Cattle Drive

I'm in the Trailer Let's Go!

Willie bowing to eat grass

New Willie Pics

Willlie waking up.

Willie & I Sleeping.

Standing on Willie.

Willie Top of the Hill

I'm the king of the Castle! Says Willie!

Kiera's new foal

Lori with Kiera the mare (Lys's horse) and her new filly foal born on Thursday. Kiera is a Mustang/Tennessee Walker. This little filly should make a good prospect for anyone looking for a naturally gaited horse.

Willie the Wonder Horse

Karen the Farrier on Willie the Wonder horse!

Play Time

Majide the colt and Kelly the Paint playing with a flower pot.

Louis on Willie

Louis is only the third person on Willie. Ross, Me, Now louis. First Time Willie has bowed without a lot of assistance. Nice going Louis!

Louis is the son of one of Higher Trails Riders...Colleen.

Shy Yawning

Shy is laughing cause Ross is trying to train Bunky!

Willie on Box

Got Willie to mount a box today...pics of me by Dee

Paramedics At Higher Trails

Yesterday a roofer fell off the roof at the barn at Higher Trails. Good thing I was there when it happened, cause ol Willie was sore and I did not go out on the trail ride. Thanks to Dee, and Karen for co-ordinating the ambulance and meeting them at the gate. The board broke on the scaffold, possible patella fracture or upper tib/fib.

Taylor Yawning

I don't know if this is funny or boring!

What does a heart attack look like?

For those that can read ECGs. There is Massive ST elevation in leads V2,3,4,5, and a bit in V6. Indicating a severe Anterior Infarct. Luckily the guy called us right away, we got him to the Foothills Cath lab and they sucked the clot out and put in a stent. They say the optimum time is no more than 90 minutes. So DON"T GUESS CALL EMS!!! It is nice to make a difference!!!

Lay Down Willie

Winter Horses

BUDLITE BUDDIES

Rhythm & Drive

You gotta subscribe to these guys. I wish I could play like that. I used to try when I was 14. LOVE IT.

WCB Fun

So I went to the WCB evaluation site yesterday regarding my finger. The guy told me that he would give me a locker for my vest. I told him I didn't think I needed one, whereupon he became very defensive and said that it was "MANDATORY" and that if I didn't put my vest in the locker the evaluation would be cancelled! I thought this was a bit much and told him so! He neglected to empty my pockets and belt which contained a pocket knife and a leatherman! Brother! I guess it was so called increased security because of the Edmonton incident, but they really didn't have a clue! The Dr.had no idea what was going on! Then they wonder why people get pissed at WCB EH!

Head Injury

So...last Thursday I was cutting trees in the bush at the ranch when all of a sudden a tree came out of nowhere and hit me on the head. I almost passed out, but I didn't. I got the chainsaw shut off, felt some blood coming from my head and decided to get the hell out of there.

There was nobody at the ranch cause it was Thursday, and Ross was out at Fort Chiniki teaching the Indians EAL. I went to the barn, got some cold water soaked paper towels and put them on my head. It didn't bleed much. Then I felt really "woozy", I thought....I have to get to a clinic soon, cause I could pass out here and that would not be good. So I jumped in the car and headed out. I didn't think it would be worthwhile stopping at old "grandma's house". I didn't even know if she was home. I elected not to stop at Bruce's cause I didn't really want to bother this busy guy. I kept going. I was going to stop beside a guy who was talking on his cell phone, but thought...ah heck...didn't want to bother him either. So, kept going, praying I wasn't going to suddenly pass out and drive off a cliff somewhere.

I made it to the Okotoks walk in clinic, where I walked in and was in a bed within 5 min. (You don't get that kind of service in Calgary!) I went to x-ray, feeling really "woozy". They took to pics, and I suddenly had to go to the bathroom. When I got back, they tried to take the third pic...I had to go again! this time they put me in a wheelchair and called a nurse from Emerg. They managed to get the last pic. I felt nauseous and almost vomited, but didn't. I laid there for 5 hours while whey checked my vital signs every half hour.

Turns out there was no skull fracture. (Lucky!) I phoned Martin and he was going to come and get me and bring someone to drive my car to his place. I stayed at Martin's that nite and the next nite. I was going to try to go home, but only made it to the bottom of the stairs, and felt I could not continue. Sat. I went home, feeling quite a bit better. It took til Wend before the woozy feeling went away.

I am lucky to be alive. Needless to say I will wear a helmet from now on in the bush, and I have purchased one to ride with, cause I cannot afford to get another head injury while this one is healing. Never thought I would ever ride a horse with a helmet, cause I hate the look. I always associated that with ENGLISH riding, and I always thought that was a bit sissy! ( I know I'm wrong, but that's how i felt!)

So Got checked out by the Dr. yesterday, and I am good to go I guess, so it is back to work on Monday. I did book off all tour. I did need the rest, cause I still don't feel totally 100%. But, am thankful it wasn't more serious. Funny how life could change in a second!

