HAPPY APPY

I talked a bout my Greeley Hat being lucky last week. Well it is again. I was supposed to fly out of Edmonton at 6:10 a.m. And it was delayed until 12:30 p.m. I was going to get home at around 1:00 p.m. And then drive to Helena to help with the Lewis and Clark County 4-H livestock sale. My flight was going to now get into Billings at 9:00 p.m. And I would have lots of driving to do.

I was able to talk the United lady into changing my final destination to Helena instead of Billings. It worked out great that the flight was delayed, and I got to sit in first class because lots of people changed flights. What a deal. Worked out better than I thought it could.

I’ve been thinking about how good I have it. I’ve been calling myself the most overpaid, over traveled day worker in North America that really never gets a job done with the animals I work. I find it amusing when I say it but, but I really am living a perfect life for what I want to do. Promote Stockmanship and Stewardship.

I flew in to Edmonton on Sunday and Megan Clifton, the young gun on the Zoetis team, picked me up at the airport, right on time(unlike another that was an hour late, but I’m not mentioning any names). I wrote about how impressed I was with her before, and I’m even more impressed after spending a little time watching her work.

We went to Clyde, Alberta and North Central Livestock the first day, and had a nice mix of producers, and a real nice set of calves to work with. Everyone was on the catwalk above so it was a great place to demonstrate some things.

Next we went to Tawatinaw Valley Appaloosas and had a horse day. I worked with three real nice young horses, and then did a little horsemanship on an Big colorful apply. I made the whole day without one Appaloosa joke. He was a real nice horse but really overweight so he was pretty hard to get the most out of him, but he was sure pretty.

Next we went to a NBI feedyard that Megan had never been too. They were all clients of Westlock vet clinic. We had a nice discussion in the office with the crew and a bunch of neighbors and clients, then went out and watched them load some bulls to go to pasture and worked some cows through the system to process.

These folks up North are real fun to be around, are interested in learning new ideas and are hard working, good folks. We had everyone from Hutterites to gospel singers, and team penners to dressage queens and they were all just great.

After we finished at the feedyard, Megan dropped me off at airport and I rented a car and headed south. I did a talk and a demo the next day in Big Valley, Alberta. We started out with a session in a hockey rink, with a discussion and then went to a ranch and worked some pairs and bulls. Real nice facilities and more good people.

Alberta Farm Animal Care sponsored the deal and Stettler and Starland county put it together. I worked with Ryan Hallett and his crew and they were lots of fun and put together a good program.

I personally had a very good week of connecting with animals. I am really working on connecting and working with the cattle I get to use with the proper pressure for the cattle. I really enjoyed working the nice young horses. They had a roan colt that was kind of snorty and he made a real nice change. That’s what makes me tick. I felt like I got along with and connected with the people I came in contact with pretty good as well.

The Appaloosa horse brought back real nice memories. The first horse I ever started was “Christy” a 3 year old appy filly, and I started her with the help of Butch Anderson.
She was a great horse and perfect for me to start out with. I ended up giving her to my mother, and she used her for a long time, and was just a great horse. I wonder if I would be sitting in first class, making a great living doing what I love, and surrounded by the best people in the world if it wasn’t for Christy and some of the wonderful teachers (horses)I had as a kid growing up. I’m sure glad I didn’t stay in college, but enrolled in the school of hard knocks and good horses.!

So maybe it’s not the Greeley hat that creates luck, but all the lessons and morals you get when you are involved with producing and working with livestock. I just can’t tell you how much I enjoy who and what I work with.

I can’t let it go without one Appaloosa, joke/story.

We were at a rodeo in Polson, Montana and I got on a little apply horse in the bareback riding. I don’t remember if I placed or not, but after the rodeo we were all down next to the Flathead river drinking beer and telling stories.

You’ve all heard that the reason that the Indians rode the “Palouse” horse was they were the only ones slow enough to catch on foot. Well we decided that these Native Americans must have been a little slower than the other tribes, and they could just get close enough to grab their tail. This is why they became the “Flathead” Indians and this is also why the Appaloosa doesn’t have any tail to speak of. Now that is some wisdom that will come out of a bunch of young cowboys and a little beer.

I am looking forward to the 4-Hlivestock auction on Saturday, then I head to New Mexico and Mississippi for Stockmanship and Stewardship events. Check out stockmanshipandstewardship.org for details.

Monday, July 24th – North Central Livestock – Clyde-Stockmanship

Tuesday, July 25th – Tawatinaw Valley Appaloosas
Colt Starting: The Pohl family were great hosts!

Lunch and Presentation with Zoetis DVM Alycia Chrenek: