My son Rial sees things differently than lots of folks and I’ve always enjoyed his way of looking at things. He said to me one day after a pretty rapid ride on a paint horse that was a stampeder, the only difference in a run away and running a horse is one your pulling back on the reins and one your pushing forward. Pretty simple but pretty true.

A person I knew committed suicide and I am having a hard time understanding it. A young bull rider took his life a while ago and the thought is it was related to concussions he received. From what I’ve heard and read, depression is a very misunderstood thing, and a real problem that needs to be dealt with. All I know suicide is a terrible thing and it brings out a lot of terrible emotions in the ones living to deal with.

I have been around lots of people in the last few years that are in a battle with cancer.
My brother-in-law Pete Peterson is the bravest, toughest guy I know. He looked death in the eye and fought it with all he had. He’s taking his boys to Alaska this spring.

Another friend put everything else in life on hold and is now in remission after a long treatment in Houston, and in his style has made an adventure out of it, and found positives to focus on.

Another friend is flying back to Hawaii after a throat cancer treatment. Nancy wouldn’t give up, and she’se going to make it back to her paradise when lots of folks didn’t think she would.

We have also known some wonderful people that died from cancer. As I watched this I saw great people become even greater in the process, and the thing that takes a person away bring everyone closer because of it.

So the positive in this is to learn to live. We need to enjoy the important things in life, and learn the way to live like it may be the last day, for you or someone you know.

Life’s like that running horse. Your either pushing the reins forward or pulling back. It’s your decision.

I have been putting a video on Mondays but this week you are going to have to use your mind video.
I have known Tim Trabon for a long time and he has been on lots of great adventures all his life. He is very passionate horsemanship, Stockmanship and the western lifestyle.
I know you will enjoy this story he shared about the Haythorn branding he went on.

The first time that I went to the Haythorn branding, I showed up a couple of days early. I was afraid they would leave without me and I didn’t want to miss anything. That’s when I met Mike and in an attempt to be helpful I started following him around. Plus, he was the only guy there that would actually have a conversation with me.
He recognized what a gunsel I was and I think he humored himself by attempting to keep me from embarrassing myself too badly.
It became time for us to head out to camp and stow our saddles, tack and bedroll in a stock trailer. Craig Haythorn, whom I didn’t know very well came over to help me take my gear out of the truck. I was always so intimidated in his presence. He remains someone I have immense respect for and always hoped he might find a way to like me. I had been wearing tennis shoes for the 12 hour drive to Arthur. Craig picked them up and said ” are you gonna take these?” I was kind of embarrassed that he would discover I would wear tennis shoes. I furrowed my brow and in my deepest voice said ” No” and looked at those tennis shoes like it was the first time I’d ever seen them.
For the next 14 days I had to stumble around camp in my high heeled Blucher boots, almost impossible to walk around in while Craig padded around in the tennis shoes he had brought.
I had bought a one man cowboy teepee in anticipation of this branding and thrown it out in my pasture so it would look aged when I arrived at The Haythorn. My border collie found that it was a favored place for him to urinate. He must have eaten a whole bottle of vitamin C cause it was the brightest yellow stains ever. Looked like I was trying to create a tye dyed hippie teepee.
When we arrived at camp I rushed to put my teepee up. I had never been in the Sand Hills. The little 6 inch wooden tent stakes that had come with my outfit worked great as long as you didn’t try to use them to hold the teepee up. If you connected them to tent ropes they just kind of fell over. It was pitiful.
I was panicked. I imagined that I would just have to throw the canvas flat on the ground and crawl under it.
Mike had been watching me and walked over and pitched me some 18 inch steel spikes. He said ” you’re gonna need these”. He also noticed that in my gear I had brought two hats. One of them was a big ole buckaroo hat. He pointed at it and said, ” whatever you do, don’t wear that hat”. I chose to take his advice.
I never slept so well as I did in that teepee in the Sand Hills. Mikes cook fire usually cast a glow starting about 3:00 a.m. I would walk over to it and Mike always had a cup of coffee for me. We became good friends and he took it upon himself to guide me through the etiquette of being on a branding.
When I spoke to him last night I reminded him of the time I had put my plate on his table on the back of the Chuckwagon. I stood there and ate my dinner as it appeared to be the only space around. After everyone had drifted away he said, ” Don’t you EVER put anything on my table. If you do that to any other Chuckwagon cook you’ll find your food on the ground! And I had a mind to do it myself!”
Mike discovered that I was pretty nervous about the horses I was going to be given to ride and he took into teasing me every morning. He would say to Craig, ” What horse is Tim gonna ride?, does he still do that thing he used to do?”
Craig came up to me one night and asked how long I’d been there. I told him 4 days. He said ” you’ll be alright, Skunk hasn’t had a saddle in a month but he’ll be fine.” The next morning Craig cast his houlihan around a big stout black gelding that came out of the remuda with an ugly look on his face. Craig said, ” Saddle him up and let me get on him first, he hasn’t had a saddle in three months”. I said, ” Last night you told me it had been one month.” Craig ignored my comment and said ” better use this bit”. It was a big ole high port with long shanks.
I saddled up. Got on Skunk and followed Craig and everyone to a gate.
Craig said ,” I want 5 or 6 of you to go over that way and the rest come with me”.
I thought, well I’m going with Craig. Craig is older more mature, it’ll be better for me, easier ride, who knows what might happen if I head out with those young 20 year olds. Those 20 year olds trotted quietly away. Craig waited a moment, cracked his horse in the ass with his reins and took off hell bent for leather. Skunk just about jumped out from under me and we were off.
Everyone had gotten kind of spread out and I had tears streaming from my eyes as Skunk kept pace with the other horses. I thought I should check in with Skunk and picked up a rein. Skunk leaned into it and caught another gear. I thought ” uh oh” and checked him with the rein again. It just caused him to lean into it and go faster. I began passing everyone. They were looking at me as I went past them. I had tightened up and probably scared Skunk. I was on a runaway. As I rode past men I thought I detected a note of sympathy in their eyes. Craig was in the lead at a dead run headed up a hill and I was gaining on him. I knew never to ride in front of him and hoped that as I approached him Skunk would rate back and not pass him. Just as I came up behind Craig we crested a hill and my hat blew off. That’s all Skunk needed to rocket in front of Craig. Now I was headed down hill toward a large ditch. I thought, ” I’m gonna die”. I kept picking up my left rein and got Skunk angling away. Eventually I was running in the opposite direction of everyone. It was tough to make it look like it was intentional. Everyone went on and I got Skunk stopped but every time I turned the direction they’d all gone, Skunk did his best to catch up with them. By the time I had caught up with everyone Craig had stepped off his horse and was waiting for me. There was a hog wire fence behind him and I fully expected that it was the only thing that might stop me and Skunk and I was so rattled and out of breath that I didn’t care. Skunk surprised me with a reiners stop and Craig looked up and said, ” you’re kinda bouncing in the saddle Tim”
After all that, and after lunch, Skunk crow hopped around when I stepped on him, thinking about bucking me off.
Tim