Olympic Torch Nite

The colours from the lites on nteh bridge make it look very cool. The tower was lit for the olympic torch run tonite.

Winter At Higher Trails

Willie & Friend coming out of a snowbank. Old Taylor my old horsey is watching carefully!

BD 2009

Dee Made me BD Cupcakes at the ranch. Thank Dee!

Clinton Anderson

So...all this snow and cold has kept me inside watching horse training videos. Clinton Anderson has a great method that seems very successful, and fits right in with Doug Mills, and my way of thinking. I highly recommend his videos, get them all or you won't know what you are doing.

Click on the title for the website.

Girlie car

This is my new Girlie car Chev Cavalier out in the pasture at the Ranch.

God looks after me in strange ways I think

Very windy day at the ranch. Got Taylor in to doctor his ongoing leg problem, hobbled him to get used to the hobbles and quit pawing.

Left the halter on Pedro so was able to catch him and put on the side hobbles in the pasture while I took Willie to the Arena.

I eventually got Pedro from the pasture and you should have seen how happy he was to actually let me catch him. Hmmm...maybe I'm onto something.

Pedro and Willie stood in the barn quietly NO PAWING, for quite a while, and waited til I groomed them and had my meat pie for lunch. I saddled Pedro, and it was then that Robert brought his two horses Cisco and Kelly to the Ranch. They got all the horses running around like idiots and challenging each other, it was a hoot. I put Pedro in the round pen with the saddle on while this was all going on. Of course it turned out to be seconds too late when I spotted the saddle slipping on Pedro. By the time I got to him it had slipped a lot to the side and he got bucking! Well, there wasn't much I could to but watch at this point. I tried to calm him down to no avail (ever try to calm a bucking horse down?!!!). Well both cinches decided to break at the same time, and the saddle came off. Luckily, cause if the back cinch was left on it could have been serious problems. It took a bit to get him calmed down.

The good thing was, that I was NOT on him at the time. Karen, one of our riders has been off over a month with a pretty good injury because this happened on the trail. I was thinking of replacing the billet strap with a nylon one on the off side, but thought it was good enough. WRONG! Well I bought a new one tonite, and Ross is getting me a new back cinch from his saddlemaker friend. I am going to replace the latigo too, cause I sure don't need it to break either. Like I said, God looks after me in mysterious ways...I probably would have been on him when that happened if it wasn't for these circumstances. Thank you God!

I did a short round pen with both Willie and Pedro and called it a day. Always need to leave a positive impression cause horses remember the last thing you do with them.

NEW WINDOW IN BARN

I'LL HAVE A DOUBLE ORDER OF HAY, A SIDE OF HORSE COOKIES AND SOME "GOOD BOYS" AND SCRATCHES PLEASE. OH...AND MAKE IT SNAPPY!

Taylor is back

So...the guy that fell in love with Taylor and Had to have him...couldn't handle him...so he brought him back. Ross is going to give him a saddle in exchange. I had to buy my saddle for $350 bucks so he couldn't give him mine. Good deal, it is ok for now.But I really would like to get a better one someday. this has been an expensive month for me ...thank God I still got a job, cause my expenses are through the roof! So...we need another rider for Taylor and have positions for 4 more people. So....anyone wanna come ride...$295.00 a month...and you have a deal!

Car is toast 2

Well...found out that indeed that head gasket is blown, perhaps among other things, it has no compression and is not worth fixing. I feel like I need to have a funeral! That poor little car, It was so good to me. Anyway as luck would have it the mechanic was selling a Chev Cavalier that he got for his daughter, but she didn't want a standard. he replaced the motor with one with 90,000 k on it. The car has 282,000 but is sound. It is teal blue (girl car!) and NO AC ...b]that sucks. But the price was right at $1200.00 bucks. It should do as a second car for a while. Not as small as the colt, so will take up more space in the garage. I gotta get used to driving a 5 speed standard again! New clutch, and good tires, all in all it looks ok for the price. I thing GOD was watching out for me. (but he could have let me win the 50 mil loto maX!)

Pedro first ride

So...I have been experimenting with hobbles. I got a set from Clinton Anderson...an Aussie guy that now works out of Stephanville Texas. He has a side hobble that is really cool. Anyway, I worked with Pedro today, he seemed fairly calm, got my saddle on him and roped the horn and he didn't buck today, so .... I thought perhaps maybe I could risk getting on him. I taught him to come to the fence and come close so I could get on. He did this perfectly so, today was the day. I got on him and he stood there. "Perfect". So I got off and did it again a couple of times. That was when Ross decided it was a good time to erect the 25 foot pipe with the light to illuminate the round pen. I got on again and tried to flex his head to the right and left. He wasn't too receptive to this although he did it great from the ground. Anyway....I rode him around the pen a while, and decided that if that light came crashing down in the pen that would be sub-optimal, so quit on a good note and put him in the arena with Willie. then went to help with the light. I put two lariat ropes on the light and with a lot of effort from everyone we managed to get the light pole into to receiver pole and erected it. Pic to follow.