Tag Archives: horses

Rocky

Big Stout Bay geldings

I’ve had the privilege of riding some real nice big, stout bay geldings in my life.

I bought a 2 year old gelding up in Alberta and he became one of my favorite horses I’ve owned.  He was real handy to ride and I roped lots of cattle on him and used him to start lots of colts. 

He was a real character.  I would have some kid hold him for me and tell to watch that he didn’t lick them, and sure enough when they were not looking he would get em. 

We called him Stewball. He was such a good horse. 

My wife bought another big good looking stout gelding from our friend Clayton Hines, also from Alberta. I name the horse “Low Tone” which was the nickname of Clayton. 

Another good one that you could do anything on.  My wife Tammy, and daughter Mesa were kind of partners on him I think, and he ended up with a real good family friend in Kentucky,  Mary Ann Ellison. 

He ended up being called Montana, and really was a nice horse. 

Another big stout bay geldings has come into my life. His name is Rocky, a horse Tribe Ranch purchase along with three others that we started a few years ago, from Riley Olson with Ride Prosperous Ministry. 

They have a horse sale every year and it’s coming up soon. October 3rd and 4th this year. Check out their website to see the offering of foundation bred horses that are raised and handled right. 

Here’s some video of Rocky and some ideas of what makes a big stout bay gelding good. 

He is going to be a great horse. 

Tribe Ranch Beef: Horseback or on Foot?

I try to get to Tribe Ranch once a month or so to work with them on horsemanship and stockmanship skills. They have gone zero to 60 very quickly and have created a ranch, cowherd and the skills to improve all aspects with great stewardship principles and practices. It’s my job to keep pushing them to get better and I love to challenge Robert and the crew on there skill of horsemanship and stockmanship.

They have gotten real good at putting livestock through the system. We worked the cows and calves through on foot, and the finishing steers horseback. I feel much safer and more effective horseback. The challenge is if you are new to riding horses and working cattle there is to much to think about on both sides to be effective. They are now at the level that they can be effective horseback and working in tight situations that require being in the right place at the right time.

I have video of both for a comparison, and there is lots of things for you to see and think about to see if you agree or disagree. The tub doesn’t work very well the way it’s set up, and it doesn’t work at all if you put to many cattle in it. The back gate on the hydraulic chute is designed so it’s to slow to get an animal stopped easily so they can’t put more than one in the lead up before the chute

I think it would be good to take the tub out and put a bud box in, and put a slide gate in for one animal in behind the chute. By not using the tub gate you can only take three or four animals and get them lined up right to go in. It’s fun and high skill and makes for good stockmanship skill building. There is lots of back and forth because of the small numbers of animals at a time.

I don’t like to,store animals in an alley. I feel it is much less stressful taking cattle out of a pen, but it can be thought getting them out and keeping up with three or four at a time. I really believe alleys, tubs, and boxes are pass throughs rather than storage areas to keep animals flowing and the stress level low.

I hope there’s something of value to you in the videos.

Ropes go on, guns go off

In the book “Trails Plowed Under” Charlie Russell spoke of cowboy danger and said the two big dangers were ropes and guns. Ropes go on, Guns go off. It’s a great book that I need to read again.

I had a little time today before lunch and decided this would be a good time to get John Grady Cole, the nice young horse I’ve been working with used to roping something, and this Yearling colt named Jonny Ringo needed roped a little so it was a good opportunity to rope two horses with one reata (kill two birds with one stone).

I was happy with my pressure and how it went. I think they were both better when I finished than when I started and it should be good next time by the way they learned.

If there was to much fear and panic in either horse at any time, even if it ends up good, it never carries through as good as keeping them on the thinking side of the brain rather than the reacting side.

I should have done some with my right hand, but it was past dinner time and I was getting hungry. I’ll get it next time.

like ol’ Charlie said, it’s easy to get in a jackpot with a rope and horses. The worst is when the animal you have roped is going one direction and the horse your riding is stopped or heading the other direction. Things get tight quick. The important thing for safety is most always “ride to the wreck” as it will keep the rope from coming tight and make things very dangerous.

At first keep a lot of forward movement and try to keep your rope of the ground to keep your horse from stepping over it. There is nothing that says you can’t throw your rope and coils at the wreck and just start over.

There gets to be lots of things to see and thing about when doing this, but it’s great learning opportunity for you, your horse and what you have rope, if it’s all done right.