The fires are out, but the effects are still effecting everyone involved, and that should be all of us. If you were hit by the disaster it is a very difficult challenge to overcome, and a time when you must do whatever you can to care for the animals under your responsibility.

If you were not in the disaster, you can make a real positive for you out of a real negative affecting others. This is by doing the thing that will give you more satisfaction than anything I know and that’s helping others in need. There are many ways to donate, and I hope you will take time to figure out what would be the best for you to do.

Every time I see one of these disasters, it is just amazing how people pull together and help each other. In agriculture we are so vulnerable to Mother Nature and her brutal ways, and in many ways it’s impossible to prepare for the power she has with fire, storms, and floods.

The number one priority is to figure out how we can help. I don’t get in to big of a hurry. Any time you have a big situation people jump in and help, and many times all the help comes at the very critical beginning, but then when the dust settles there is still big needs, and that can at times be when the real help is needed. Get everyone safe and fed and watered is the first priority, but now it can be sorted out to how best go about it and help those that need the most help.

Ken Jones has been a friend for a long time. His Fathers ranch burned up when fires devastated the Big Timber, Montana area several years ago. It took out all his fences.
A group of Mennonite people came in and brought supply’s and rebuilt fences for him. If my memory serves me correctly, they did all this as a gift and a way to give back for all the blessing they had in there life. It really was a help when it was needed.

This is what I’m talking about. There will be animals that are effected in ways that will show up later, fences that need rebuilt, and other effects that don’t show up right away. Let’s keep our eye on it and see what we can do.

This is also a great reminder to be prepared. You can’t prepare physically for many of the things Mother Nature throws at us, but you can have money in the bank, and prepare ahead.
We should let this be a reminder that we are going to have tough times and disaster. How well we have prepared makes it possible to help ourselves, and others. I think we forget how important this is in life, and all this stuff we think we need is not near as important as the feeling of safety and peace of mind of being prepared.

The people that produce food for the world are becoming more important than ever. As the population increases it becomes more important. It seems like disasters are more frequent these days. As technology increases it seams like challenges increase. We need to look at what successful people in the past did. From what I see they were frugal and always prepared ahead.

So let’s give what we can. Maybe we need to take a week and go build fence. I think there is need for clothes, tack, tools, and who knows what else.

They need help, but I think you need to help. It will give you more back than you give away.

One more thing.

People died trying to save animals. To me, when someone sacrificed there life to save another living things life that is the ultimate. I think these people are the same as the heroes that are in the military. We need the military so we can keep our country safe. We need food to keep our country safe. To give your life for either is just the ultimate sacrifice, and should be honored.