their own and the one that turned out is starting to turn back in on it's own. This usually takes the better part of a month so so far, so good!

The very, very dirty part:

I branded all weekend. This is what that consisted of...
1) Have a horse saddled by 6:30am
2) Bring in all the cows from the fields
3) Separate all the babies from their mommas
4) Pen up the babies
5) Rope the calves hind legs on horseback and drag them to the branders
6) Tie the front legs, vaccinate, brand, de-horn and de-nut...Rocky Mountain Oysters anyone?
7) Drive the cows through the chutes for vaccinations and worming
8) Bring them back out to pasture horseback
9) Ride back in, water the horses and sit back with a cold one and good food (rocky mountain oysters were prominant at one ranch)!

I worked two different ranches, and though there were some differences in their techniques, overall they pretty much were the same.

I love branding even though I get absolutely filthy. It provides a good workout for my horses in a new situation, if the weather is nice (and it was) it's just downright nice to be working hard outside, the new people you meet are fantastic and the food is to die for!

Sorry I have no pictures; I was WAY too busy working! But I know some people did have a camera so I'll see if I can't get my hands on a few eventually. Some of the highlights of the weekend:

1) I dragged Rebel, my 2-year old with me all weekend. He was fantastic and took it all in. He started to show a little 'studdy' behavior - but since the mares ignored him he pretty much gave up the dream.
2) I took that gray out I've been riding for a neighbor. He's been kicking my butt regularly, but behaved fairly well in a strange place with all kinds of things going on around him.
3) I took a guy with me one day. He wanted to go, but he's not a cowboy at all. In fact, he'd never been on a horse. I'm from the school of 'sink or swim' so I put him on Charlie and threw Rebel's rope at him and made him learn to ride and pony a horse while I messed with that gray. He didn't fall off or lose control - and he's still calling around so I haven't scared him off. He also helped tackle a few calves. Possible potential in this one (do you like how I approach my men like he's a horse? I just realized I was doing that).